Ecological Indicators (Mar 2024)
Harmful blooms across a longitudinal gradient in central Europe during heatwave: Cyanobacteria biomass, cyanotoxins, and nutrients
- Elżbieta Wilk-Woźniak,
- Wojciech Krztoń,
- Martyna Budziak,
- Edward Walusiak,
- Petar Žutinič,
- Marija Gligora Udovič,
- Judita Koreivienė,
- Jūratė Karosienė,
- Jūratė Kasperovičienė,
- Justyna Kobos,
- Magdalena Toporowska,
- Agnieszka Bańkowska-Sobczak,
- Agnieszka Budzyńska,
- Piotr Domek,
- Julita Dunalska,
- Magdalena Frąk,
- Ryszard Gołdyn,
- Magdalena Grabowska,
- Natalia Jakubowska-Krepska,
- Iwona Jasser,
- Maciej Karpowicz,
- Mikołaj Kokociński,
- Anna Kozak,
- Hanna Mazur-Marzec,
- Beata Mądrecka-Witkowska,
- Beata Messyasz,
- Agnieszka Napiórkowska-Krzebietke,
- Michał Niedźwiecki,
- Barbara Pawlik-Skowrońska,
- Agnieszka Pasztaleniec,
- Aleksandra Pełechata,
- Mariusz Pełechaty,
- Wojciech Pęczuła,
- Joanna Rosińska,
- Elżbieta Szeląg-Wasielewska,
- Joanna Mankiewicz-Boczek,
- Michał Wasilewicz,
- Filip Stević,
- Dubravka Špoljarić Maronić,
- Tanja Žuna Pfeiffer
Affiliations
- Elżbieta Wilk-Woźniak
- Institute Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland; Corresponding author.
- Wojciech Krztoń
- Institute Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
- Martyna Budziak
- Institute Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
- Edward Walusiak
- Institute Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
- Petar Žutinič
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Marija Gligora Udovič
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Judita Koreivienė
- Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Jūratė Karosienė
- Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Jūratė Kasperovičienė
- Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Justyna Kobos
- Departament of Marine Biology and Biotechnology, University of Gdansk, Gdynia, Poland
- Magdalena Toporowska
- Department of Hydrobiology and Protection of Ecosystems, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland
- Agnieszka Bańkowska-Sobczak
- Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Warsaw, Poland
- Agnieszka Budzyńska
- Department of Water Protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Piotr Domek
- Department of Water Protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Julita Dunalska
- Centre for Water Monitoring and Protection, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
- Magdalena Frąk
- Department of Remote Sensing and Environmental Assessment, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw, University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Warsaw, Poland
- Ryszard Gołdyn
- Department of Water Protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Magdalena Grabowska
- Department of Hydrobiology, University of Bialystok, Białystok, Poland
- Natalia Jakubowska-Krepska
- Department of Water Protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Iwona Jasser
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- Maciej Karpowicz
- Department of Hydrobiology, University of Bialystok, Białystok, Poland
- Mikołaj Kokociński
- Department of Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Anna Kozak
- Department of Water Protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Hanna Mazur-Marzec
- Departament of Marine Biology and Biotechnology, University of Gdansk, Gdynia, Poland
- Beata Mądrecka-Witkowska
- Institute of Environmental Engineering and Building Installations, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Energy, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland
- Beata Messyasz
- Department of Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Agnieszka Napiórkowska-Krzebietke
- Department of Ichthyology, Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecology, Inland Fisheries Institute, Olsztyn, Poland
- Michał Niedźwiecki
- Department of Hydrobiology and Protection of Ecosystems, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland
- Barbara Pawlik-Skowrońska
- Department of Hydrobiology and Protection of Ecosystems, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland
- Agnieszka Pasztaleniec
- Department of Freshwater Protection, Institute of Environmental Protection – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
- Aleksandra Pełechata
- Department of Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Mariusz Pełechaty
- Department of Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Wojciech Pęczuła
- Department of Hydrobiology and Protection of Ecosystems, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland
- Joanna Rosińska
- Department of Environmental Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland
- Elżbieta Szeląg-Wasielewska
- Department of Water Protection, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- Joanna Mankiewicz-Boczek
- European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Łódź, Poland
- Michał Wasilewicz
- Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Warsaw, Poland
- Filip Stević
- Department of Biology, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
- Dubravka Špoljarić Maronić
- Department of Biology, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
- Tanja Žuna Pfeiffer
- Department of Biology, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
- Journal volume & issue
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Vol. 160
p. 111929
Abstract
Climate change has increased the frequency, duration and intensity of heatwaves in Europe. These extreme events result in alterations of physical, chemical, and biological properties of lakes that may synergistically promote cyanobacterial dominance. In our study we focused on cyanobacterial blooms in lakes distributed over a longitudinal gradient in Central Europe during one of the “top ten European heat waves” in summer 2015. 92 lakes were included in the study, located across three climatic subregions: cool northern lakes, situated in Lithuania, temperate northern lakes in Poland, and warm northern lakes in Croatia. The objective of the study was to determine if cyanobacterial biomass, predominant species, and cyanotoxin concentration differed, across the south-north gradient, as a function of water temperature, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen. Statistical significance of observed patterns was tested using the Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test and the generalized linear model. We found the lowest average epilimnion temperature, but the highest average cyanobacterial biomass in the northern, ‘cool’ lakes while the highest average temperature with the lowest average cyanobacterial biomass in the southern, ‘warm’ lakes. The concentration of cyanotoxins was also the highest in the ‘cool’ lakes. Total phosphorus and total nitrogen correlated significantly with cyanobacterial biomass, cyanotoxins concentration and biomass of some cyanobacterial species (mainly Planktothrix agardhii), regardless of the latitude. Only in the ‘cool’ lakes concentration of cyanotoxins (microcystins and anatoxin-a) correlated significantly with cyanobacterial biomass and the biomass of some dominant cyanobacterial species (P. agardhii). Our results emphasized the differences of heat weaves impact on lakes of various latitudes, with the strongest increase in toxic cyanobacterial blooms in northern ‘cool’ lakes, situated in high latitudes. On the other hand, nutrients directly enhanced blooms across all the studied latitudes of Central Europe. The cyanobacteria species dominating in blooms might be recognized as ecological indicators of climate change, especially in the north-eastern part of Europe.
