Han Chao, Ren Jinghua, Wang Baoying, Wang Zhaode, Yin Hongbin, Ke Fan, Xu Di, Zhang Lei, Si Xiaoxia, Shen Qiushi
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China.
Technology Innovation Center for Ecological Monitoring & Restoration Project on Land (arable), Ministry of Natural Resources, Geological Survey of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, 210018, China.
Environ Pollut. 2022 Feb 1;294:118672. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118672. Epub 2021 Dec 10.
Nowadays, the ubiquitous distribution and increasing abundance of P in waterbodies have caused serious concerns regarding its bioavailability and potential toxicity. However, our knowledge on these issues is relatively limited. We addressed previously unknown effects of P on three dominate algae species i.e. Microcystic aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa), Chlorella pyrenoidesa (C. pyrenoidesa) and Cyclotella. sp in eutrophic waterbodies in China. Remarkable declines in biomass, specific growth rate and Chl-a of algae cells treated with 0.01-0.7 mg/L P as sole or an alternative P source were observed, indicating P had an inhibitory effect on the algal growth. Besides, the intracellular enzyme activities e.g superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly increased with P stress. M. aeruginosa and Cyclotella. sp cells seemed to be more sensitive to P toxicity than C. pyrenoidesa since cell membrane suffered more serious stress and destruction. These findings combined, it confirmed P could not be utilized as bioavailable P, but had certain toxicity to the tested algae. It indicated that the increased P abundance in eutrophic waterbodies would accelerate the algal cell death, which could have a positive effect against algal blooms. Our results provide new insights into assessing the ecological risks of P in aquatic environments.
