Abstract:
Bidong Island is located at the coastal waters of Terengganu. This study is to determine the nutrients and chlorophyll-a concentration in the waters around the Bidong Island. Two sampling trip were conducted on 25 th March 2010 and 8 th July 2010 to collect water samples from eight predetermined transect with four stations each. The water samples are filtered with a GFC filter paper and preserved with acid and stored for further analysis. Methods by Parson et al. and APHA are used to determine the chlorophyll-a, nitrate, nitrite, amoniacal-nitrogen and orthophosphate concentration of the water samples. The average chlorophyll-a concentration during first and second sampling are 287.24 ± 132.19 μg/L and 313.14 ± 104.62 μg/L respectively. The mean and standard deviation for the concentration of nitrates during the first and second sampling are 151.85 ± 4.88 μg/L and 95.89 ± 12.05 μg/L respectively. The average concentration of nitrite during first and second sampling is at 36.82 ± 2.10 μg/L during first sampling and 40.86 ± 2.93 μg/L. As for ammoniacal-nitrogen, the mean during the first sampling is 16.79 ± 7.09 μg/L and 33.43 ± 4.68 μg/L during the second sampling. Last but not least is orthophosphate where its average concentrations for the first and second sampling are 25.41 ± 8.05 μg/L and 16.91 ± 3.88 μg/L respectively. No visible land based effect can be observed throughout the stations in each transect. All the nutrients level in the study area did not exceed the prescribed safety level.
