Effects of a Chrysochromulina polylepis subsurface bloom on the planktonic community

Abstract

During spring (May-June) 1988 an extensive subsurface bloom of the haptophycean flagellate Chrysochromulina polylepis developed in Scandinavian waters (the KattegatSkagerrak area). Here we report on the vertical distribution of bacteria, heterotrophic flagellates, ciliates and copepods at a permanent station in the Southern Kattegat during the bloom. At the height of the bloom, the density of C. polylepis reached 60 to 70 X 10' cells 1-' in the pycnocline. At this time no potential grazers were present in the subsurface bloom and bacterial production was extremely low. Field and laboratory experiments showed that C. polylepis inhibited the activity of planktonic bacteria, ciliates and copepods. During the decay of the bloom, algae were colonized by bacteria and the pycnocline was subsequently re-lnvaded by heterotrophic flagellates, small aloricate ciliates and copepods. Two weeks after the height of the bloom, the normal pelagic food web structure was re-established.

Layered organization in the coastal ocean: An introduction to planktonic thin layers and the LOCO project

“…While thin layers can contain mixed species assemblages and trophic levels , phytoplankton thin layers are often dominated by high concentrations of a single species (e.g. Nishitani et al, 1985;Richardson and Kullenberg, 1987;Nielsen et al, 1990;Dahl and Tangen, 1993;Bjørnsen and Nielsen, 1991;Carpenter et al, 1995;Gentien et al, 1995;Gisselson et al, 2002;Rines et al, 2002;Sullivan et al, 2003Sullivan et al, , 2005VeloSuarez et al, 2008). Interestingly, a large number of harmful algal species have been observed in thin layers (Rines et al, 2002, this issue;Sullivan et al, 2003Sullivan et al, , 2005McManus et al, 2008), indicating that understanding thin layers could be critical to harmful algal bloom research.…”

Harmful Algal Blooms: Physiology, Behavior, Population Dynamics and Global Impacts- A Review

“…Thus Granmo et al (1988) suggested that the phytoplankton bloom might have had long term effects in the affected area by reducing larval settlement and recruitment for these and possibly other species. Other plankton organisms were also shown to be affected by this Chrysochromulina bloom (Nielsen et al 1990). Chrysochromulina leadbeatri caused mortalities in caged salmon among the northern Norwegian coast in 1991 and the two Prymnesium (P. patelliferum and P. parvum) have also caused mortalities in aquaculture facilities for salmon and rainbow trout (Aune et al 1992;Meldahl et al 1994Meldahl et al , 1995.…”

The effect of costs associated with toxin production in a competitive system

“…Though, some biologists restrict the use of this term to negative effects only [17]. There are several examples of allelopathic interactions among marine algal species both in vitro and in situ [5,10,11,14,23,28,29,33,39,40,42]. A review of different aspects of chemical ecology of microalgae, including allelopathy, can be found in Cembella [3].…”