Controlling harmful cyanobacterial blooms in a hyper-eutrophic lake (Lake Taihu, China): The need for a dual nutrient (N & P) management strategy Hans W. Paerl a, *, Hai Xu b , Mark J. McCarthy c,d , Guangwei Zhu b , Boqiang Qin b , Yiping Li e , Wayne S. Gardner d a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Institute of Marine Sciences, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557, USA b State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 73 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China c Universite ´ du Que ´bec a ` Montre ´al, De ´partement des sciences biologiques, Montre ´al, Que ´bec H3C 3P8, Canada d University of Texas at Austin, Marine Science Institute, 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas, TX 78373, USA e Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hohai University, 1 Xikan Road, Nanjing 210098, PR China article info Article history: Received 16 February 2010 Received in revised form 26 August 2010 Accepted 14 September 2010 Available online 29 September 2010 Keywords: Eutrophication Nitrogen Phosphorus Cyanobacteria China Nutrient management abstract Harmful cyanobacterial blooms, reflecting advanced eutrophication, are spreading globally and threaten the sustainability of freshwater ecosystems. Increasingly, non-nitrogen (N 2 )- fixing cyanobacteria (e.g., Microcystis) dominate such blooms, indicating that both excessive nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loads may be responsible for their proliferation. Tradi- tionally, watershed nutrient management efforts to control these blooms have focused on reducing P inputs. However, N loading has increased dramatically in many watersheds, promoting blooms of non-N 2 fixers, and altering lake nutrient budgets and cycling char- acteristics. We examined this proliferating water quality problem in Lake Taihu, China’s 3rd largest freshwater lake. This shallow, hyper-eutrophic lake has changed from bloom- free to bloom-plagued conditions over the past 3 decades. Toxic Microcystis spp. blooms threaten the use of the lake for drinking water, fisheries and recreational purposes. Nutrient addition bioassays indicated that the lake shifts from P limitation in wintere spring to N limitation in cyanobacteria-dominated summer and fall months. Combined N and P additions led to maximum stimulation of growth. Despite summer N limitation and P availability, non-N 2 fixing blooms prevailed. Nitrogen cycling studies, combined with N input estimates, indicate that Microcystis thrives on both newly supplied and previously- loaded N sources to maintain its dominance. Denitrification did not relieve the lake of excessive N inputs. Results point to the need to reduce both N and P inputs for long-term eutrophication and cyanobacterial bloom control in this hyper-eutrophic system. ª 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Harmful (toxic, food web-disrupting) cyanobacterial blooms (CyanoHABs) are a troubling indicator of advanced eutrophication. These blooms are increasing worldwide and represent a serious threat to drinking water supplies, and the ecological and economic sustainability of our largest fresh- water ecosystems (Reynolds, 1987; Paerl, 1988; Carmichael, * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 252 726 6841; fax: þ1 252 726 2426. E-mail address: [email protected](H.W. Paerl). Available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/watres water research 45 (2011) 1973 e1983 0043-1354/$ e see front matter ª 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2010.09.018
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wat e r r e s e a r c h 4 5 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 9 7 3e1 9 8 3
Avai lab le a t www.sc iencedi rec t .com
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Controlling harmful cyanobacterial blooms ina hyper-eutrophic lake (Lake Taihu, China): The needfor a dual nutrient (N & P) management strategy
Hans W. Paerl a,*, Hai Xu b, Mark J. McCarthy c,d, Guangwei Zhu b, Boqiang Qin b,Yiping Li e, Wayne S. Gardner d
aUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Institute of Marine Sciences, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557, USAb State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
73 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR ChinacUniversite du Quebec a Montreal, Departement des sciences biologiques, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, CanadadUniversity of Texas at Austin, Marine Science Institute, 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas, TX 78373, USAeDepartment of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hohai University, 1 Xikan Road, Nanjing 210098, PR China
wat e r r e s e a r c h 4 5 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 9 7 3e1 9 8 3 1981
seasonally-shifting patterns (Dodds et al., 1989; Elser et al.,
2007; Forbes et al., 2008; Scott et al., 2008; North et al., 2007;
Lewis and Wurtsbaugh, 2008; Conley et al., 2009; Xu et al.,
2010; Abell et al., 2010).
4. Conclusions
Nutrient loading analyses, nutrient addition bioassays and
nutrient cycling studies provide the basis for recommending
that N control be included, along with the previously
prescribed P control (Chen et al., 2003a,b; Wang and Wang,
2009), as a nutrient management strategy for Taihu. Denitri-
fication rates, while high relative to other lakes, are lower than
estimates of N loading and therefore would not mitigate high
N loads. Also, late summer cyanobacterial blooms are main-
tained primarily by water column N regeneration. Recycling
produces NH4þ available to non-N-fixing cyanobacterial
blooms (Microcystis), regardless of the N form discharged into
the lake.
The fact thatMicrocystis spp. were not replaced by N2 fixing
cyanobacterial bloom species during N limited, but P sufficient
summer periods is evidence that predictions of succession
from non-N2 to N2 fixing taxa based on N:P stoichiometry
(Smith, 1990; Schindler et al., 2008) may not apply to hyper-
eutrophic lakes. Excess inputs of both N and P, combined with
internal cycling of these nutrients, may overwhelm the ability
of a single nutrient to control increasing eutrophication and
bloom intensification in Lake Taihu and other large lakes
experiencing such blooms (e.g., Lake Erie, Lake Okeechobee,
Lake Victoria).
P input reductions are an important component of eutro-
phication management in large lakes and reservoirs.
However, failure to control N inputs may result in continued
serious eutrophication problems caused by non-N2 fixing
cyanobacterial blooms.
Acknowledgements
We thank the TLLER, the Taihu Basin Authority, and the
Chinese Ministry of Water Resources for providing water
quality data, and XiaodongWang, Linlin Cai, Jingchen Xue, Lu
Zhang and Longyuan Yang for assistance with sampling and
chemical analyses and Guangbai Cui and Yong Pang for data
collection. This research was supported by the Chinese
Academy of Sciences (Contract: KXCX1-YW-14), the Ministry
of Science and Technology of China (Contract: 2009ZX07101-
013), the Chinese National Science Foundation (Contract:
40825004, 40730529, 51009049), Fundamental Research Funds
for the Central Universities (China), the US Environmental
Protection Agency (Project 83335101-0), and US National
Science Foundation (CBET Program) Project 0826819.
Appendix. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found online
at doi:10.1016/j.watres.2010.09.018
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