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Effect of selenium on the growth of some selected green and blue‐green algae
Author(s) -
AbdelHamid Mohammad I.,
Skulberg Olav M.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
lakes and reservoirs: research and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.296
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1440-1770
pISSN - 1320-5331
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1770.1995.tb00025.x
Subject(s) - selenastrum , selenium , algae , anabaena , green algae , blue green algae , chlorella , cyanobacteria , botany , biology , chlorophyta , growth inhibition , food science , chemistry , biochemistry , bacteria , cell growth , genetics , organic chemistry
An algal assay procedure using microplate technique was carried out to assess the effect of selenium on the growth of some green and blue‐green algae. Sodium selenite pentahydrate (Na 2 SeO 3 .5H 2 O) and selendioxide (Se 2 O 4 ) were tested as selenium. The test algae were Selenastrum capricornutum, Scenedesmus obliquus, Chlorella sp., Monoraphidium convolutum, Monoraphidium contortum, Monoraphidium griffithii, Anabaena flos‐aquae, Micro‐cystis aeruginosa , and Oscillatoria agardhii. The blue‐green algae are toxin‐producing strains. Cell number and in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence were the growth parameters of green and blue‐green algae respectively. Dose‐response curves quantify the selenium toxicity in terms of EC 50 . The lowest selenium concentrations giving no detectable growth (EC 100 ) were visually inspected. The test algae showed distinctly different responses to various selenium treatments. Selenium at concentrations < 0.1 mg L −1 stimulates, to varying degrees, the growth of all the green algae with one exception: S. capricornutum was dramatically inhibited at all treatments. O. agardhii, A. flos‐aquae and M. aeruginosa showed marginal growth stimulation up to 0.1 mg Se L −1 , 1.0 mg Se L −1 and 3.2 mg Se L −1 respectively. In terms of EC 50 , the compound selendioxide was more toxic to greens than sodium selenite. The reverse was indicated for the blue‐greens. In general, the EC 50 presented a wide range (0.08–7.2 mg Se L −1 ), with the lowest values reported for S. obliquus and the highest for M. aeruginosa. All the test algae, except S. obliquus , maintained observable growths at higher selenium levels (EC 100 >1.0<100mg Se L −1 ).