Marine Algae as Natural Indicator of Environmental Cleanliness

Abstract

Algae are widely distributed in the aquatic environment. In the analyzed algae from the Black Sea, metals like cadmium, iron, zinc, copper, lead, and thallium were present. From all of the analyzed elements in the algae, iron was present at the highest concentrations. The presented study confirmed that thallium is accumulated in relatively large quantities (1.60–2.12 μg g−1) by all the studied algae. Cadmium and copper were accumulated at the same level (1.98 μg g−1), which was lower in comparison to the average concentrations determined in the analyzed plant material. The average amounts of zinc were at 0.21 μg g−1 for Ulva. High possibility of accumulation of metals by Ulva and Cystoseira allows to use them as a natural indicator of environmental cleanliness.