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Heavy metal enrichment in the seagrasses of Lakshadweep group of islands—A multivariate statistical analysis

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Abstract

An assessment on heavy metal (Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) accumulation by seven seagrass species of Lakshadweep group of islands was carried out using multivariate statistical tools like principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). Among all the metals, Mg and Al were determined in higher concentration in all the seagrasses, and their values varied with respect to different seagrass species. The concentration of the four toxic heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Zn and Cu) was found higher in all the seagrasses when compared with the background values of seagrasses from Flores Sea, Indonesia. The contamination factor of these four heavy metals ranged as Cd (1.97–12.5), Cu (0.73–4.40), Pb (2.3–8.89) and Zn (1.27–2.787). In general, the Pollution Load Index (PLI) calculated was found to be maximum for Halophila decipiens (58.2). Results revealed that Halophila decipiens is a strong accumulator of heavy metals, followed by Halodule uninervis and Halodule pinifolia, among all the tested seagrasses. Interestingly, the small-leaved seagrasses were found to be efficient in heavy metal accumulation than the large-leaved seagrass species. Thus, seagrasses can better be used for biomonitoring, and seagrasses can be used as the heavy metal sink as the biomass take usually long term to get remineralize in nature.

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Dr. T. Balasubramanian, Dean, Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, and the authorities of the Annamalai University for providing us with the necessary facilities for carrying out this work. We are also thankful to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, New Delhi, for the financial support through the funded project (13/6/2005-EI/RE).

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  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, Parangipettai, 608 502, Tamil Nadu, India

    T. Thangaradjou, S. Raja, Pon. Subhashini, E. P. Nobi & E. Dilipan

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  1. T. Thangaradjou
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  2. S. Raja
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  3. Pon. Subhashini
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  4. E. P. Nobi
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Correspondence to T. Thangaradjou.

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Thangaradjou, T., Raja, S., Subhashini, P. et al. Heavy metal enrichment in the seagrasses of Lakshadweep group of islands—A multivariate statistical analysis. Environ Monit Assess 185, 673–685 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2583-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2583-3

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