CyanoHAB Search: A list of Toxic Cyanobacteria References

Wayne W. Carmichael

When I began my studies of toxic blue-green algae (now called
cyanobacteria), at the University of Alberta under Paul R. Gorham in
1970, there were about 200 literature references on the topic, composed
of field reports of animal poisonings and some studies on isolation and
laboratory culture of toxin producing strains. In 1972, O.E. (Ted)
Edwards' laboratory at NRC in Ottawa published the first structure for a
cyanobacteria toxin---the potent alkaloid neurotoxin called anatoxin‑a.
By 1992[^1], there were about 900 papers on toxic cyanobacteria, and the
basic structure and mechanism of action was known for all of the toxins
that we now call the cyanotoxins, with the exception of the alkaloid
cyanotoxin called Cylindrospermopsin.

**CyanoHAB**[^2] **Search,** evolving from these origins, contains toxic
cyanobacteria references in an electronic format (ProCite®) that can be
searched, sorted and listed by author, year, title, reference source or
subject. These toxic cyanobacteria references include reports of potent
toxins causing widespread poisonings and also reports on the cytotoxins
as compounds with pharmacological potential. There are 3063 references
citing 705 journals and written by 4687 authors and editors comprising
this database. The references themselves are primary literature papers,
books, book chapters, reports, thesis and papers presented at meetings.
Some papers/poster titles are included but it is not inclusive for this
type of presentation. Every attempt was made to include papers presented
if they were subsequently published in a proceedings or abstracting
services. In accumulating this literature database the author has relied
on the following key sources:

1)  Carmichael, W.W. (1974). [*Anabaena flos-aquae* Toxin: its
    Toxicology and Mechanism of Action]{.underline}. Ph.D. Thesis.
    University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta. 134 pp.

2)  Carmichael, W.W. (1992). [A Status Report on Planktonic
    Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae) and their Toxins]{.underline}.
    Office of Research and Development, EPA: Washington, D.C. Report \#
    EPA/600/R-92/079. 141 pp.

3)  Chorus, I. and Bartram, J. (eds.) (1999). [Toxic Cyanobacteria in
    Water: a Guide to Their Public Health Consequences, Monitoring and
    Management]{.underline}. E & FN Spon: London. 416 pp.

4)  Gorham, P.R. (1964). Toxic algae. In: D. F. Jackson (ed.) [Algae and
    Man]{.underline}. Plenum Press: New York, pp. 307-336. 434 pp.

5)  Ressom, R. et al. (1994). [Health Effects of Toxic Cyanobacteria
    (Blue-Green Algae)]{.underline}. Australian Government Publishing
    Service: Canberra, ACT, Australia. 108 pp.

6)  Sivonen, K. (1990). [Toxic Cyanobacteria in Finnish Fresh Waters and
    the Baltic Sea]{.underline}. Ph.D Thesis in Microbiology, University
    of Helsinki, Finland.

7)  Schwimmer, D. and Schwimmer, M. (1964). Algae and medicine. In: D.F.
    Jackson (ed.) [Algae and Man]{.underline}. Plenum Press: New York,
    pp. 368-412. 434 pp.

8)  Schwimmer, M. and Schwimmer, D. (1968). Medical aspects of
    phycology. In: D.F. Jackson (ed.) [Algae, Man and the
    Environment]{.underline}. Syracuse University Press: New York, pp.
    279-358. 554 pp.

9)  Yoo, R.S.; Carmichael, W.W.; Hoehn, R.C., and Hrudey, S.E. (eds.)
    (1995). [Cyanobacterial (Blue-Green Algal) Toxins: a Resource
    Guide]{.underline}. AWWA Res. Foundation & American Water Works
    Assoc.: Denver, Colorado. 229 pp.

In addition to these key sources, beginning in 1999 the author
subscribed to the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Personal
Alert™ services. Many references in this list are therefore from this
source. However, efforts were also made to secure and verify references
from many other sources, especially Wright State University Libraries'
electronic journals online and other electronic reference databases such
as Biosis, Medline, Science Citation Index, Proceedings First and the
online search engine Google.com. Even with this extensive search, the
author does not claim this list is inclusive. Investigators in this
field are now found throughout the world and their reports and
publications are not always listed for easy access. However, we do
believe the current list is exhaustive. The number of references
reported represents a 3-fold increase in just 10 years. The reference
list on this CD was created in ProCite® version 5.0 for Macintosh. In
order to obtain full use of the reference database it should be run
under ProCite® either for Macintosh or for PC. In addition to ProCite®,
the reference database is saved on this CD as a Word document. This
makes it possible to read and print the references without using the
ProCite® software. The format style called "ACyanodbasestyle" that was
developed for displaying and printing the database is also on the CD.

Every reasonable effort has been made to standardize the use of
information in the reference listings. Journal abbreviations, in most
cases, have been corrected to conform to those in: Periodical Title
Abbreviations: By Abbreviation .Vol I. Edited by Leland G. Alkire, Jr.;
Associate Editor, Cheryl Westerman-Alkie. 2000. Gale Group, Detroit, San
Francisco, London, Boston, Woodbridge Ct. 12^th^ Edition. To assist the
user with the various reference abbreviations, a lexicon to the
abbreviations is also included (called **"**Lexicon for Journal
Abbreviations used in CyanoHAB Search**"**). This can be found as a
separate Word document on the CD.

The author would like to thank those who assisted with clarification of
certain references in compilation of this reference database. The main
persons who helped were: Sandra M.F.O. Azevedo, Geoff Codd, Ian
Falconer, Jeanette Frey, Anna Lankoff, Jussi Meriluoto, Kaisa
Selesniemi, Lydia Sirenko and Moucun Yuan. Phil Flynn, Jeff Wehmeyer and
Jayne Zetts, Wright State University Engineering, Sciences and Social
Sciences, and Reference Librarians, respectively, were very helpful in
locating or clarifying older references, especially those from
international Universities and Institutes. Most of the credit for
organizing, putting the references into ProCite® format, and numerous
edits goes to Laurie Carmichael. In many ways this is really her
reference database. In the early stages of the effort she was assisted
by Heather Lacey and in the final weeks of the effort Mary Stukenberg
and Angela Carmichael were very helpful.

Partial support for this effort came from the United States
Environmental Protection Agency in Cincinnati, Ohio. Their support and
in particular that of James Sinclair is gratefully acknowledged.

The author would appreciate acknowledgement for any extensive use of
this reference database.

![](media/image1.pct){width="3.625in" height="1.875in"}Thank you

# Wayne W. Carmichael

Dayton, Ohio

January 25, 2004

[^1]: Carmichael, W.W. (1992). [A Status Report on Planktonic
    Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae) and their Toxins]{.underline}

[^2]: Cyanobacteria Harmful Algae Blooms