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Occurrence and toxicity of the cyanobacterium Gloeotrichia echinulata in low-nutrient lakes in the northeastern United States

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Abstract

To date, most research on cyanobacterial blooms has focused on high-nutrient, not low-nutrient lakes. We investigated reports of the cyanobacterium Gloeotrichia echinulata in lakes with low concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus across the northeastern United States by surveying selected oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes during four summers. G. echinulata is a large (1–3 mm diameter) colonial cyanobacterium that may have substantial effects on low-nutrient lakes used for drinking water and recreation because it can produce the toxin microcystin-LR. We found G. echinulata in the water column of 27 out of 37 lakes we sampled in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. G. echinulata densities were typically low (<5 colonies L−1), but occasionally at surface scum-producing levels (up to 250 colonies L−1). G. echinulata colonies from the survey lakes exhibited detectable microcystin-LR concentrations ranging from 58 to 7,148 ng microcystin-LR g−1 dry weight colonies. If G. echinulata densities increase to bloom levels observed in eutrophic systems, our data suggest that the microcystin-LR concentrations attributable to G. echinulata may reach levels known to influence aquatic organisms and pose human health risks.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship to C.C.C., NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant DEB-1010862 to C.C.C. and Nelson G. Hairston, Jr.; NSF DEB-0749022 to K.L.C., K.C.W., and H.A.E.; NSF EF-0842267 to K.L.C.; NSF EF-0842112 to H.A.E.; NSF EF-0842125 to K.C.W.; and grants to C.C.C. from the Cornell Biogeochemistry and Biocomplexity Program, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Kieckhefer Adirondack Fellowship Program, Cornell Sigma Xi Chapter, Sigma Xi Grants-In-Aid of Research, and NSF Biogeochemistry and Biocomplexity IGERT. Additional support for sampling and analyses in Maine came from Bates College and the Bates College Imaging and Computing Center, which was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and NIH Grant Number P20 RR-016463 from the INBRE Program of the National Center for Research Resources. The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIH. We thank G. and J. Montgomery, M. and T. Eliassen, R. Wood, and the Lake Sunapee Protective Association for logistical help and access to field sites. N. Ruppertsberger, S. Davis, A. Hagen-Dillon, A. Fiorillo, and L. Griesinger provided invaluable field and laboratory assistance. The N.G. Hairston, Jr. and A.S. Flecker laboratory groups provided constructive comments on this manuscript, and A. Lindsey prepared the GIS map.

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  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Cayelan C. Carey & R. Quinn Thomas

  2. Program in Environmental Studies, Bates College, Lewiston, ME, 04240, USA

    Holly A. Ewing

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Kathryn L. Cottingham

  4. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, 12545, USA

    Kathleen C. Weathers

  5. Center for Freshwater Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    James F. Haney

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  1. Cayelan C. Carey
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Correspondence to Cayelan C. Carey.

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Carey, C.C., Ewing, H.A., Cottingham, K.L. et al. Occurrence and toxicity of the cyanobacterium Gloeotrichia echinulata in low-nutrient lakes in the northeastern United States. Aquat Ecol 46, 395–409 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-012-9409-9

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