@article{b08738cc08ca47d3af01b4369405a790,
title = "Marine toxic cyanobacteria: Diversity, environmental responses and hazards",
abstract = "Toxic cyanobacterial blooms have been a primary concern predominantly in the plankton of freshwater bodies. Recently, however, the toxicity of benthic cyanobacteria is increasingly attracting attention of the scientific community and environmental agencies. The occurrence of toxic strains in benthic cyanobacteria is intimately linked to our understanding of the diversity and ecological responses of these organisms under field conditions. To that effect, we are engaged in combined morphotypic and genotypic characterization (polyphasic) of benthic natural populations of cyanobacteria in tropical lagoons and coral reefs, with the objective to provide a reliable reference for further comparative work. The methods of identification based on phenotypic properties and those based on molecular tools for genotypic identification are correlated. The approach is based on identifying the occurrences of cyanobacterial benthic blooms, tested for purity and analyzed by application of molecular tools. The questions addressed include the distinction between marine and freshwater taxa, between populations in geographically separate regions as well as between their potential vs. expressed toxicity.",
keywords = "Benthic cyanobacteria, Ciguatera, Hydrocoleum, Lyngbya, Marine, Molecular techniques, Oscillatoria cf. bonnemaisonii, Toxicity, Trichodesmium",
author = "Stjepko Golubic and Abed, {Raeid M.M.} and Katarzyna Pali{\'n}ska and Serge Pauillac and Mireille Chinain and Dominique Laurent",
note = "Funding Information: The research through international collaborations has been supported by the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany and Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, Germany to S. Golubic. The authors are also grateful to the Pacific Fund and the French Overseas Ministry for making available financial assistance to organize two field missions to Raivavae and to assist in setting up population health education and training program. Funding Information: The presence, diversity and massive occurrences of benthic cyanobacteria in coral reef environments reflect the prevalent ecological conditions, and may serve as indicators of coral reef health and as a warning concerning the use of the reef as food resource. Marine benthic cyanobacterial blooms often produce toxic substances that are transferred along the food chain and affect fish and mollusks. A number of new international programmes have been launched to study and manage harmful algal blooms and their links to environmental changes in a manner consistent with the global nature of these phenomena (see Hallegraeff, 2003 ). As a part of this effort the research program ARISTOCYA, funded by the French National Research Agency, was recently implemented with the objective to assess the health risk associated with human exposure to marine benthic cyanobacterial blooms. Because of objective difficulties to distinguish between toxic and non-toxic cyanobacteria, the analyses require a “polyphasic” approach targeting particular populations and strains by applying combined traditional and molecular tools. ",
year = "2010",
month = oct,
doi = "10.1016/j.toxicon.2009.07.023",
language = "English",
volume = "56",
pages = "836--841",
journal = "Toxicon",
issn = "0041-0101",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
number = "5",
}
