Abstract
Colombia is the country with the sixth highest amount of water reserves in the world, and 25% of its territory is covered by wetlands. However, approximately 50% of the country’s water is estimated to exhibit some type of contamination related to anthropic activities. An alternative for the treatment and the recovery of its bodies of water is the use of microalgae, unicellular, and mixotrophic microorganisms, as these bioreactors are highly adaptable to the environment, and their maintenance costs are minimal, because they feed on almost any substrate. In fact, different countries have already reported using microalgae as bioremediators for bodies of water. The use of these microphytes is efficient because they metabolize, degrade, or bioaccumulate heavy metals, pesticides, emerging pollutants, and antibiotics. In general, strategies relying on microalgae to eliminate pollutants are very similar to one another. For example, the first stage often includes a process of bioadsorption, consumption, degradation, and accumulation, wherein the microalgae use molecules generated from their own cellular metabolism. Some pilot studies focusing on the phycoremediation of marshes and other bodies of water have already been conducted in Colombia; however, more studies on process optimization, effectively leveraging the biodiversity of the existing microalgae, and better adapting microalgae to the region are still required.
Highlights
Known as flood plain lakes, are shallow, slow bodies of water (≤10 m), with temperatures rising above 25 ◦C and rainfall exceeding 2000 mm per year that play an important role in the biogeochemistry and the ecology of tropical river systems
These interactions are not limited only to the exchange of nutrients, and to communication through chemical signals, such as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHL), which mediate a variety of collective behaviors and ecological functions, for example, acquisition of nutrients, construction of ecological niches and reproduction [63,64]
The cultivation and application of microalgae is a promising approach for the recovery of hard-to-reach bodies of water and populations with few resources since it decreases eutrophication rates and increases dissolved oxygen concentrations in the bodies of water, and generate innovative by-products
Summary
Known as flood plain lakes, are shallow, slow bodies of water (≤10 m), with temperatures rising above 25 ◦C and rainfall exceeding 2000 mm per year that play an important role in the biogeochemistry and the ecology of tropical river systems. Efforts are being made to standardize the double application of microalgae in the restoration of contaminated water bodies and the production of value-added products such as carotenoids, antioxidants, fatty acids, enzymes, polymers, peptides, toxins and sterols [31], and using industrial waste [32,33], livestock waste [34], agro-industrial waste and pesticides [35,36] as a substrate, making microalgae cultivation profitable [37] Another promising approach is using these microorganisms as a phytoremediator of aquatic environments contaminated with antibiotics or toxic metals such as Aluminum, Nickel, Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Tin, Arsenic and Bromine [38,39,40,41], and the elimination of pathogenic bacteria [42] and viruses [43]. We will delve into the physiological mechanisms used by microalgae to carry out these processes
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