The frequency of freshwater cyanobacterial blooms is at risk of increasing as a consequence of climate change and eutrophication of waterways. It is increasingly apparent that abiotic data are insufficient to explain variability within the cyanobacterial community, with biotic factors such as heterotrophic bacterioplankton, viruses and protists emerging as critical drivers. During the Australian summer of 2012-2013, a bloom that occurred in a shallow ephemeral lake over a 6-month period was comprised of 22 distinct cyanobacteria, including Microcystis, Dolichospermum, Oscillatoria and Sphaerospermopsis. Cyanobacterial cell densities, bacterial community composition and abiotic parameters were assessed over this period. Alpha-diversity indices and multivariate analysis were successful at differentiating three distinct bloom phases and the contribution of abiotic parameters to each. Network analysis, assessing correlations between biotic and abiotic variables, reproduced these phases and assessed the relative importance of both abiotic and biotic factors. Variables possessing elevated betweeness centrality included temperature, sodium and operational taxonomic units belonging to the phyla Verrucomicrobia, Planctomyces, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. Species-specific associations between cyanobacteria and bacterioplankton, including the free-living Actinobacteria acI, Bacteroidetes, Betaproteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia, were also identified. We concluded that changes in the abundance and nature of freshwater cyanobacteria are associated with changes in the diversity and composition of lake bacterioplankton. Given this, an increase in the frequency of cyanobacteria blooms has the potential to alter nutrient cycling and contribute to long-term functional perturbation of freshwater systems.
The occurrence of a severe cyanobacterial bloom is described. This bloom affected almost 1000 km of the Barwon-Darling River, New South Wales, Australia, in November and December 1991 and was dominated by Anabaena circinalis Rabenhorst. This cyanobacterium was present in concentrations of around half a million cells per millilitre at some localities during its peak in mid November. Moderate to very high toxicity was demonstrated by mouse bioassay at many localities during this time. The bloom was attributed to very low flow conditions and high nutrient concentrations, especially of total phosphorus. However, warm water temperatures, elevated pH, reduced turbidity, and improved water transparency would also have been contributing factors. Very high ammonia concentrations were also observed during the bloom. The bloom declined during December and was eventually flushed from the river by increased flows following heavy catchment rainfall between mid December and early January.
SUMMARY 1. From measurements at several weir pool sites along the turbid and freshwater Barwon‐Darling River, Australia, the development of persistent stratification (for periods of >5 days) was related to river discharge. For the sites examined, the required discharge to allow the development of persistent stratification was between 100 and 450 ML day−1 during the hotter months. High discharge during the hotter months did not allow the formation of persistent stratification, although diel stratification did occur. Low discharge through the cooler months resulted in diel stratification, although persistent stratification lasting for a few days could occur at times. 2. The growth and dominance of Anabaena circinalis at these sites was closely related to the establishment and maintenance of persistent and strong thermal stratification. Growth only occurred during extended periods (>5 days) of persistent stratification. These conditions not only restrict the displacement of A. circinalis downstream, they also allowed the alga to accumulate in surface waters. 3. The discharge levels required to suppress the formation of persistent stratification at the study sites were variable because of large differences in channel cross‐sectional area. To compensate for this variation, the discharges were converted to flow velocities. A critical velocity of 0.05 ms−1 was sufficient for the suppression of persistent thermal stratification and concurrent A. circinalis growth for all sites. The turbulent velocity (u*) under weak wind mixing at the study locations varied between 2.66 × 10−3 and 2.91 × 10−3 ms−1 at the critical flow velocities. These values may have potential to be applied to other rivers in similar climatic zones to suppress nuisance cyanobacterial growth.
A cyanobacterial bloom impacted over 1,100 km of the Murray River, Australia, and its tributaries in 2009. Physicochemical conditions in the river were optimal to support a bloom at the time. The data suggest that at least three blooms occurred concurrently in different sections of the river, with each having a different community composition and associated cyanotoxin profile. Microscopic and genetic analyses suggested the presence of potentially toxic Anabaena circinalis, Microcystis flos-aquae, and Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii at many locations. Low concentrations of saxitoxins and cylindrospermopsin were detected in Anabaena and Cylindrospermopsis populations. A multiplex quantitative PCR was used, employing novel oligonucleotide primers and fluorescent TaqMan probes, to examine bloom toxigenicity. This single reaction method identified the presence of the major cyanotoxin-producing species present in these environmental samples and also quantified the various toxin biosynthesis genes. A large number of cells present throughout the bloom were not potential toxin producers or were present in numbers below the limit of detection of the assay and therefore not an immediate health risk. Potential toxin-producing cells, possessing the cylindrospermopsin biosynthesis gene (cyrA), predominated early in the bloom, while those possessing the saxitoxin biosynthesis gene (sxtA) were more common toward its decline. In this study, the concentrations of cyanotoxins measured via enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) correlated positively with the respective toxin gene copy numbers, indicating that the molecular method may be used as a proxy for bloom risk assessment.
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