Author(s)

Yuchen Feng

Corresponding Author

Yuchen Feng

ABSTRACT

Algal toxins are the toxins produced by algae living in lakes or oceans, and cause increasing poisoning cases, with acute symptoms and even some long-term effects. Diarrhetic shellfish poison (DSP), paralytic shellfish poison (PSP), neurotoxic shellfish poison (NSP), amnesic shellfish poison (ASP) and ciguatoxin are the 5 main algal toxins that may affect human. There are a series of cases which might be critical lessons, such as blue-green algae in Dane County in 2002, Harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Taihu Lake WuXi China, and massive died-off of murres Gulf of Alaska in 2015-2016. However, how algal toxins and HABs affect human and the environment have not been fully understood. Research revealed human factors such as eutrophication, international interaction, as well as natural reasons such as climate changes, migration of cephalopods carrying algal toxins, etc. Intervention including activating carbon and reversing osmosis, or application of chemical to directly react with toxins, may not be able to apply on cleaning the lake or oceans. It is also challenging to provide guidance on buying or feeding coral reef with potential risks. Future studies and measures are required to optimize the main reasons that caused algal toxin poisoning and HABs.

KEYWORDS

red tide, cyanotoxins, eutrophia, International Interactions