Concentrations and Seasonal Trends of Extracellular Microcystins in Freshwaters of the Czech Republic – Results of the National Monitoring Program

The first outcomes of the national monitoring program on cyanobacteria and their toxins in the Czech Republic are reported. The concentrations of extracellular microcystins (MCs, analyzed by ELISA) in 206 water samples collected from 94 localities have been investigated. Observed MC concentrations were relatively high in comparison with the literature data, although weather conditions during the covered season (year 2004) were less favorable for the cyanobacterial water blooms. Detectable MCs (>0.125 μg/L) were found in 145 waters (70% of all samples) with a median concentration of 0.67 μg/L. The total median, including samples with no detectable MCs, was 0.26 μg/L. The seasonal trend showed an increase from July to September at most localities (maximum concentrations of about 8 μg/L and extremes up to 37 μg/L). However, a peak at the beginning of the season or continuously elevated MC concentrations were also observed at some localities. Positive correlations between increasing concentrations of MCs and the dominancy of Microcystis spp. have been observed. The survey provides the first large-scale study of the occurrence and seasonal variability of extracellular microcystins that are of particular interest for drinking water management.     

Cyanobacterial toxins in Lake Baringo, Kenya

This paper presents data on the first identification, characterization and quantification of hepatotoxic microcystins and neurotoxic anatoxin-a in water samples of Lake Baringo, Kenya. The shallow turbid Lake Baringo was investigated five times between June 2001 and May 2002. The phytoplankton community was mainly dominated by the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. Due to the high turbidity the phytoplankton biomass was low, ranging between 1.5 and 8.2 mg L⁻¹. High mean total phosphorus concentration (1.0 mg L⁻¹) and mean total nitrogen concentration (2.8 mg L⁻¹) typical for hypertrophic lakes were found. Using HPLC technique the hepatotoxins microcystin-LR, -RR and -YR and the neurotoxin anatoxin-a were detected in the water samples. The microcystin concentrations varied from 310 to 19800 μg microcystin-LR equivalents g⁻¹ DW and the anatoxin-a concentration ranged from 270 to 1260 μg g⁻¹ DW. To our knowledge this is the first evidence of cyanobacterial toxins in Lake Baringo.     

Microcystis,Raphidiopsis raciborskii and Dolichospermum smithii,toxin producing and non-toxigenic cyanobacteria in Yezin Dam,Myanmar

Yezin Dam is a man-made reservoir located close to Yezin village in Myanmar. Its water is used for irrigation, domestic purposes and as drinking water for many urban communities in the watershed area. In recent years, increased pollution due to the concurrent development around the dam has led to water quality deterioration. No detailed study on the distribution of cyanobacteria and toxin production has been conducted so far. In order to provide insight into the extent of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in the dam, water samples were collected once in January 2014 for the isolation of cyanobacterial strains and eight times between March 2017 and June 2018 for the investigation of physical, chemical and biological parameters. A total of 99 phytoplankton taxa belonging to 50 genera were recorded from Yezin Dam. Microscopic examination showed that a Dolichospermum sp. was the dominant cyanobacterium followed by small numbers of Microcystis, and Raphidiopsis raciborskii in all samples throughout the sampling period. 15 isolated cyanobacterial strains were classified morphologically and phylogenetically as Dolichospermum smithii, R. raciborskii and Microcystis and tested for microcystins (MCs), cylindrospermopsins (CYNs), saxitoxins (STXs) and anatoxins (ATXs) by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The toxin analysis of all isolated Dolichospermum strains by ELISA and LC–MS did not indicate the presence of ATXs, STXs, CYNs nor MCs. Four of the five isolated Raphidiopsis strains produced CYN and deoxyCYN. One of the isolated Microcystis strains (AB2017/08) from Yezin Dam produced 22 MC congeners. Concentrations of 0.12 μg L⁻¹ CYNs and 0.34 μg L⁻¹ MCs were also found in an environmental sample from Yezin Dam by ELISA. The potential therefore exists for the use of untreated water from Yezin Dam to cause harmful effects on humans, domestic and wild animals.     

Spatial distribution of cyanotoxins and ratios of microcystin to biomass indicators in the reservoirs of the Volga,Kama and Don Rivers,the European part of Russia

We studied the distribution of cyanotoxins and potential producers, as well as the variability of microcystin to biomass parameters (chlorophyll-a; MC/Chl-a; and biovolume; MC/BV) in 12 drinking water reservoirs of the world’s largest reservoir system, the Volga-Kama-Don cascade (European part of Russia) during the summers of 2016 and 2018. MC concentrations varied from below 0.1 μg L⁻¹ in June up to 16.4 μg L⁻¹ in August and exceeded 1 μg L^-1 in 25 % of the samples. This MC variability was associated to changes in the abundance of widespread bloom formers such as Microcystis spp., Dolichospermum spp. and Planktothrix agardhii. Ratios of MC/Chl-a and MC/BV_cyano ranged up to 0.88 μg μg⁻¹ and 4.5 μg mm⁻³, respectively. Together with microcystin profiles MC/BV_cyano ratios characterized cyanobacterial populations along the reservoir cascade and they indicated a potential toxin hazard better than MC/Chl-a. The neurotoxin anatoxin-a was observed only in the most southern and hypereutrophic Tsimlyansk Reservoir (maximum 0.01 μg L⁻¹). Toxin gene analysis revealed that MC mostly originated from Microcystis and Dolichospermum. During their co-existence up to 14 MC congeners co-occurred. Cuspidothrix issatschenkoi cf. Raphidiopsis mediterranea was identified as possible neurotoxin producers.     

Cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Lake Atitlan, one of the most important lakes not only in Central America but in the whole world, is facing serious problems with increasing water pollution. Over the last several decades, the uncontrolled nutrient input into the lake has lead to high P levels and low N:P ratios, initiating cyanobacterial blooms. The first bloom occurred in December of 2008, followed by more extensive bloom in October 2009. The blooms are formed by cyanobacteria from the rare planktic Lyngbya hieronymusii/birgei/robusta complex. Based on the species morphology, the Atitlan population corresponds to L. robusta and this is the first case of reported bloom of this species worldwide. Remote sensing images documented that at the maximum bloom development, 40% of the 137 km² of the lake area were covered by dense patches of Lyngbya, with the chlorophyll a concentration reaching over 100 μg L⁻¹. The only toxins detected in the 2009 bloom were trace levels of cylindrospermopsin and saxitoxin with 12 and 58 ng g⁻¹, respectively. The nitrogen fixation followed a pattern expected in non-heterocytous cyanobacteria, i.e., the nitrogenase activity was minimal during the day, while during the night the activity reached 2.2 nmol C₂H₄ μg Ch a⁻¹ h⁻¹. Delta ¹⁵N of −0.86‰ was well in the range given for nitrogen fixing organisms. The cell C, N and P content was 36.7%, 5.9% and 0.9%, respectively, resulting in the molar ratio of 105:14.4:1. A well designed and executed lake monitoring program, strict control of nutrient input into the lake, and public education are the necessary prerequisites for potential prevention of even more severe blooms than the one from 2009.     

Ground-motion intensity measure correlations observed in Italian strong-motion records

Ground-motion models (GMMs) are widely used in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) to estimate the probability distributions of earthquake-induced ground-motion intensity measures (IMs) at a site, given an earthquake of a certain magnitude occurring at a nearby location. Accounting for spatial and cross-IM correlations in earthquake-induced ground motions has important implications on probabilistic seismic hazard and loss estimates. This study first develops a new Italian GMM with spatial correlation for 31 amplitude-related IMs, including peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), and 5%-damped elastic pseudo-spectral accelerations (PSAs) at 29 periods ranging from 0.01 to 4 seconds. The model estimation is performed through a recently developed one-stage nonlinear regression algorithm proposed by the authors, known as the Scoring estimation approach. In fact, current state-of-practice approaches estimate spatial correlation separately from the GMM estimation, resulting in inconsistent and statistically inefficient estimators of interevent and intraevent variances and parameters in the spatial correlation model. We test whether this affects the subsequent cross-IM correlation analysis. To this aim, based on the newly developed GMM, the empirical correlation coefficients from interevent and intraevent residuals are investigated. Finally, a set of analytical correlation models between the selected IMs are proposed. This is of special interest as several correlation models between different IMs have been calibrated and validated based on advanced GMMs and global datasets, lacking earthquakes in extensional regions; however, modeling the correlation between different IM types has not been adequately addressed by current, state-of-the-art GMMs and recent ground-motion records for Italy.     

Is there a Human Health Hazard from Microcystins in the Drinking Water Supply?

Microcystins are cyclic heptapeptide toxins produced by a range of cyanobacterial genera. These cyanobacteria occur naturally in drinking water reservoirs subject to eutrophication, and in rivers and natural lakes. Because of the diversity of organisms, the toxins occur, from oligo‐mesotrophic lakes in North Temperate latitudes, to hypertrophic tropical ponds. The toxins are responsible for numerous cases of injury and death of domestic animals, and human poisoning from drinking water. The initial poisoning includes hepatic cell death. This leads to secondary effects from liver deficiency, including jaundice and photosensitisation. The toxic effects are largely due to inhibition of phosphatase enzymes, acting to regulate protein phosphorylation. The consequences include structural damage, apoptosis and, at lower concentrations, cell cycle effects and tumour promotion. As there is no clear evidence for direct carcinogenesis by microcystins, they are classed as non‐carcinogenic toxins in drinking water. Guideline Values for safe drinking water are derived from data for subchronic rodent toxicity, using the No Observed Adverse Effect Level (the highest dose giving no toxicity). To this dose are applied uncertainty factors, to calculate a Tolerable Daily Intake. On the basis of a standard bodyweight and water consumption the Guideline Value is determined for drinking water. For microcystin‐LR the WHO have set a provisional Guideline Value of 1 μg/L for drinking water.     

Predicting catchment sediment yield in Mediterranean environments: the importance of sediment sources and connectivity in Italian drainage basins

Predicting sediment yield at the catchment scale is one of the main challenges in geomorphologic research. The application of both physics‐based models and regression models has until now not provided very satisfying results for prediction of sediment yield for medium to large sized catchments (c. >50 km²). The explanation for this lies in a combination of the large data requirements of most models and a lack of knowledge to describe all processes and process interactions at the catchment scale. In particular, point sources of sediment (e.g. gullies, mass movements), connectivity and sediment transport remain difficult to describe in most models. From reservoir sedimentation data of 44 Italian catchments, it appeared that there was a (non‐significant) positive relation between catchment area and sediment yield. This is in contrast to what is generally expected from the theory of decreasing sediment delivery rates with increasing catchment area. Furthermore, this positive relation suggests that processes other than upland erosion are responsible for catchment sediment yield. Here we explore the potential of the Factorial Scoring Model (FSM) and the Pacific Southwest Interagency Committee (PSIAC) model to predict sediment yield, and indicate the most important sediment sources. In these models different factors are used to characterize a drainage basin in terms of sensitivity to erosion and connectivity. In both models an index is calculated that is related to sediment yield. The FSM explained between 36 and 61 per cent of the variation in sediment yield, and the PSIAC model between 57 and 62 per cent, depending on the factors used to characterize the catchments. The FSM model performed best based on a factor to describe gullies, lithology, landslides, catchment shape and vegetation. Topography and catchment area did not explain additional variance. In particular, the addition of the landslide factor resulted in a significantly increased model performance. The FSM and PSIAC model both performed better than a spatially distributed model describing water erosion and sediment transport, which was applied to the same catchments but explained only between 20 and 51 per cent of the variation in sediment yield. Model results confirmed the hypothesis that processes other than upland erosion are probably responsible for sediment yield in the Italian catchments. A promising future development of the models is by the use of detailed spatially distributed data to determine the scores, decrease model subjectivity and provide spatially distributed output. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Levels and spatial distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in superficial sediment from 15 Italian marine protected areas (MPA)

Surface sediment from 15 Italian marine protected areas (MPA) were analysed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The organic carbon percentage was also determined. Total PAH concentrations (ng g⁻¹ d.w.) ranged from 0.71 (Penisola del Sinis) to 1550 (Miramare). Individual PAH analysis showed that three and four rings PAHs were the most frequently detected isomers and accounted for 60-70% of the PAH total concentrations. PAH ratio analysis showed a prevalence of pyrolytic PAH origin at most of the MPAs with exception of Porto Cesareo and Ustica where a petrogenic origin was detected. Results for organic carbon percentages ranged from 0.3% (Capo Rizzuto) to 2% (Punta Campanella). These results are comparable to other Mediterranean marine environments. However, our results shows that some MPAs, such as Miramare, Porto Cesareo, Isola Capo Rizzuto and Punta Campanella, are subject to strong pressure from urban and industrial activities where high PAH levels were detected.     

Regime theories in gravel‐bed rivers: models,controlling variables,and applications in disturbed Italian rivers

Downstream hydraulic geometry relationships describe the shape of alluvial channels in terms of bankfull width, flow depth, flow velocity, and channel slope. Recent investigations have stressed the difference in spatial scales associated with these variables and thus the time span required for their adjustment after a disturbance. The aim of this study is to explore the consequences in regime models considering the hypothesis that while channel width and depth adjust quickly to changes in water and sediment supply, reach slope requires a longer time span. Three theoretical models were applied. One model incorporates an extremal hypothesis (Millar RG. 2005. Theoretical regime equations for mobile gravel‐bed rivers with stable banks. Geomorphology 64 : 207–220), and the other two are fully physically based (Ikeda S, Parker G, Kimura Y. 1988. Stable width and depth of straight gravel rivers with heterogeneous bed materials. Water Resources Research 24 : 713–722; Parker G, Wilcock PR, Paola C, Dietrich W, Pitlick J. 2007. Physical basis for quasi universal relations describing bankfull hydraulic geometry of single‐thread gravel‐bed rivers. Journal of Geophysical Research 112 , DOI: 10.1029/2006JF000549). In order to evaluate the performance of models introducing the slope as an independent variable, we propose two modifications to previous models. The performance of regime models was tested against published data from 142 river reaches and new hydraulic geometry data from gravel‐bed rivers in Patagonia (Argentina) and north‐eastern Italy. Models that assume slope as a control (Ikeda et al., 1988; or Millar, 2005) predict channel depth and width reasonably well. Parker et al.'s (2007) model improved predictions because it filters the scatter in slope data with a relation slope–discharge. The extremal hypothesis model of Millar (2005) predicts comparably to the other physically based models. Millar's model was chosen to describe the recent changes in the Piave and Brenta rivers due to human intervention – mainly in‐channel gravel mining. The change in sediment supply and recovery was estimated for these rivers. This study supports the interpretation that sediment supply is the key factor guiding morphological changes in these rivers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.