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Effect of salinity on the growth and toxicity of the bloom forming cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena Mertens from Australian waters

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 18:05 authored by Blackburn, SI, McCausland, M, Christopher BolchChristopher Bolch, Newman, S, Jones, GJ
Nodularia spumigena Mertens blooms in a number of Australia's estuarine systems and coastal embayments. We investigated the effect of four salinities between fresh water (0 g kg -1) and sea water (35 g kg -1) on growth rate, cell yield, cell dry weight and toxicity of strains isolated from three Australian populations and studied under controlled environmental conditions in the laboratory. Growth rates were significantly lower at 0 g kg-1 than at the higher salinities, and cell yields at 0 and 35 g kg-1 were lower than at 12 and 24 g kg-1 salinity. This indicates that salinity extremes do not favour W. spumigena bloom development. Salinity affected nodularin content in the logarithmic phase of growth: as salinity increased, toxin content decreased, on both a dry weight and a per cell basis. In the stationary phase of growth, nodularin content was lowest at 35 g kg-1 salinity. It increased significantly between logarithmic and stationary phases of growth. Cell mass (dry weight per cell) was not affected by growth phase. Our results indicate that mature blooms will be more toxic than developing ones because of their greater biomass and higher toxin content (on both dry weight and per cell bases).

History

Publication title

Phycologia

Volume

35

Issue

6

Pagination

511 - 522

ISSN

0031-8884

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

International Phycological Society

Place of publication

United States

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Fisheries - aquaculture not elsewhere classified

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