Cyanotoxins in arctic lakes of southwestern Greenland and the potential for toxin transfer within-lake and across the aquatic-terrestrial boundary

Abstract:

Arctic lakes are often characterized as low-resource environments in which the autotrophic community is limited by factors such as nutrients, temperature, and light. Studies of cyanotoxins have traditionally focused on nutrient-rich lakes with conspicuous blooms, however toxigenic cyanobacteria are confined to neither high nutrient environments nor planktonic taxa. We quantified the occurrence of cyanotoxins across 19 arctic lakes of varying size and depth in the Kangerlussuaq region of southwestern Greenland. Whole lake water microcystins (MC) were detected in all lakes and ranged from low (<5 ng/L) to moderate (>100 ng/L) concentrations. Benthic colonial cyanobacteria of the genus Nostoc are a prominent feature of certain lakes in this region, with estimated densities ranging between 500 and >500,000 colonies per lake. MC were present in the tissue of Nostoc colonies (95% CI, 1638.9 – 3237.6 pg MC (g wet weight)^-1) and were actively released by colonies into surrounding water in laboratory trials. These results highlight the potential importance of toxic benthic cyanobacteria in lake ecosystems. Further, we investigated the transfer of these cyanotoxins to other organisms in the lake as well as several mechanisms (i.e., emerging insects, aerosols) that may influence the movement of toxins into the terrestrial ecosystem. The presence and movement of cyanotoxins in the coupled terrestrial-aquatic ecosystem demonstrate that high-latitude lakes can support toxigenic cyanobacteria, and that we may be underestimating the potential for these systems to develop high levels of toxicity in the future.