A review on toxic and harmful algae in Greek coastal waters (E. Mediterranean Sea)

Toxins (Basel). 2010 May;2(5):1019-37. doi: 10.3390/toxins2051019. Epub 2010 May 11.

Abstract

The Greek coastal waters are subjected to harmful algal bloom (HAB) phenomena due to the occurrence of species characterized as toxic (TX), potentially toxic (PT), and non-toxic, high biomass (HB) producers causing harm at multiple levels. The total number of (TX), (PT) and (HB) algae reported in this work are 61, but only 16 species have been associated with the occurrence of important HABs causing damage in the marine biota and the water quality. These phenomena are sporadic in time, space and recurrence of the causative species, and are related to the anthropogenically-induced eutrophication conditions prevailing in the investigated areas.

Keywords: : harmful algae; Aegean Sea; Ionian Sea.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biomass
  • Cyanobacteria / classification
  • Cyanobacteria / growth & development
  • Databases, Factual
  • Diatoms / classification
  • Diatoms / growth & development
  • Dinoflagellida / classification
  • Dinoflagellida / growth & development
  • Ecosystem
  • Greece
  • Haptophyta / classification
  • Haptophyta / growth & development
  • Harmful Algal Bloom*
  • Mediterranean Sea
  • Seawater / analysis*
  • Stramenopiles / classification
  • Stramenopiles / growth & development
  • Toxins, Biological / metabolism

Substances

  • Toxins, Biological