Quantifying a mass mortality event in freshwater wildlife within the Lower Odra River: Insights from a large European river

Szlauer-Łukaszewska, Agnieszka; Ławicki, Łukasz; Engel, Jacek; Drewniak, Ewa; Ciężak, Karol; Marchowski, Dominik

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167898

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…This method was validated in the context of the Odra River ecological disaster. Samples of mollusks were collected at 13 points from September to November in both 2017 and 2022 [1] . The surveyed areas were 46 m² in 2017 and 51 m² in 2022.…”

Section: Comparison Of the Number Of Mollusks Before And After The Ca...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This method was validated during the ecological disaster on the Odra River. The count was performed from a riverbank point in Krajnik Dolny on August 17, 2022, using five-minute sessions at two-hour intervals [1] . The resulting data were corrected for detectebility [ 11 ].…”

Section: Estimating the Number Of Dead Mussels Flowing In The River C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The overall fish mortality along the 560 km affected stretch of the river was estimated at 1650 tons, indicating a 60% decrease from the pre-disaster levels. The rapid decline of the river's ecosystem highlights the urgent need for additional research on its resilience and potential for recovery [1] , [2] , [3] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methods of quantifying a mass mortality event in freshwater wildlife within the river ecosystem

Marchowski,

Szlauer-Łukaszewska,

Ławicki

et al. 2024

MethodsX

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Section: Comparison Of the Number Of Mollusks Before And After The Ca...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Estimating the Number Of Dead Mussels Flowing In The River C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Methods of quantifying a mass mortality event in freshwater wildlife within the river ecosystem

Marchowski,

Szlauer-Łukaszewska,

Ławicki

et al. 2024

MethodsX

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“…Water quality evaluation seems to remain an important research issue, as the enrichment of lotic ecosystems in nutrients can lead to eutrophication and limited water suitability for drinking purposes [112]. Simultaneous with low flows and increased water temperature, nutrient enrichment can lead to unexpected ecological disasters, such as in the case of the Odra River in 2022, where toxins released by the haptophyte golden algae, Prymnesium parvum, resulted in mass mortality among fish, bivalves, and water snails [113]. Thus, such water quality studies are particularly significant in the initial parts of stream systems, which are greatly vulnerable in terms of hydrochemical alteration and therefore crucial in appropriate water management [114].…”

Section: Recommendations and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Various Types of Cultivation on Stream Water Quality in Central Poland

Stępniewski,

Karger,

Łaszewski

2023

Water

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Agricultural practices have a significant impact on stream water quality in rural landscapes; however, there is still little empirical evidence of how different types of cultivation alter the hydrochemistry of running water. Thus, the current study explored the spatial dynamics of selected ion concentrations and their land cover dependence in lowland agricultural catchments. From November 2021 to October 2022, water samples were collected from 30 sites located across small tributaries of the rivers Bzura, Pilica, and Radomka for chemical analysis of their NO3, NO2, NH4, Ca, Mg, K, Na, As, Ba, Sr, and V concentrations. The results indicated a clear spatial heterogeneity of water quality, related to lithology and dominant land cover evaluated with the CORINE Land Cover 2018 dataset. Overall, sites representing agricultural land promoted increased concentrations of major and trace elements, while those with pepper cultivation were additionally contaminated with NO3 and NO2. The correlation performance for nitrogen compounds was the highest for narrower buffer zones, which was not documented for major and trace elements, which were linked more strongly with land cover at larger scales. Such new insights into the water quality dynamics of lowland agricultural catchments, being a simultaneous reflection of lithology, agricultural practices, and several municipal impacts, have significant implications for appropriate water management in rural landscapes.

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“…1 The toxins released by this brackish-water mixotroph, which measures only 5-10 micrometers and carries two flagella for active movement and a specialized organelle (haptonema) for attaching to prey, caused a catastrophe, leading to the death of a thousand metric tons of fish, mussels, and snails along the entire Oder River in Poland and Germany. [1][2][3] The invasive Prymnesium as the cause of massive fish kills has been identified since the mid 20 th century, 4,5 but only in the last three decades has much of its cryptic diversity been recognized. Electron-microscopy revealed variation in the organic scales among strains or between stages of what may be a haplo-diplontic life cycle.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The haplotype-resolved Prymnesium parvum (type B) microalga genome reveals the genetic basis of its fish-killing toxins

Kuhl,

Strassert,

Čertnerova

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The catastrophic loss of aquatic life in the Central European Oder River in 2022, caused by a toxic bloom of the haptophyte microalga Prymnesium parvum (in a wide sense, s.l.), underscores the need to improve our understanding of the genomic basis of the toxin. Previous morphological, phylogenetic, and genomic studies have revealed cryptic diversity within P. parvum s.l. and uncovered three clade-specific (types A, B, C) prymnesin toxins. Here, we used state-of-the-art long-read sequencing and assembled the first haplotype-resolved diploid genome of a P. parvum type B, the strain responsible for the Oder disaster. Comparative analyses with type A genomes uncovered a genome-size expansion driven by repetitive elements in type B. We also found conserved chromosomal synteny but divergent evolution in several polyketide synthase (PKS) genes, which are known to underlie toxin production in combination with environmental cues. We identified a specific, approximately 20 kilobase pair comprising deletion in the largest PKS gene of type B that we link to differences of the chemical structure of types A and B prymnesins. Electron-microscopy and flow cytometry confirmed diploidy in the Oder River strain and differences to closely related strains in morphology and ploidy. Our results provide unprecedented resolution of strain diversity in P. parvum and a better understanding of the genomic basis of toxin variability in haptophytes. The reference-quality genome will help to understand changes to microbial diversity in the face of increasing environmental pressures, and provides a basis for strain-level monitoring of invasive Prymnesium in the future.

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Quantifying a mass mortality event in freshwater wildlife within the Lower Odra River: Insights from a large European river

Cited by 19 publications

References 54 publications

Methods of quantifying a mass mortality event in freshwater wildlife within the river ecosystem

Methods of quantifying a mass mortality event in freshwater wildlife within the river ecosystem

The Impact of Various Types of Cultivation on Stream Water Quality in Central Poland

The haplotype-resolved Prymnesium parvum (type B) microalga genome reveals the genetic basis of its fish-killing toxins

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