EUTROPHICATION – A NEED FOR UNDERSTANDING THE DANGERS FROM AN OLD NEMESIS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20903/masa/nmbsci.2023.44.31Abstract
Nutrient enrichment of aquatic environments, or eutrophication in modern terms, is a fundamental primordial planetary process that enables the proliferation of life in otherwise "sterile" ecosystems. It strongly supports the rapid expansion of primary producers, most of all – the algae, which initiates the formation of sequenced food chains, leading to life boosts in specific areas. This so-called ‘natural’ eutrophication has been a driving force for living forms throughout the history of our planet, and may even have been depicted in the Bible. However, the development of human society, including agriculture, industrial and technological expansion, and waste generation, has been the starting point of so-called ‘cultural’ or accelerated eutrophication that poses numerous problems for both the environment and humans. Based on selected natural and manmade ecosystems in North Macedonia, this paper points out the necessity of understanding and combating the deleterious effect of accelerated eutrophication in all water bodies.
References
Colín-García, M., "Hydrothermal vents and prebiotic chemistry: a review", Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, 68 (2016) (3): 599–620.
Beaulieu, E., Baker, T., German, R., Maffei, A., An authoritative global database for active submarine hydrothermal vent fields, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 14 (2013) (11): 4892–4905.
Svirčev, Z., Krstić, S., Važić, T., The philosophy and applicability of ecoremediations for the protection of water ecosystems, Acta geographica Slovenica, 54-1, (2014): 179-188.
Meadows, D., Randers. J., Meadows, D., Limits to growth-the 30-year update, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, Vermont, 2014.
Krstić, S., Introduction to phycology, “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University, Republic of North Macedonia, 2021.
Bourne, V., A new understanding of iron in the open ocean may help provide clues to future climate change, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, 2023.
Guiry, M., "How Many Species of Algae Are There?", Journal of Phycology, 48 (5) (2012):1057–1063.
Legrand C., Rengefors K., Fistarol G.O., Graneli E. Allelopathy in phytoplankton–biochemical, ecological and evolutionary aspects, Phycologia 42 (2003):406–419.
Cembella A.D., Chemical ecology of eukaryotic microalgae in marine ecosystems, Phycologia 42 (2003):420–44.
Chorus, I., Welker, M., Toxic cyanobacteria in water – a guide for public health consequences, monitoring and management, Second edition, CRC Press London, 2021.
Chorus, I., Introduction: Cyanotoxins – research for environmental safety and human health. In: Chorus I, editor. Cyanotoxins – Occurrence, Causes, Consequences. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 2001.
Codd, G.A., Lindsay, J., Young, F., Morrison, L., Metcalf, S., Cyanobacterial Toxins. In: Huisman J., Matthijs H., Visser P., editors. Harmful Cyanobacteria, Springer-Verlag, 2005.
Janssen, E.M.L., Cyanobacterial peptides beyond microcystins - A review on co-occurrence, toxicity, and challenges for risk assessment, Water Research 151, (2019):488-499.
Fogg, G., Stewart, W., Fay, P., and Walsby, A., Cyanophytes: The Blue-Green Algae, Academic Press, New York, 1973.
Chorus, I. and Bartram, J. (eds), Toxic cyanobacteria in water: a guide to their public health consequences, monitoring and management, E&FN Spon on Behalf of WHO, London, 1999.
Miller, A., and Tisdale E., Epidemic of intestinal disorders in Charleston, West Virginia occurring simultaneously with unprecedented water supply conditions, American Journal of Public Health Research 21 (1931):198-200.
Metcalf, J.S. and Codd, G.A., Cyanobacterial toxins (cyanotoxins) in water, Foundation for Water Res Allen House, The Listons, Liston Road, Marlow, Bucks SL 7 1FD, U.K., 2004.
Exodus 7:14-25 - Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.”
Mays, C., McLoughlin, S., Tracy, F., Fileding, C., Slater, S., Vajda, V., "Lethal microbial blooms delayed freshwater ecosystem recovery following the end-Permian extinction", Nature Communications, 12 (2021)(5511): 5511.
World Health Organization (WHO). Guidelines for drinking water quality, 2nd ed., Addendum to Vol. 2. Geneva: WHO; 1998.
Blaha, L., Babica, P., Marshalek, B., Toxins produced in cyanobacterial water blooms – toxicity and risks, Interdisciplinary Toxicology 2(2) (2009):36-41.
Chorus, I., Editorial and summary. In: Chorus I, editor. Current approaches to cyanotoxin risk assessment, risk management and regulations in different countries. Berlin: Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt), (2005):1–8.
Komárek, J., Anagnostidis, K., Cyanoprokaryota 1. Teil: Chroococcales, p. 224-236. In: Ettl H., Gartner G., Heynig H. & Mollenhauer D. (eds.), Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa 19/1, Gustav Fischer, Jena-Stuttgart-Lübeck-Ulm. 1998.
Šejnohová, L., Maršálek, B., Microcystis, In: Ecology of cyanobacteria II: their diversity in space and time. Whitton, B. A. (eds.), Springer Science & Business Media B.V., London, 2012, p. 195-228.
Komárek, J., Komárkova, J., Review of European Microcystis-morphospecies (Cyanoprokaryotes) from nature, Czech Phycology 2, (2002): 1-24.
Biodiversity strategy and action plan of the Republic of Macedonia, MOEPP, 143 pp. 2003.
Lake Ohrid watershed management plan, MOEPP, 2020.
Schneider, S., et al., Eutrophication impacts littoral biota in Lake Ohrid while water phosphorus concentrations are low, Limnologica 44, (2014): 90-97.
Lorenschat, J. et al., Recent anthropogenic impact in ancient Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania): a palaeolimnological approach, Journal of Palelimnology, 52 (2014):139–154.
Krstić, S., Environmental changes in lakes catchments as a trigger for rapid eutrophication – a Prespa Lake case study. In: T. Piancentini, E. Miccadei (Eds.) Studies of Applied and Environmental Geomorphology, “InTech” open access publisher, Rijeka, Croatia, 63-118, 2012.
Krstić, S., Aleksovski, B., Slavevska-Stamenković, V., Hinić, J., Šoreva, I., Conevski, T., Final report on Dojran Lake eutrophication status, Report for the project “Assessment of an Endemic Freshwater Snail in Dojran Lake – Population Status, Threats and Conservation Measures, North Macedonia” CEPF-110711, (2021), 35pp.
Krstić, S., Zech W., Obreht, I., Svirčev, Z., Marković, S., Late Quaternary environmental changes in Helambu Himal, Central Nepal, recorded in the diatom flora assemblage composition and geochemistry of Lake Panch Pokhari, Journal of Paleolimnology, 47 (2012):113-124.
Krstić, S., Surface waters water quality in Skopje region determined via biological indicators, Conference “Pollution of the cities in the Republic of Macedonia: what are the solutions?”, Macedonian Academy of Science and arts, Book of abstracts, Skopje, 2019.
Suarez, E., Ventura, L., Stönckli, A., Ordoñez, C., Thomas, M., Ibelings, B., McGinnis, D., The emergence and dominance of Planktothrix rubescens as an hypolimnetic cyanobacterium in response to re-oligotrophication of a deep peri-alpine lake, Limnology and Oceanography 68 (2023):1346-1359.
Kurmayer, R., and M. Gumpenberger, Diversity of microcystin genotypes among populations of the filamentous cyanobacteria Planktothrix rubescens and Planktothrix agardhii, Molecular Ecolology 15 (2006):3849–3861.
Ibelings, B. W., R. Kurmayer, S. M. F. O. Azevedo, S. A.Wood, I. Chorus, M.Welker, Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water, CRC Press, p. 213–294, 2021.
Huisman, J., G. A. Codd, H. W. Paerl, B. W. Ibelings, J. M. H. Verspagen, and P. M. Visser. Cyanobacterial blooms, Nature Reviews Microbiology 16 (2018): 471–483.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Contributions, Section of Natural, Mathematical and Biotechnical Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
