Abstract
An account is given of the use of Enteromorpha to monitor zinc, cadmium, mercury and lead pollution in six estuaries and the British North Sea coast. The ranges for each element were: Zn, 19–437 µg g−1; µg g−1 Cd, 0.07–4.8 µg g−1; Hg, 0.02–0.23 µg g−1. It is suggested that tissue analysis of Enteromorpha is one of the most useful biological techniques available in estuaries for pin-pointing aqueous (as opposed to sediment) metal contamination, and also for providing data suitable for world-wide comparisons. Provisional values are given for concentrations corresponding to ‘moderate’ and ‘high’ pollution.
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