A large-scale sustained fish kill in the St. Johns River, Florida: A complex consequence of cyanobacteria blooms

Landsberg, Jan H.; Hendrickson, John; Tabuchi, Maki; Kiryu, Yasunari; Williams, Barry; Tomlinson, Michelle C.

doi:10.1016/j.hal.2020.101771

Cited by 24 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 138 publications

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“…A diverse array of cyanobacterial species have been documented from many Florida waters, including freshwater springs, ponds and lakes, rivers, estuaries and marine environments. Increasingly, toxic cyanoHABs and/or their toxins are being documented in additional freshwater systems within the state, including the St John's River (Havens et al, 2019;Landsberg et al, 2020), Lake Okeechobee (Havens et al, 2003;Kramer et al, 2018), the St. Lucie River (Kramer et al, 2018) and the Caloosahatchee River (Metcalf et al, 2021) as well as some estuarine and marine environments within Florida Tiling and Proffitt, 2017;Lefler et al, 2021;Metcalf et al, 2021). These freshwater and marine cyanoHABs are not necessarily separate events.…”

Section: Cyanobacterial Hab Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Florida’s Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Problem: Escalating Risks to Human, Environmental and Economic Health With Climate Change

Heil

Muni-Morgan

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) pose unique risks to the citizens, stakeholders, visitors, environment and economy of the state of Florida. Florida has been historically subjected to reoccurring blooms of the toxic marine dinoflagellate Karenia brevis (C. C. Davis) G. Hansen & Moestrup since at least first contact with explorers in the 1500’s. However, ongoing immigration of more than 100,000 people year–1 into the state, elevated population densities in coastal areas with attendant rapid, often unregulated development, coastal eutrophication, and climate change impacts (e.g., increasing hurricane severity, increases in water temperature, ocean acidification and sea level rise) has likely increased the occurrence of other HABs, both freshwater and marine, within the state as well as the number of people impacted by these blooms. Currently, over 75 freshwater, estuarine, coastal and marine HAB species are routinely monitored by state agencies. While only blooms of K. brevis, the dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense (Böhm) Steidinger, Tester, and Taylor and the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia spp. have resulted in closure of commercial shellfish beds, other HAB species, including freshwater and marine cyanobacteria, pose either imminent or unknown risks to human, environmental and economic health. HAB related human health risks can be classified into those related to consumption of contaminated shellfish and finfish, consumption of or contact with bloom or toxin contaminated water or exposure to aerosolized HAB toxins. While acute human illnesses resulting from consumption of brevetoxin-, saxitoxin-, and domoic acid-contaminated commercial shellfish have been minimized by effective monitoring and regulation, illnesses due to unregulated toxin exposures, e.g., ciguatoxins and cyanotoxins, are not well documented or understood. Aerosolized HAB toxins potentially impact the largest number of people within Florida. While short-term (days to weeks) impacts of aerosolized brevetoxin exposure are well documented (e.g., decreased respiratory function for at-risk subgroups such as asthmatics), little is known of longer term (>1 month) impacts of exposure or the risks posed by aerosolized cyanotoxin [e.g., microcystin, β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA)] exposure. Environmental risks of K. brevis blooms are the best studied of Florida HABs and include acute exposure impacts such as significant dies-offs of fish, marine mammals, seabirds and turtles, as well as negative impacts on larval and juvenile stages of many biota. When K. brevis blooms are present, brevetoxins can be found throughout the water column and are widespread in both pelagic and benthic biota. The presence of brevetoxins in living tissue of both fish and marine mammals suggests that food web transfer of these toxins is occurring, resulting in toxin transport beyond the spatial and temporal range of the bloom such that impacts of these toxins may occur in areas not regularly subjected to blooms. Climate change impacts, including temperature effects on cell metabolism, shifting ocean circulation patterns and changes in HAB species range and bloom duration, may exacerbate these dynamics. Secondary HAB related environmental impacts are also possible due to hypoxia and anoxia resulting from elevated bloom biomass and/or the decomposition of HAB related mortalities. Economic risks related to HABs in Florida are diverse and impact multiple stakeholder groups. Direct costs related to human health impacts (e.g., increased hospital visits) as well as recreational and commercial fisheries can be significant, especially with wide-spread sustained HABs. Recreational and tourism-based industries which sustain a significant portion of Florida’s economy are especially vulnerable to both direct (e.g., declines in coastal hotel occupancy rates and restaurant and recreational users) and indirect (e.g., negative publicity impacts, associated job losses) impacts from HABs. While risks related to K. brevis blooms are established, Florida also remains susceptible to future HABs due to large scale freshwater management practices, degrading water quality, potential transport of HABs between freshwater and marine systems and the state’s vulnerability to climate change impacts.

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Section: Cyanobacterial Hab Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Florida’s Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Problem: Escalating Risks to Human, Environmental and Economic Health With Climate Change

Heil

Muni-Morgan

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…Microcystin-, saxitoxin-, and cylindrospermopsin-producing cyanobacterial blooms were indicated to have been early contributors to an extended major fish-kill in the Lower St. John’s River, Florida. Later factors arising from cyanobacterial decomposition and lysis included lower dissolved oxygen concentrations, elevated ammonia concentrations, and hemolytic contribution from the dinoflagellate alga Heterosigma akashiwo [ 54 ].…”

Section: Environmental Intoxications Involving Toxigenic Cyanobactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-Occurrence of Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins with Other Environmental Health Hazards: Impacts and Implications

Metcalf¹,

Codd

2020

Toxins

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Toxin-producing cyanobacteria in aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial environments can occur alongside a wide range of additional health hazards including biological agents and synthetic materials. Cases of intoxications involving cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins, with exposure to additional hazards, are discussed. Examples of the co-occurrence of cyanobacteria in such combinations are reviewed, including cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins plus algal toxins, microbial pathogens and fecal indicator bacteria, metals, pesticides, and microplastics. Toxicity assessments of cyanobacteria, cyanotoxins, and these additional agents, where investigated in bioassays and in defined combinations, are discussed and further research needs are identified.

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“…In eutrophicated waters, cyanobacteria massively multiply and grow, become the dominant species, and even burst blooms (Hudnell and Dortch, 2008 ). However, other aquatic organisms gradually reduce and even disappear at the end, including zooplankton, algae, aquatic plants, and fishes (Körner, 2001 ; Abrantes et al, 2006 ; Wu et al, 2019 ; Landsberg et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emission of cyanobacterial volatile organic compounds and their roles in blooms

Zuo

2023

Front. Microbiol.

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Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes and one of dominant species in eutrophicated waters, which easily burst blooms in summer with high irradiance and temperature conditions. In response to high irradiance, high temperature, and nutrient conditions, cyanobacteria release abundant of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by up-regulating related gene expression and oxidatively degrading β-carotene. These VOCs not only increase offensive odor in waters, but also transfer allelopathic signals to algae and aquatic plants, resulting in cyanobacteria dominating eutrophicated waters. Among these VOCs, β-cyclocitral, α-ionone, β-ionone, limonene, longifolene, and eucalyptol have been identified as the main allelopathic agents, which even directly kill algae by inducing programmed cell death (PCD). The VOCs released from cyanobacteria, especially the ruptured cells, exhibit repelling effects on the herbivores, which is beneficial to survival of the population. Cyanobacterial VOCs might transfer aggregating information among homogeneous species, so the acceptors initiate aggregation to resist the coming stresses. It can be speculated that the adverse conditions can promote VOC emission from cyanobacteria, which play important roles in cyanobacteria dominating eutrophicated waters and even bursting blooms.

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A large-scale sustained fish kill in the St. Johns River, Florida: A complex consequence of cyanobacteria blooms

Cited by 24 publications

References 138 publications

Florida’s Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Problem: Escalating Risks to Human, Environmental and Economic Health With Climate Change

Florida’s Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Problem: Escalating Risks to Human, Environmental and Economic Health With Climate Change

Co-Occurrence of Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins with Other Environmental Health Hazards: Impacts and Implications

Emission of cyanobacterial volatile organic compounds and their roles in blooms

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