A comparison of the levels of manganese and iron in the tests of Trachelomonas Ehrenb. In Surrey rivers

Abstract

A microprobe analyser was used to investigate the elemental composition of the tests, or envelopes, of the euglenoid alga Trachelomonas Ehrenb. collected during a survey of the temporal and spatial distribution of algae in the rivers Wey and Mole, two lowland rivers of South East England. The majority of those collected from the river Mole contained considerably more manganese than iron, whereas those from the river Wey contained mainly iron with frequently insignificant quantities of manganese. Preliminary attempts have been made to correlate these observations with the concentrations of these elements in the two rivers. There did not seem to be any correlation between the numbers of envelopes in which manganese was detected and the proportion which was darkly pigmented.