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Chemodiversity of Cyanobacterial Toxins Driven by Future Scenarios of Climate Warming and Eutrophication

Yang, Yalan ; Wang, Huan ; Yan, Shuwen ; Wang, Tao ; Zhang, Peiyu ; Zhang, Huan LU ; Wang, Hongxia ; Hansson, Lars Anders LU orcid and Xu, Jun LU (2023) In Environmental Science and Technology 57(32). p.11767-11778
Abstract

Climate change and eutrophication are two environmental threats that can alter the structure of freshwater ecosystems and their service functions, but we know little about how ecosystem structure and function will evolve in future scenarios of climate warming. Therefore, we created different experimental climate scenarios, including present-day conditions, a 3.0 °C increase in mean temperature, and a “heatwaves” scenario (i.e., an increase in temperature variability) to assess the effects of climate change on phytoplankton communities under simultaneous stress from eutrophication and herbicides. We show that the effects of climate warming, particularly heatwaves, are associated with elevated cyanobacterial abundances and toxin... (More)

Climate change and eutrophication are two environmental threats that can alter the structure of freshwater ecosystems and their service functions, but we know little about how ecosystem structure and function will evolve in future scenarios of climate warming. Therefore, we created different experimental climate scenarios, including present-day conditions, a 3.0 °C increase in mean temperature, and a “heatwaves” scenario (i.e., an increase in temperature variability) to assess the effects of climate change on phytoplankton communities under simultaneous stress from eutrophication and herbicides. We show that the effects of climate warming, particularly heatwaves, are associated with elevated cyanobacterial abundances and toxin production, driven by a change from mainly nontoxic to toxic Microcystis spp. The reason for higher cyanobacterial toxin concentrations is likely an increase in abundances because under the dual pressures of climate warming and eutrophication individual Microcystis toxin-producing ability decreased. Eutrophication and higher temperatures significantly increased the biomass of Microcystis, leading to an increase in the cyanobacterial toxin concentrations. In contrast, warming alone did not produce higher cyanobacterial abundances or cyanobacterial toxin concentrations likely due to the depletion of the available nutrient pool. Similarly, the herbicide glyphosate alone did not affect abundances of any phytoplankton taxa. In the case of nutrient enrichment, cyanobacterial toxin concentrations were much higher than under warming alone due to a strong boost in biomass of potential cyanobacterial toxin producers. From a broader perspective our study shows that in a future warmer climate, nutrient loading has to be reduced if toxic cyanobacterial dominance is to be controlled.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
cyanobacterial toxin, ecosystem services, freshwater, mesocosm, multiple stressors
in
Environmental Science and Technology
volume
57
issue
32
pages
12 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:37535835
  • scopus:85168222999
ISSN
0013-936X
DOI
10.1021/acs.est.3c02257
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5cb6c19a-8215-40f7-828a-4142bbf2a0d6
date added to LUP
2023-10-27 16:25:28
date last changed
2024-04-19 02:57:46
@article{5cb6c19a-8215-40f7-828a-4142bbf2a0d6,
  abstract     = {{<p>Climate change and eutrophication are two environmental threats that can alter the structure of freshwater ecosystems and their service functions, but we know little about how ecosystem structure and function will evolve in future scenarios of climate warming. Therefore, we created different experimental climate scenarios, including present-day conditions, a 3.0 °C increase in mean temperature, and a “heatwaves” scenario (i.e., an increase in temperature variability) to assess the effects of climate change on phytoplankton communities under simultaneous stress from eutrophication and herbicides. We show that the effects of climate warming, particularly heatwaves, are associated with elevated cyanobacterial abundances and toxin production, driven by a change from mainly nontoxic to toxic Microcystis spp. The reason for higher cyanobacterial toxin concentrations is likely an increase in abundances because under the dual pressures of climate warming and eutrophication individual Microcystis toxin-producing ability decreased. Eutrophication and higher temperatures significantly increased the biomass of Microcystis, leading to an increase in the cyanobacterial toxin concentrations. In contrast, warming alone did not produce higher cyanobacterial abundances or cyanobacterial toxin concentrations likely due to the depletion of the available nutrient pool. Similarly, the herbicide glyphosate alone did not affect abundances of any phytoplankton taxa. In the case of nutrient enrichment, cyanobacterial toxin concentrations were much higher than under warming alone due to a strong boost in biomass of potential cyanobacterial toxin producers. From a broader perspective our study shows that in a future warmer climate, nutrient loading has to be reduced if toxic cyanobacterial dominance is to be controlled.</p>}},
  author       = {{Yang, Yalan and Wang, Huan and Yan, Shuwen and Wang, Tao and Zhang, Peiyu and Zhang, Huan and Wang, Hongxia and Hansson, Lars Anders and Xu, Jun}},
  issn         = {{0013-936X}},
  keywords     = {{cyanobacterial toxin; ecosystem services; freshwater; mesocosm; multiple stressors}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{32}},
  pages        = {{11767--11778}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Environmental Science and Technology}},
  title        = {{Chemodiversity of Cyanobacterial Toxins Driven by Future Scenarios of Climate Warming and Eutrophication}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c02257}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.est.3c02257}},
  volume       = {{57}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}