New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Short communication
Recent occurrence of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii in Waikato lakes of New Zealand

E. F. Ryan
D. P. Hamilton

Department of Biological Sciences
University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton, New Zealand
email: efr@waikato.ac.nz
email: d.hamilton@waikato.ac.nz

G. E. Barnes

Environment Waikato
P.O. Box 4010
Hamilton, New Zealand
email: grant.barnes@ew.govt.nz

Abstract  Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii is a toxin-producing species of cyanobacteria that in autumn 2003 was recorded for the first time in three shallow (max. depth ≤5 m) Waikato lakes and a hydro-electric dam on the Waikato River, New Zealand. It formed water blooms at densities >100 000 cells/ml in Lakes Waahi and Whangape. Net rates of population growth >0.2 day^-1 were recorded for C. raciborskii in Lakes Ngaroto, Waahi, and Karapiro, based on comparisons of low numbers (detection of <10 cells/ml) from initial samples and its presence at bloom densities (>15 000 cells/ml) in the subsequent sample “x”-“y” days later. C. raciborskii may be well adapted to rapid proliferation in the Waikato lakes, which are eutrophic to hypertrophic, with high light attenuation, and where nitrogen (N) fixation may provide it with a competitive advantage over non-nitrogen fixing algae under N-limited conditions.

Keywords  cyanobacteria; Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii; lakes; New Zealand

M03025 Received 16 May 2003; accepted 7 July 2003; Online publication date 31 October 2003
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2003, Vol. 37: 829-836
0028-8330/03/3704-0829 $7.00 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2003

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