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The Effect of Temperature on the Toxicity of Planktothrix agardhii

Moore, Christina J
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1586267276662119

Abstract Details

2020, Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, Biological Sciences.
The western basin of Lake Erie has experienced issues with cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHABs) since the 1960s due to various factors over the decades. This resulted in a service shutdown in Northwest Ohio in August of 2014, leaving at least 400,000 people without drinking water for three days. Since then, research has been conducted to learn about two of the cyanobacterial species that reside in western Lake Erie. One of these species is Planktothrix agardhii, a filamentous cyanobacteria species that resides in Sandusky Bay due to nitrogen depletion in the bay. While previous work has looked at the physical and physiological factors that influence the growth of Planktothrix and other cyanobacteria, there are only a few that have looked at factors that drive microcystin production, a toxin found in Plantktothrix, and why these toxins have been produced in the first place. These papers have different ideas as to the purpose of these toxins. A strain of Planktothrix agardhii was grown and acclimated in a growth chamber with ten different temperatures to see how temperature affected the toxicity of the cultures. This involved looking at the cell density, toxin quota, and toxin quota per cell of samples collected during the experiment. Results show that the cell densities all increased at the end of the experiment and that 25.9°C had the highest cell density, while toxin quota was higher at lower temperatures. These results support the hypothesis that lower growth temperature increases the toxin centent of Planktothrix agardhii cells. There may also be a relationship between filament density, microcystin content, toxin per filament ratio, and size of filaments. However, more work would need to be done to assess that relationship. There also needs to an improvement in the method used to look at toxin content to avoid an introduction in microcystin content errors due to low cell densities. This would involve looking at both total and dissolved microcystins.
George Bullerjahn, Ph.D (Advisor)
Tim Davis, Ph.D (Committee Member)
R. Michael McKay, Ph.D (Committee Member)
34 p.
Biology
cyanobacteria; planktothrix agardhii; temperature; toxicity; harmful algal blooms; biology; thesis

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Moore, C. J. (2020). The Effect of Temperature on the Toxicity of Planktothrix agardhii [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1586267276662119

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Moore, Christina. The Effect of Temperature on the Toxicity of Planktothrix agardhii. 2020. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1586267276662119.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Moore, Christina. "The Effect of Temperature on the Toxicity of Planktothrix agardhii." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1586267276662119

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1586267276662119
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