Harmful Algal Blooms

The agricultural use of industrial fertilizers has led to nutrient enrichment in freshwater and coastal ecosystems across the globe. Eutrophication has debilitating effects on the stability and diversity of aquatic ecosystems. In fresh and brackish water environments, excess nutrients (i.e. nitrogen and phosphorus) may stimulate the growth of potentially toxic cyanobacteria. In the marine environment, they may promote the development of harmful algal blooms (HABs). The erratic presence of harmful phytoplankton complicates the ecological risk assessment of chemicals and natural stressors such as pathogenic bacteria. Asides from their own inherent toxic effects, these organisms may increase the susceptibility of organisms towards additional stress. For this reason, GhEnToxLab aims to understand the combined and interactive effects of HABs and other stressors (metals, pathogens) on model organisms such as the water flea Daphnia magna and the mussel Mytilus edulis at a physiological, molecular and genetic level.


Current researchers
Jana Asselman, Ilias Semmouri

Past researchers
Maarten De RijckeJennifer Hochmuth, Dieter De Coninck


PhD theses
De Coninck, D. (2013). Consequences of present and historic cadmium pollution for the response of Daphnia sp. to cyanobacterial stress: an ecological genomics perspective. Ghent University. Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent, Belgium.

Asselman, J. (2014). Transcriptomic profiles and fitness of Daphnia exposed to cyanobacteria and interactions with insecticides. Ghent University. Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent, Belgium.

Hochmuth, J. (2016). Combined effects of chemical and natural stressors on Daphnia magna in a context of global change: extrapolating from short-term experiments on individuals to long-term effects at the population level. Ghent University. Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent, Belgium.

Recent publications
Asselman, J. et al. (2014). Ecotoxicity of binary mixtures of Microcystis aeruginosa and insecticides to Daphnia pulexENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION188, 56–63.

De Coninck, D. et al. (2014). Genome-wide transcription profiles reveal genotype-dependent responses of biological pathways and gene-families in Daphnia exposed to single and mixed stressors. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY48(6), 3513–3522.

De Rijcke, M. et al. (2016). Toxic dinoflagellates and Vibrio spp. act independently in bivalve larvae. FISH & SHELLFISH IMMUNOLOGY57, 236–242.

Hochmuth, J. et al. (2016). Temperature and food concentration have limited influence on the mixture toxicity of copper and Microcystis aeruginosa to Daphnia magnaENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY35(3), 742–749.

Projects
Aquatic systems under multiple Stress: a new paradigm integrating aquaculture and ecotoxicology research (AQUASTRESS)

Host microbial interactions in aquatic production (BOF12/GOA/022) – no reference to website