Original paper
Background of the Caruaru tragedy; a case taxonomic study of toxic cyanobacteria
Komárek, Jiři; Azevedo, Sandra M. F. O.; Domingos, Patricia; Komárková, Jaroslava; Tichý, Martin
Algological Studies/Archiv für Hydrobiologie, Supplement Volumes No. 103 (2001), p. 9 - 29
28 references
published: Dec 3, 2001
DOI: 10.1127/algol_stud/103/2001/9
ArtNo. ESP142014000002, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
We describe phenotype characters of cyanobacterial populations, dominating in the Tabocas reservoir, State of Pernambuco, Brazil, in the period February-June 1996. Massive development of cyanoprokaryotic species in the reservoir was then responsible for cyanotoxin production into the water. As a consequence, over 50 people died after intoxication by cyanotoxins in the hemodialysis center in Caruaru, Brazil. All the dominating cyanobacterial species from Tabocas reservoir belong exclusively to the tropical, not well known species. The basic phenotype descriptions and ecological characters of Aphanothece stratus, Romeria caruaru (spec. nova), Aphanocapsa cf. cumulus, Microcystis protocystis, M. panniformis, Chroococcidiopsis cf. indica and Aphanizomenon manguinii are included in the article. - Two important conclusions can be drawn from our results: (i) Numerous important specific and little known cyanobacterial types occur in tropical regions, different from these ones known from temperate zones, and (ii) the "picoplanktic" populations can be formed by cells liberated from macroscopic colonies of benthic and periphytic species. Our results support also the hypothesis about the toxicity of cyanobacteria from various taxonomic groups and various biotopes, and urge further study of the natural populations from little known tropical biotopes by combined traditional and modern molecular methods.
Keywords
Cyanobacteria • Cyanophytes • taxonomy • ecology • plankton • picoplankton • toxicity • tropical regions • Brazil