Description
Occurrence and spatial distribution of typical lipophilic algal toxins in Pearl River Estuary and Hong Kong waters, South ChinaXin Li, Meng Yan, Priscilla T.Y. Leung, Jiarui GU, Veronica T.T. Lam, Jing Li, Yim-Ling Mak, Paul K.S. Lam
Toxic algae are capable of producing toxins that can cause fish kills or severe intoxication in humans following consumption of contaminated seafood. They are viewed as an emerging threat to marine ecosystem. Previously, toxic algae that can produce lipophilic algal toxins were found in HK waters, but the information on the toxin levels in environmental samples, e.g. seawater and sediments, is largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate the distribution of typical lipophilic algal toxins in seawater samples collected from Pearl River Estuary and Hong Kong Waters, and to discuss the relationships between salinity and temperature on their toxin production. According to the analytical results, 5 types of lipophilic algal toxins (OA, DTX1, YTX, PTX2, GYMA) and putative CTXs were detected in seawater samples, and the distribution patterns varied among different toxins. The toxins were mainly detected in areas with salinity between 20-30‰ and temperature 24-26°C. This study suggests that the spatial distribution of lipophilic algal toxins in seawater may be related to environmental conditions. The effects of temperature and salinity on the growth of and toxin production by benthic and epiphytic toxic algae were investigated under laboratory conditions. Upcoming results of these laboratory experiments will be discussed as well.
| Period | 21 Oct 2018 → 26 Oct 2018 |
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| Event type | Conference |