Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ULVA LACTUCA AND U. INTESTINALIS AS BIOMONITOR OF HEAVY METALS CONTAMINATION (CU, ZN AND PB) IN WESTERN BAY OF BENGAL

Archana Snehasini Turuk, Prajna Paramita Mohapatra and Kakoli Banerjee

Abstract

Variation in the concentrations of heavy metals Cu, Zn and Pb were measured seasonally for two green seaweeds namely Ulva lactuca and U. intestinalis at two anthropogenically different sites (station 1: Vuda Park-selected to cover the expected polluted areas and station 2: Tenneti Park - less polluted region) along Visakhapatnam coast of Andhra Pradesh. Seawater and sediment samples were also analysed simultaneously to detect the metal contents in the ambient media. The order of metal accumulation were similar in both Ulva species and stations and was in the order Zn > Cu > Pb. Bioconcentration factors in U. lactuca and U. intestinalis is higher being a polluter lover than U. lactuca. Metal pollution index was also greater for U. intestinalis than U. lactuca proving U. intestinalis to be the biomonitor of heavy metal contamination.