Harmful Algal Blooms (eBook)

A Compendium Desk Reference

Sandra E. Shumway, JoAnn M. Burkholder, Steven L. Morton (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
9781118994689 (ISBN)

Infos

Harmful Algal Blooms: A Compendium Desk Reference provides basic information on harmful algal blooms (HAB) and references for individuals in need of technical information when faced with unexpected or unknown harmful algal events. Chapters in this volume will provide readers with information on causes of HAB, successful management and monitoring programs, control, prevention, and mitigation strategies, economic consequences of HAB, associated risks to human health, impacts of HAB on food webs and ecosystems, and detailed information on the most common HAB species.   

Harmful Algal Blooms: A Compendium Desk Reference will be an invaluable resource to managers, newcomers to the field, those who do not have easy or affordable access to scientific literature, and individuals who simply do not know where to begin searching for the information needed, especially when faced with novel and unexpected HAB events. 

Edited by three of the world's leading harmful algal bloom researchers and with contributions from leading experts, Harmful Algal Blooms: A Compendium Desk Reference will be a key source of information for this increasingly important topic.

Sandra E. Shumway, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, USA.

JoAnn M. Burkholder, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.

Steven L. Morton, NOAA National Ocean Service, Charleston, SC, USA.

Textauszug

Introduction

Toxic microalgae and their associated blooms are regular and natural phenomena and have been recorded throughout history, yet major efforts to study their ecology, physiology, toxins, and impacts have only escalated over the past 4–5 decades as their presence and impacts have expanded globally. Harmful algal blooms (HAB) are caused by a diverse array of microalgal species, and they exert significant negative impacts on human and environmental health, economies, tourism, aquaculture, and fisheries (Figure I.1). The continuing increase in numbers of toxic and harmful algal species worldwide presents a constant threat to these entities, and to the sustainable development of coastal regions. While blooms of toxic algae have been noted in numerous historical documents, dating back centuries, the focus on HAB in North America and their impacts on human health was a relatively new phenomenon in the early 1970s, when the first conference was organized to share information on occurrences predominantly in New England and the Gulf of Mexico (see LoCicero et al., 1975).

Figure I.1

As blooms of toxic phytoplankton have continued to increase in their frequency, concentrations, and geographic distribution in marine, estuarine, and fresh waters, the amount of available literature on the topic has also continued to grow. Of the estimated 3400–4000 known species of phytoplankton, only 1–2% (60–80 species) are known to be harmful or toxic, yet their impacts can be devastating. Benthic microalgae and harmful species that do not typically “bloom” are now emerging as vectors of toxins (Chapter 16).

Consumption of contaminated seafood and exposure to contaminated water and aerial-borne toxins lead to seafood safety issues and human health hazards (Chapter 11). These episodes also impact the local economies (Chapter 10) and can cause large-scale ecological disturbances including fish and shellfish die-offs, and mortalities of marine mammals and birds. A conservative, dated estimate of societal costs associated with HAB in the United States is nearly a half-billion U.S. dollars, about half of which is linked to public health effects (Anderson et al., 2000; also see Adams and Larken, 2013; Hamilton et al., 2014; Bingham et al., 2015).

Traditionally, the vectors for toxin transfer were limited to consideration of filter-feeding bivalve molluscs (e.g., oysters, clams, scallops, and mussels), but over time they have grown to include gastropods (snails, limpets, and abalone), cephalopods (squid and octopus), crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, and lobsters), and echinoderms (sea urchins and sea cucumbers) (Chapter 5). Fish and many of these nontraditional food items have been incorporated in routine algal toxin-monitoring programs (Chapter 12) for the most common toxic syndromes such as paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP), and diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP), and emerging toxins such as azaspiracids, palytoxins, yessotoxins, and pectenotoxins.

Aquaculture is the fastest growing component of the food production sector globally, and the possible contamination of aquaculture and fishery products due to microalgal toxins is a major concern for managers charged with guaranteeing safe products for human and animal consumption. This has in turn led to concerted efforts to develop more sensitive, efficient, and affordable tests for algal toxins.

Since the first international conference focused on toxic algae in 1974, there have been 16 international conferences, each of which has produced a volume of contributed papers that provide invaluable information, often at local levels that might not otherwise be made available to the community at large. Bibliographic information for these volumes is provided in the “References and Further General Reading” at the end of this Introduction.

The topic is very well studied, and there are numerous comprehensive reviews and volumes available (see “References”). The volume of published material and the exponential growth of the field over the past four decades are the impetus for the current volume – to distill the information into a useable format for managers, newcomers to the field, and those who are not familiar with the scientific literature or do not have easy or affordable access.

The worldwide number of phycotoxin-induced intoxications per year is about 60,000 cases (Gerssen et al., 2010), and, even with the advent of new and improved technologies for detection and monitoring programs, human illnesses still occur on a regular basis. An excellent summary of illnesses and deaths attributed to harmful algae is provided by Picot et al. (2011). The greatest threats are with regard to novel species and outbreaks, or areas where monitoring is not routine or does not include all edible species. As new toxins are identified and better technologies developed, monitoring programs continue to evolve. These monitoring programs are also a valuable source of long-term data sets that are currently being used in modeling efforts to predict the presence and impacts of blooms (see Chapter 3). The high variability in toxin levels between individual animals demands a comprehensive monitoring program (see Chapter 12). The increase in blooms has resulted in development of new and more cost-effective technologies for toxin detection. Among the greatest strides in recent years have been the development of “dipstick tests,” which are now routinely used in many areas as preliminary screening tools; the automatized detection of harmful species with specific molecular probes; and the migration from mouse assays to instrumental analyses (see Chapter 2). Successful management and monitoring programs have minimized cases of illnesses associated with toxic algae, and they continue to be refined.

Control, prevention, and mitigation remain topics of considerable interest, and new technologies, especially with regard to manipulated clay, continue to be pursued (Chapter 14), as do efforts to minimize the severity of economic and ecological impacts as well as to reduce threats to human health. The development of educational and outreach materials that promote public understanding and especially those targeted at focused audiences where language may be a barrier (Chapter 13) has been a major factor in engaging the general public and making them more aware of the perils and avoidance means when faced with local harmful and toxic algal blooms.

The current body of knowledge on HAB and their impacts is vast and no longer easily accessible, or understandable, to those not actively engaged in specific research arenas. The present volume is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all topics, but rather to provide basic information to those who are confronted with seemingly boundless sources of information, some conflicting or confusing, or who simply don't know where to begin searching for the information they need. These issues become more urgent when faced with unexpected blooms or known or unknown algal species and the associated risks to human health and trophic consequences in marine and aquatic habitats.

The aim of the current volume is to provide an accessible source of information and references for further investigation for individuals who may not be familiar with the scientific literature, but are in need of technical information when faced with unexpected or unknown harmful algal events.

References and Further General Reading

The available published literature on harmful algal blooms and their impacts is vast and can no longer be covered in any single publication. The goal of this book is to provide an overview for managers and newcomers to the field, and the following list provides an overview of recent publications.

1. Adams, C.M., and S.L. Larken. 2013. Economics of Harmful Algal Blooms: Literature Review. Report to the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville: 32 p. Available at: http://www.fred.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/Adams-Larkin-LitRev-April2013.pdf.
2. Anderson, C., S.K. Moore, M.C. Tomlinson, J. Silke, and C.K. Cusack. 2015. Living with harmful algal blooms in a changing world: strategies for modeling and mitigating their effects in coastal marine ecosystems. In: Coastal and Marine Hazards, Risks, and Disasters. J.F. Shroder, J.T. Ellis, and D.J. Sherman (Eds.). Elsevier Science, Amsterdam: 592 p.
3. Anderson, D.M., S.F.E. Boerlage, and M. Dixon (Eds.). 2017. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and Desalination: A Guide to Impacts, Monitoring and Management. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Paris: 493 p.
4. Anderson, D.M., Y. Kaoru, and A.W. White. 2000. Estimated Annual Economic Impacts from Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the United States. Technical Report WHOI-2000-11. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole.
5. AOAC International. 2012. Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International, 19th ed. Official Method 2011.27. AOAC International, Gaithersburg.
6. Bailey, S.A. 2015. An overview of thirty years of research on ballast water as a vector for aquatic invasive species to freshwater and marine environments. Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management, 18: 261–268.
7. Berdalet, E., L.E. Fleming, R. Gowen, K. Davison, P. Hess, L.C. Backer, S.K. Moore, P. Hoagland, and H. Enevoldsen. 2016. Marine harmful algal blooms, human health and wellbeing: challenges and opportunities in...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 21.5.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Botanik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Limnologie / Meeresbiologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
• Schlagworte: algenblüte • aquatic ecology • associated HAB risks to human health • basic information on harmful algal blooms • Biowissenschaften • causes of HAB • economic consequences of HAB • HAB • harmful algal blooms control, harmful algal blooms prevention • harmful algal blooms mitigation strategies • harmful algal blooms reference • impacts of HAB on food webs and ecosystems • Life Sciences • <p>harmful algal blooms • most common HAB species </p> <p> </p> • Ökologie • Ökologie / Aquatische Lebensräume • successful HAB management and monitoring programs • unexpected or unknown harmful algal events
• ISBN-13: 9781118994689 / 9781118994689