• Energy Research

AbstractUnder ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic activity, which continuously challenge ecosystem resilience, an in-depth understanding of ecological processes is urgently needed. Lakes, as providers of numerous ecosystem services, face multiple stressors that threaten their functioning. Harmful cyanobacterial blooms are a persistent problem resulting from nutrient pollution and climate-change induced stressors, like poor transparency, increased water temperature and enhanced stratification. Consistency in data collection and analysis methods is necessary to achieve fully comparable datasets and for statistical validity, avoiding issues linked to disparate data sources. The European Multi Lake Survey (EMLS) in summer 2015 was an initiative among scientists from 27 countries to collect and analyse lake physical, chemical and biological variables in a fully standardized manner. This database includesin-situlake variables along with nutrient, pigment and cyanotoxin data of 369 lakes in Europe, which were centrally analysed in dedicated laboratories. Publishing the EMLS methods and dataset might inspire similar initiatives to study across large geographic areas that will contribute to better understanding lake responses in a changing environment.

Bioresources are continually being explored as potential precursors for sustainable supercapacitor electrode materials. In this work, diatom-rich marine mucilage (MM) collected from the Marmara Sea, Turkey was used as a biomass source and converted to SiO2/Carbon nanocomposite (SiO 2 /C) through pyrolysis and acid etching. Diatom frustules acted as a highly porous silica source while algal organic matter delivered the carbonaceous part of the composite. The natural salts found in marine mucilage served as a self-activating agent and avoided the use of corrosive chemicals for the development of pores. The SiO 2 /C exhibited a competitive capacitance of 210 F g–1 at a current rate of 0.5 A g–1 in 1 M sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) aqueous electrolyte solution. The porous and durable silica skeleton improved capacitance by expanding the electrode/electrolyte interface, and the interconnected hierarchical pores ensured high electrochemical stability during long-term cycling. The mucilage-derived nanocomposite retained 80% and 70% of its capacitance after 4000 and 10,000 charge–discharge cycles, respectively. This work presents a potential solution for the management of marine mucilage by converting it into a high-value electrode material.

Insight into how environmental change determines the production and distribution of cyanobacterial toxins is necessary for risk assessment. Management guidelines currently focus on hepatotoxins (microcystins). Increasing attention is given to other classes, such as neurotoxins (e.g., anatoxin-a) and cytotoxins (e.g., cylindrospermopsin) due to their potency. Most studies examine the relationship between individual toxin variants and environmental factors, such as nutrients, temperature and light. In summer 2015, we collected samples across Europe to investigate the effect of nutrient and temperature gradients on the variability of toxin production at a continental scale. Direct and indirect effects of temperature were the main drivers of the spatial distribution in the toxins produced by the cyanobacterial community, the toxin concentrations and toxin quota. Generalized linear models showed that a Toxin Diversity Index (TDI) increased with latitude, while it decreased with water stability. Increases in TDI were explained through a significant increase in toxin variants such as MC-YR, anatoxin and cylindrospermopsin, accompanied by a decreasing presence of MC-LR. While global warming continues, the direct and indirect effects of increased lake temperatures will drive changes in the distribution of cyanobacterial toxins in Europe, potentially promoting selection of a few highly toxic species or strains.