Special Issue "Harmful Algae and Their Ecological Interactions with Other Aquatic Ecosystem Components"

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine and Freshwater Toxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Miquel Lürling
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Interests: controlling cyanobacteria blooms, cyanobacteria ecology, cyanobacteria toxins, managing eutrophication, plankton interactions
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Thijs Frenken
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB, Wageningen, the Netherlands
Interests: Phytoplankton ecology, disease ecology, cyanobacteria, parasites, biological control

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nutrient over-enrichment of freshwater and coastal habitats (eutrophication) represents one of the most important water quality issues worldwide. The most notorious symptom of eutrophication is the formation of potentially harmful algal blooms. These temporal or spatial increases in phytoplankton biomass may reduce the quality of aquatic habitats—for instance, by reducing light availability, constraining energy flow in food-webs—and may strongly reduce oxygen availability following the demise and decay of blooms. Certain bloom-forming species may also produce and excrete compounds—allelochemicals, toxins—that are detrimental to competitors, grazers and predators, or other organisms that live, reside, or reproduce in the ecosystem. The production of these metabolites also poses a health risks to humans, pets, and wildlife when they, for instance, consume or ingest tainted (shell)fish or drink infested water. This has prompted mitigation strategies to reduce health risks via direct or indirect control of harmful algal biomass. The fact that there is need for harmful algal bloom control strategies indicates that, in many instances, natural control of these nuisance species is severely hampered. Blooms can only develop when other competitors for light and nutrients are outgrown, and losses due to grazers or pathogens are limited, in which morphological and chemical traits may play key roles. Insight in how physico-chemical conditions, as well as biological environmental factors, affect these traits may provide valuable information that will support development of new bloom management strategies.

This Special Issue invites studies that focus on ecological interactions of harmful algal bloom-forming species with other organisms in their environment. It particularly welcomes contributions on interactions of harmful algae with zooplankton grazers or pathogens, and other ecological studies that may lead to development of novel biological control strategies of harmful phytoplankton

Prof. Dr. Miquel Lürling
Dr. Thijs Frenken
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • algal toxins
  • aquatic ecosystem
  • cyanobacterial toxins
  • grazing resistance
  • HAB control
  • parasite
  • virus

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Ecophysiological Aspects and sxt Genes Expression Underlying Induced Chemical Defense in STX-Producing Raphidiopsis raciborskii (Cyanobacteria) against the Zooplankter Daphnia gessneri
Toxins 2021, 13(6), 406; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13060406 - 08 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1262
Abstract
Cyanobacteria stand out among phytoplankton when they form massive blooms and produce toxins. Because cyanotoxin genes date to the origin of metazoans, the hypothesis that cyanotoxins function as a defense against herbivory is still debated. Although their primary cellular function might vary, these [...] Read more.
Cyanobacteria stand out among phytoplankton when they form massive blooms and produce toxins. Because cyanotoxin genes date to the origin of metazoans, the hypothesis that cyanotoxins function as a defense against herbivory is still debated. Although their primary cellular function might vary, these metabolites could have evolved as an anti-predator response. Here we evaluated the physiological and molecular responses of a saxitoxin-producing Raphidiopsis raciborskii to infochemicals released by the grazer Daphnia gessneri. Induced chemical defenses were evidenced in R. raciborskii as a significant increase in the transcription level of sxt genes, followed by an increase in saxitoxin content when exposed to predator cues. Moreover, cyanobacterial growth decreased, and no significant effects on photosynthesis or morphology were observed. Overall, the induced defense response was accompanied by a trade-off between toxin production and growth. These results shed light on the mechanisms underlying zooplankton–cyanobacteria interactions in aquatic food webs. The widespread occurrence of the cyanobacterium R. raciborskii in freshwater bodies has been attributed to its phenotypic plasticity. Assessing the potential of this species to thrive over interaction filters such as zooplankton grazing pressure can enhance our understanding of its adaptive success. Full article
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