Ecology of cyanotoxin-producer cyanobacterial communities in Spanish National Parks

Dpt. Biology. Sciences Faculty. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid. Spain Perona, E.; Diez-Chiappe, A., Bolgenhagen, F. Cirés, S., Justel A, Muñoz-Martín M.A., Quesada, A. Keywords: freshwater ecosystems, National Parks, anatoxin-a, microcystins, Management Waterbodies in National Parks, despite their typical pristine condition, are also subjected to the presence of potentially toxic cyanobacteria. The main objective of this work is to characterize ecologically, taxonomically and toxicologically the cyanobacterial communities from rivers and reservoirs within these protected ecosystems to evaluate the potential risk to visitors, workers and protected fauna. Results obtained in reservoirs, located within a rivers network with different physicochemical characteristics, showed extensive and persistent blooms formed by different planktonic communities dominated by cyanotoxin-producer genera such as Aphanizomenom, Microcystis and/or Planktothrix. The results in rivers indicate an alarming increase in the persistence and abundance of benthic mats, dominated by Phormidium (mainly Ph. Autumnale, also called Microcoleus autumnalis), showing a high toxicity risk (due to their anatoxin-a content) even at places with a low coverage (less than 10 %). This work describes these communities and discusses the presence of some cyanotoxins (microcystins, anatoxins, cylindrospermopsins and saxitoxins) measured by different methods (genetic, quantitative, etc) and their relationship with environmental parameters. The massive presence of cyanotoxin-producers cyanobacteria in Spanish National Parks is demonstrated and are the first steps for the creation of protocols to manage risks potentially usable at other protected areas. This work has been supported by two Grants: MITERD-OAPN- 2593-2020 and CYTED 2019-P919PTE004