Grain Marketing Strategies of North Dakota Grain Farmers

The basic objective of this report is to discuss the factors considered and the methods that are used by small-grain farmers in the marketing of their products. The figures and discussions which appear in this report are not meant to be an inclusive average of all farmers in North Dakota, but rather a consensus of specific groups of farmers engaged primarily in producing small-grains with limited income from other sources. It is hoped that this report will serve as a useful reference in helping North Dakota small-grain producers identify possible marketing alternatives and strategies available.Marketing,

Approaches to monitoring, control and management of harmful algal blooms (HABs)

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ocean & Coastal Management 52 (2009): 342-347, doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2009.04.006.Virtually every coastal country in the world is affected by harmful algal blooms (HABs, commonly called “red tides”). These phenomena are caused by blooms of microscopic algae. Some of these algae are toxic, and can lead to illness and death in humans, fish, seabirds, marine mammals, and other oceanic life, typically as a result of the transfer of toxins through the food web. Sometimes the direct release of toxic compounds can be lethal to marine animals. Non-toxic HABs cause damage to ecosystems, fisheries resources, and recreational facilities, often due to the sheer biomass of the accumulated algae. The term “HAB” also applies to non-toxic blooms of macroalgae (seaweeds), which can cause major ecological impacts such as the displacement of indigenous species, habitat alteration and oxygen depletion in bottom waters. Globally, the nature of the HAB problem has changed considerably over the last several decades. The number of toxic blooms, the resulting economic losses, the types of resources affected, and the number of toxins and toxic species have all increased dramatically. Some of this expansion has been attributed to storms, currents and other natural phenomena, but human activities are also frequently implicated. Humans have contributed by transporting toxic species in ballast water, and by adding massive and increasing quantities of industrial, agricultural and sewage effluents to coastal waters. In many urbanized coastal regions, these inputs have altered the size and composition of the nutrient pool which has, in turn, created a more favorable nutrient environment for certain HAB species. The steady expansion in the use of fertilizers for agricultural production represents a large and worrisome source of nutrients in coastal waters that promote some HABs. The diversity in HAB species and their impacts presents a significant challenge to those responsible for the management of coastal resources. Furthermore, HABs are complex oceanographic phenomena that require multidisciplinary study ranging from molecular and cell biology to large-scale field surveys, numerical modelling, and remote sensing from space. Our understanding of these phenomena is increasing dramatically, and with this understanding come technologies and management tools that can reduce HAB incidence and impact. Here I summarize the global HAB problem, its trends and causes, and new technologies and approaches to monitoring, control and management, highlighting molecular probes for cell detection, rapid and sensitive toxin assays, remote sensing detection and tracking of blooms, bloom control and mitigation strategies, and the use of large-scale physical/biological models to analyze past blooms and forecast future ones.: NOAA Cooperative Agreement NA17RJ1223; NIEHS Grant 1 P50 ES012742 and NSF Grant OCE-0430724 through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health; NSF Grant OCE-0402707 and NOAA Grant NA05NOS4191149 through the NOAA/UNH Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology

Effects of Deposit-Feeder Gut Passage and Fecal Pellet Encapsulation on Germination of Dinoflagellate Resting Cysts

Many species of dinoflagellates spend much of their lives buried in sediments as resting cysts. While on the bottom, cysts may pass through the guts of deposit feeders before conditions become favorable for germination. Little is known, however, about how dinoflagellate cysts are affected by deposit-feeder digestion, fecal pellet formation, and translocation within the sediment column. To answer the question of whether gut passage or pelletization reduces cyst germination, we fed cysts of the dinoflagellate Scrippsiella lachrymosa to 3 polychaete deposit feeders, Capitella sp., Streblospio benedicti, and Polydora cornuta. Fecal pellets of these species have different morphologies and represent a wide range of pellet robustness. To examine the effects of longer gut-passage times, cysts were incubated in the digestive fluids of the polychaete Arenicola marina for up to 24 h, and monitored to determine germination success. Cysts were remarkably resistant to digestion by deposit-feeding polychaetes, and were capable of germinating even within the robust fecal pellets of Capitella. In fact, cysts were more likely to germinate within fecal pellets of Capitella than outside those pellets. Thus, pellets may be favorable environments for germination of resting cysts. Our data suggest that deposit-feeder gut passage and pelletization do not substantially reduce germination of dinoflagellate cysts in the field, and may even enhance it

Global transcriptional profiling of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense using Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing

BACKGROUND: Dinoflagellates are one of the most important classes of marine and freshwater algae, notable both for their functional diversity and ecological significance. They occur naturally as free-living cells, as endosymbionts of marine invertebrates and are well known for their involvement in "red tides". Dinoflagellates are also notable for their unusual genome content and structure, which suggests that the organization and regulation of dinoflagellate genes may be very different from that of most eukaryotes. To investigate the content and regulation of the dinoflagellate genome, we performed a global analysis of the transcriptome of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense under nitrate- and phosphate-limited conditions using Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing (MPSS). RESULTS: Data from the two MPSS libraries showed that the number of unique signatures found in A. fundyense cells is similar to that of humans and Arabidopsis thaliana, two eukaryotes that have been extensively analyzed using this method. The general distribution, abundance and expression patterns of the A. fundyense signatures were also quite similar to other eukaryotes, and at least 10% of the A. fundyense signatures were differentially expressed between the two conditions. RACE amplification and sequencing of a subset of signatures showed that multiple signatures arose from sequence variants of a single gene. Single signatures also mapped to different sequence variants of the same gene. CONCLUSION: The MPSS data presented here provide a quantitative view of the transcriptome and its regulation in these unusual single-celled eukaryotes. The observed signature abundance and distribution in Alexandrium is similar to that of other eukaryotes that have been analyzed using MPSS. Results of signature mapping via RACE indicate that many signatures result from sequence variants of individual genes. These data add to the growing body of evidence for widespread gene duplication in dinoflagellates, which would contribute to the transcriptional complexity of these organisms. The MPSS data also demonstrate that a significant number of dinoflagellate mRNAs are transcriptionally regulated, indicating that dinoflagellates commonly employ transcriptional gene regulation along with the post-transcriptional regulation that has been well documented in these organisms

Toxic dinoflagellates and marine mammal mortalities : proceedings of an expert consultation held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

On May 8 and 9, 1989, a consultation of experts was convened at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to discuss the possible link between natural biotoxins and recent mass mortalities of humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins along the eastern coast of the United States. The focus was on the possible role of dinoflagellate toxins in these events. The objectives of the meeting were to review and assess the existing evidence and to recommend research priorities and needs.Funding was provided by NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Coastal Research Center through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant Program under Grant NA86-D-SW90 (Project R/B - 92 and M/O-2)

Molecular characterization and morphology of Cochlodinium strangulatum, the type species of Cochlodinium, and Margalefidinium gen. nov. for C. polykrikoides and allied species (Gymnodiniales, Dinophyceae)

© The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Harmful Algae 63 (2017): 32-44, doi:10.1016/j.hal.2017.01.008.Photosynthetic species of the dinoflagellate genus Cochlodinium such as C. polykrikoides, one of the most harmful bloom-forming dinoflagellates, have been extensively investigated. Little is known about the heterotrophic forms of Cochlodinium, such as its type species, Cochlodinium strangulatum. This is an uncommon, large (~200 μm long), solitary, and phagotrophic species, with numerous refractile bodies, a central nucleus enclosed in a distinct perinuclear capsule, and a cell surface with fine longitudinal striae and a circular apical groove. The morphology of C. polykrikoides and allied species is different from the generic type. It is a bloom-forming species with single, two or four-celled chains, small cell size (25–40 μm long) with elongated chloroplasts arranged longitudinally and in parallel, anterior nucleus, eye-spot in the anterior dorsal side, and a cell surface smooth with U-shaped apical groove. Phylogenetic analysis based on LSU rDNA sequences revealed that C. strangulatum and C. polykrikoides/C. fulvescens formed two distally related, independent lineages. Based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses, the diagnosis of Cochlodinium is emended and C. miniatum is proposed as synonym of C. strangulatum. The new genus Margalefidinium gen. nov., and new combinations for C. catenatum, C. citron, C. flavum, C. fulvescens and C. polykrikoides are proposed.F.G. was supported by the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [grant number BJT 370646/2013–14]. Support for M.L.R. and D.M.A. was provided through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, National Science Foundation [grant number OCE–1314642] and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [grant number 1–P01–ES021923–01]

Quantitative response of Alexandrium catenella cyst dormancy to cold exposure

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2018. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Protist 169 (2018): 645-661, doi:10.1016/j.protis.2018.06.001.Many dinoflagellate cysts experience dormancy, a reversible state that prevents germination during unfavorable periods. Several of these species also cause harmful algal blooms (HABs), so a quantitative understanding of dormancy cycling is desired for better prediction and mitigation of bloom impacts. This study examines the effect of cold exposure on the duration of dormancy in Alexandrium catenella, a HAB dinoflagellate that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Mature, dormant cysts from Nauset Marsh (Cape Cod, MA USA) were stored at low but above freezing temperatures for up to six months. Dormancy status was then determined at regular intervals using a germination assay. Dormancy timing was variable among temperatures and was shorter in colder treatments, but the differences collapse when temperature and duration of storage are scaled by chilling-units (CU), a common horticultural predictor of plant and insect development in response to weather. Cysts within Nauset meet a well-defined chilling requirement by late January, after which they are poised to germinate with the onset of favorable conditions in spring. Cysts thus modulate their dormancy cycles in response to their temperature history, enhancing the potential for new blooms and improving this species’ adaptability to both unseasonable weather and new habitats/climate regimes.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [OCE-0430724, OCE-0911031]; the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [1P50-ES01274201, 1P01ES021923]; the National Park Service Cooperative Agreement [H238015504]; and the Friends of Cape Cod National Seashore

Marine biotoxins and harmful algae : a national plan

Marine biotoxins and harmful algae represent a significant and expanding threat to human health and fisheries resources throughout the U.S. This problem takes many forms, ranging from massive "red tides" or blooms of cells that discolor the water to dilute, inconspicuous concentrations of cells noticed only because of the harm caused by the highly potent toxins those cells contain. Impacts include mass mortalities of wild and farmed fish, human intoxications and death from contaminated shellfish or fish, alterations of marine trophic structure, and death of marine mammals, seabirds, and other animals. The nature of the problem has changed considerably over the last two decades in the U.S. Where formerly a few regions were affected, now virtally every coastal state is threatened, in many cases over large geographic areas and by more than one harmful species. The U.S. research, monitoring, and regulatory infrastructure is not adequately prepared to meet this expanding threat. In an effort to surmount these problems, a workshop was convened to formulate a National Plan for the prediction, control, and mitigation of the effects of harmful algal blooms on the U.S. marine biota. This report summarizes the status of U.S. research knowledge and capabilties, and identifies areas where research funds should be directed for maximum benefit.Funding was provided by National Marine Fisheries Servce Saltonstall-Kennedy grant No. NA27FD0092-01, National Marine Fisheries Servce Charleston Laboratory and by the NOAA Coastal Oceans Program

Copper complexation during spring phytoplankton blooms in coastal waters

Cupric ion bioassays were conducted throughout the spring phytoplankton bloom season at two stations-one estuarine, dominated by dinoflagellates, the other coastal, dominated by diatoms. Copper-complexing ligands were detected at both locations throughout this period. Ligand concentrations varied between 0.1 and 0.75 μM, with the estuarine concentrations typically 2–4 times higher than coastal values. Ligands from both locations were destroyed by UV-oxidation and had similar conditional stability constants (range 108.3 to 109.2) that were significantly correlated with pH, suggesting that the complexing materials are organic chelators with weak acid functional groups. All measured or calculated parameters (DOC, ligand concentration, total copper concentration, salinity, and pH) remained relatively constant at the coastal station through time. The estuarine station was more dynamic, with DOC, total copper, and ligand concentrations varying 2–4 fold during the study. Although ligand concentrations were significantly different between the two locations, concomitant fluctuations in total dissolved copper and conditional stability constants resulted in a relatively constant estimate of the maximum free cupric ion activity at both stations (near 10–11 M). This suggests that copper toxicity alone was not responsible for the distinctly different estuarine and nearshore phytoplankton assemblages, although sensitive species might have been inhibited at both locations. Major phytoplankton blooms at both sites were not accompanied by changes in DOC or complexation capacity. A significant inverse correlation between ligand concentration and salinity suggests a terrestrial or sedimentary origin for the copper-complexing compounds