Dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella is a cosmopolitan bloom-forming species with complex life cycle, the formation and germination of resting cysts are critical for its bloom dynamics. In the coastal waters of Qinhuangdao, A. catenella has been identified as the major causative agent for paralytic shellfish poisoning, but there is little knowledge concerning its resting cysts in this region. In this study, three surveys were carried out along the coast of Qinhuangdao from 2020 to 2021 to map the distribution of A. catenella resting cysts, using a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay specific for A. catenella. The resting cysts were detected in surface sediments during all the three surveys, and their distribution patterns were similar. High abundance of resting cysts (maximum 1 300 cysts/g sediment (wet weight)) were found in a region (119.62°E–119.99°E, 39.67°N–39.98°N) northeast to the coastal waters of Qinhuangdao, where surface sediments were mainly composed of clay and silt (percentage above 50%). Prior to the formation of the A. catenella bloom in March 2021, the abundance of A. catenella vegetative cells in seawater had extremely significant positive correlation with the abundance of resting cysts in surface sediments, reflecting the important role of resting cysts in the initiation of A. catenella blooms. As far as we know, this is the first report on the distribution of A. catenella cysts along the coast of Qinhuangdao. The results will offer a sound basis for the future monitoring and mitigation of toxic A. catenella blooms and paralytic shellfish poisoning events in this region.
Synechococcus is a widely distributed photosynthetic pico-phytoplankton,which contributes mainly to carbon fixation and maintains the stability of the marine ecosystem.To investigate its distribution patterns in the Yellow Sea,seawater samples were collected during September 2018.Results of flow cytometry analysis showed that the Synechococcus abundance ranged from 6.36×102 to 4.51×104 cells mL?1,which correlated with salinity(P<0.01)and temperature(P<0.05).At deeper off-shore sites,Synecho-coccus showed high abundance at the subsurface thermo-halocline,which was in accordance with chlorophyll a(Chl a)content along the vertical column.Based on the high-throughput sequencing data of rpoC1(partial gene encoding RNA polymerase),two Synechococcus subclusters,S5.1 and S5.2,were found to coexist in the studied area.Several clades of S5.1,including Clades I,II,and III,were the dominant components,accounting for 6.63%,26.11%,and 45.5%of the total genus,respectively.Redundancy analysis(RDA)showed that nitrite was the main environmental factor that explained the genus composition among samples.Fur-thermore,co-occurrence network revealed that the main phyla that coexisted with Synechococcus were Proteobacteria,Bacteroidetes,Actinobacteria,Planctomycetes,and Verrucomicrobia,which were involved in the carbon(C),nitrogen(N),sulfur(S),and manga-nese(Mn)cycles.Overall,Synechococcus exhibited biogeographic distribution correlated with temperature-salinity and nitrite in the Yellow Sea,and their geochemical function showed diverse but should be further verified in the future. 相似文献