| Abstract: | Copper complexing capacity of cell exudates of Dunaliella salina in natural seawater culture medium was investigated in order to evaluate the influence of this organism on speciation of trace metals in seawater.Seawater samples were collected at 200 m and 2 miles off the coast and immediately filtered. Copper complexing capacity (CCCu) and stability constants (K′) of related cupric complexes were then measured. They were, respectively, 27.1 × 10−8 mol l−1 and 0.56 × 107 l mol−1 for the samples collected at 200 m and 12.8 × 10−8 mol l−1 and 6.10 × 107 l mol−1 for those collected 2 miles off the coast. A stock culture (20 ml, 106 cells ml−1) in log-phase was inoculated in 2 l of each sample of filtered natural seawater. The trend of cell influence was estimated on filtered culture medium by measuring CCCu and K′ after 1 h, 3 and 7 days. From the results it appears that CCCu increased with respect to time and this was related to the growth rate, indicating a certain relationship with cell metabolic activity.It can be concluded that a comparison between the culture referring to 200 m and 2 miles, respectively, shows that the former presents a CCCu two times higher than the latter while the K′ is ten times higher at 2 miles than that at 200 m. |
