Virtually every coastal country in the world is affected by harmful algal blooms (HABs, commonly called "red tides"). These phenomena are caused by blooms of microscopic algae. Some of these algae are toxic, and can lead to illness and death in humans, fish, seabirds, marine mammals, and other oceanic life, typically as a result of the transfer of toxins through the food web. Sometimes the direct release of toxic compounds can be lethal to marine animals. Non-toxic HABs cause damage to ecosystems, fisheries resources, and recreational facilities, often due to the sheer biomass of the accumulated algae. The term "HAB" also applies to non-toxic blooms of macroalgae (seaweeds), which can cause major ecological impacts such as the displacement of indigenous species, habitat alteration and oxygen depletion in bottom waters.Globally, the nature of the HAB problem has changed considerably over the last several decades. The number of toxic blooms, the resulting economic losses, the types of resources affected, and the number of toxins and toxic species have all increased dramatically. Some of this expansion has been attributed to storms, currents and other natural phenomena, but human activities are also frequently implicated. Humans have contributed by transporting toxic species in ballast water, and by adding massive and increasing quantities of industrial, agricultural and sewage effluents to coastal waters. In many urbanized coastal regions, these inputs have altered the size and composition of the nutrient pool which has, in turn, created a more favorable nutrient environment for certain HAB species. The steady expansion in the use of fertilizers for agricultural production represents a large and worrisome source of nutrients in coastal waters that promote some HABs.The diversity in HAB species and their impacts presents a significant challenge to those responsible for the management of coastal resources. Furthermore, HABs are complex oceanographic phenomena that require multidisciplinary study ranging from molecular and cell biology to large-scale field surveys, numerical modelling, and remote sensing from space. Our understanding of these phenomena is increasing dramatically, and with this understanding come technologies and management tools that can reduce HAB incidence and impact. Here I summarize the global HAB problem, its trends and causes, and new technologies and approaches to monitoring, control and management, highlighting molecular probes for cell detection, rapid and sensitive toxin assays, remote sensing detection and tracking of blooms, bloom control and mitigation strategies, and the use of large-scale physical/biological models to analyze past blooms and forecast future ones.

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监测、控制和管理有害藻华 (HAB) 的方法

几乎世界上每个沿海国家都受到有害藻华（HAB，通常称为“赤潮”）的影响。这些现象是由微观藻类大量繁殖引起的。其中一些藻类是有毒的，可导致人类、鱼类、海鸟、海洋哺乳动物和其他海洋生物生病和死亡，这通常是毒素通过食物网转移的结果。有时，有毒化合物的直接释放对海洋动物来说是致命的。无毒 HAB 对生态系统、渔业资源和娱乐设施造成损害，通常是由于积累的藻类的生物量过大。“HAB”一词也适用于大型藻类（海藻）的无毒大量繁殖，它们会造成重大生态影响，例如本地物种的迁移、栖息地的改变和底层水域的氧气消耗。在全球范围内，在过去的几十年中，HAB 问题的性质发生了很大变化。有毒水华的数量、由此造成的经济损失、受影响的资源类型以及毒素和有毒物种的数量都急剧增加。部分扩张归因于风暴、洋流和其他自然现象，但也经常涉及人类活动。人类通过在压舱水中运输有毒物种以及向沿海水域添加大量且越来越多的工业、农业和污水排放物做出了贡献。在许多城市化的沿海地区，这些投入改变了养分库的大小和组成，进而为某些 HAB 物种创造了更有利的养分环境。农业生产中肥料使用的稳步扩大是沿海水域养分的一个巨大而令人担忧的来源，它促进了一些 HAB。HAB 物种的多样性及其影响对负责管理沿海资源的人提出了重大挑战。此外，HAB 是复杂的海洋学现象，需要从分子和细胞生物学到大规模实地调查、数值建模和空间遥感等多学科研究。我们对这些现象的理解正在急剧增加，随着这种理解的出现，可以减少 HAB 发生率和影响的技术和管理工具。在这里，我总结了全球 HAB 问题、其趋势和原因，以及监测、控制和管理的新技术和方法，