Removing vessels from the water for biofouling treatment has the potential to introduce mobile non-indigenous marine species

Vessels found contaminated with biofouling non-indigenous marine species are predominantly removed from the water and treated in vessel maintenance facilities (i.e., slipways, travel lifts and dry-docks). Using pre-fouled settlement plates to simulate a vessel’s removal from the water for treatment, we demonstrate that a range of mobile organisms (including non-indigenous marine species) may be lost to the marine environment as a consequence of this process. We also determined that different levels of biofouling (primary, secondary and tertiary) and emersion durations (0.5, 5 and 15 min) affected the abundance and composition of mobile taxa lost to the marine environment. Primary biofouling plates lost 3.2% of total animals, secondary plates lost 19.8% and tertiary plates lost 8.2%, while hanging duration had only minor effects. The results suggest that removing vessels contaminated with biofouling non-indigenous marine species from the water for treatment may not be as biosecure as is currently recognised.     

Isolation of 12 microsatellite markers following a pyrosequencing procedure and cross-priming in two invasive cryptic species, Alexandrium catenella (group IV) and A. tamarense (group III) (Dinophyceae)

Alexandrium catenella (group IV) and Alexandrium tamarense (group III) (Dinophyceae) are two cryptic invasive phytoplankton species belonging to the A. tamarense species complex. Their worldwide spread is favored by the human activities, transportation and climate change. In order to describe their diversity in the Mediterranean Sea and understand their settlements and maintenances in this area, new microsatellite markers were developed based on Thau lagoon (France) samples of A. catenella and A. tamarense strains. In this study twelve new microsatellite markers are proposed. Five of these microsatellite markers show amplifications on A. tamarense and ten on A. catenella. Three of these 12 microsatellite markers allowed amplifications on both cryptic species. Finally, the haplotypic diversity ranged from 0.000 to 0.791 and 0.000 to 0.942 for A. catenella and A. tamarense respectively.     

南水北调东线工程运行3年后东平湖浮游植物群落特征及环境驱动因子

为掌握东平湖浮游植物在南水北调东线工程运行后的群落结构变化特征及探究其环境驱动因子,于通水运行3周年后的2017年分4个季节对东平湖的18个样点进行采样调查,同步开展水环境调查.结果 显示:共检出浮游植物191种属(包括变种),其中硅藻门、绿藻门、裸藻门、蓝藻门、金藻门、黄藻门、甲藻门和隐藻门分别为64、57、28、2...     

Ecosystem under pressure: ballast water discharge into Galveston Bay, Texas (USA) from 2005 to 2010

Ballast water exchange processes facilitate the dispersal and unnatural geographic expansion of phytoplankton, including harmful algal bloom species. From 2005 to 2010, over 45,000 vessels (≈ 8000 annually) travelled across Galveston Bay (Texas, USA) to the deep-water ports of Houston (10th largest in the world), Texas City and Galveston. These vessels (primarily tankers and bulkers) discharged ≈ 1.2 × 10(8) metrictons of ballast water; equivalent to ≈ 3.4% of the total volume of the Bay. Over half of the ballast water discharged had a coastwise origin, 96% being from US waters. Galveston Bay has fewer non-indigenous species but receives a higher volume of ballast water discharge, relative to the highly invaded Chesapeake and San Francisco Bays. Given the magnitude of shipping traffic, the role of Galveston Bay, both as a recipient and donor region of non-indigenous phytoplankton species is discussed here in terms of the invasibility risk to this system by way of ballast water.     

Driving factors behind the distribution of dinocyst composition and abundance in surface sediments in a western Mediterranean coastal lagoon: Report from a high resolution mapping study

Species composition and abundance of dinocysts in relation to environmental factors were studied at 123 stations of surface sediment in Bizerte Lagoon. Forty-eight dinocyst types were identified, mainly dominated by Brigantidinium simplex, Votadinum spinosum, Alexandrium pseudogonyaulax, Alexandrium catenella, and Lingulodinum machaerophorum along with many round brown cysts and spiny round brown cysts. Cysts ranged from 1276 to 20126 cysts g⁻¹ dry weight sediment. Significant differences in cyst distribution pattern were recorded among the zones, with a higher cyst abundance occurring in the lagoon’s inner areas. Redundancy analyses showed two distinct associations of dinocysts according to location and environmental variables. Ballast water discharges are potential introducers of non-indigenous species, especially harmful ones such as A. catenella and Polysphaeridium zoharyi, with currents playing a pivotal role in cyst distribution. Findings concerning harmful cyst species indicate potential seedbeds for initiation of future blooms and outbreaks of potentially toxic species in the lagoon.     

Type-specific and indicator taxa of phytoplankton as a quality criterion for assessing the ecological status of Finnish boreal lakes

Key issues in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive are classification of lakes using biological quality parameters and type-specific reference conditions. This work is one of three studies considering different metrics of phytoplankton in the classification of ecological status. Phytoplankton was studied in a total of 55 Finnish boreal lakes, including 32 reference lakes. We tested the suitability of taxonomic composition and abundance of phytoplankton groups for biological classification. We also preliminarily determined the type-specific taxa for the studied lakes. The type-specific taxa for reference conditions are coincidently the indicator species/taxa for high ecological status. Interestingly, some taxa type-specific for impacted oligo-humic lakes proved to be the type-specific taxa for humic reference lakes. The pressure of human impact was observed not only as increase of biomass but also as changes in the species composition. The phytoplankton composition indicated the ecological status of impacted lakes moderately well. There was some variation in the indications given by different algal groups, probably due to the preliminary class boundaries used. However, the preliminary combination of indicative parameters to estimate the ecological status of the studied impacted lakes was in general in accordance with earlier classification of water quality in Finnish lakes.     

Bloom forming and toxic phytoplankton in transitional and coastal waters of Cantabria region coast (Southeastern Bay of Biscay,Spain)

Phytoplankton monitoring has extended to practically all the regions of the European coast due to the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive. In this way, the study of phytoplankton taxonomic composition and dynamic is being performed in many areas poorly studied or not studied before. During the last years, a monitoring programme has been carried out at the coast of Cantabria region (SE Bay of Biscay); the presence of some potentially toxic and bloom forming species (>7.5 × 10⁵ cells per litre) has been observed. Diatoms and cryptophytes are the main blooming taxa in this region in the majority of the estuaries and in some of the coastal sites. All estuaries and coastal stations showed at least one potentially toxic species, being the dinoflagellates the group with the highest number of taxa observed. The potentially toxic species found in highest concentrations were the genera Pseudo-nitzschia and Chrysochromulina.     

Species diversity and distribution for phytoplankton of the Pearl River estuary during rainy and dry seasons

Based on data collected at 31 stations and 1 continuous station in the Pearl River estuary during cruises of July 1999 (rainy season) and January 2001 (dry season), this study examined taxonomic composition, abundance, and spatial distribution of phytoplankton. Results indicated 130 species of phytoplankton in the samples from the rainy season, and 132 species in the dry season. Among them, in the rainy season, 82 species of diatom, 39 fresh-water and half-fresh-water species and 41 species of red tide organisms were found. Within these, there were 54 tropical and sub-tropical species, 47 cosmopolitan species and 17 temperate species. The abundance of phytoplankton in the rainy season was higher than that of the dry season, with an average of 6.3 x 10(5) cells x L(-1) and 1.4 x 10(5) cells x L(-1), respectively. Diversity index (H') and evenness (J) were 2.47 and 0.57 in the rainy season, and 2.01 and 0.54 in the dry season. The dominant phytoplankton species in the rainy season was Skeletonema costatum with an average of 2.8 x 10(5) cells x L(-1) and 45.0% of the total phytoplankton abundance. In the dry season, Eucampia zoodiacus became the key dominant species (5.9 x 10(4) cells x L(-1)) when it was 43.47% of the total phytoplankton abundance. Distribution of the dominant species varied with salinity of sea-water, and their amounts correlated negatively with nutrients and zooplankton.     

Survey evaluations to assess marine bioinvasions

Countries need to know what species are present within their waters to effectively manage the issue of non-indigenous marine species. Five survey methods are currently employed to detect introduced marine species: the Hewitt and Martin protocols (66% of effort; 73 ports, 12 countries); Rapid Assessment Surveys (7% of effort; 8 regions, 4 countries); the Bishop Museum protocols (7% of effort; 8 ports, 3 countries); the Chilean aquaculture surveys (1% of effort; numerous regions; 1 country); and Passive Sampling protocols (18% of effort; 20 ports, 2 countries). These methods use either quantitative, qualitative, or a mixture of the two sampling techniques and tend to target locations that are potential inoculation sites (i.e., such as ports, marinas and aquaculture facilities). To date, introduced marine species surveys have been implemented in 19 countries and have detected more than 1185 non-indigenous, 735 cryptogenic and 15,315 native species.     

Differences in zooplankton feeding rates and isotopic signatures from three temperate lakes

Bacteria and phytoplankton are integral in the mobilization and transfer of organic matter to higher trophic levels. Hence, we examined their role in zooplankton diets and assessed trends in their nitrogen isotopic variability. We performed feeding experiments with natural particulate organic matter (POM) and four zooplankton groups (Daphnia, Holopedium, large calanoids and small calanoids) to (1) examine whether there are differences in consumption (presented as clearance and ingestion rates) of phytoplankton and bacteria, and (2) determine whether differences in zooplankton clearance and ingestion rates are correlated with their δ¹⁵N isotopic signatures. In general, phytoplankton and bacteria clearance rates and biomass ingested per animal varied significantly among different zooplankton groups within lakes and between lakes for a given zooplankton group. Within a given lake, Daphnia and Holopedium had the highest phytoplankton and bacteria clearance and ingestion rates, followed by large calanoids, and then small calanoids. For a given zooplankton group, bacteria and phytoplankton clearance rates varied among lakes. In contrast, phytoplankton ingestion rates were consistently highest in Dickie Lake for all taxa, whereas bacteria ingestion rates were more variable among lakes for the different zooplankton taxa. The percentage contribution of different phytoplankton taxa to the biomass of phytoplankton ingested also varied significantly among lakes for a given taxa, but there were few differences within a given lake among zooplankton. Zooplankton δ¹⁵N_DOMC values were correlated with their size adjusted phytoplankton and bacteria clearance and ingestion rates. The correlations were stronger with (1) phytoplankton compared to bacteria, and (2) clearance rates compared to ingestion rates of biomass. Together our results suggest that zooplankton taxa with low phytoplankton and bacteria clearance and ingestion rates and higher δ¹⁵N_DOMC are likely exploiting food sources from higher trophic levels.     

武汉后湖浮游植物现存量与生产量季节变动的初步研究

根据1990年5月—1991年4月武汉后湖浮游植物种类组成、现存量和生产量的周年资料分析,绿藻、硅藻、蓝藻为优势类群;现存量和生产量高低次序依次为:秋、冬、夏、春。并以浮游植物群落生态作为主要依据对后湖的营养状态进行了综合评价。     

南水北调中线干渠浮游植物群落时空格局及其决定因子

为了解南水北调中线干渠浮游植物群落的时空格局,自2018年8月开始分4个季度对干渠沿程的11个样点进行采样调查,同步开展水环境调查;共检出浮游植物7门83属145种,物种丰富度上,硅藻种类数最多,绿藻和蓝藻分别占第2和第3位,且春季＞秋季＞冬季＞夏季;优势种包括极小曲丝藻(Achnanthidum minutissim...     

黄河干流浮游植物群落特征及其对水质的指示作用

2008年5-6月和9-10月对黄河干流13个河段和4座水库的浮游植物群落及其环境进行了全面调查.共鉴定浮游植物8门83属150种,其中有硅藻59种,绿藻55种,蓝藻24种,甲藻4种,裸藻4种,金藻2种,黄藻1种和隐藻1种,平均细胞密度和生物量分别为126.90×104cells/L和0.940mg/L.从大的格局上看,浮游植物群落在种类数、种类组成和现存量上均存在较明显的空间分异,这种分异性可从河流流速、泥沙含量和受污染程度得到解释.根据浮游植物污染指示种和Shannon-Wiener多样性指数分析,黄河干流各河段多受到不同程度的污染.与1986年的资料相比,黄河干流浮游植物组成发生了明显变化,属数下降了9.8%,而平均生物量升高了128.7%,且在种类组成上也发生了明显的变化,表明河流污染程度的加剧.     

An ecological and hydrochemical study of three springs in NE Iran with the emphasis on diatom diversity

Springs are complex and taxa rich ecosystems. Diatom assemblages have received very little attention in spring ecosystems in Iran; hence, the diatom assemblage in three selected springs in northeast Iran, were investigated using multivariate analysis together with hydro chemical measures. For this purpose, water and diatom samples collected during four seasons of 2019. Hydrochemistry results revealed that water-rock interaction is the most important factor in changing the water chemistry of studied springs and their waters produced from carbonate reservoir rocks (mainly calcite). As a result, Ca-HCO₃ is predominate water type in all three springs. In this study, 75 diatom taxa identified, from which 55 were included in the analysis. Cluster analysis based on diatoms relative abundance, clustered samples in two major groups and third small group. Results of the indicator species analysis for groups and DCA analysis were in the absolute conformity. Results revealed that the diatom assemblage dominated by combination of early colonizer taxa, spring indicator taxa and cosmopolitan taxa; most of them also reported from different spring types. The results also showed that the spring’s diatom composition influence by size and morphology of the springs.     

Inundation and isolation: dynamics of phytoplankton communities in seasonal inundated flood plain waters of the Lower Odra Valley National Park — Northeast Germany

The flood plains of the Lower Odra are inundated in winter and spring and are desiccated in summer and autumn. Phytoplankton composition as well as its seasonal succession in permanent oxbows and separate lakes were investigated between 1993 and 1996. Solitary centric diatoms were the characteristic phytoplankton taxa of these flood plain waters. They dominated the main channel non-seasonally, the flood plains during the entire inundation phase and long periods of the isolation phase. Only during long phases of low mixing (maximal 1.5-2 months in summer) separate water bodies were dominated by Cyano- and/or Dinophyceae. This special feature of the Lower Odra Valley is explained by the Inundation-Isolation-Model of phytoplankton development influenced by inundation. Out of a high diverse algal spectrum of 495 taxa, specialities such as 9 endangered taxa and 6 halophilous taxa were discussed. Additionally, taxon specific cell-volumes and maxima of biovolumes were given.     

Occurrence of PSP-producing dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamiyavanichii in Bingo-Nada, the central coastal water of the Seto Inland Sea, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

During surveillance of the distribution of the paralytic shellfish poison (PSP)-producing dinoflagellate in 2003, 2004 and 2005 along the coastlines of the Seto Inland Sea, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, some species of toxic phytoplankton were isolated from the eastern coasts, Bingo-Nada, the central regions of the Seto Inland Sea. It was rather unexpectedly revealed from the basis of the morphological characteristics that they were unambiguously identified as Alexandrium tamiyavanichii and Alexandrium catenella. Two strains (ATY041106, ATY051018) of A. tamiyavanichii showed a specific toxicity of 38.7 x 10(-6) and 111.5 x 10(-6)MU/cell, respectively. These values seemed to be several times or much higher than that of A. catenella (AC030816, AC040614), having a specific toxicity of 4.5 x 10(-6) and 4.1 x 10(-6)MU/cell, respectively, isolated in the same area. From the results of HPLC-furuorometric analysis, it revealed that the toxins in ATY041106 exist almost exclusively as beta-epimers (C2, GTX3, GTX4), which accounted for 72.7 mol%. The toxin profiles of this strain are featured by the presence of a large amount of GTX3 (59.1 mol%) and a small amount (20.6%) of C1 and 2 in comparison with the PSP compositions of A. tamarense, which is isolated as the main responsible species in Hiroshima Bay, a western part of coastal sea in Hiroshima Prefecture. On the other hand, it revealed that the toxin profiles of two strains (AC030816, AC040614) of A. catenella exist almost exclusively as beta-epimers (C2, GTX3, GTX4), which accounted for 81.8 and 56.5 mol%, as the same manner. The toxin profiles of these two strains are featured by the presence of a large amount of C2 (80.5 and 46.3 mol%) in comparison with the PSP compositions of A. tamiyavanichii. To our knowledge, this is the first record to show the distribution and harmful influence of A. tamiyavanichii and A. catenella in Bingo-Nada in Hiroshima Prefecture. Though contamination of bivalves with these PSP-producing planktons in this area has not occurred yet so far, attention should be paid to this species as well as the other causative dinoflagellate from the stand point of public health and food hygiene.     

Managing invasive crayfish: is there a hope?

Given that the impact exerted by non-indigenous crayfish species (NICS) is most often severe, can occur across many levels of ecological organization, and results in the loss of native crayfish populations, the Convention on Biological Diversity approach, as complemented by the European Strategy, is viewed as an excellent framework to be followed to prevent the introduction of NICS and to alleviate or eliminate the damage they inflict. Much effort should be directed to minimize the risks of intentional introductions, as in part done by the Council Regulation No. 708/07 in force in the European Union since 2009. However, this and other regulations are not well harmonized, for instance, with those concerning both the aquarium trade and the harvest of crayfish for human consumption. To make prevention more difficult, there are many records of illegal release of NICS into the wild and of their accidental introduction as undetected contaminants in batches of regulated fish species. As a consequence, it seems necessary that post-introduction mitigation and remediation protocols and processes, such as contingency plans, are always in place to enable rapid detection and early response in order to minimize and, ideally, annul the threats posed by NICS. The aim of this review paper is to offer a synthetic view of the different methods (mechanical removal, physical methods, biological control, biocides, and autocidal methods) proposed and adopted until now to control NICS with a discussion of their pitfalls and potentialities. A glimpse to the ongoing research in the matter will be also given.     

A revisitation of TRIX for trophic status assessment in the light of the European Water Framework Directive: application to Italian coastal waters

The trophic status classification of coastal waters at the European scale requires the availability of harmonised indicators and procedures. The composite trophic status index (TRIX) provides useful metrics for the assessment of the trophic status of coastal waters. It was originally developed for Italian coastal waters and then applied in many European seas (Adriatic, Tyrrhenian, Baltic, Black and Northern seas). The TRIX index does not fulfil the classification procedure suggested by the WFD for two reasons: (a) it is based on an absolute trophic scale without any normalization to type-specific reference conditions; (b) it makes an ex ante aggregation of biological (Chl-a) and physico-chemical (oxygen, nutrients) quality elements, instead of an ex post integration of separate evaluations of biological and subsequent chemical quality elements. A revisitation of the TRIX index in the light of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) and new TRIX derived tools are presented in this paper. A number of Italian coastal sites were grouped into different types based on a thorough analysis of their hydro-morphological conditions, and type-specific reference sites were selected. Unscaled TRIX values (UNTRIX) for reference and impacted sites have been calculated and two alternative UNTRIX-based classification procedures are discussed. The proposed procedures, to be validated on a broader scale, provide users with simple tools that give an integrated view of nutrient enrichment and its effects on algal biomass (Chl-a) and on oxygen levels. This trophic evaluation along with phytoplankton indicator species and algal blooms contribute to the comprehensive assessment of phytoplankton, one of the biological quality elements in coastal waters.     

Coastal thin layer dynamics: Consequences to biology and optics

Thin layers are fine-scale structures with high concentrations of organisms or particles occurring over very small vertical scales (a few meters or less), but with large horizontal scales, often extending for many kilometers. Because of their small vertical scales, thin layers are traditionally under sampled, but when proper measurement techniques are used, thin layers have been found to be ubiquitous in stratified oceans. A multi-investigator, interdisciplinary study of thin layers was sponsored by the US Office of Naval Research under a research initiative termed: Layered Organization in the Coastal Ocean (LOCO). The goal of this program was to understand the properties of coastal thin layers and the interacting physical, chemical, biological and optical processes responsible for their formation, maintenance and dissipation. As part of this program, fine-scale vertical profiles (cm resolution) of biological, physical and chemical properties were made hourly over periods spanning 1–3 weeks during three summers in Monterey Bay, California USA. The vertical profiles were made using arrays of moored autonomous profilers. In total, these profilers made ~2000 individual vertical profiles and provided a unique view of phytoplankton thin layer spatial-temporal dynamics. The autonomous profiler data were supplemented with high-resolution ship-based profiling and discrete water sampling for identifications of organisms.Persistent phytoplankton thin layers were observed during each year in Monterey Bay; however, each year had very different biological and physical dynamics. During 2002, thin layers were dominated by the non-motile and potentially toxic diatom genus Pseudo-nitzschia; during 2005, thin layers were dominated by the highly motile dinoflagellate species Akashiwo sanguinea; and during 2006, a more complex phytoplankton assemblage was present, but thin layers of the toxic dinoflagellate species Alexandrium catenella frequently occurred. The variability in the vertical location of thin layers in 2002 was primarily controlled by physics, while behavior, e.g. diurnal vertical migration patterns and daytime near-surface aggregations, primarily controlled the location of thin layers in 2005 and 2006. In 2002, phytoplankton thin layers were present in the water column 87% of the time, in 2005, 56% of the time and in 2006, 21% of the time. The median integrated chlorophyll concentration within the thin layers was found to be approximately 47% of the total water column chlorophyll in 2002, 41% in 2005 and 33% in 2006. Additional results in this study describe the mechanisms driving the spatial-temporal dynamics of these phytoplankton thin layers with special emphasis on diel patterns and the specific relationships that thin layers have to biological and physical processes and water column optics.