It has been demonstrated that the toxicity of heavy metals depends on their chemical speciation and can be related to their free ion activities, rather than the total metal concentrations (Steemann- Nielsen and Wium-Andersen, 1970; Sunda and Guillard, 1976; Andrew, Biesinger, and Glass, 1977; Anderson, Morel and Guillard, 1978). The objective of this study was to determine the effect of combined free ions of zinc and copper on the toxicity to the green alga Selenastrum capricornutum. This alga was grown in a defined medium, under controlled laboratory conditions, with a varying range of zinc and copper concentrations. The growth rate of the alga was inhibited at pZn = 5.93 or at pCu = 7.24. The results suggest that when the chemical speciation of combined zinc and copper is taken into account, there is little or no toxic interaction between the two metal ions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-4268 |
| Date | 01 January 1983 |
| Creators | Colonia-Roque, Helmer |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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