Seasonal variation in elemental composition of certain red algae from Southeast coast of India

Three species of red algae belonging to the class Rhodophyceae viz. Amphiroa fragilissima, Centroceras clavulatum and Gracilaria canaliculata were collected from seven localities in the southeast coast of India. The collected red algae were analysed for elemental composition (Al, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Fb, Zn) using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP - AES) from May 2018 to April 2019 at three months interval. The seasonal variation in the elemental composition of the three red algae species showed that most of the minerals were found to accumulate during the summer season followed by pre-monsoon season. This could perhaps be due to the ambient concentration of these minerals were high during these seasons; thereby facilitating their uptake by seaweeds. The accumulation factor of certain irons by the algae were also discussed in this paper.