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Occurrence and dominance of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii and dissolved cylindrospermopsin in urban reservoirs used for drinking water supply, South China

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Abstract

The tropical cyanobacterium Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii is of particular concern for its invasive characteristics and production of the toxin cylindrospermopsin (CYN). The present study represents the first attempt to determine the distribution of C. raciborskii and CYN in tropical China. The presence of C. raciborskii and CYN, as well as the composition of phytoplankton, was determined from a total of 86 samples from 25 urban reservoirs for drinking water supply in Dongguan City of South China. The presence of C. raciborskii was observed in 21 of the 25 reservoirs and confirmed that this species has been widely distributed in the investigated reservoirs. C. raciborskii accounted for between 0.1 and 90.3 % of the total phytoplankton biomass and contributed to the majority of the phytoplankton in some reservoirs such as Tangkengbian and Xiagongyan. Its biomass was negatively correlated with NO3 −-N concentration and Secchi depth. Dissolved CYN was detected in more than one-half of the reservoirs with concentrations up to 8.25 μg L−1, and it positively correlated with C. raciborskii biomass. Dissolved microcystins (MCs) were detected in 12 of the 25 reservoirs with a maximum concentration 1.99 μg L−1. Our data strongly suggest that C. raciborskii and CYN could be important health hazards in urban reservoirs of South China and that more data are needed for further assessment.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the grant (no. 31070416) from the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the project (2009–22) from the Water Resource Department of Guangdong Province for the warning and control of cyanobacterial blooms in small reservoirs and the grant from Guangdong Province for leading the talent scientists to Dr. Henri Dumont. We thank Brett Neilan and other colleagues in University of New South Wales, Australia for commenting and correcting the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Lamei Lei, Liang Peng, Xianghui Huang & Bo-Ping Han

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  1. Lamei Lei
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Correspondence to Lamei Lei or Bo-Ping Han.

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Lei, L., Peng, L., Huang, X. et al. Occurrence and dominance of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii and dissolved cylindrospermopsin in urban reservoirs used for drinking water supply, South China. Environ Monit Assess 186, 3079–3090 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-013-3602-8

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