Use of green alga Ulva lactuca (L.) as an indicator to heavy metal pollution at intertidal waters in Suez Gulf, Aqaba Gulf and Suez Canal, Egypt

Abstract

Metal pollution in the marine coastal line environment is an important topical issue in the context of ecological disturbance. The concentration of nine trace elements: Cu, Co, Ni, Cr, Mn, Zn, Cd, Pb, and Fe was determined in water, sediments and the green alga Ulva lactuca (L.), which collected from several sites at three main area (Suez Gulf, Aqaba Gulf and Suez Canal). The abundance of metal concentrations in algae samples was in the following order: Fe> Zn> Mn> Pb> Cu> Ni> Co> Cr> Cd, Fe> Mn>Zn> Pb> Cu> Ni> Co> Cr> Cd, and Fe> Mn>Zn> Cu> Pb> Ni> Co> Cr> Cd in Suez Gulf, Aqaba Gulf, and Suez Canal respectively. The variations at this order of abundance were according to the different in activities and metal sources in these different areas. The high uptake of metals in green alga Ulva lactuca suggested that this alga may be used as potential biomonitors for heavy metal pollution. The BCF value of metals in the algae/waterwas significantly higher than those of algae /sediments. The pollution indicator of Contamination Factor (BCF) was calculated to determine the degree of metal pollution in the marine coastline and the contribution of anthropogenic influence. Significant (p≤0.05) inter-elemental positive-correlations were observed between most studied metals, as well as negative-correlations between a few of them. Overall, the comparison of heavy metal contents with seawater and sediment samples in the Ulva species showed that U. lactuca is a suitable plant for biomonitoring studies.