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Updated: May 12, 2026

Quantification of Heavy Metals and Other Inorganic Contaminants on the Productivity of Microalgae
Published on: July 10, 2015
Bioaccumulation of heavy metals by submerged macrophytes: looking for hyperaccumulators in eutrophic lakes
Wei Xing1, Haoping Wu, Beibei Hao
1Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
Abstract:
To directly select submerged macrophytes with high accumulation capability from the field, 24 eutrophic lakes along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were investigated in the study. These eutrophic lakes have large amounts of heavy metals in both water and sediments because of human activities. The results showed that Najas marina is a hyperaccumulator of As and Cd, Ceratophyllum demersum is a hyperaccumulator of Co, Cr, and Fe, and Vallisneria natans is a hyperaccumulator of Pb. Strong positive correlations were found between concentrations of heavy metals in tissues of submerged macrophytes, probably because of coaccumulation of heavy metals. However, for most heavy metals, no significant correlations were found between submerged macrophytes and their surrounding environments. In conclusion, N. marina, C. demersum, and V. natans are good candidate species for removing heavy metals from eutrophic lakes.
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