Seasonal variation in elemental composition of certain seaweeds from Pudumadam, Southeast Coast of Tamil Nadu

摘要

Vegetative part of five species of seaweeds viz., Sargassum wightii, Stoechospermum marginatum, Gracilariacorticata yar. cylindrica, Gracilaria verrucosa and Grateloupia filicinia collected from the natural habitat of Pudumadam coast were subjected toSEM-energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis and quantified the minerals such as Na, Mg, Si, S, CI, K, Ca, Mn, P, Fe, Zn and Cr during summer, pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons between April 2007 to March 2008. Significant seasonal variationin the elemental accumulation of the algae was observed. Seasonal distribution of elemental composition in the seaweeds showed that most of the minerals were in peak during summer followed by post-monsoon and monsoon seasons. This may be due to the ambient concentration of these minerals, which were high during these seasons thereby facilitating their uptake by seaweeds.