Observations of bioluminescence in marine plankton from the Sea of Cortez

Bioluminescence to reveal structure and interaction of coastal planktonic communities

“…The simple volume replacement time calculated for the bath yphotometer is on the order of a second; however, it is clear that a decreasing number of organisms can be retained within the flow field for longer periods (6-10 s; Herren et al, 2005). Because of this uncertainty in retention and the strong correlation (R 2 ¼ 0.81; exponential fit) between flash intensity and duration (Lapota and Losee, 1984), we have focused on intensity in this study.…”

“…For a given planktonic community (highly dependent on locale and season), the number of bioluminescent organisms and total bioluminescence are propor tional to the total biomass (Lapota, 1998). The intensity of bioluminescent flash and duration of flash have also been shown to correlate with the size of organism (Lapota and Losee, 1984;Lapota et al, 1992). Because of this general difference, biolumi nescence flash kinetics can be used to delineate these groups (Fig.…”

Long Term Dinoflagellate Bioluminescence, Chlorophyll, and Their Environmental Correlates in Southern California Coastal Waters

“…On monthly transits between SDB and SCI an "on-board" sensor system sampled seawater continuously from 3m below the sea surface from a 50m research vessel, the R/V Acoustic Explorer, measuring bioluminescence, seawater temperature, and salinity (Lapota and Losee 1984, Lapota et al 1988, 1989. A vertically deployed bathyphotometer capable of measuring bioluminescence, temperature, salinity, beam attenuation, and chlorophyll fluorescence to a depth of 100m was used at 4 month intervals (summer, fall, winter, spring) at various stations in the Bight to examine the seasonal changes in the biological and physical structure of the water column (Lapota et at.…”

“…While many oceanographic studies have focused on the distribution of bioluminescence in the marine environment (Stukalin 1934, Tarasov 1956, Seliger et al 1961, Clarke and Kelly 1965, Bityukov 1967, Lapota and Losee 1984, Swift et al 1985, Lapota et al 1988, Batchelder and Swift 1989, Lapota et al 1989, Lapota and Rosenberger 1990, Neilson et al 1995, Ondercin et al 1995, Swift et al 1995, little understanding of the seasonality and sources of planktonic bioluminescence in coastal waters and open ocean has emerged. Some previous studies with respect to annual cycles of bioluminescence were severely limited in duration as well as in the methods used to quantify bioluminescence (Bityukov 1967, Tett 1971.…”

The Use of Stimulable Bioluminescence from Marine Dinoflagellates as a Means of Detecting Toxicity in the Marine Environment

“…The laboratory plankton test chamber (LPTC) measures light output from either individual bioluminescent marine plankters or from cultures of bioluminescent plankton (Lapota and Losee 1984).…”