东海原甲藻(Prorocentrum donghaiense)和链状亚历山大藻(Alexandrium catenella)对模拟食物链物质传递的影响

研究了东海原甲藻的基本营养组成,并就赤潮密度下的东海原甲藻(Prorocentrum donghaiense)和链状亚历山大藻(Alexandrium catenella)在单一和混合情况下对赤潮藻→卤虫模拟食物链物质传递的影响进行了探讨。结果表明:与其它饵料微藻相比,东海原甲藻必需氨基酸中的苯丙氨酸、赖氨酸和组氨酸含量明显偏低。东海原甲藻单独投喂时,卤虫对其的总物质转化效率随着藻密度的增加呈现先逐渐增加再逐渐降低的趋势。而当不同密度的东海原甲藻分别与一种硅藻小新月菱形藻(Nitzschia closterium)混合投喂时,随东海原甲藻密度的增加,卤虫选择性地增加对东海原甲藻的摄食,而降低对小新月菱形藻的摄食,并且其总物质转化效率逐渐降低。暴露于链状亚历山大藻藻液,卤虫体重减轻,且在其体内未检测到叶绿素a,表明卤虫未摄食该藻。当链状亚历山大藻藻细胞重悬液和去藻过滤液分别与小新月菱形藻或东海原甲藻混合时,卤虫对后两株藻的摄食量和总物质转化效率均有所降低。因此,在大规模赤潮发生时,东海原甲藻和链状亚历山大藻可能分别对浮游动物的营养和存活带来不利影响,并影响物质沿食物链的传递。     

The first report of the potentially harmful diatom Pseudo‐nitzschia caciantha from Australian coastal waters

The diatom Pseudo‐nitzschia is a significant component of coastal waters worldwide and a producer of the potent neurotoxin, domoic acid. Sixteen species belonging to this genus have been reported from Australian waters, but the potentially toxic species P. caciantha has not been previously known from this region. Two clonal strains of P. caciantha were isolated from Coogee Beach, south‐east Australia, and the morphological, molecular and toxicological evidence for this species delineation were examined using light and transmission electron microscopy, phylogenetic analysis based on sequences of the second internal transcribed spacer and domoic acid production as measured by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. The results unambiguously confirmed that these isolates are the potentially toxic species P. caciantha , being only the second report of this species in the Southern Hemisphere. The potential for further hidden Pseudo‐nitzschia diversity in these waters is considerable.     

Benthic Dinoflagellate Integrator (BEDI): A new method for the quantification of Benthic Harmful Algal Blooms

Despite the potential negative human health, ecological and economic impact, the ecology of harmful benthic dinoflagellate blooms remains largely unknown. This is probably due to the complex interactions among biotic and abiotic drivers that influence blooms, but also to the difficulty in quantifying cell abundance in a comparable way over large spatial and temporal scales. One of the recognized priorities for bHABs (benthic Harmful Algal Blooms) assessment is developing and standardizing methods that can provide comparable data. In this context, the Benthic Dinoflagellates Integrator (BEDI), a new non-destructive quantification method for benthic dinoflagellate abundances, has been developed and tested within the present study. The rationale behind the BEDI standard assessment method is that mechanical resuspension of cells enables the quantification of abundances as cells per unit of seabed surface area (i.e. cells mm⁻²) or as Potentially Resuspended cells per unit of volume (PRcells ml⁻¹), by integrating both cells in the biofilm and those in the surrounding water. Estimations of Ostreopsis performed with BEDI method are independent of the substratum (i.e. macroalgal species) or the dominant ecosystem (i.e. algal forests or turfs, seagrass beds, coral reefs) and potentially allow the comparison of benthic dinoflagellate blooms over broad temporal and spatial scales. The first application of the BEDI method, presented in this study, gave encouraging results: the characterization of blooms of Ostreopsis cf. ovata at three sites in the NW Mediterranean Sea is consistent with results derived from the other commonly applied methods. Quantification of the ratio between abundances of cells in the biofilm and in the surrounding water was calculated for the first time per unit of seabed surface area, demonstrating that the highest abundances of cells (the stock), and therefore the associated risk for human health, are in the biofilm. For risk assessment purposes, conversion values for commonly used monitoring alert thresholds of Mediterranean Ostreopsis blooms are provided.     

尿素对中肋骨条藻与米氏凯伦藻生长的影响

采用实验室一次性培养,研究了尿素对我国东海赤潮优势藻中肋骨条藻(Skeletonema costatum)和米氏凯伦藻(Karenia mikimotoi)生长的影响。结果表明,中肋骨条藻和米氏凯伦藻均能在不同比例尿素的条件下较好地生长。随着培养液中尿素比例的增大,中肋骨条藻细胞生长速率(0.91—0.82/d)逐渐减小,平台期最大生物量(2.0×10~5—1.2×10~5个/m L)也逐渐减小,而米氏凯伦藻细胞的生长速率(0.36—0.51/d)逐渐增大,最大生物量基本不变(约1.1×10~4个/m L)。在平台期中肋骨条藻培养液中氮盐浓度最低下降到2.5μmol/L左右维持不变,而米氏凯伦藻氮盐浓度最低下降到1.0μmol/L左右。在指数生长期,随着细胞的生长溶解有机氮(DON,Dissolved Organic Nitrogen)含量迅速增加,中肋骨条藻介质中DON的浓度达到最大值(5—6μmol/L),然后浓度基本不变。米氏凯伦藻介质中DON在指数生长阶段达到最大值(2—3μmol/L)后开始下降。中肋骨条藻单细胞颗粒氮的含量(约为10~(-6)μmol,平台期约为10~(-7)μmol)要远远小于米氏凯伦藻(指数期约为10~(-4)μmol,平台期约为10~(-6)μmol)。研究表明,两种藻对尿素的吸收利用存在明显差异,在较低的溶解无机氮和较高的溶解有机氮环境中,甲藻有更好的适应性,该研究对于解释我国长江口春季硅藻和甲藻赤潮的演替有借鉴的意义。     

Rapid identification of dinoflagellates using protein profiling with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

The occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) or red tides is an important and expanding threat to human health, fishery resources, and the tourism industries. Toxic species post an additional treat of intoxication when consumed either in seafood or directly swallowed. Rapid and accurate identification of the HAB species is critical for minimizing or controlling the damage. We report the use of protein/peptide mass fingerprint profiles obtained with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) for the identification of dinoflagellates, common causative agents of HABs. The method is simple, fast and reproducible. The peptide mass fingerprint spectral patterns are unique for different dinoflagellate species and are easily distinguishable by visual inspection. In addition to the whole mass spectra, several specific biomarkers were identified from the mass spectra of different species. These biomarker ions and the mass spectral patterns form an unambiguous basis for species discrimination.     

Estimating the economic costs of algal blooms in the Canadian Lake Erie Basin

Over the past two decades there has been a re-emergence of regular harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie due to increasing phosphorus loading, mainly from non-point agricultural sources. The Canadian and United States governments have jointly agreed to reduce phosphorus loadings to the lake in order to control the extent and severity of the blooms. Citizens on both sides of the border face a number of economic costs, both market and non-market, as a result of the blooms. This study values these costs for the Canadian portion of the Lake Erie basin economy using standard economic approaches that are widely applied within the world of cost-benefit analysis. The results suggest that algal blooms will impose equivalent annual costs equal to $272 million in 2015 prices over a 30-year period if left unchecked. The largest market costs will be imposed on the tourism industry ($110 million in equivalent annual costs) and the largest non-market costs will be borne by recreational users and those who place inherent value on the lake’s quality ($115 million in equivalent annual costs). Management action to reduce phosphorus loadings is found to be justified on economic grounds if the 30-year net present value of the reduction program is less than $1294 million (2015 Canadian dollars).     

Molecular characterization and morphology of Cochlodinium strangulatum,the type species of Cochlodinium,and Margalefidinium gen. nov. for C. polykrikoides and allied species (Gymnodiniales,Dinophyceae)

Photosynthetic species of the dinoflagellate genus Cochlodinium such as C. polykrikoides, one of the most harmful bloom-forming dinoflagellates, have been extensively investigated. Little is known about the heterotrophic forms of Cochlodinium, such as its type species, Cochlodinium strangulatum. This is an uncommon, large (∼200 μm long), solitary, and phagotrophic species, with numerous refractile bodies, a central nucleus enclosed in a distinct perinuclear capsule, and a cell surface with fine longitudinal striae and a circular apical groove. The morphology of C. polykrikoides and allied species is different from the generic type. It is a bloom-forming species with single, two or four-celled chains, small cell size (25–40 μm long) with elongated chloroplasts arranged longitudinally and in parallel, anterior nucleus, eye-spot in the anterior dorsal side, and a cell surface smooth with U-shaped apical groove. Phylogenetic analysis based on LSU rDNA sequences revealed that C. strangulatum and C. polykrikoides/C. fulvescens formed two distally related, independent lineages. Based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses, the diagnosis of Cochlodinium is emended and C. miniatum is proposed as synonym of C. strangulatum. The new genus Margalefidinium gen. nov., and new combinations for C. catenatum, C. citron, C. flavum, C. fulvescens and C. polykrikoides are proposed.     

How are climate and marine biological outbreaks functionally linked?

Since the mid-1970s, large-scale episodic events such as disease epidemics, mass mortalities, harmful algal blooms and other population explosions have been occurring in marine environments at an historically unprecedented rate. The variety of organisms involved (host, pathogens and other opportunists) and the absolute number of episodes have also increased during this period. Are these changes coincidental? Between 1972 and 1976, a global climate regime shift took place, and it is manifest most clearly by a change in strength of the North Pacific and North Atlantic pressure systems. Consequences of this regime shift are: (1) prolonged drought conditions in the Sahel region of Africa; (2) increased dust supply to the global atmosphere, by a factor of approximately four; (3) increased easterly trade winds across the Atlantic; (4) increased eolian transport of dust to the Atlantic and Caribbean basins; and (5) increased deposition of iron-rich eolian dust to typically iron-poor marine regions. On the basis of well-documented climate and dust observations and the widely accepted increase in marine outbreak rates, this paper proposes that the increased iron supply has altered the micronutrient factors limiting growth of opportunistic organisms and virulence of pathogenic microbes, particularly in macronutrient-rich coastal systems.     

Flocculation and removal of the brown tide organism, Aureococcus anophagefferens (Chrysophyceae), using clays

Previous attempts to remove the brown tideorganism, Aureococcusanophagefferens, through flocculation withclays have been unsuccessful, in spite ofadopting concentrations and dispersalprotocols that yielded excellent cellremoval efficiency (RE >90%) with otherspecies, so a study was planned to improvecell removal. Four modifications in claypreparation and dispersal were explored: 1)varying the salinity of the claysuspension; 2) mixing of the clay-cellsuspension after clay addition; 3) varyingof concentration of the initial clay stock;4) pulsed loading of the clay slurry. Theeffect of salinity was dependent on theclay mineral type: phosphatic clay (IMC-P2)had a higher RE than kaolinite (H-DP) whenseawater was used to disperse the clay, butH-DP removed cells more efficiently whensuspended in distilled water prior toapplication. Mixing after dispersalapproximately doubled RE for both clayscompared to when the slurry was layeredover the culture surface. Lowering theconcentration of clay stock and pulsing theclay loading increased RE, regardless ofmineral type. However, this increase wasmore apparent for clays dispersed inseawater than in distilled water. Ingeneral, application procedures thatdecrease the rate of self-aggregation amongthe clay particles and increase thecollision frequency between clay particlesand A. anophagefferens achieve highercell removal efficiency. These empiricalstudies demonstrated that clays might be animportant control option for the brown tideorganism, given the proper attention topreparation, dispersal methods,environmental impacts, and the hydrodynamicproperties of the system being treated. Implications for the treatment of browntides in the field are discussed.