Abstract
The possibility of dissolved organic compounds acting as complexing or chelating agents in natural waters has received considerable attention in the last two to three decades. Stumm & Morgan (1970) have expressed doubts about the existence of humicmetal ion complexes in natural waters. Strickland (1972) has also stated that although the addition of chelating agents to sea water often improved the growth of phytoplankton, there was little evidence that the function of dissolved organic matter in oceans and lakes was to complex metals so as to increase or decrease their availability to phytoplankton. Strickland argued that even if all dissolved organic carbon were present as a compound of strong complexing ability it would not be able to compete for most metals with inorganic ligands such as chloride, sulphate and hydroxide. However, there is an increasing amount of data indicating that metals in natural waters may exist in chelated forms with dissolved organic matter (see, for example, Davey, Morgan & Erickson, 1973; Chau & Lum-Shue-Chan, 1974).
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