The protection and reasonable use of freshwater is one of the main goals for our future, as water is most important for all organisms on earth including humans. Due to pollution, not only with xenobiotics, but also with nutrients, the status of our water bodies has changed drastically. Excess nutrient load induces eutrophication processes and, as a result, massive cyanobacterial blooms during the summer times. As cyanobacteria are known to produce several toxic secondary metabolites, the so-called cyanotoxins, exhibiting hepato-, neuro-and cell-toxicity, a potential risk is given, when using this water. There is an urgent need to have a water purification system, which is able to cope with these natural toxins. Using aquatic plants as a Green Liver, the Green Liver System ® , was developed, able to remove these natural pollutants. To test the ability of the Green Liver System ® , several cyanobacterial toxins including artificial and natural mixtures were tested in a small-scale laboratory system. The results showed that within 7-14 days a combination of different aquatic macrophytes was able to remove a given toxin amount (10 µg•L −1) by 100%. The phy-* Corresponding author. S. Pflugmacher et al. 1608 toremediation technology behind the Green Liver Systems ® uses the simple ability of submerged aquatic plants to uptake, detoxify and store the toxins, without formation and release of further metabolites to the surrounding water.
The increasing world population, resulting in increased anthropogenic water pollution, is negatively impacting the limited available water resources. In South Korea, this similarly affects the water quality of reservoirs. As water is a basic necessity for life, water quality monitoring is essential but typically does not include toxicity testing. However, as toxic bloom event frequencies are increasing, this previously neglected aspect becomes pertinent. Therefore, in the present study, the toxin composition and toxicity of a Microcystis aeruginosa strain isolated from a persistent bloom in lake Wangsong, South Korea, was investigated. Methods A combination of bioassays and chemical analysis was used for this purpose. The bioassay species included terrestrial and aquatic plants, an alga, a rotifer, a tubificid annelid, and crustaceans, representing various trophic levels. Results The strain was found to produce microcystin-LR,-RR, and YR, as well as β-N-methylamino-L-alanine. The bioassays indicated that the primary producers were less sensitive to the crude extract. Conclusion The presence of absence of a visible cyanobacterial bloom is also not an indication of the toxins that may be present in the afflicted waters, and thus does not predict exposure risk. Similarly, the presence and absence of toxins and mixtures thereof does not indicate the ecological effect. Therefore, it would be advantages to include toxicity testing into routine water testing regimes to better understand the impact of harmful algal blooms.
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