Chromium accumulation by avicennia alba growing at ecotourism mangrove forest in Surabaya, Indonesia

The Ecotourism Mangrove Forest at Wonorejo in East Coast Surabaya area is one of large mangrove forests inside in the metropolitan city in Indonesia. There are many ecological values of the mangrove forest in most tropical countries such as sea fisheries, place of sea and coastal animals, sea and brackish water quality protecting the endangered mangrove coastlines and development of human life. The role of mangrove in increasing the sea and brackish water quality can be shown through many processes such as cycling of nutrients, particulate matter and some pollutants in water and sediment around the mangrove plants. One of the inorganic pollutants that can be removed by mangrove are heavy metals, such as chromium (Cr). The Wonorejo River is one of the rivers that receive the disposal of wastewater in Surabaya East Coast area. Large quantitites of wastewater from industries and households were released to this river. The concentration of Cr at the Wonorejo Estuary reached 0.0325 mg/L and 2.7761 mg/L in sediments. The purpose of this research was to determine the potency of Cr accumulation by Avicennia alba that was grown for ten years at Wonorejo Ecotourism Mangrove Forest. The sampling activities were conducted using a transect quadrat sampling method with a 10×10 m dimension. The sediment and mangrove root samples were extracted before being analysed using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The results showed that the Cr accumulation by roots of A. alba reached 25.4 ± 1.6 to 55.3 ± 1.1. The BCF value in A. alba were 0.32 ± 0.01 to 0.83 ± 0.5 with the concentration Cr in sediment were 60 ± 1.4 to 79.3 ± 1.1. A. alba showed potential as a moderate accumulator for Cr. In conclusion, A. alba can be considered for use in phyto-monitoring and phytoremediation of Cr in coastal areas.