#microcystis

[rabbitcruiser]

Sea Otter Heaven, Morro Bay (No. 6)

Although the southern sea otter's range has continuously expanded from the remnant population of about 50 individuals in Big Sur since protection in 1911, from 2007 to 2010, the otter population and its range contracted and since 2010 has made little progress. As of spring 2010, the northern boundary had moved from about Tunitas Creek to a point 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast of Pigeon Point, and the southern boundary has moved along the Gaviota Coast from approximately Coal Oil Point to Gaviota State Park. A toxin called microcystin, produced by a type of cyanobacteria (Microcystis), seems to be concentrated in the shellfish the otters eat, poisoning them. Cyanobacteria are found in stagnant water enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus from septic tank and agricultural fertilizer runoff, and may be flushed into the ocean when streamflows are high in the rainy season. A record number of sea otter carcasses were found on California's coastline in 2010, with increased shark attacks an increasing component of the mortality. Great white sharks do not consume relatively fat-poor sea otters but shark-bitten carcasses have increased from 8% in the 1980s to 15% in the 1990s and to 30% in 2010 and 2011.

Source: Wikipedia

[americangeophysicalunion]

Summer Blooms Trouble Great Lakes Estuaries

Dear AGU,

A cocktail of blooms made up of potentially toxin-producing cyanobacteria (Microcystis sp. and Dolichospermum sp.) has now proliferated for over 2 weeks in Muskegon Lake, Michigan – a Great Lakes estuary. Muskegon Lake is one of two dozen drowned river-mouth estuaries in West Michigan that flow into Lake Michigan – a Laurentian Great Lake. Because estuaries occur at the end of their watersheds, they integrate signals of climate change and anthropogenic perturbations from across their water and airsheds.

Water quality in Muskegon Lake has been improving for over a decade (as indicated by a time-series buoy observatory www.gvsu.edu/buoy/), and restoration measures resulting in reduced nutrient inputs from the watershed have been credited for the lake’s recovery. However, recent years (2021, 2022, and now 2024) have witnessed record-breaking blooms due to warmer waters initiating earlier spring onset and later fall overturn compounded by highly variable precipitation/river loading. This summer, there are reports of intense cyanobacterial blooms like those in Muskegon Lake coming from several adjacent coastal estuaries (e.g., Mona Lake in the South, and White Lake in the North) – suggesting this is a region-wide phenomenon and that current restoration efforts are inadequate to address the long-term impacts of ongoing change.

            Around the world, rivers, lakes and estuaries serve as vital water sources for humanity, biodiversity and ecosystem function. A warming climate and anthropogenic nutrient pollution coupled with more extreme hydrological cycles could turn these waters green and toxic – compromising ecosystem health, water quality, and overall quality of life.

— Bopi Biddanda, Connor Gabel, Nicole D’Arienzo, Dee Phillips, Kay Dennis, Anna Maki and Tony Weinke, Annis Water Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University, Muskegon, Mich. (www.gvsu.edu/wri/)

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Lake Erie Blooms

Algal blooms have become a common occurrence on Lake Erie, as much a part of summer at the lake as island-hopping, scenic cruises, and roller coasters. In 2024, a bloom of blue-green algae began forming in the lake’s western basin on June 24—the earliest that a bloom has been identified by NOAA since the agency began tracking them in 2002. It was still present in early September. Bloom season can last into October, with its duration depending on the frequency of wind events that mix lake waters in the fall.

When the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9 acquired this image on August 13, the bloom covered approximately 320 square miles (830 square kilometers). Since that date, which was the last time Landsat satellites got a clear look at this part of the lake, the bloom would more than double in area to the season’s likely largest extent of 660 square miles (1,700 square kilometers) on August 22.

Phytoplankton blooms carry implications for the lake ecosystem, human health, the local economy, and even municipal water supplies. The dominant organism in this bloom, a Microcystis cyanobacteria, produces the toxin microcystin, which can cause liver damage, numbness, dizziness, and vomiting. NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory measured toxins at concentrations above the recreational limit the week of August 12. The agency noted that toxins can be concentrated in scums, advising that people and their pets stay out of the water near scums.

NOAA and its research partners had forecasted a moderate to above-moderate harmful algal bloom (HAB) in western Lake Erie this summer. Blooms are classified based on their biomass, and a moderate-severity bloom will produce noticeable areas of scum. However, the agency noted, a bloom’s size does not necessarily correlate with its toxicity.

“Nutrient input from the Maumee River is the dominant driver of HAB variability from year to year,” said Brice Grunert, a professor in the department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences at Cleveland State University. Other factors such as temperature, mixing of the water column, and water movement also influence the extent and duration of blooms, he said. Precipitation can increase the load of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous in runoff to the lake, and warmer, more stratified water can amplify blooms. In 2024, the bloom followed a period of record April rainfall and an intense heatwave, according to news reports.

Satellite imagery plays an important role in helping scientists understand the nuances of phytoplankton blooms, which in turn can aid those charged with monitoring and forecasting the events. Grunert has been working in Lake Erie’s western basin for the past three years to better understand phosphorous cycles within the lake. His team is investigating how satellite imagery, combined with data from sediment sampling and chemical tracers, relates to the amount of algae-producing phosphorous in the water column.

He and other scientists studying aquatic ecosystems will soon have a new tool at their disposal in the form of the OCI (Ocean Color Instrument) aboard NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite. This instrument measures waterbodies in hundreds of wavelengths across a spectrum of ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. When fully calibrated, the data will enable scientists to track the distribution of phytoplankton and—for the first time from space—identify which communities of these organisms are present on daily, global scales.

Despite the presence of the word “ocean” in the mission title, PACE also opens new lines of inquiry in the freshwater realm. “There are a lot of interesting questions that can be addressed using PACE imagery in the Great Lakes,” Grunert said. For example, hyperspectral data will be able to reveal phytoplankton pigments that could previously only be estimated with the limited number of spectral bands, he said. And a more detailed perspective of blooms over space and time is expected to help scientists decipher how HABs in Lake Erie develop and why cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Superior are starting to occur. “This unlocks a whole new level of information that can be used to describe the unique and changing ecosystems and biogeochemistry within the Great Lakes,” he said.

Grunert is currently working on a PACE Validation Science Team project, taking field measurements in parallel to observations being collected by PACE’s OCI. These include water-surface color and the optical properties of phytoplankton, sediment, and other substances in the water column.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

[coincidentally77]

Green Blooms: The Beauty of Climate Change #36

I am hooked on murder mystery. Who has written a thriller on algae?

Algae bloom and dead fish, May 2007. Photographer unknown.

The novel Don't Cry, Tai Lake (2012) is a whodunnit set against a backdrop of blue-green algae. The seventh in the series of Inspector Chen novels by Qiu Xiaolong finds him on holiday at Lake Tai, known for its ethereal beauty. He finds the lake covered in green muck caused by polluting factories. His vacation turns to work when the murder of the director of one of those factories is linked to a local environmental group. The Inspector Chen mysteries, written in English, are softboiled detective writing at their best.

In May 2007, the waterworks of Wuxi were choked by green slime and left 2 million people without drinking water for one week. The episode made Wuxi the poster child for the environmental consequences of China's rapid economic growth, as Richard Stone writes.

The government seeded rain to dilute the nasty blue-green algae, and dredged 6000 tons of algae from the lake when the growth reached disastrous proportions.

(Reportedly, rotting algae smells like rotting fish.)

The cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa, produces toxins that can damage the liver, intestines, and nervous system. Natural rain fall can keep the algae at bay, but the humid heat of Wuxi, in eastern Jiangsu Province, encourages new Microcystis to grow.

The project to remove sources of nitrogen and phosphorus that fuel cyanobacterium is ongoing. The State has relocated hundreds of small chemical and manufacturing plants to close or relocate. They have also situated sewage treatment plants on tributaries of Lake Tai and is dredging the mouths of the tributaries, in order to remove nutrient-rich sediments.

The project is a looking glass for other lakes, according to marine biologist Hans Paerl, an expert in cyanobacteria who joined a team to find ways to rein in the pea-green algae. Lake Tai is China's third largest lake and irrigates food crops and cotton. Honing solutions to the algae in Lake Tai can divert disasters elsewhere. In the United States alone, algal blooms are a serious threat to drinking water and to large freshwater ecosystems. Cyanobacteria cause 2 billion USD of damage a year in losses from water unfit for recreation, drinking, and agriculture. From Late Erie and Lake Okechobee in the United States, to Late Biwa and Kashimagaura in Japan, and Late Victoria in South Africa, microcystis is a threat.

The project of removing nitrogen and restoring the lake may take decades more. The lake water is shallow, and nitrogen from manure that tea farmers use to nurture crops also feeds algae. As much as a quarter of the nitrogen polluting the lake is caused by car exhaust.

The 1970s pop song "Beauty of Late Tai" (Taihu Mei) describes “white sails above the water, green reeds along the water, fish and shrimp below the water.”

August 31, 2023

References:

Lucie Guo, "Doing Battle with the Green Monsters of Tai Lake." Science Vol. 307, Issue 5842 (31 August 2007), p. 1156

Pei-yu Catherine Tai and Linda Ellis, "Taihu: Green Wash or Green Clean? " Wilson Center (October 2008)

Richard Stone, "On Lake Taihu, China Moves to Battle Massive Algae Blooms," In Yale Environment 360 (published at the Yale School of the Environment) July 11, 2011

[pacosemnoticias]

Barragem do Maranhão, em Avis, contaminada pela agricultura intensiva

A água da barragem do Maranhão, em Avis, tem uma quantidade perigosa de cianobactérias, que pode chegar a ser fatal para o gado, uma situação que está a preocupar a autarquia, que aponta o dedo ao olival intensivo.

O alerta foi dado à Lusa por Luis Teixeira, proprietário de um empreendimento turístico junto da albufeira, mostrando fotografias e vídeos da água, com manchas azuis claras de um produto pastoso e não identificado. O responsável culpa os olivais intensivos à volta da barragem, constantemente pulverizados com químicos que acabam por ir parar à água.

A vice-presidente da Câmara Municipal de Avis, Inês Fonseca, que tem entre outros o pelouro do turismo, disse hoje à Lusa que o que se está a passar é um problema e que teme que interditem a prática de desportos náuticos na albufeira.

"A agricultura é importante, mas tem de se conseguir que todas as atividades sejam compatíveis", alertou, afirmando que o que está a acontecer coloca em causa os investimentos para a prática de desportos náuticos, como o remo, a canoagem, o triatlo ou a natação em águas abertas.

Inês Fonseca disse que a autarquia já tem falado com os agricultores mas que estes respondem que o problema não é causado por eles, ao que a responsável garante que a Câmara tem feito tudo para eliminar qualquer tipo de descarga para a albufeira e que todas as juntas de freguesia já têm estações de tratamento.

A vice-presidente da câmara de Avis não tem dúvidas de que o problema das cianobactérias surgiu com o aparecimento da agricultura intensiva, basicamente olival, na qual se usa "muitos fertilizantes" que com a chuva acabam na água. A delegação da Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (APA) confirmou a existência de cianobactérias (também conhecidas como algas azuis).

O Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge fez análises a água retirada do meio da albufeira há cerca de duas semanas e o resultado foi o mesmo. Uma bióloga escreveu, num documento a que a Lusa teve acesso, que "a concentração de microcistinas (a toxina de Microcystis aeruginosa) era de tal forma alta que mesmo com a diluição máxima não foi possível dosear".

A especialista alertou que aquela massa de água "é potencialmente perigosa" e que para o gado, que bebe grande quantidade de água, pode ser letal, porque as microcistinas (toxinas produzidas por cianobactérias) são hepatotóxicas (produzem danos no fígado).

Inês Fonseca disse à Lusa que a Câmara também já contactou as autoridades de saúde e que hoje mesmo vão fazer análises à água.

"Estamos a rever o Plano Diretor Municipal (PDM). Tivemos uma reunião com a Direção-Geral de Agricultura, queríamos fazer uma área de salvaguarda dessa agricultura mas disseram-nos que não há forma de impedir a agricultura intensiva", porque a lei não o permite, adiantou.

Basicamente, diz, a Câmara não pode impedir a agricultura intensiva, não sabe na maior parte das vezes quem são os donos.

"As pessoas queixam-se, há um produto branco no chão, que se agarra aos carros, às casas, é toda a gente a queixar-se mas a Câmara não pode fazer nada, não tem respostas para lhes dar. A nossa ideia era no PDM tentar limitar um pouco a agricultura. Tenho muita pena se nos interditarem a prática de desportos náuticos na barragem", que é a ancora do turismo em Avis, afirmou Inês Fonseca.

Pior ficará Luis Teixeira, proprietário de um empreendimento junto da barragem virado para os desportos náuticos. Ele mesmo desportista, começou a remar ali aos 16 anos, participou em nove campeonatos do mundo de remo e em 2009 construiu o hotel, que acolhe os estágios de muitas equipas internacionais de remo.

Luis Teixeira disse à Lusa que a água já tinha estado assim em 2018 e 2020 e acrescenta que a única alteração no local nos últimos anos foi ambiental, com a plantação de olival intensivo à volta da barragem.

O empresário diz que é urgente resolver o problema da barragem do Maranhão e diz que a APA não tem feito nada, nem em anos passados nem neste. Em 2020, exemplificou, foi comunicado o problema em maio e a APA respondeu em outubro. "Nunca foi tomada qualquer providência e a situação só tem vindo a piorar", disse, adiantando que há mau cheiro perto da água.

Luís Teixeira diz mesmo que há falta de vontade para resolver o problema, que se teima em ignorar o que se passa na água no Maranhão.

"Não posso ouvir dizer que somos os líderes da descarbonização quando no terreno a situação é esta", afirmou.

Para José Núncio, presidente da Associação de Regantes do Vale de Sorraia, "a situação não é nova infelizmente e aparece com temperaturas altas e depois desaparece. São as cianobactérias a desenvolver-se e dá aquele aspeto, e depois o vento empurra-as para as margens, no meio da albufeira não se vê".

José Núncio, não nega que o olival possa ser uma das origens do problema mas acrescenta: "são albufeiras antigas, que entram em processo de eutrofização. São 67 anos de lodo e o olival leva pouca água", diz, afirmando esperar que dentro de dois ou três dias a situação normalize.

A associação junta 1.800 agricultores, beneficiários do Maranhão e de Montargil, sendo que esta última barragem não tem problemas assim. Nas declarações à Lusa José Núncio diz que as cianobactérias não têm efeito na rega, que está a começar agora, mas alerta que a barragem não é uma piscina e que tomar banho junto da espuma azul pode ser perigoso para a pele.

Espuma azul, lodo ou produto pastoso branco, diz e repete Inês Fonseca: Venham ver, venham ver e falar com as pessoas.

[niftynightmare]

Blue Spirulina

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Phycocyanin

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Phycocyanin is a pigment-protein complex from the light-harvesting phycobiliprotein family, along with allophycocyanin and phycoerythrin.[1] It is an accessory pigment to chlorophyll. All phycobiliproteins are water-soluble, so they cannot exist within the membrane like carotenoids can. Instead, phycobiliproteins aggregate to form clusters that adhere to the membrane called phycobilisomes. Phycocyanin is a characteristic light blue color, absorbing orange and red light, particularly near 620 nm (depending on which specific type it is), and emits fluorescence at about 650 nm (also depending on which type it is). Allophycocyanin absorbs and emits at longer wavelengths than phycocyanin C or phycocyanin R. Phycocyanins are found in cyanobacteria (also called blue-green algae).[2] Phycobiliproteins have fluorescent properties that are used in immunoassay kits. Phycocyanin is from the Greek phyco meaning “algae” and cyanin is from the English word “cyan", which conventionally means a shade of blue-green (close to "aqua") and is derived from the Greek “kyanos" which means a somewhat different color: "dark blue". The product phycocyanin, produced by Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Spirulina, is for example used in the food and beverage industry as the natural coloring agent 'Lina Blue' or 'EXBERRY Shade Blue' and is found in sweets and ice cream. In addition, fluorescence detection of phycocyanin pigments in water samples is a useful method to monitor cyanobacteria biomass.[3]

Phycobilisome protein

Phycocyanin assembly.png

Allophycocyanin 12-mer PDB 1all

Identifiers

Symbol

Phycobilisome

Pfam

PF00502

InterPro

IPR001659

SCOP2

1cpc / SCOPe / SUPFAM

Available protein structures:

Pfam

structures / ECOD

PDB

RCSB PDB; PDBe; PDBj

PDBsum

structure summary

Phycocyanobilin

The phycobiliproteins are made of two subunits (alpha and beta) having a protein backbone to which 1-2 linear tetrapyrrole chromophores are covalently bound.

C-phycocyanin is often found in cyanobacteria which thrive around hot springs, as it can be stable up to around 70 °C, with identical spectroscopic (light absorbing) behaviours at 20 and 70 °C. Thermophiles contain slightly different amino acid sequences making it stable under these higher conditions. Molecular weight is around 30,000 Da. Stability of this protein invitro at these temperatures has been shown to be substantially lower. Photo-spectral analysis of the protein after 1 min exposure to 65 °C conditions in a purified state demonstrated a 50% loss of tertiary structure.

Phycocyanin pigment extracted from Microcystis aeruginosa cyanobacteria.

Structure

Spectral characteristics

Ecological relevance

Biosynthesis

Biotechnology

References

Further reading

Last edited 2 months ago by Mykhal

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[leedsomics]

Novel diversity of polar Cyanobacteria revealed by genome-resolved metagenomics

Benthic microbial mats dominated by Cyanobacteria are important features of polar lakes. Although culture-independent studies have provided important insights into their diversity, only a handful of genomes of polar Cyanobacteria have been sequenced to date. Here, we applied a genome-resolved metagenomics approach to data obtained from Arctic, sub-Antarctic, and Antarctic microbial mats. We recovered 22 unique metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of Cyanobacteria, most of which are only distantly related to genomes that have been sequenced so far. These include i) lineages that are common in polar microbial mats such as the filamentous taxa Pseudanabaena, Leptolyngbya, Microcoleus/Tychonema, and Phormidium; ii) the less common taxa Crinalium and Chamaesiphon; iii) an enigmatic Chroococcales lineage only distantly related to Microcystis; and iv) an early branching lineage in the order Gloeobacterales that is almost exclusively restricted to the cold biosphere, for which we propose the name Candidatus Sivonenia alaskensis. Our results show that genome-resolved metagenomics is a powerful tool for expanding our understanding of the diversity of Cyanobacteria, especially in understudied remote and extreme environments. http://dlvr.it/ShwPr2

[valgasnewsthings]

Microbiology

Vol. 91, No. 6, 2022

Reviews

Genome Editing in Methanotrophic Bacteria: Potential Targets and Available Tools

V. N. Khmelenina, S. Yu. But, O. N. Rozova, I. Yu. Oshkin, N. V. Pimenov and S. N. Dedysh p. 613  abstract

On the Edge of the Rainbow: Red-Shifted Chlorophylls and Far-Red Light Photoadaptation in Cyanobacteria

A. V. Pinevich and S. G. Averina p. 631  abstract

Trends and Driving Forces of Cyanobacterial Blooms in Russia in the 20th and Early 21st Centuries

A. A. Melnikova, A. V. Komova and Z. B. Namsaraev p. 649  abstract

Experimental Articles

Acidobacteria in Fens: Phylogenetic Diversity and Genome Analysis of the Key Representatives

S. N. Dedysh, A. A. Ivanova, Sh. A. Begmatov, A. V. Beletsky, A. L. Rakitin, A. V. Mardanov, D. A. Philippov and N. V. Ravin p. 662  abstract

Overview of the Diversity of Extremely Saline Soils from a Semi-Arid Region Using 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing: A Case Study of the Sebkhas in Algerian High Plateaus

S. Amiour, K. Chekroud, F. Font-Verdera, S. Anver, R. Liébana, O. Hafdi and T. Viver p. 671  abstract

Resistance of Biofilms Formed by the Soil Bacterium Azospirillum brasilense to Osmotic Stress

D. I. Mokeev, I. V. Volokhina, E. M. Telesheva, S. S. Evstigneeva, V. S. Grinev, T. E. Pylaev, L. P. Petrova and A. V. Shelud’ko p. 682  abstract

Survival of Aging Microbial Populations under Lethal Impacts

G. I. El-Registan, N. G. Loiko and Yu. A. Nikolaev p. 693  abstract

State of Cyanobacteria Arthrospira platensis and of Associated Microflora during Long-Term Storage in the State of Anhydrobiosis

I. A. Kharchuk, O. A. Rylkova and N. M. Beregovaya p. 704  abstract

The Effect of Atranes on the Growth of Rhodococcus qingshengii VKM Ac-2784D in the Presence of Various Carbon Sources and on Its Ability to Degrade Naphthalene

L. A. Belovezhets, Yu. A. Markova, A. A. Levchuk, E. N. Oborina and S. N. Adamovich p. 713  abstract

Glycine Betaine Degradation via the Stickland Reaction by a Haloalkaliphilic Bacterium Halonatronomonas betaini Isolated from the Tanatar III Soda Lake

E. N. Detkova, Yu. V. Boltyanskaya and V. V. Kevbrin p. 721  abstract

Screening and Identification of p-Hydroxybenzoic Acid-Degrading Strain ZL22 from Wuyi Tea Continuous Cropping Soil

Bt. Zhu, Xl. Jia, X. Hai, Y. Zhang, Qj. Li, Jh. Ye, Q. Zhang and Qs. Li p. 727  abstract

Composition of Microbial Fouling on the Surface of Plastics and Steel Exposed in a Pond at a Solid Waste Landfill

T. P. Tourova, D. Sh. Sokolova, E. M. Semenova, D. M. Kireev, A. B. Laptev and T. N. Nazina p. 735  abstract

Endophytic Fungi Pezicula radicicola in the Root Nodules of Actinorhizal Plants

G. A. Kochkina, N. E. Ivanushkina, I. P. Pinchuk and S. M. Ozerskaya p. 750  abstract

Exopolysaccharide-Producing Rhizospheric Bacteria Enhance Yield via Promoting Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Growth at Early Stages

J. K. Prasad, R. Dey and R. Raghuwanshi p. 757  abstract

Antimicrobial Activity of Bacteria Isolated from the Millipedes Nedyopus dawydoffiae and Orthomorpha sp.

T. A. Efimenko, A. V. Yakushev, A. A. Karabanova, A. A. Glukhova, M. V. Demiankova, B. F. Vasilieva, Yu. V. Boykova, N. D. Malkina, L. P. Terekhova and O. V. Efremenkova p. 770  abstract

Evaluation of Probiotic Characteristics of Lactobacillus gasseri HN1 Isolated from Breast Milk of Indian Mothers

H. Nirvan, M. K. Selwal, G. Deswal, P. Vats and K. K. Selwal p. 783  abstract

Detection of Microcystin-Producing Cyanobacteria Microcystis, Planktothrix, and Dolichospermum Using Multiprimer Amplification of the mcy Genes

S. I. Sidelev p. 792  abstract

Impact of Antimony Fluoride Compounds on Soil Microflora and Methods of Their Detoxification

I. V. Kiseleva, A. N. Kholomeidik, L. N. Shchapova and A. E. Panasenko p. 796  abstract

Environmental Factors Associated with the Eukaryotic Microbial Diversity of Ulleungdo Volcanic Island in South Korea

H. S. Yun, J. H. Lee, Y. S. Choo, J. H. Pak, H. S. Kim, Y. S. Kim and H. S. Yoon p. 801  abstract

Pinoxaden Degradation Characteristics of Acinetobacter pittobacter and Prediction of Related Genes

F. Yang, Y. Wei, C. Sun, M. Yuan, W. Zeng, Ch. Liu and H. Fu p. 818  abstract

Short Communications

Mycocinotyping of Some Unaffiliated Candida Species

W. I. Golubev p. 831  abstract

Genes of NAD+-Dependent Formate Dehydrogenases in Taxonomy of Aerobic Methylotrophic Bacteria of the Genus Ancylobacter

A. A. Chemodurova, A. S. Reshetnikov, N. V. Agafonova and N. V. Doronina p. 834  abstract

Errata

Erratum to: Effect of Chemical Factors on Natural Biocontrol of the Melioidosis Agent by AMP1-Like Bacteriophages in Agricultural Ecosystems

A. V. Letarov, M. A. Letarova, N. Lazar Adler, E. E. Kulikov, M. Clokie, A. Yu. Morozov and E. E. Galyov p. 839  abstract

  from Valga s health news,gardening,and cooking ,and beauty . https://ift.tt/9IF7fJC via https://ift.tt/n2QDhgT

[humrpocesku]

přec dovolim si sem přidat nějaký povídání o těch určitejch rodech a skupinách z pohledu naprostýho laika, co se to všecko učí, jen ponáč musí. nebožák má radějc zviřátka, no. třeba se mně to pak bude líp pamatovat? inu, mezi moje oblíbený sinicový zástupce patří třeba chroococcus. chroococus, protože má vtipný chrochtavě znějící jméno, jak kdyby to vymysleli někde v nizozemsku. a jsou docela hezký, hustý. maj buňky zabalený ve slizovym pouzdře. jedinej jejich neduh je, že nemaj bičík. miluju bičíkatý potvůrky!

dalším rodem, kterej si prej mám pamatovat, je snowella. byť opravdu může trochu připomínat třeba nějakou tu sněhovou vločku, svůj n��zev dostala po svém pojmenovateli. plankton.

microcystis je toxická potvora, tvoří nám všem známej vodní květ. plankton.

o merismopedii nám vyučující říkal, že prej vypadá jak tabulka čokolády, mně spíš připomíná ramky. připadá mi hustý, jak jsou vyskládaný. ale zdržujou se spíš u dna, benthos.

oscilla, oscilla, oscilla, oscilla, oscillatóórium! trichální a tedy vláknitá potvůrka. vytvářejí hormogonie, což jsou buňkový vlákna spojený slizem k čemuž dochází jakmile se dostanou do stresu. stačí, aby se třebas jen dostaly do nového prostředí. pletou se mi s jinejma trichálníma sinicema, ale maj kulaťoučký čepečky na koncích!

planktothrix je plankton. a to se mně líbí, dobře se to pamatuje.

arthrospira je známá spíš pod zastaralym názvem spirullina, se kterym se můžeme setkat třeba v obchodech, kde se prodává v pytlíčkách jako zázračnej doplněk stravy. vlní se, je wonky!

microcoleus je půdní sinice. taky má ráda kaluže. narazit na ni můžeme i v poušti, kde na povrchu tvoří jakýsi krusty. je to snad nejvýznamnější autotrofní organismus pouští a jiných suchých oblastí. existuje druh, co se menuje microcoleus vaginatus. nevim proč. a ani to vědět asi nechci?

anabaena! ty se mi celkem líběj. respektive se mně líběj heterocyty, ty divný velký buňky, co se tvářej jako prázdný se dvěma pólama po stranách. maj je vláknitý sinice a sloužej k vychytávání dusíku. ještě jsou u nich k vidění třeba akinety. akineta je nepohyblivá klidová buňka, která vzniká pro přežitý nepříznivých podmínek. má jinej tvar a barvu než normální buňky. no a nakonec má taky aerotopy, ale ty měl třeba i planktthrix. aerotop je vlastně plynovej měchýřek, který sinicim slouží k pohybu ve vodnim sloupci. maj tmavší barvu než jiný buňky, protože kvůli vzduchu, kterým jsou naplněný, maj jinej lom světla. plankton nebo benthos.

aphanizomenon je název, co mi dal zabrat, ale nakonec si ho pamatuju, protože opice a agamemnon. pokud si je člověk přiblíží pod mikroskopem, ale ne moc, připomínaj jakýsi divný vlásky, maj dlouhý vlákna, je jich hodně a jsou blízko u sebe. plankton.

nostoc! nostoc má kůl název. v češtině se jmenuje jednořadka, ale to věčně zapomínám a stejně na aKADEMICKÝ PŮDĚ čeština takřka nikoho nezajímá. v některejch kulturách je jedli, možná pořád jedi. když zmokne, vypadá jak celkem nechutná slizovitá hmota.

a to by byly sinice!

přesunem se k řasám ze skupiny rhodophyta. červený řasy, nebo tak něco. v taxonomii je hroznej bordel, vlastně ani nevim, čemu věřit, čemu ne... v češtině se jim někdy říká taky ruduchy.

batrachospermum. má heterotrichální stélku, tvoří větvená souměrná vlákna. jméno dostalo po tom, že připomíná slizovitý obaly s žabíma vajíčkama.

audouinella je trichální ruducha, co se objevuje třeba v akvárkách.

porphyru snad každej zná, snad každej ji někdy jet,já ji mám dokonce zrovna schovanou ve skříňce vedle sebe. řasa, do který se balí suši, onigiri, ... docela komplikovaná řasa s pletivnou stélkou.

učim se na zápočet ze sinic a řas, kerej píšu za pár hodin, avšak přemejšlim nad tim, že ještě před půl rokem jsem se musela šprtat na zpaměť stovky jmen všemožných i nemožných umělců a že šprtání se vědeckejch názvů organismů vlastně neni vo tolik jinačí. jen mě možná trochu víc baví. protože maj mnohdy roztomilý český ekvivalenty. strašně se bojim, že ten testík budu muset psát znova, protože hrozně prožívám, že sama sebe vnímám jako neznalýho idiota a bojim se taky toho, že mě ostatní vnímaj jako debila, bo jsem na střední chodila na grafku. byť si to tam nejspíš nikdo nepamatuje - proč by, že. a cejtim hroznou potřebu furt někomu - a sobě - dokazovat, že tyvole ačkoli jsem před chvilkou sotva věděla, co je buněčná stěna, tak to nakonec musí jít nějak zvládnout.

[gaynaturalistghost]

Cyanobacteria are so fucking old and scary and pretty and cute and I love them.

I got the travel grant! Got about a month to get the rest of my housing, food, etc etc covered (Ko-fi in bio if you feel like it).

And my poster. Oh god.

(Also hi and thank you y’all are so sweet)

[siglerprescriptiondrugcards]

Spirulina

Scientific Names: Microcystis aeruginosa, M. wesenbergii, and other Microcystis species, Spirulina maxima, S. platensis, and other Spirulina species; Anabaena species; Lyngbya wollei; Aphanizomenon flos-aquae Other Common Names: AFA, BGA, blue green algae, cyanobacteria, Klamath blue/green algae Overall Safety: 😐

Therapeutic Efficacy and Considerations:

Bronchial Asthma: 🙁 The one small trial conducted demonstrated no difference from placebo. Spirulina is not recommended for this indication.

Oral Leukoplakia: 😊 Due to spirulina’s high carotenoids (found to have benefit in healing precancerous lesions) content, a trial examined efficacy of S. fusiformis for treatment of leukopenia and demonstrated complete regression of homogenous lesions in 57% of patients. Because this precancerous condition requires close monitoring and treatment, it is recommended that spirulina not be used as monotherapy, but only as an adjunct to conventional treatments under a healthcare provider’s supervision. Dose: no more than 1 gm/day.

Kidney Disease-Associated Hyperlipidemia: 😐 Although preliminary evidence demonstrates that spirulina may have effects to lower cholesterol in patients with patients with kidney disease, at this time evidence is not sufficient to recommend use for this indication. Dose: 1-5 gm per day.

Hyperlipidemia and Hyperglycemia Associated with Type II Diabetes: 😐 Small, preliminary trials demonstrate that spirulina may have benefit in lowering cholesterol and fasting blood sugar. At this time, evidence is not sufficient to recommend use. Dose: no more than 1 gm BID.

Note: In general, although in vitro and preliminary tests have found many beneficial activities, spirulina can, with the possible exception of prevention of leukopenia progression, be considered to be a very expensive source of trace minerals. Patients who wish to take spirulina because of its gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) content, should be directed toward less expensive sources, such as evening primrose oil.

Chemistry/Pharmacology: Spirulina has high concentrations of B vitamins and vitamin B analogs, approximately 60-70% crude protein, vitamin A, carotenoids, iron, 25-30% gamma-linolenic acid, phenylalanine, and many trace minerals. The B vitamins in spirulina are thought to be analogs of vitamin B12, but are nutritionally insignificant and probably not bioactive. The iron in spirulina has high bioavailability: as much as 1.5-2 mg of iron can be absorbed from 10 grams of spirulina. The phenylalanine content is thought to reduce appetite and cause weight loss, although an FDA review found no data to support a claim for weight loss. One study has shown increased excretion of stored arsenic when used with zinc. Constituents of spirulina have been found to have anti-inflammatory actions, immunostimulatory and immunomodulatory effects, antiplatelet actions, and lipid-lowering activities. Because of the risk of heavy metal and pesticide contamination with wild-harvested spirulina, only vat-grown spirulina can be recommended.

Drug Interactions: Theoretically, may increase hypoglycemic effects of insulin and oral hypoglycemics and may alter effects of anticoagulants. Monitor closely.

Contraindications/Precautions: Phenylketonuria (due to phenylalanine content), pregnancy/lactation (due to unknown effects), pemphigus vulgaris (due to possible stimulation of flare); and patients at risk of heavy metal poisoning.

Adverse Effects: Contamination with Microcystis aeruginosa, a producer of hepatotoxins, is possible. This can cause jaundice, GI distress and vomiting, weakness, severe thirst, shock, and death, within one-half-24 hours after ingestion. Children are more sensitive to these hepatotoxins than adults. Increases in lever enzymes and serum calcium, possible worsening of autoimmune disorders (due to immune-stimulating effects).

[fatehbaz]

On Saturday, August 2, 2014, the water supply for the city of Toledo, Ohio, was poisoned. Officials issued an unequivocal order to the half million residents connected to the municipal intake: Don’t drink, cook, or brush your teeth with the water. [...] Stores ran out of bottled water, leaving residents to queue up at local fire stations [...]. The culprit was a bright green plume of Microcystis, a cyanobacterium that thrives in warm water [...]. In spring, rains wash a pulse of nutrients off the surrounding region’s fertilized farms and send it down the Maumee and Sandusky Rivers and into western Lake Erie. [...] Tests showed that the city’s water contained dangerous levels of microcystin, a liver toxin produced by the bloom.

The source of the problem stretches for thousands of square miles across northwestern Ohio and eastern Indiana. The rich earth [...] in the region produces hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of soybeans and corn, as well as wheat, vegetables, pork, and poultry. The landscape is a vast, flat expanse of tidy fields and modest farmhouses crisscrossed with county roads — but it wasn’t always this way.

Centuries ago, this part of the Midwest was a wild expanse of wet forest and marsh stretching across a million acres, and early settlers who slogged through the muck and mosquitoes called the place the Great Black Swamp. [...] On an 1808 map, the swamp, which covered most of northwestern Ohio, was designated as “land not worth a farthing.” 

But settlers came anyway, felling the giant sycamores and oaks to create roads, and digging miles of drainage trenches to slowly bleed the water away from the muck. [...]

They [”the wetlands”] are considered a menace, a threat, a thing to be overcome. These attitudes are enshrined in state law, which makes impossible any action, including wetland restoration, that slows the flow of runoff through those miles of constructed drainage ditches [...].

[S]oldiers recorded the striking bounty of the Black Swamp and Lake Erie’s southwestern shore. On an April morning in 1813, two hungry soldiers stationed at Fort Meigs, near present-day Toledo, walked down to the Maumee River. The clear waters swarmed with perch, muskellunge, sturgeon, and catfish. Plunging spears into the water at random, they caught 67 fish in 30 minutes, often killing two or three with a single stroke. Every river mouth west of the Sandusky held dense beds of wild rice, where waterfowl settled to feed, then rose in flocks that darkened the sky. The rice stalks stood taller than a man’s head: to feed, ducks grabbed the stems with their feet and tugged the seed heads down to the water. [...]

In 1859, the Ohio General Assembly passed a law authorizing county commissioners to construct drainage ditches. Farmers benefiting from ditch construction shared the cost. The other Midwestern states also enacted laws authorizing drainage districts, enabling the construction of vast networks of ditches that drained great swathes of land — a mission that required investment and coordination, and could not have been accomplished by individual landowners.

Through the work of drainage districts, the Corn Belt states would lose more than 95 percent of their native wetlands. [...]

Some enterprising soul tested the abundant clay that lay a foot or two beneath the soil of the Black Swamp, and found that it made excellent tiles.

By 1880, more than 50 tile factories operated in northwest Ohio, and the Black Swamp was dismembered and used to feed an accelerating and diversifying cycle of human industry.

The great wetland trees — ash, elm, oak, sycamore — were felled and used to build houses, make furniture, and power the railroads that sprouted up across Ohio. In the 1860s, Ohio’s railways consumed one million cords of wood each year as fuel, and an unknown quantity for ties. The discovery of underdrainage created a growing demand for tile. All this drove an orgy of forest clearing and land draining which in the course of five decades, from 1870 to 1920, completely erased the Black Swamp. A wilderness went up in the smoke from railroad engines, and flowed in drainage ditches down to the Maumee and Sandusky, which began to run murky and lost their once-bountiful populations of fish.

Among the descendants of the settlers who conquered the Black Swamp, drainage is viewed as sacred, while wetland restoration borders on the profane. In terms of water quality, a prime place to create wetlands would be where they intercept the flow of polluted water in farm ditches. That could cause water to back up and flood the fields, however, and it is forbidden under Ohio’s ditch laws, which have changed little since 1859.

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All text, images, and captions published by: Sharon Levy. “Learning to Love the Great Black Swamp.” Undark. 31 March 2017. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks added by me.]

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Lake Erie Blooms

Algal blooms have become a common occurrence on Lake Erie, as much a part of summer at the lake as island-hopping, scenic cruises, and roller coasters. In 2024, a bloom of blue-green algae began forming in the lake’s western basin on June 24—the earliest that a bloom has been identified by NOAA since the agency began tracking them in 2002. It was still present in early September. Bloom season can last into October, with its duration depending on the frequency of wind events that mix lake waters in the fall.

When the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9 acquired this image on August 13, the bloom covered approximately 320 square miles (830 square kilometers). Since that date, which was the last time Landsat satellites got a clear look at this part of the lake, the bloom would more than double in area to the season’s likely largest extent of 660 square miles (1,700 square kilometers) on August 22.

Phytoplankton blooms carry implications for the lake ecosystem, human health, the local economy, and even municipal water supplies. The dominant organism in this bloom, a Microcystis cyanobacteria, produces the toxin microcystin, which can cause liver damage, numbness, dizziness, and vomiting. NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory measured toxins at concentrations above the recreational limit the week of August 12. The agency noted that toxins can be concentrated in scums, advising that people and their pets stay out of the water near scums.

NOAA and its research partners had forecasted a moderate to above-moderate harmful algal bloom (HAB) in western Lake Erie this summer. Blooms are classified based on their biomass, and a moderate-severity bloom will produce noticeable areas of scum. However, the agency noted, a bloom’s size does not necessarily correlate with its toxicity.

“Nutrient input from the Maumee River is the dominant driver of HAB variability from year to year,” said Brice Grunert, a professor in the department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences at Cleveland State University. Other factors such as temperature, mixing of the water column, and water movement also influence the extent and duration of blooms, he said. Precipitation can increase the load of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous in runoff to the lake, and warmer, more stratified water can amplify blooms. In 2024, the bloom followed a period of record April rainfall and an intense heatwave, according to news reports.

Satellite imagery plays an important role in helping scientists understand the nuances of phytoplankton blooms, which in turn can aid those charged with monitoring and forecasting the events. Grunert has been working in Lake Erie’s western basin for the past three years to better understand phosphorous cycles within the lake. His team is investigating how satellite imagery, combined with data from sediment sampling and chemical tracers, relates to the amount of algae-producing phosphorous in the water column.

He and other scientists studying aquatic ecosystems will soon have a new tool at their disposal in the form of the OCI (Ocean Color Instrument) aboard NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite. This instrument measures waterbodies in hundreds of wavelengths across a spectrum of ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. When fully calibrated, the data will enable scientists to track the distribution of phytoplankton and—for the first time from space—identify which communities of these organisms are present on daily, global scales.

Despite the presence of the word “ocean” in the mission title, PACE also opens new lines of inquiry in the freshwater realm. “There are a lot of interesting questions that can be addressed using PACE imagery in the Great Lakes,” Grunert said. For example, hyperspectral data will be able to reveal phytoplankton pigments that could previously only be estimated with the limited number of spectral bands, he said. And a more detailed perspective of blooms over space and time is expected to help scientists decipher how HABs in Lake Erie develop and why cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Superior are starting to occur. “This unlocks a whole new level of information that can be used to describe the unique and changing ecosystems and biogeochemistry within the Great Lakes,” he said.

Grunert is currently working on a PACE Validation Science Team project, taking field measurements in parallel to observations being collected by PACE’s OCI. These include water-surface color and the optical properties of phytoplankton, sediment, and other substances in the water column.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

[issaishere]

some micro pictures from my botany class :)

2 - colony of microcystis

3 - a tick in algae

(sorry for my bad english 🥴)