Synthesis of ecotoxicological studies on cyanotoxins in freshwater habitats – Evaluating the basis for developing thresholds protective of aquatic life in the United States

Mehinto, Alvine C.; Smith, J. L.; Wenger, Ellie; Stanton, Beckye; Linville, Regina; Brooks, Bryan W.; Sutula, Martha; Howard, Meredith D.A.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148864

Cited by 39 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…(Meriluoto et al, 2017;País et al, 2009). Microcystins have been observed in wetlands across the United States (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2016), with limited information currently available on relevant acute and chronic health criteria to protect aquatic life (Mehinto et al, 2021). Given the limited available information on potential effects, microcystins were evaluated as a potential stressor affecting larval amphibians.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Site‐ and Individual‐Level Contaminations Affect Infection Prevalence of an Emerging Infectious Disease of Amphibians

Smalling

Mosher

Iwanowicz

et al. 2022

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Emerging infectious disease outbreaks are one of multiple stressors responsible for amphibian declines globally. In the northeastern United States, ranaviral diseases are prevalent in amphibians and other ectothermic species, but there is still uncertainty as to whether their presence is leading to population-level effects. Further, there is also uncertainty surrounding the potential interactions among disease infection prevalence in free-ranging animals and habitat degradation (co-occurrence of chemical stressors). The present study was designed to provide field-based estimates of the relationship between amphibian disease and chemical stressors. We visited 40 wetlands across three protected areas, estimated the prevalence of ranavirus among populations of larval wood frogs and spotted salamanders, and assessed chemical and biological stressors in wetland habitats and larval amphibians using a suite of selected bioassays, screening tools, and chemical analyses. Ranavirus was detected on larval amphibians from each protected area with an estimated occupancy ranging from 0.27 to 0.55. Considerable variation in ranavirus occupancy was also observed within and among each protected area. Of the stressors evaluated, ranavirus prevalence was strongly and positively related to concentrations of metalloestrogens (metals with the potential to bind to estrogen receptors) and total metals in wetland sediments and weakly and negatively related to total pesticide concentrations in larval amphibians. These results can be used by land managers to refine habitat assessments to include such environmental factors with the potential to influence disease susceptibility.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Site‐ and Individual‐Level Contaminations Affect Infection Prevalence of an Emerging Infectious Disease of Amphibians

Smalling

Mosher

Iwanowicz

et al. 2022

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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“…This impact category indicator considers the impact of emissions of toxic substances into the air, water, and soil on freshwater ecosystems. The freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential (FAETP) describes the fate, exposure, and effects of toxic substances [108][109][110]. Results are expressed as kg 1,4-dichlorobenzene equivalents (kg 1,4-dichlorobenzene eq.…”

Section: Freshwater Aquatic Ecotoxicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy

Marzeddu

Cappelli

Ambrosio

et al. 2021

Land

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Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a fundamental tool for evaluating the environmental and energy load of a production cycle. Its application to renewable energy production systems offers the possibility of identifying the environmental benefits of such processes—especially those related to the by-products of production processes (i.e., digestion or biochar). Biochar has received worldwide interest because of its potential uses in bioenergy production, due to its coproducts (bio-oil and syngas), as well as in global warming mitigation, sustainable agriculture, pollutant removal, and other uses. Biochar production and use of soil is a strategy for carbon sequestration that could contribute to the reduction of emissions, providing simultaneous benefits to soil and opportunities for bioenergy generation. However, to confirm all of biochar’s benefits, it is necessary to characterize the environmental and energy loads of the production cycle. In this work, soil carbon sequestration, nitrous oxide emissions, use of fertilizers, and use of water for irrigation have been considered in the biochar’s LCA, where the latter is used as a soil conditioner. Primary data taken from experiments and prior studies, as well as open-source available databases, were combined to evaluate the environmental impacts of energy production from biomass, as well as the biochar life cycle, including pre- and post-conversion processes. From the found results, it can be deduced that the use of gasification production of energy and biochar is an attractive strategy for mitigating the environmental impacts analyzed here—especially climate change, with a net decrease of about −8.3 × 103 kg CO2 eq. Finally, this study highlighted strategic research developments that combine the specific characteristics of biochar and soil that need to be amended.

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“…As a result of eutrophication, anthropogenic pressures, and global warming, toxic blooms have become a worldwide problem, including in India as well (Massey et al, 2020;Mohan et al, 2020;Chorus et al, 2021;Khan et al, 2021). These toxic blooms can adversely affect the quality of freshwater resources through the production of potent toxins known as cyanotoxins (Svirčev et al, 2019;Mehinto et al, 2021). Different cyanotoxins and their variants have been reported in aquatic ecosystems that includes: cylindrospermopsins (CYNs), hepatotoxins: microcystins (MCs), ad neurotoxins: anatoxins (ATXs) (Huang and Zimba, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Different cyanotoxins and their variants have been reported in aquatic ecosystems that includes: cylindrospermopsins (CYNs), hepatotoxins: microcystins (MCs), ad neurotoxins: anatoxins (ATXs) (Huang and Zimba, 2019). Exposure to these cyanotoxins can lead to illness and even death in humans, animals, and other eukaryotic organisms (Svirčev et al, 2019;Huang et al, 2020;Mehinto et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microcystis sp. AE03 strain in Dal Lake harbors cylindrospermopsin and microcystin synthetase gene cluster

Bashir

Rajput

et al. 2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) are increasing at an alarming rate in different water bodies worldwide. In India, CHAB events in water bodies such as Dal Lake have been sporadically reported with no study done to characterize the cyanobacterial species and their associated toxins. We hypothesized that this Lake is contaminated with toxic cyanobacterial species with the possibility of the presence of cyanotoxin biosynthetic genes. We, therefore, used some of the molecular tools such as 16S ribosomal DNA, PCR, and phylogenetic analysis to explore cyanobacterial species and their associated toxins. A 3-year (2018–2020) survey was conducted at three different sampling sites of Dal Lake namely, Grand Palace Gath (S1), Nigeen basin (S2), and Gagribal basin (S3). Two strains of Dolichospermum sp. AE01 and AE02 (S3 and S1 site) and one strain of Microcystis sp. AE03 (S2 site) was isolated, cultured, and characterized phylogenetically by 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing. The presence of cyanotoxin genes from the isolates was evaluated by PCR of microcystins (mcyB), anatoxins (anaC), and cylindrospermopsins (pks) biosynthesis genes. Results revealed the presence of both mcyB and pks gene in Microcystis sp. AE03, and only anaC gene in Dolichospermum sp. AE02 strain. However, Dolichospermum sp. AE01 strain was not found to harbor any such genes. Our findings, for the first time, reported the coexistence of pks and mcyB in a Microcystis AE03 strain. This study has opened a new door to further characterize the unexplored cyanobacterial species, their associated cyanotoxin biosynthetic genes, and the intervention of high-end proteomic techniques to characterize the cyanotoxins.

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Synthesis of ecotoxicological studies on cyanotoxins in freshwater habitats – Evaluating the basis for developing thresholds protective of aquatic life in the United States

Cited by 39 publications

References 64 publications

Site‐ and Individual‐Level Contaminations Affect Infection Prevalence of an Emerging Infectious Disease of Amphibians

Site‐ and Individual‐Level Contaminations Affect Infection Prevalence of an Emerging Infectious Disease of Amphibians

A Life Cycle Assessment of an Energy-Biochar Chain Involving a Gasification Plant in Italy

Microcystis sp. AE03 strain in Dal Lake harbors cylindrospermopsin and microcystin synthetase gene cluster

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