Mehdi Bibak

Bioindicators are organisms or species or groups of species whose population status can be used to monitor the health status of the environment in which they live. Changes in the population status, behavior, and physiology of such organisms are used to predict the occurrence of an environmental problem in a given ecosystem. Algae are known as potential biological indicators in aquatic ecosystems. In this study, three species of brown algae (Padina gymnospora), green algae (Cladophoropsis membranacea), and red algae (Hypnea hamulosa) were used. These samples were taken from the northern shores of the Persian Gulf in Bushehr city. The results of this research showed that the most suitable algae for removing nickel, lead, cadmium, and mercury are as follows: nickel: brown algae; lead: brown algae; cadmium: red algae; and mercury: green algae. Finding organisms with the highest absorption and removal of environmental pollution has always been one of the goals of researchers in this field. Macroalgae are very efficient in the field of biological removal and absorption, and access, harvest, and use are very convenient and low cost. The results of this research showed that macroalgae have different absorption capacity and suitable algae can be selected for maximum biological absorption of any metal.