Trace elements in the common brown algae and in sea water

Abstract

Sea water probably contains all the chemical elements, although a number of them have not yet been detected. Considerable information is available on the occurrence of various elements in marine plants and animals, but it is far from complete for any one biological group. Except for recent work by Spooner (1949), on the absorption of radioactive strontium and yttrium by marine algae, no detailed study of the trace elements in the brown algae, nor any attempt to correlate the trace elements in sea water with those in the algae, appears to have been carried out. The following is a brief résumé of the work that has been done in this field.