Department of Biology, Freshwater and Stress Ecology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Späthstr 80/81, 12437 Berlin, Germany.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2013 Jan;20(1):146-54. doi: 10.1007/s11356-012-1132-5. Epub 2012 Sep 6.
The interaction of natural organic matter with phytoplankton communities in freshwater ecosystems is an intensively studied subject matter. Previous studies showed that apparently plant-derived phenols were able to inhibit algal and cyanobacterial growth. Furthermore, it was also assumed that humic substances (HS), which comprise the major part of dissolved organic carbon in freshwater ecosystems, directly interact with freshwater phototrophs. For example, quinoid building blocks of HS were thought to be algicidal. To identify key environmental variable for the toxic action of potential quinone algicides, we tested the toxicity of hydroquinone (HQ) to different eukaryotic and prokaryotic freshwater phototrophs in terms of growth performance and investigated also the effect of HQ oxidation at different pH values on its algicidal potential. It was shown that cyanobacterial species were much more susceptible to hydroquinone than coccal green algal species were, with Microcystis aeruginosa being the most sensitive species by far. In addition, it was obvious that the aging of hydroquinone-stock solution at pH 11 led to polymerization and, by this process, to a total loss of toxicity; whereas the algicidal potential sustained if the polyphenol was kept at pH 7. Since most lakes with heavy blooms of phototrophs possess pH values clearly above 7.0, it is questionable, if polyphenols in general and quinones in particular are the effective chemicals and if litter and straw leachates are applied as means to combat algal and cyanobacterial blooms.
在淡水生态系统中，天然有机物与浮游植物群落的相互作用是一个受到广泛研究的课题。先前的研究表明，明显来源于植物的酚类物质能够抑制藻类和蓝藻的生长。此外，人们还假设腐殖质（HS），它构成了淡水生态系统中溶解有机碳的主要部分，直接与淡水光合物相互作用。例如，HS 的醌式结构单元被认为具有杀藻作用。为了确定潜在醌类杀藻剂毒性作用的关键环境变量，我们以生长性能为指标，测试了对不同真核和原核淡水光合物的对苯二酚（HQ）毒性，并研究了 HQ 在不同 pH 值下的氧化对其杀藻潜力的影响。结果表明，与球菌绿藻相比，蓝藻对氢醌的敏感性要高得多，其中铜绿微囊藻是迄今为止最敏感的物种。此外，很明显，在 pH 值为 11 时，氢醌储备溶液的老化会导致聚合，并通过这一过程完全丧失毒性；而如果多酚保持在 pH 值为 7，则杀藻潜力持续存在。由于大多数富含浮游植物的湖泊的 pH 值明显高于 7.0，因此多酚，特别是醌类物质是否是有效的化学物质，以及如果将垃圾和秸秆浸出液作为控制藻类和蓝藻水华的手段是否有效，这是值得怀疑的。
