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Killer algae - from synth fertilizers etc??



Is synthetic fertilizer use and waste water stirring up killer algae on the
Eastern seaboard?  Scarey stuff happens when we mess with the balance... 

P. Dines

--- Forwarded message ---
From:   pmligotti@earthlink.net (Peter M. Ligotti)
Date: 96-11-11 19:39:23 EST
Subject: Fwd: More Unpredictable Side-Effects in Unpredictable Places: Ecosystem
Roulette

>from  CNN web page:
-------------------------
                    Scientists seek clues about 'killer algae'

                    Fish die, humans become ill

                    November 11, 1996
                    Web posted at: 4:30 p.m. EST

                    In this story:

                       * Ancient one-celled organism is the cause
                       * But is pfiesteria responsible for human ailments?
                       * Related stories and sites

                    NEW BERN, North Carolina (CNN) -- Fish kills are
                    not unusual on North Carolina's Neuse River. but
                    the one in the fall of 1995 was different from most.

                    Dying fish swam in circles, disoriented. Dead fish
                    had large sores, or even chunks of flesh missing.
                    Millions of fish died over a period of weeks.

                    But what about the people who spent a lot of their
                    time on the river? Joe Lopes worked right in the
                    water, sinking pilings or building sea walls. He
                    began to develop sores, he says, but thought
                    nothing of it at first. But soon, he says, he
                    became very ill.

                    "They put me in the hospital for a few days,"
                    Lopes says. "Ran all kinds of tests, couldn't come
                    up with (any) reason why I was sick or I had these
                    sores on me."

                    Chris Ivers is a diver who inspects bridges for
                    the state Department of Transportation. He too
                    developed sores, he says, and had attacks of
                    vertigo with no apparent cause.

                    David Jones and Billy Conners fished the river until their
health began to decline.

                    "Losing weight, kinda confused," says Jones, "my
                    memory's not like it used to be."

                    "I've had sores on me in the past," says Conners.
                    "Everybody that's worked down on that river has
                    had sores on them."

                    Ancient one-celled organism is the cause

                    The cause of the fish kill was a deadly one-celled
                    algae called pfiesteria. Whether it also caused
                    human health problems on the river is a question a
                    lot of people would like to have answered.

                    Researcher Joann Burkholder knows pfiesteria can
                    be dangerous in a closed room like her lab. Before
                    they realized the risks, she and a colleague
                    worked around tanks of pfiesteria without
                    protection and paid the price. For both
                    researchers, memory was affected.

                    "I think the worst situation that we confronted ..
                    was that my research associate lost his short-term
                    memory and was unable to read very well or do
                    simple mathematics," Burkholder says. "We really
                    didn't know if he'd come out of it."

                    Medical specialists decided the problems
                    experienced by Burkholder and her associate were
                    definitely caused by pfiesteria in the air. The
                    lab has been remodeled to include biohazard protection.

                    And from the lab may come answers to
                    some of the urgent question about the
                    fish-killing algae. Scientists have learned a lot
                    about pfiesteria, an odd-ball organism that has
                    probably been around for thousands of years, but
                    was only discovered by humans within the last 10
                    years. They think it may lie dormant for long
                    periods, until something turns it into a
                    fish-killing machine.

                    "It shows deliberate attack behavior ... toward
                    fish," Burkholder says.

                    Under the microscope, the pfiesteria cells can be
                    seen swimming up to a piece of fish flesh and
                    gobbling it. Given a drop of human blood on a
                    microscope slide, they gobble that too.

                    The scientists also found that pfiesteria is a
                    master of disguise.

                    "It transformed from little tiny stages, to stages
                    that were 40 times bigger, and it could do that
                    within a period of about five minutes sometimes,"
                    Burkholder explains.

                    Man-made pollutants may trigger algae into action

                    But there is a lot they don't know about the
                    Jekyll and Hyde algae. One big question is what
                    triggered the massive pfiesteria kills last year
                    and in 1991?

                    Rick Dove has been watching the river for years,
                    first as a commercial fisherman, and since 1993 as
                    the river-keeper for the Neuse River Foundation.
                    He says that hindsight tells him the algae has
                    been at work for some time, "and in large numbers
                    probably since around '87, '88, '89."

                    Burkholder's studies have shown that pfiesteria thrives
when there are
                    high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the
                    water. These chemicals are found in fertilizer and
                    some waste water, and their levels have soared in
                    recent years as agriculture, housing, and
                    commercial development have increased along the
                    Neuse and other rivers.

                    "We've put so many pollutants in the water," says
                    Dove, "... that the river just doesn't have a chance."

                    Burkholder and her research team are tying to
                    figure out how the polluted water makes pfiesteria
                    flourish. They're also concerned about what
                    pfiesteria may be doing up and down the food
                    chain, and whether long-term exposure might put
                    entire fish species in danger.

                    But is pfiesteria responsible for human ailments?

                    Just as troubling is the long list of unanswered
                    questions about what pfiesteria does to humans.

                    "We do not have the toxins fully characterized, so
                    we can't take a blood sample from a person and say
                    for certain that the toxin is inside their blood
                    for instance," Burkholder explains.

                    But Dove wants to know if it's safe to be on the
                    river -- and safe to eat the fish when the algae
                    is on the attack.

                    "There may be nothing to be afraid of, or there
                    may be things we can do where we don't have to be
                    so worried about it," he says. "But again, we
                    don't have the answers, and that's troublesome."

                    And Lopes wonders if the sores and other
                    ailments will come back after five or 10 years.

                    Still, a state Health Department study trying to
                    determine if pfiesteria caused the human health
                    problems was inconclusive. Peter Morris, North
                    Carolina's medial epidemiologist, says that the
                    symptoms were inconsistent among those who
                    reported ailments, and that other causes can
                    create the same symptoms.

                    The state does plan a bigger epidemiological study
                    and further research. But for the people whose
                    lives are centered on the river, the stakes are
                    high and the answers can't come soon enough.

                    "We'll never be able to go back out there and fish
                    again like we used to," says Billy Conners,
                    "because of our health, and the river."

                    But Conners says that if something is not done
                    soon, the future generations will tell a story far
                    sadder than his own.

                    And the problem isn't limited to North Carolina --
                    pfiesteria has been found from the Chesapeake Bay
                    to Florida.

                    And until scientists can come up with more
                    answers, there's no way to tell when -- and why --
                    the ancient algae will go on another killing spree.