CYANOBACTERIAL DIVERSITY IN SELECTED Tor tambroides CULTIVATION AREAS IN SERIAN & BATANG AI, SARAWAK

By: Mohd Nasarudin Harith & Ruhana Hassan

What Is Cyanobacteria?

Also known as blue-green algae

Microscopic prokaryotes

Occupy almost every habitats on the globe

Many morphological formsUnicell, Colonies, Filamentous, Heterocystous

Cyanobacterial Nature

Photosynthetic microorganism– produce oxygen (Sze, 1998)

• Nitrogen fixer (Bold & Wynne, 1985)

• Capable to tolerate in wide range of environmental conditions– halotolerant (Reed et al. 1984), pH tolerant (Bold & Wynne, 1985)

temperature tolerant (Dor & Danin, 1996)

– also form symbiotic association with other organisms (Rai, 1990)

Cyanobacteria & Human

• Beneficial cyanobacteria – Spirulina (Bold & Wynne, 1985)

– claimed as ‘superfood’ status from various health product companies

– food sources for human population near Lake Chad (Africa) and Lake Texcoco (Mexico)

– source of antimicrobial compounds (Pandey et al. 2006)

www.nies.go.jp www.ead.aewww.spirulina.sg

Cyanobacteria & Human

• Toxic cyanobacteria– Anabaena: Anatoxin (Skulberg et al. 1993)

– Microcystis & Nodularia: hepatotoxins (Watanabe et al. 1992)

– Lyngbya: Lyngbyatotoxin (Sze, 1998)

©AJ Silverside www.ibvf.csic.es

Etwinsle et al. 1997

Cyanobacteria & Aquaculture

• Scientific reports (Chorus & Bartram, 1999; Wetzel, 2001) shows proliferation of cyanobacteria in aquaculture ponds as bloom is associated with enrichment with nutrient (nitrate, ammonium and phosphate)

• Toxic cyanobacteria cause harm to animal & human health (Prommana et al., 2006)

frequently reported :Microcystis (Botes et al., 1982).

Cyanobacterial Study In Sarawak

Preliminary study by Ramlah (2005)Shed some lights on diversity of cyanobacteria in selected aquaculture ponds

However, data on cyanobacterial diversity is still limited in terms of number of study and data collected with the large number of aquaculture ponds in Sarawak.

Objective

This study served as an update on Sarawak cyanobacterial research in assessing the

diversity and identifying the potential toxin producers exclusively in Tor tambroides

aquaculture ponds with the aim of contributing to risk assessment of potential cyanotoxin

contamination of water and bioaccumulation in fishes

Why Tor tambroides?

In Sarawak, this species considered valuable species

Significant cultural & economic important in the state

• Sarawak Government has established Indigenous Fisheries Research & Production Centre (IFRPC), Tarat, Serian in order to conduct the research related with Tor artificial propagation

Silva et al., 2004Silva et al., 2004

Sampling Sites

Batang Ai

21 3 5 64

Serian

Stations

HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) pondEarth pond

Cage PondDam (Outside Cages)

Methodology

Sample Collection

Cells

Preserved Samples

Identification

Data AnalysisCompilation SQS

Cyanobacteria Composition

Total Genera: 2523 genera at Batang Ai

10 genera at Serian

• Common Genera: Chroococcus• Only recorded in Batang Ai

– Aphanocapsa, Aphanothece, Chamaesiphon, Dactylococcopsis, Gloeothece, Marssoniella, Myxobactron, Phormidium, Pseudoanabaena, Pseudocapsa, Rhabdoderma, Synechococcus, Scytonema, Tolypothrix & Tychonema

Cyanobacteria Composition

Only recorded in Serian– Spirulina & Pleurocapsa

• Potentially toxin producer (Ressom et al. 1994 & Skulberg et al., 1993)

Anabaena, Lyngbya, Microcystis, Nostoc, Oscillatoria,

Pseudoanabaena, Synechococcus, Scytonema,

Spirulina, Tolypothrix

Genera Number in all stations

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1 2 3 4 5 6

Station

Num

ber o

f Gen

era

Sorensen’s Quotient of Similarity (%)

St 5St 4St 3St 2St 1

66.7St 2

St 6

St 5

St 4

St 3

38.169.266.757.155.6

43.547.622.226.7

61.534.840.0

47.644.4

Conclusion

A total of 25 cyanobacteria genera recorded at both areas with approximately 40% were potential toxin producers.

Wide range of SQS value suggested that different types and location of ponds will have variation in physico-chemical properties of the water and lead to the different composition of cyanobacteria.

Aknowledgement

The authors are thankful to FO Dr. Stephen Sungan and all staffs from IFRPC Tarat, Serian

FA Patrick from Batang Ai Inland Fisheries Station

FRST staffs especially Mr. Mustafa Kamal and Mr.Zaidi Ibrahim during field work.

UNIMAS

This study is partly funded by grant FRGS/06(06)/658/2007(22) awarded to Dr. Ruhana Hassan.

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