Nuisance phytoplankton blooms in coastal, estuarine, and inland waters1

Multiple interacting physical, chemical, and biotic factors, in proper combination, lead to the development and persistence of nuisance algal blooms. Upon examining combinations of environmental conditions most likely to elicit nuisance blooms, commonalities and analog situations become more apparent among coastal marine (dinoflagellate-dominated), estuarine (dinoflagellate- and cyanobacteria-dominated), and freshwater (cyanobacteria-dominated) ecosystems. A combination of the following hydrological, chemical, and biotic factors will most likely lead to bloom-sensitive waters: a horizontally distinct water mass; a vertically stratified water column; warm weather conditions, as typified by dry monsoon tropical climates and summer seasons in temperate zones; high incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR); enhanced allochthonous organic matter loading (both as DOC and POC); enhanced allochthonous inorganic nutrient loading (nitrogen and/or phosphorus); adequate availability of essential metals, supplied by terrigenous inputs or upwelling; underlying sediments physically and nutritionally suitable as “seed beds” for resting cysts and akinetes; algal-bacterial synergism, which exhibits positive impacts on phycosphere nutrient cycling; algal-micrograzer (protists and rotifers) synergism, which also enhances nutrient cycling without consumption of filamentous and colonial nuisance taxa; and selective (for non-nuisance taxa) activities of macrograzers (crustacean zooplankton, larval fish). Nuisance bloom taxa share numerous additional physiological and ecological characteristics, including limited heterotrophic capabilities, high degrees of motility, and toxicity. Given such a set of commonalities, it would appear useful and timely to identify and address generally applicable criteria for deeming a water body “bloom sensitive” and to incorporate such criteria into the design of water quality management strategies applicable to both coastal marine and freshwater habitats.

[1]  H. Paerl,et al.  Limitation of N2 fixation in coastal marine waters: relative importance of molybdenum, iron, phosphorus, and organic matter availability , 1987 .

[2]  H. Paerl,et al.  Effects of colonial morphology on zooplankton utilization of algal resources during blue-green algal (Microcystis aeruginosa) blooms , 1987 .

[3]  R. Howarth,et al.  Molybdenum Availability, Nitrogen Limitation, and Phytoplankton Growth in Natural Waters , 1985, Science.

[4]  L. Brown,et al.  A recurrent red tide in a British Columbia coastal lagoon , 1983 .

[5]  A. Smith.  Modes of cyanobacterial carbon metabolism. , 1983, Annales de microbiologie.

[6]  H. Paerl,et al.  Blue-green algal scums: An explanation for their occurrence during freshwater blooms1 , 1982 .

[7]  H. Paerl,et al.  Physiological Adaptations in Response to Environmental Stress During an N2-Fixing Anabaena Bloom , 1980, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[8]  D. Schindler,et al.  Nitrogen Fixation in Canadian Precambrian Shield Lakes , 1980 .

[9]  R. Lewin.  Formal Taxonomic Treatment of Cyanophytes , 1979 .

[10]  F. Morel,et al.  Release of weak and strong copper-complexing agents by algae1 , 1979 .

[11]  K. Webster,et al.  Some size-dependent inhibitions of larger cladoceran filterers in filamentous suspensions , 1978 .

[12]  N. Clarke.  The food of adult copepods from Lake Kainji, Nigeria , 1978 .

[13]  Richard E. Moore,et al.  Toxins from Blue-Green Algae , 1977 .

[14]  R. Stanier.  The position of cyanobacteria in the world of phototrophs , 1977 .

[15]  P. Cloud.  Beginnings of biospheric evolution and their biogeochemical consequences , 1976, Paleobiology.

[16]  E. Carpenter,et al.  Marine oscillatoria (Trichodesmium): explanation for aerobic nitrogen fixation without heterocysts. , 1976, Science.

[17]  J. Talling,et al.  The depletion of carbon dioxide from lake water by phytoplankton , 1976 .

[18]  G. E. Fogg,et al.  The Blue-Green Algae. , 1975 .

[19]  R. Lewin,et al.  The uptake and utilization of organic carbon by algae: an essay in comparative biochemistry* , 1974 .

[20]  P. Crowley.  FILTERING RATE INHIBITION OF DAPHNIA PULEX IN WINTERGREEN LAKE WATER1,2 , 1973 .

[21]  Joseph Shapiro,et al.  Blue-Green Algae: Why They Become Dominant , 1973, Science.

[22]  W. Broecker,et al.  Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Its Role in Maintaining Phytoplankton Standing Crops , 1972, Science.

[23]  A. Abeliovich,et al.  Photooxidative Death in Blue-Green Algae , 1972, Journal of bacteriology.

[24]  D. Arnold.  INGESTION, ASSIMILATION, SURVIVAL, AND REPRODUCTION BY DAPHNIA PULEX FED SEVEN SPECIES OF BLUE‐GREEN ALGAE1,2 , 1971 .

[25]  D. J. Hall,et al.  Phosphorus, Nitrogen, and Algae in Lake Washington after Diversion of Sewage , 1970, Science.

[26]  T. Smayda.  The suspension and sinking of phytoplankton in the sea , 1970 .

[27]  J. Raven.  EXOGENOUS INORGANIC CARBON SOURCES IN PLANT PHOTOSYNTHESIS , 1970 .

[28]  J. I. Sorokin.  The Use of 14C in the Study of Nutrition of Aquatic Animals: With 10 figures and 10 tables in the text , 1968 .

[29]  D. Schindler,et al.  FEEDING, ASSIMILATION AND RESPIRATION RATES OF DAPHNIA MAGNA UJNDER VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND THEIR RELATION TO PRODUCTION ESTIMATES , 1968 .

[30]  J. Neilands.  Hydroxamic Acids in Nature , 1967, Science.

[31]  A. Prakash.  Growth and Toxicity of a Marine Dinoflagellate, Gonyaulax tamarensis , 1967 .

[32]  B. Dale,et al.  Marine Dinoflagellate Cultures from Resting Spores1 , 1967 .

[33]  M. Veldhuis,et al.  Availability of dissolved iron from Tjeukemeer, The Netherlands, for iron-limited growing Scenedesmus quadricauda , 1985 .

[34]  H. Paerl.  Environmental factors promoting and regulating N2 fixing blue-green algal blooms in the Chowan River, N.C. , 1982 .

[35]  S. Hastings,et al.  Phytoplankton Response to a Stratification-Mixing Cycle in the York River Estuary during Late Summer , 1981 .

[36]  M. Takahashi,et al.  Dynamics of dissolved oxygen during algal bloom in Lake Kasumigaura, Japan , 1980 .

[37]  F. Taylor.  On dinoflagellate evolution. , 1980, Bio Systems.

[38]  W. Carmichael,et al.  TOXIC SUBSTANCES FROM FRESHWATER ALGAE , 1980 .

[39]  P. Tasch,et al.  Paleobiology of the invertebrates , 1980 .

[40]  Marta Estrada,et al.  Functional morphology of organisms involved in red tides, as adapted to decaying turbulence , 1979 .

[41]  G. Cohen-bazire,et al.  Phototrophic prokaryotes: the cyanobacteria. , 1977, Annual review of microbiology.

[42]  M. Droop.  Heterotrophy of carbon , 1974 .

[43]  Timothy R. Parsons,et al.  Biological Oceanographic Processes , 1973 .

[44]  K. Steidinger,et al.  CHAPTER VI – The Effects of Gymnodinium breve Toxin on Estuarine Animals , 1973 .