Geographical distribution of red and green Noctiluca scintillans

Harrison, Paul J.; Furuya, Ken; Glibert, Patricia M.; Xu, Jie; Liu, Hongbin; Yin, Ke; Lee, Joseph H.W.; Anderson, Donald M.; Gowen, Richard J.; Al-Azri, Adnan; Ho, Alvin Yam Tat

doi:10.1007/s00343-011-0510-z

Cited by 174 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…Beginning in 2003, our field studies have provided large datasets of the taxonomic structure 4,5,7 of winter phytoplankton communities which show a drastic shift from diatom-dominated blooms to thick and widespread blooms composed primarily of the green dinoflagellate, N. scintillans. Unlike the red form reported mostly in temperate coastal waters worldwide 8 , this Arabian Sea N. scintillans is green because of its large endosymbiotic population of free-swimming cells of Pedinomonas noctilucae (Class Prasinophyceae, Division Chlorophyta) 9,10 (Fig. 1a-c, Supplementary Movie 1).…”

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confidence: 82%

Massive outbreaks of Noctiluca scintillans blooms in the Arabian Sea due to spread of hypoxia

et al. 2014

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In the last decade, the northern Arabian Sea has witnessed a radical shift in the composition of winter phytoplankton blooms, which previously comprised mainly of diatoms, the unicellular, siliceous photosynthetic organisms favoured by nutrient-enriched waters from convective mixing. These trophically important diatom blooms have been replaced by widespread blooms of a large, green dinoflagellate, Noctiluca scintillans, which combines carbon fixation from its chlorophyll-containing endosymbiont with ingestion of prey. Here, we report that these massive outbreaks of N. scintillans during winter are being facilitated by an unprecedented influx of oxygen deficient waters into the euphotic zone and by the extraordinary ability of its endosymbiont Pedinomonas noctilucae to fix carbon more efficiently than other phytoplankton under hypoxic conditions. We contend that N. scintillans blooms could disrupt the traditional diatom-sustained food chain to the detriment of regional fisheries and long-term health of an ecosystem supporting a coastal population of nearly 120 million people.

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confidence: 82%

Massive outbreaks of Noctiluca scintillans blooms in the Arabian Sea due to spread of hypoxia

et al. 2014

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“…As mentioned previously, N. scintillans blooms are usually associated with diatom blooms (Elbrächter and Qi, 1998;Harrison et al, 2011). Thus, in the second series of grazing experiments N. scintillans alone was used as the predator, in order to investigate further if the diatom silica content might affect the feeding preference of this bloom-forming dinoflagellate.…”

Section: Grazing Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…scintillans is a cosmopolitan red tide-forming heterotrophic dinoflagellate (of ∼200-2,000 µm in diameter), which is widely distributed throughout temperate-to-subtropical coastal waters (Elbrächter and Qi, 1998;Harrison et al, 2011). Many studies have shown that N. scintillans feeds mainly on phytoplankton, particularly diatoms (Schaumann et al, 1988;Umani et al, 2004;Harrison et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of the Silica Content of Diatoms on Protozoan Grazing

Zhang

Liu

et al. 2017

Front. Mar. Sci.

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This study examined the effect that silica content in diatom cells has on the behavior of protists. The diatoms Thalassiosira weissflogii and T. pseudonana were cultured in high or low light conditions to achieve low and high silica contents, respectively. These cells were then fed to a heterotrophic dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans and a ciliate Euplotes sp. in single and mixed diet experiments. Our results showed that in general, N. scintillans and Euplotes sp. both preferentially ingested the diatoms with a low silica content rather than those with a high silica content. However, Euplotes sp. seemed to be less influenced by the silica content than was N. scintillans. In the latter case, the clearance and ingestion rate of the low silica diatoms were significantly higher, both in the short (6-h) and long (1-d) duration grazing experiments. Our results also showed that N. scintillans required more time to digest the high silica-containing cells. As the high silica diatoms are harder to digest, this might explain why N. scintillans exhibits a strong preference for the low silica prey. Thus, the presence of high silica diatoms might limit the ability of the dinoflagellate to feed. Our findings suggest that the silica content of diatoms affects their palatability and digestibility and, consequently, the grazing activity and selectivity of protozoan grazers.

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“…The interplay between nutrient stoichiometry, ecosystem maturity and success of mixotrophy also helps to explain why eutrophication is often associated with mixotrophic HABs and EDABs (Burkholder et al, 2008;Glibert and Burkholder, 2011;Burkholder and Glibert, 2013). It also explains why many offshore mixotroph-dominated bloom events are difficult to relate to land-based nutrient sources when, in fact, they are related Harrison et al, 2011). Offshore blooms of mixotrophic species may, in fact, be the successional endpoint of near-shore nutrient loading and nutrient stoichiometric shifts.…”

Section: Climate Change Eutrophication and Mixotrophymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Offshore blooms of mixotrophic species may, in fact, be the successional endpoint of near-shore nutrient loading and nutrient stoichiometric shifts. For example, some offshore blooms of the green mixotrophic Noctiluca scintillans are now recognized to be the displaced result of near-shore eutrophication (Harrison et al, 2011). The future would likely see an expansion of such events unless steps are taken to control eutrophication.…”

Section: Climate Change Eutrophication and Mixotrophymentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of mixotrophic protists in the biological carbon pump

et al. 2014

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Abstract. The traditional view of the planktonic food web describes consumption of inorganic nutrients by photoautotrophic phytoplankton, which in turn supports zooplankton and ultimately higher trophic levels. Pathways centred on bacteria provide mechanisms for nutrient recycling. This structure lies at the foundation of most models used to explore biogeochemical cycling, functioning of the biological pump, and the impact of climate change on these processes. We suggest an alternative new paradigm, which sees the bulk of the base of this food web supported by protist plankton communities that are mixotrophic -combining phototrophy and phagotrophy within a single cell. The photoautotrophic eukaryotic plankton and their heterotrophic microzooplankton grazers dominate only during the developmental phases of ecosystems (e.g. spring bloom in temperate systems). With their flexible nutrition, mixotrophic protists dominate in more-mature systems (e.g. temperate summer, established eutrophic systems and oligotrophic systems); the more-stable water columns suggested under climate change may also be expected to favour these mixotrophs. We explore how such a predominantly mixotrophic structure affects microbial trophic dynamics and the biological pump. The mixotroph-dominated structure differs fundamentally in its flow of energy and nutrients, with a shortened and potentially more efficient chain from nutrient regeneration to primary production. Furthermore, mixotrophy enables a direct conduit for the support of primary production from bacterial production. We show how the exclusion of an explicit mixotrophic component in studies of the pelagic microbial communities leads to a failure to capture the true dynamics of the carbon flow. In order to prevent a misinterpretation of the full implications of climate change upon biogeochemical cycling and the functioning of the biological pump, we recommend inclusion of multi-nutrient mixotroph models within ecosystem studies.

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Geographical distribution of red and green Noctiluca scintillans

Cited by 174 publications

References 101 publications

Massive outbreaks of Noctiluca scintillans blooms in the Arabian Sea due to spread of hypoxia

Massive outbreaks of Noctiluca scintillans blooms in the Arabian Sea due to spread of hypoxia

Effect of the Silica Content of Diatoms on Protozoan Grazing

The role of mixotrophic protists in the biological carbon pump

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