Harmful cyanobacterial blooms have been increasing globally, introducing new challenges for protecting aquatic ecosystems and human health. A combined algaecide treatment, similar to combination antibiotic therapy, may more rapidly and effectively remove cyanobacteria by broad targeting of different growth mechanisms, reducing the recovery of bloom-forming cyanobacteria. To confirm this hypothesis, hydrogen peroxide (10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrogen peroxide is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) naturally occurring at low levels in aquatic environments and production varies widely across different ecosystems. Oxygenic photosynthesis generates hydrogen peroxide as a byproduct, of which some portion can be released to ambient water. However, few studies have examined hydrogen peroxide dynamics in relation to cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHABs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrogen peroxide has gained popularity as an environmentally friendly treatment for cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHABs) that takes advantage of oxidative stress sensitivity in cyanobacteria at controlled concentrations. Higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide treatments may seem appealing for more severe cHABs but there is currently little understanding of the environmental impacts of this approach. Of specific concern is the associated microbial community, which may play key roles in the succession/recovery process post-treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFew field trials examining hydrogen peroxide as a cyanobacterial harmful algal bloom (cHAB) treatment have been conducted in subtropical and tropical regions. None have been tested in Florida, home to Lake Okeechobee and downstream waterways which periodically experience Microcystis bloom events. To investigate treatment effects in Florida, we applied a 490 μM (16.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhytoplankton communities are major primary producers in the aquatic realm and are responsible for shaping aquatic ecosystems. The dynamics of algal blooms could be determined by a succession of variable taxonomic groups, which are altered based on complex environmental factors such as nutrient availability and hydraulic factors. In-river structures potentially increase the occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) by increasing water residence time and deteriorating water quality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnterococcus is ubiquitous in human feces and has been adopted as a useful indicator of human fecal pollution in water. Although regular enterococci monitoring only examines their numbers, identifying human-specific Enterococcus species or genotypes could help discriminate human fecal contamination from other environmental sources. We documented a new approach to characterize enterococci using a high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing platform from Quanti Trays after following the counting of the most probable numbers of enterococci.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrophytobenthic communities play a significant role in nutrient modulation, sediment stabilization, and primary production in seagrass beds, which provide various ecosystem services. We hypothesized that microphytobenthic communities in sediments of chronically oil-exposed seagrass beds will exhibit increased resiliency to stressors associated with oil exposure as opposed to seagrass beds never exposed to oil spills. We prepared 14-liter seawater mesocosms, each containing a submersed macrophyte Ruppia maritima collected from the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, and Estero Bay, Florida.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report the first complete genome of from North America. A harmful bloom that occurred in the Caloosahatchee River in 2018 led to a state of emergency declaration in Florida. Although strain FD4 was isolated from this toxic bloom, the genome did not have a microcystin biosynthetic gene cluster.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe foundation of food web analysis is a solid understanding of predator-prey associations. Traditional dietary studies of fishes have been by stomach content analysis. However, these methods are not applicable to Critically Endangered species such as the smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata).
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