Seventeen sites in Florida Bay were sampled on a monthly basis for 51 months to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of phytoplankton blooms. The study focused on the picoplanktonic cyanobacterium Synechococcus. The greatest frequency and intensity of blooms was observed in the north-central region of Florida Bay, where cellular biovolumes of this species regularly exceeded 10 3 106 mm3 m...

To overcome the limitations associated with studying the interactions between bacterial communities (BCs) and cyanobacteria in natural environments, we compared the structural and functional diversities of the BCs associated with 15 non-axenic cyanobacterial strains in culture and two natural BCs sampled during cyanobacterial blooms. No significant differences in richness and diversity were fou...

Future sustainability of freshwater resources is seriously threatened due to the presence  of  harmful  cyanobacterial  blooms,  and  yet,  the  number,  extent,  and  distribution  of  most  cyanobacterial toxins-including "emerging" toxins and other bioactive compounds-are poorly  understood.  We  measured  15  cyanobacterial  compounds-including  four  microcystins  (MC),  saxitoxin (SXT), c...

Sandusky Bay experiences annual toxic cyanobacterial blooms dominated by Planktothrix agardhii/suspensa. To further understand the environmental drivers of these events, we evaluated changes in the growth response and toxicity of the Planktothrix-dominated blooms to nutrient amendments with orthophosphate (PO4) and inorganic and organic forms of dissolved nitrogen (N; ammonium (NH4), nitrate (N...

Microcystis and Anabaena are the main cyanobacteria that cause cyanobacterial blooms in Taihu Lake, China. The mechanism of population competition between M. aeruginosa and A. flos-aquae was studied by co-cultivation in the laboratory. The growth of M. aeruginosa was inhibited, while the growth of A. flos-aquae was promoted. The degree of inhibition or promotion was related to the ratio of the ...

Historically, phosphorus (P) has been considered the primary limiting nutrient for phytoplankton assemblages in freshwater ecosystems. This review, supported by new findings from Lake Erie, highlights recent molecular, laboratory, and field evidence that the growth and toxicity of some non-diazotrophic blooms of cyanobacteria can be controlled by nitrogen (N). Cyanobacteria such as Microcystis ...