A pilot project to detect and forecast harmful algal blooms in the northern Gulf of Mexico

More timely access to data and information on the initiation, evolution and effects of harmful algal blooms can reduce adverse impacts on valued natural resources and human health. To achieve this in the northern Gulf of Mexico, a pilot project was initiated to develop a user-driven, end-to-end (measurements to applications) observing system. A key strategy of the project is to coordinate existing state, federal and academic programs at an unprecedented level of collaboration and partnership. Resource managers charged with protection of public health and aquatic resources require immediate notice of algal events and a forecast of when, where and what adverse effects will likely occur. Further, managers require integrated analyses and interpretations, rather than raw data, to make effective decisions. Consequently, a functional observing system must collect and transform diverse measurements into usable forecasts. Data needed to support development of forecasts will include such properties as sea surface temperature, winds, currents and waves; precipitation and freshwater flows with related discharges of sediment and nutrients; salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll concentrations (in vivo fluorescence); and remotely-sensed spatial images of sea surface chlorophyll concentrations. These data will be provided via a mixture of discrete and autonomous in situ sensing with near real-time data telemetry, and remote sensing from space (SeaWiFS), aircraft (hyperspectral imagery) or land (high-frequency radar). With calibration across these platforms, the project will ultimately provide a 4-dimensional visualization of harmful algae events in a time frame suitable to resource managers.     

东海赤潮及其监视监测

赤潮是一种海洋生态异常现象，是海洋生态系统受损与退化的表征与警示。近20a以来，东海赤潮频发，且影响范围不断扩大、持续时间增长，并呈逐年上升趋势，在一定程度上制约了东海区沿海省市海洋经济的发展。开展有害赤潮常规监测和应急监视监测是当前赤潮监控中最为有效手段。本文系统回顾和总结了近20a来东海区赤潮发生特点，以及在东海区开展的赤潮监视监测工作，并对21世纪东海赤潮监视监测进行了简要展望。     

Factors Influencing Prymnesium parvum Population Dynamics During Bloom Initiation: Results from In-lake Mesocosm Experiments1

Roelke, Daniel L., Leslie Schwierzke, Bryan W. Brooks, James P. Grover, Reagan M. Errera, Theodore W. Valenti, Jr., and James L. Pinckney, 2010. Factors Influencing Prymnesium parvum Population Dynamics During Bloom Initiation: Results from In-Lake Mesocosm Experiments. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(1):76-91. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00392.x Abstract: The alga Prymnesium parvum forms large fish-killing blooms in many Texas lakes. In some of these lakes, however, P. parvum occurs but does not develop blooms. In this study, we investigated factors that may influence bloom initiation by conducting a series of in-lake experiments involving mixing of waters from Lake Whitney, which has a history of P. parvum blooms, with waters from Lake Waco where no blooms have occurred. In all experiments, the addition of Lake Waco waters resulted in a poorer performance of P. parvum. Various experimental treatments and field data show that differences in grazing, pathogens, nutrients, and salts between the two lakes were not likely factors that contributed to this observation. Industrial and agricultural contaminants, allelochemicals and algicidal chemicals were not measured as a part of this research. However, anthropogenic contaminants other than nutrients were not observed at levels exceeding water quality standards in Lake Waco in recent years. On the other hand, nuisance cyanobacteria are common in Lake Waco, where Microcystis sp. and Anabaena sp. were abundant during the initiation of our experiments, both taxa are known to produce chemicals with allelopathic properties. In addition, the emergent field of algal-heterotrophic bacteria interactions suggests that chemicals produced by heterotrophic bacteria should not be overlooked. Further research focusing on the chemical interactions between cyanobacteria and P. parvum, as well as the potential role of algicidal bacteria, in the initiation of P. parvum blooms is necessary, as it may be important to the management of these blooms.     

Sulfur-containing amino acid methionine as the precursor of volatile organic sulfur compounds in algea-induced black bloom

After the application of methionine, a progressive and significant increase occurred in five volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSCs): methanethiol (MeSH), dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) and dimethyl tetrasulfide (DMTeS). Even in the untreated control without a methionine addition, methionine and its catabolites (VOSCs, mainly DMDS) were found in considerable amounts that were high enough to account for the water’s offensive odor. However, blackening only occurred in two methionine-amended treatments. The VOSCs production was observed to precede black color development, and the reaching of a peak value for total VOSCs was often followed by water blackening. The presence of glucose stimulated the degradation of methionine while postponing the occurrence of the black color and inhibiting the production of VOSCs. In addition, DMDS was found to be the most abundant species produced after the addition of methionine alone, and DMTeS appeared to be the most important compound produced after the addition of methionine+glucose. These results suggest that methionine acted as an important precursor of the VOSCs in lakes suffering from algea-induced black bloom. The existence of glucose may change the transformation pathway of methionine into VOSCs to form larger molecular weight compounds, such as DMTS and DMTeS.     

Decrease of NH4+-N by bacterioplankton accelerated the removal of cyanobacterial blooms in aerated aquatic ecosystem

We used aerated systems to assess the influence of the bacterioplankton community on cyanobacterial blooms in algae/post-bloom of Lake Taihu, China. Bacterioplankton community diversity was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis(PCR-DGGE) fingerprinting. Chemical analysis and nitrogen dynamic changes illustrated that NH4+-N was nitrified to NO2-N and NO3-N by bacterioplankton. Finally, NH4+-N was exhausted and NO3-N was denitrified to NO2-N, while the accumulation of NO2-N indicated that bacterioplankton with completely aerobic denitrification ability were lacking in the water samples collected from Lake Taihu. We suggested that adding completely aerobic denitrification bacteria(to denitrify NO2-N to N2)would improve the water quality. PCR-DGGE and sequencing results showed that more than 1/3 of the bacterial species were associated with the removal of nitrogen, and Acidovorax temperans was the dominant one. PCR-DGGE, variation of nitrogen, removal efciencies of chlorophyll-a and canonical correspondence analysis indicated that the bacterioplankton significantly influenced the physiological and biochemical changes of cyanobacteria. Additionally, the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means revealed there was no obvious harm to the microecosystem from aeration. The present study demonstrated that bacterioplankton can play crucial roles in aerated ecosystems, which could control the impact of cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophicated fresh water systems.     

富营养化水体中黑水团的吸收及反射特性分析

对黑水团水体光学特性进行研究,是利用遥感技术监测和评估黑水团事件的前提.针对2015年7月在太湖发生的黑水团现象,采集了太湖黑水团区(区域一)、蓝藻水华区(区域二)、清水区(区域三)共36个水样,对这3个区域的水体遥感反射率以及吸收特性进行对比分析.结果表明:1区域一水体的总颗粒物、色素颗粒物和非色素颗粒物吸收系数比区域二、区域三高出1~2倍,在400~500 nm之间,区域一CDOM吸收系数相比另外两个区域的水体高出2倍左右.导致黑水团区域水体具有很低的遥感反射率,被人眼感知时呈现为黑色;2黑水团区域水体M值低于滇池、巢湖和太湖的M值变化范围,说明黑水团中CDOM的腐殖酸含量较高.此外,叶绿素a浓度与CDOM在350 nm处吸收系数之间具有很好的相关性,表明蓝藻的降解可能是黑水团中CDOM的一个主要来源;3在380 nm之后,黑水团区域的水体总吸收以色素颗粒物占主导,但在短波350~380 nm处,CDOM对总吸收的贡献率高于色素颗粒物和非色素颗粒物.     

巢湖蓝藻的机械清除工艺以及藻水分离实验研究简

对巢湖蓝藻进行机械清除以及藻水分离实验研究，实验采用的浮式围栏引导-机械清除-投加剥离液辅助机械清除工艺处理量大，除藻效率高，筛网过滤-浓缩-卧螺离心机脱水成藻泥的藻水分离工艺较为理想，藻泥含水率仅为89%。2011年5—10月在巢湖运用上述方法清除湖面水华蓝藻，共处理富藻水1.6万m³，得到藻泥970 t，累计清除蓝藻106.7 t（干重）。按照所清除蓝藻的总氮、总磷的平均含量计算，相当于从湖中移除了氮6.25 t，磷2.1 t。表明在富营养湖泊中水华蓝藻大量暴发时，采用上述方法除藻，对控制蓝藻水华污染，有效降低内源氮、磷等污染物负荷具有十分重要的作用。     

挺水植物化感作用抑制藻类生长的机理与应用

根据国内外挺水植物化感作用抑制藻类的研究,对菖蒲等15科20种挺水植物化感抑制水华鱼腥藻等18种水华藻类的作用予以评述;归纳了挺水植物化感作用在影响藻细胞亚显微结构、酶体系活性、呼吸作用、光合作用、细胞膜和细胞内小分子物质的含量等6方面的抑制藻类生长的机理;对移植栽种植物共培养、从植物中提取化感物质和直接施加化感物质等3种类型抑制藻类的应用方式进行概述;结合当前中国水华频发、抑藻和除藻任务繁重的现状,指出存在的主要问题并提出今后研究和应用化感作用抑制藻类的展望。     

巢湖蓝藻的机械清除工艺以及藻水分离实验研究

对巢湖蓝藻进行机械清除以及藻水分离实验研究，实验采用的浮式围栏引导一机械清除．投加剥离液辅助机械清除工艺处理量大，除藻效率高，筛网过滤-浓缩-卧螺离心机脱水成藻泥的藻水分离工艺较为理想，藻泥含水率仅为89％。2011年5-10月在巢湖运用上述方法清除湖面水华蓝藻，共处理富藻水1．6万m3，得到藻泥970t，累计清除蓝藻106．7t（干重）。按照所清除蓝藻的总氮、总磷的平均含量计算，相当于从湖中移除了氮6．25t，磷2．1t。表明在富营养湖泊中水华蓝藻大量暴发时，采用上述方法除藻，对控制蓝藻水华污染，有效降低内源氮、磷等污染物负荷具有十分重要的作用。     

Controlling cyanobacterial blooms by managing nutrient ratio and limitation in a large hypereutrophic lake: Lake Taihu, China

Excessive nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loading of aquatic ecosystems is a leading cause of eutrophication and harmful algal blooms worldwide, and reducing nutrient levels in water has been a primary management objective. To provide a rational protection strategy and predict future trends of eutrophication in eutrophic lakes, we need to understand the relationships between nutrient ratios and nutrient limitations. We conducted a set of outdoor bioassays at the shore of Lake Taihu. It showed that N only additions induced phytoplankton growth but adding only P did not. Combined N plus P additions promoted higher phytoplankton biomass than N only additions, which suggested that both N and P were deficient for maximum phytoplankton growth in this lake (TN:TP = 18.9). When nutrients are present at less than 7.75-13.95 mg/L TN and 0.41-0.74 mg/L TP, the deficiency of either N or P or both limits the growth of phytoplankton. N limitation then takes place when the TN:TP ratio is less than 21.5-24.7 (TDN:TDP was 34.2-44.3), and P limitation occurs above this. Therefore, according to this ratio, controlling N when N limitation exists and controlling P when P deficiency is present will prevent algal blooms effectively in the short term. But for the long term, a persistent dual nutrient (N and P) management strategy is necessary.