Anderson Donald M
Biology Department, MS 32, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA 02543.
Ocean Coast Manag. 2009 Jul 1;52(7):342. doi: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2009.04.006.
Virtually every coastal country in the world is affected by harmful algal blooms (HABs, commonly called "red tides"). These phenomena are caused by blooms of microscopic algae. Some of these algae are toxic, and can lead to illness and death in humans, fish, seabirds, marine mammals, and other oceanic life, typically as a result of the transfer of toxins through the food web. Sometimes the direct release of toxic compounds can be lethal to marine animals. Non-toxic HABs cause damage to ecosystems, fisheries resources, and recreational facilities, often due to the sheer biomass of the accumulated algae. The term "HAB" also applies to non-toxic blooms of macroalgae (seaweeds), which can cause major ecological impacts such as the displacement of indigenous species, habitat alteration and oxygen depletion in bottom waters.Globally, the nature of the HAB problem has changed considerably over the last several decades. The number of toxic blooms, the resulting economic losses, the types of resources affected, and the number of toxins and toxic species have all increased dramatically. Some of this expansion has been attributed to storms, currents and other natural phenomena, but human activities are also frequently implicated. Humans have contributed by transporting toxic species in ballast water, and by adding massive and increasing quantities of industrial, agricultural and sewage effluents to coastal waters. In many urbanized coastal regions, these inputs have altered the size and composition of the nutrient pool which has, in turn, created a more favorable nutrient environment for certain HAB species. The steady expansion in the use of fertilizers for agricultural production represents a large and worrisome source of nutrients in coastal waters that promote some HABs.The diversity in HAB species and their impacts presents a significant challenge to those responsible for the management of coastal resources. Furthermore, HABs are complex oceanographic phenomena that require multidisciplinary study ranging from molecular and cell biology to large-scale field surveys, numerical modelling, and remote sensing from space. Our understanding of these phenomena is increasing dramatically, and with this understanding come technologies and management tools that can reduce HAB incidence and impact. Here I summarize the global HAB problem, its trends and causes, and new technologies and approaches to monitoring, control and management, highlighting molecular probes for cell detection, rapid and sensitive toxin assays, remote sensing detection and tracking of blooms, bloom control and mitigation strategies, and the use of large-scale physical/biological models to analyze past blooms and forecast future ones.
世界上几乎每个沿海国家都受到有害藻华（HABs，通常称为“赤潮”）的影响。这些现象是由微小藻类大量繁殖引起的。其中一些藻类是有毒的，通常会通过食物链传递毒素，导致人类、鱼类、海鸟、海洋哺乳动物和其他海洋生物生病和死亡。有时，有毒化合物的直接释放对海洋动物也是致命的。无毒的有害藻华会对生态系统、渔业资源和娱乐设施造成破坏，这通常是由于积累的藻类生物量过大所致。“有害藻华”一词也适用于大型藻类（海藻）的无毒大量繁殖，这可能会导致重大的生态影响，如本地物种的取代、栖息地改变以及底层水域的氧气消耗。在全球范围内，过去几十年来有害藻华问题的性质发生了很大变化。有毒藻华的数量、由此造成的经济损失、受影响的资源类型以及毒素和有毒物种的数量都急剧增加。这种扩张部分归因于风暴、洋流和其他自然现象，但人类活动也常常与之有关。人类通过压舱水中运输有毒物种，以及向沿海水域排放大量且不断增加的工业、农业和污水，对有害藻华问题产生了影响。在许多城市化的沿海地区，这些排放改变了营养物质库的规模和组成，进而为某些有害藻华物种创造了更有利的营养环境。农业生产中化肥使用量的稳步增加是沿海水域营养物质的一个巨大且令人担忧的来源，这些营养物质会促进一些有害藻华的发生。有害藻华物种及其影响的多样性给负责沿海资源管理的人员带来了重大挑战。此外，有害藻华是复杂的海洋现象，需要从分子和细胞生物学到大尺度实地调查、数值模拟以及太空遥感等多学科研究。我们对这些现象的理解正在迅速增加，随着这种理解而来的是可以减少有害藻华发生频率和影响的技术和管理工具。在此，我总结了全球有害藻华问题、其趋势和成因，以及监测、控制和管理的新技术和方法，重点介绍了用于细胞检测的分子探针、快速灵敏的毒素检测方法、对藻华的遥感检测和跟踪、藻华控制和缓解策略，以及使用大规模物理/生物模型分析过去的藻华并预测未来的藻华。
