Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to study the accumulated amount of heavy metals such as zinc and copper in marine algae on the coast of Chonburi and Rayong provinces from Januaryto June 2000. The Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer Model Analyst 100 was used to measure the content of heavy metals absorbed by the alga which are collected monthly.The result of the study revealed that there were accumulation of zine and copper in all samples collected from 10 stations except at Maptaphut. The content of zine and copper was under detection limit (DL) in Padina. In all other algac collected the results revealed that zine absorption in Gracilaria were 56.30+ 2.52 and 53.22 + 5.38 ug/g while the copper absorption were 18.49 + 3.31 and 11.25 + 4.15 ug/g respectively. The content of zine in Enteromorpha collected from Phadaeng beach, Bangsarae and Phayoon beach were 165.78+3.14, 32.84+6.0 and 46.93+2.40 ug/g while the copper absorption were 18.34 +4.09, 54.33+3.04 and 2.35+1.64 ug/g respectively. In Sargassum collected from Phadaeng beach and Banphe beach showed its zine absorption of 107+3.85 and 77.02+6.20 ug/g and its copper absorption of 17.64+4.97 and 16.32 +4.48 ug/g respectively. The padina collected from Samaesan beach, Laemchareon beach, Maerumphung beach and Banphe beach, showed their zine absorption of 28.23+1.88, 59.35+10.84, 28.64+4.17 and 33.16+1.77 ug/g respectively and their copper absorption of 15.10+3.56, 17.55+3.64,17.4+6.12 and 14.89+3.66 ug/g respectivelyThe comparison of zine and copper absorption in Enteromorpha and Sargassum collected from Phadaeng beach and in Sargassum and Padina collected from Banphe beach showed that the accumulation of heavy metals in different algae from the same area in each month had statistical significance at the level of 95%. The accumulation detected in every 6 months revealed that there was accumulation of zine and copper with statistical significance at the level of 95% and the accumulation of heavy metals in each month was also at the same statistical significance level.