Abstract:
This study aims to investigate the effects of heavy metals namely; Mercury, Cadmium, Lead, Arsnic and Copper on the growth of selected green algae. Chlorella sp., Scenedesmus sp., and Ankistrodesmus sp. were selected as the bioassay testing organisms in this experiment. After being exposed to heavy metals at different concentration, The daily Growth Rate of green algae was measured by cell count, dry weighing, and measurement of Chlorophyll a content. Redults of The investigation revealed that the Growth Rate of algae had tendency to decrease when the concentration of heavy metals had surpassed 0.5 mg/l. Chlorella sp. showed higher tolerance to heavy metals than that of Ankistrodesmus sp. and Scenedesmus sp., respectively. The results on indicated that Hg had higher effect on the growth of green algae than those of Cu, As, Cd, and Pb, respectively.