Accumulation of Heavy Metals by the Marine Diaton Ditylum brightwellii (West) Grunow

Abstract

The accumulation of copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead by the marine planktonic diatom D. brightwellii cultured under laboratory conditions is described. With the exception of copper, the concentration of metal taken up by D. brightwellii generally increased with increasing concentration of the metal in the medium. From calculated biological concentration factors (BCF), metal uptake was in the order Zn > Pb > Cu > Cd. For each metal, the BCF value and percentage uptake generally decreased with increasing metal concentration in the medium.