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Project properties |
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| Title | Harmful cyanobacterial blooms: Woronichinia, an important bloom species in The Netherlands |
| Group | Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Miquel Lurling, Els Faassen |
| Examiner(s) | Miquel Lurling |
| Contact info | Plankton Ecology: miquel.lurling@wur.nl
Aquatic Ecology Edwin Peeters 0317-483899 Edwin.peeters@wur.nl Water Quality Management Bart Koelmans 0317-483201, Room 411, Bart.Koelmans@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2014/08/01 |
| End date | 2015/02/01 |
| Description | In freshwater systems all over the globe eutrophication causes nuisance cyanobacteria blooms. The cyanobacteria blooms can be hazardous to animals because many cyanobacteria are capable of producing potent toxins. In The Netherlands, the cyanobacteria protocol emphasizes five important bloom forming species. Four are well represented in culture collections and ample data are available in the literature. The fifth, however, Woronichinia naegeliana is absent in collections and hardly any information on its ecophysiological traits and toxicity exist. Our field data suggest this species might be a potent producer of the most widespread occurring cyanobacterial toxins –microcystins. To test the hypothesis that W. naegeliana is a producer of microcystins, strains will be isolated from the field, cultured in the laboratory and subjected to microcystin analysis using LC-MS/MS and Adda-ELISA. Isolated strains will be grown at different conditions –varying temperatures and nutrient conditions- to examine the variability in growth and toxicity. |
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