Application of multielement techniques for the fingerprinting of elemental contents in Fucus vesiculosus from the North Sea

The brown alga Fucus vesiculosus has been used as one of the bioindicators for marine ecosystems. Surfaces of algae are reflecting steady-state distribution processes with the surrounding water, based in particular on ion-exchange equilibria. Therefore, they should be suitable not only as bioindicators for a few chemical compounds of current interest, but also to a certain extent for all elements occuring in ionic form in the aquatic environment. The algae were sampled on different locations in the North Sea at regular intervals, and placed above liquid nitrogen already on site to diminish chemical alterations. A variety of elements with environmental importance has been analyzed in whole plants but also in tips, one and two year old-tissues, and basal parts of the algae. Elemental fingerprinting has been realized by using instrumental neutron activation analysis as well as inductively coupled plasma coupled to mass spectrometry and atomic emission spectrometry, respectively. Comparison of the element patterns with respect to sampling location and time as well as cross-correlations between various element concentrations are discussed. Moreover, the contribution of different parts of the algae to the total concentration of the whole plant is presented. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.