Issue no. 160 - Eutrophication, Cyanobacteria, and Cyanotoxins Newsletter

From the Mainstream Media / Dans les médias grand public

United Kingdom: ‘Like the flip of a switch, it’s gone’: has the ecosystem of the UK’s largest lake collapsed?

“Last summer, a vast “bloom” of blue-green algae – a thick, photosynthesising blanket that deprives the lake of oxygen, choking aquatic life – brought the lough’s accelerating biodiversity crisis into sharp focus.”

Illinois, USA: Agriculture, environmental leaders urge continued collective action on nutrient pollution prevention

“A variety of factors contribute to rising nutrient loads, including increased streamflow, residual nutrients from years past, a wide range of human activities, climate change’s impact on water dynamics, and some unidentified sources.”

Ireland: Monitoring recommended as algae blooms expected to increase

“The experts recommended that nutrient loading from agricultural and urban sources be reduced, and specifically that nitrogen to phosphorous ratios be maintained at natural levels. They said it is important to reduce nitrogen loadings quicker than phosphorus loadings, to avoid an imbalance.”

China: Northeast China faces high levels of nitrogen pollution, study finds

“They found that the total inorganic nitrogen (wet) deposition in Northeast Asia was about 7.5 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare per year, which is twice as high as the level in Europe and the United States.”

Nitrogen: How diet and food waste are key to tackling one of the great pollutants of our time

“Nitrogen pollution contributes to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. Today, about 80 per cent of reactive nitrogen – estimated to be worth US$200 billion – is lost to the environment every year.”

Here’s How Your City Can Go “Spongy” & Hold Back Flooding

“As cities face increasing threats from climate change — including heavy rainfall and extreme heat events — implementing this natural infrastructure is more important than ever.”

France: Une bombe à retardement au même titre que les algues vertes en Bretagne" : la prolifération des cyanobactéries inquiète

« S'il n’y avait pas d’excès de nutriments, il n’y aurait pas de prolifération de cyanobactéries. »

USA : Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN)

“The mission of the CyAN project is to support the environmental management and public use of U.S. lakes and estuaries by providing a useful and accessible approach to detecting and quantifying algal blooms and related water quality using satellite data records.”

California, USA: Huntington Beach tries out ocean-cleaning robot in hard-to-reach local waterways

“In addition to picking up trash from the surface of the water, it has the capacity to absorb oil and clean algal blooms.”

Michigan Sea Grant: Community Dynamics of Cyanobacteria in Lake Erie: Testing Environmental Drivers of Bloom Succession.

“This project will investigate how environmental factors influence the shifting array of algae species in Lake Erie’s harmful algal blooms.”

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From the Scientific Media / Des médias scientifiques :

Improving water quality in a hypereutrophic lake and tributary through agricultural nutrient mitigation: A Multi-year monitoring analysis

“Our findings offer evidence of a relatively rapid, positive effect of the implementation of field-scale agricultural nutrient mitigation measures contributing to subsequent improvements in downstream water quality.”

Imbalance of global nutrient cycles exacerbated by the greater retention of phosphorus over nitrogen in lakes

“Our results suggest that eutrophication management that prioritizes the reduction of P in lakes—which causes a further decrease in P in outflows—may unintentionally aggravate N/P imbalances in global ecosystems.”

Cyanopeptolins and Anabaenopeptins Are the Dominant Cyanopeptides from Planktothrix Strains Collected in Canadian Lakes

“This study highlights the diversity of cyanopeptides produced by Planktothrix and further hints at the underestimated cyanopeptide diversity from subpopulations of chemotypic cyanobacteria in freshwater lakes.”

A lake management framework for global application: monitoring, restoring, and protecting lakes through community engagement

“…we propose the MoReCo (Monitoring, Restoring/Protecting, Community Engagement) lake management framework. The framework centers around community engagement, and we outline engagement mechanisms in the context of lake management.”

Occurrence, Distribution and Toxins of Benthic Cyanobacteria in German Lakes

“Our findings suggest that monitoring of benthic cyanobacteria and their toxins should receive greater attention, ideally complementing existing open-water sampling programs with little additional effort.”

Nutrient metrics to compare algal photosynthetic responses to point and non-point sources of nitrogen pollution

“This study provides an improved understanding and metrics for comparing the algal growth response to different nutrient sources.”

Toxins in biofilms of lakes and rivers, an emerging threat for public health in a scenario of climate changes

“The concentration of toxins in biofilm (especially of anatoxins) can reach very high levels, sufficient to cause the death of dogs and cattle. Differently from planktonic cyanobacteria, there is no regular monitoring of benthic cyanobacteria by authorities.”

Drivers of cyanotoxin and taste-and-odor compound presence within the benthic algae of human-disturbed rivers

“Microcystin and geosmin found in all benthic algae samples, regardless of land use.”