27 research outputs found
Microcystin Prevalence throughout Lentic Waterbodies in Coastal Southern California.
Toxin producing cyanobacterial blooms have increased globally in recent decades in both frequency and intensity. Despite the recognition of this growing risk, the extent and magnitude of cyanobacterial blooms and cyanotoxin prevalence is poorly characterized in the heavily populated region of southern California. Recent assessments of lentic waterbodies (depressional wetlands, lakes, reservoirs and coastal lagoons) determined the prevalence of microcystins and, in some cases, additional cyanotoxins. Microcystins were present in all waterbody types surveyed although toxin concentrations were generally low across most habitats, as only a small number of sites exceeded California's recreational health thresholds for acute toxicity. Results from passive samplers (Solid Phase Adsorption Toxin Tracking (SPATT)) indicated microcystins were prevalent throughout lentic waterbodies and that traditional discrete samples underestimated the presence of microcystins. Multiple cyanotoxins were detected simultaneously in some systems, indicating multiple stressors, the risk of which is uncertain since health thresholds are based on exposures to single toxins. Anatoxin-a was detected for the first time from lakes in southern California. The persistence of detectable microcystins across years and seasons indicates a low-level, chronic risk through both direct and indirect exposure. The influence of toxic cyanobacterial blooms is a more complex stressor than presently recognized and should be included in water quality monitoring programs
Microcystin Prevalence throughout Lentic Waterbodies in Coastal Southern California.
Toxin producing cyanobacterial blooms have increased globally in recent decades in both frequency and intensity. Despite the recognition of this growing risk, the extent and magnitude of cyanobacterial blooms and cyanotoxin prevalence is poorly characterized in the heavily populated region of southern California. Recent assessments of lentic waterbodies (depressional wetlands, lakes, reservoirs and coastal lagoons) determined the prevalence of microcystins and, in some cases, additional cyanotoxins. Microcystins were present in all waterbody types surveyed although toxin concentrations were generally low across most habitats, as only a small number of sites exceeded California's recreational health thresholds for acute toxicity. Results from passive samplers (Solid Phase Adsorption Toxin Tracking (SPATT)) indicated microcystins were prevalent throughout lentic waterbodies and that traditional discrete samples underestimated the presence of microcystins. Multiple cyanotoxins were detected simultaneously in some systems, indicating multiple stressors, the risk of which is uncertain since health thresholds are based on exposures to single toxins. Anatoxin-a was detected for the first time from lakes in southern California. The persistence of detectable microcystins across years and seasons indicates a low-level, chronic risk through both direct and indirect exposure. The influence of toxic cyanobacterial blooms is a more complex stressor than presently recognized and should be included in water quality monitoring programs
Airborne Mission Concept for Coastal Ocean Color and Ecosystems Research
NASA airborne missions in 2011 and 2013 over Monterey Bay, CA, demonstrated novel above- and in-water calibration and validation measurements supporting a combined airborne sensor approach (imaging spectrometer, microradiometers, and a sun photometer). The resultant airborne data characterize contemporaneous coastal atmospheric and aquatic properties plus sea-truth observations from state-of-the-art instrument systems spanning a next-generation spectral domain (320-875 nm). This airborne instrument suite for calibration, validation, and research flew at the lowest safe altitude (ca. 100 ft or 30 m) as well as higher altitudes (e.g., 6,000 ft or 1,800 m) above the sea surface covering a larger area in a single synoptic sortie than ship-based measurements at a few stations during the same sampling period. Data collection of coincident atmospheric and aquatic properties near the sea surface and at altitude allows the input of relevant variables into atmospheric correction schemes to improve the output of corrected imaging spectrometer data. Specific channels support legacy and next-generation satellite capabilities, and flights are planned to within 30 min of satellite overpass. This concept supports calibration and validation activities of ocean color phenomena (e.g., river plumes, algal blooms) and studies of water quality and coastal ecosystems. The 2011 COAST mission flew at 100 and 6,000 ft on a Twin Otter platform with flight plans accommodating the competing requirements of the sensor suite, which included the Coastal-Airborne In-situ Radiometers (C-AIR) for the first time. C-AIR (Biospherical Instruments Inc.) also flew in the 2013 OCEANIA mission at 100 and 1,000 ft on the Twin Otter below the California airborne simulation of the proposed NASA HyspIRI satellite system comprised of an imaging spectrometer and thermal infrared multispectral imager on the ER-2 at 65,000 ft (20,000 m). For both missions, the Compact-Optical Profiling System (Biospherical Instruments, Inc.), an in-water system with microradiometers matching C-AIR, was deployed to compare sea-truth measurements and low-altitude Twin Otter flights within Monterey Bay red tide events. This novel airborne and in-water sensor capability advances the science of coastal measurements and enables rapid response for coastal events
Marine Phytoplankton Temperature versus Growth Responses from Polar to Tropical Waters – Outcome of a Scientific Community-Wide Study
"It takes a village to finish (marine) science these days" Paraphrased from Curtis Huttenhower (the Human Microbiome project) The rapidity and complexity of climate change and its potential effects on ocean biota are challenging how ocean scientists conduct research. One way in which we can begin to better tackle these challenges is to conduct community-wide scientific studies. This study provides physiological datasets fundamental to understanding functional responses of phytoplankton growth rates to temperature. While physiological experiments are not new, our experiments were conducted in many laboratories using agreed upon protocols and 25 strains of eukaryotic and prokaryotic phytoplankton isolated across a wide range of marine environments from polar to tropical, and from nearshore waters to the open ocean. This community-wide approach provides both comprehensive and internally consistent datasets produced over considerably shorter time scales than conventional individual and often uncoordinated lab efforts. Such datasets can be used to parameterise global ocean model projections of environmental change and to provide initial insights into the magnitude of regional biogeographic change in ocean biota in the coming decades. Here, we compare our datasets with a compilation of literature data on phytoplankton growth responses to temperature. A comparison with prior published data suggests that the optimal temperatures of individual species and, to a lesser degree, thermal niches were similar across studies. However, a comparison of the maximum growth rate across studies revealed significant departures between this and previously collected datasets, which may be due to differences in the cultured isolates, temporal changes in the clonal isolates in cultures, and/or differences in culture conditions. Such methodological differences mean that using particular trait measurements from the prior literature might introduce unknown errors and bias into modelling projections. Using our community-wide approach we can reduce such protocol-driven variability in culture studies, and can begin to address more complex issues such as the effect of multiple environmental drivers on ocean biota.EL and MKT were in part supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) grants DEB-0845932 and OCE-0928819. TAR and KAW were supported by NSF grant OCE-0727227. UP was supported by NSF grants OCE-0926711 and OCE-1041038. PWB and RS were supported by the New Zealand Royal Society Marsden Fund and the Ministry of Science and Innovation. RMK and KH were in part supported by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (MERHAB) grant NA04NOS4780239 and NSF grant OCE-0238347. DAH and FX-F were supported by NSF grants OCE-0942379, OCE-0962309, and OCE-117030687. MRM was partially supported by NSF grant OCE-0722395 and a NOAA The Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) grant NA06NO54780246. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
Diversity and toxicity of Pseudo-nitzschia species in Monterey Bay : perspectives from targeted and adaptive sampling
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 Harmful Algae 78 (2018): 129-141, doi:10.1016/j.hal.2018.08.006.Monterey Bay, California experiences near-annual blooms of Pseudo-nitzschia that can
affect marine animal health and the economy, including impacts to tourism and
commercial/recreational fisheries. One species in particular, P. australis, has been
implicated in the most toxic of events, however other species within the genus can
contribute to widespread variability in community structure and associated toxicity across
years. Current monitoring methods are limited in their spatial coverage as well as their
ability to capture the full suite of species present, thereby hindering understanding of
HAB events and limiting predictive accuracy. An integrated deployment of multiple in
situ platforms, some with autonomous adaptive sampling capabilities, occurred during
two divergent bloom years in the bay, and uncovered detailed aspects of population and
toxicity dynamics. A bloom in 2013 was characterized by spatial differences in Pseudo39
nitzschia populations, with the low-toxin producer P. fraudulenta dominating the inshore
community and toxic P. australis dominating the offshore community. An exceptionally
toxic bloom in 2015 developed as a diverse Pseudo-nitzschia community abruptly
transitioned into a bloom of highly toxic P. australis within the time frame of a week.
Increases in cell density and proliferation coincided with strong upwelling of nutrients.
High toxicity was driven by silicate limitation of the dense bloom. This temporal shift in
species composition mirrored the shift observed further north in the California Current
System off Oregon and Washington. The broad scope of sampling and unique platform
capabilities employed during these studies revealed important patterns in bloom
formation and persistence for Pseudo-nitzschia. Results underscore the benefit of
expanded biological observing capabilities and targeted sampling methods to capture
more comprehensive spatial and temporal scales for studying and predicting future
events.This work was
supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NA11NOS4780055, NA11NOS4780056, NA11NOS4780030) and a fellowship to H.
Bowers from the Packard Foundation
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Unexpected presence of the nitrogen-fixing symbiotic cyanobacterium UCYN-A in Monterey Bay, California.
In the last decade, the known biogeography of nitrogen fixation in the ocean has been expanded to colder and nitrogen-rich coastal environments. The symbiotic nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria group A (UCYN-A) has been revealed as one of the most abundant and widespread nitrogen-fixers, and includes several sublineages that live associated with genetically distinct but closely related prymnesiophyte hosts. The UCYN-A1 sublineage is associated with an open ocean picoplanktonic prymnesiophyte, whereas UCYN-A2 is associated with the coastal nanoplanktonic coccolithophore Braarudosphaera bigelowii, suggesting that different sublineages may be adapted to different environments. Here, we study the diversity of nifH genes present at the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf in the Monterey Bay (MB), California, and report for the first time the presence of multiple UCYN-A sublineages, unexpectedly dominated by the UCYN-A2 sublineage. Sequence and quantitative PCR data over an 8-year time-series (2011-2018) showed a shift toward increasing UCYN-A2 abundances after 2013, and a marked seasonality for this sublineage which was present during summer-fall months, coinciding with the upwelling-relaxation period in the MB. Increased abundances corresponded to positive temperature anomalies in MB, and we discuss the possibility of a benthic life stage of the associated coccolithophore host to explain the seasonal pattern. The dominance of UCYN-A2 in coastal waters of the MB underscores the need to further explore the habitat preference of the different sublineages in order to provide additional support for the hypothesis that UCYN-A1 and UCYN-A2 sublineages are different ecotypes
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Return of the "age of dinoflagellates" in Monterey Bay: Drivers of dinoflagellate dominance examined using automated imaging flow cytometry and long-term time series analysis
Phytoplankton and microbial abundance and bloom dynamics in the upwelling shadow of Monterey Bay, California, from 2006 to 2013
Unexpected presence of the nitrogen-fixing symbiotic cyanobacterium UCYN-A in Monterey Bay, California
In the last decade, the known biogeography of
nitrogen fixation in the ocean has been expanded to
colder and nitrogen-rich coastal environments. The
symbiotic nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria group A
(UCYN-A) has been revealed as one of the most
abundant and widespread nitrogen-fixers, and
includes several sublineages that live associated with
genetically distinct but closely related
prymnesiophyte hosts. The UCYN-A1 sublineage is
associated with an open ocean picoplanktonic
prymnesiophyte, whereas UCYN-A2 is associated with
the coastal nanoplanktonic coccolithophore
Braarudosphaera bigelowii, suggesting that different
sublineages may be adapted to different
environments. Here, we study the diversity of nifH
genes present at the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf in
the Monterey Bay (MB), California, and report for
the first time the presence of multiple UCYN-A
sublineages, unexpectedly dominated by the UCYNA2 sublineage. Sequence and quantitative PCR data
over an 8-year time-series (2011–2018) showed a shift
toward increasing UCYN-A2 abundances after 2013,
and a marked seasonality for this sublineage which
was present during summer-fall months, coinciding
with the upwelling-relaxation period in the MB.
Increased abundances corresponded to positive
temperature anomalies in MB, and we discuss the
possibility of a benthic life stage of the associated
coccolithophore host to explain the seasonal pattern.
The dominance of UCYN-A2 in coastal waters of the
MB underscores the need to further explore the
habitat preference of the different sublineages in
order to provide additional support for the
hypothesis that UCYN-A1 and UCYN-A2 sublineages
are different ecotypes