2015 journal article
Deep-water seed populations for red tide blooms in the Gulf of Mexico
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES, 529, 1–16.
author keywords: Harmful algal blooms; Benthic orientation; Karenia brevis; Nutrient limitation; Biomimetic; Lagrangian drifter
TL;DR:
Measurements of nutrients and light from the water column in a potential bloom- forming region of the WFS were higher than the model-generated requirements for growth, suggesting that coastal nutrient distributions could support a coastal population offshore.
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UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
13. Climate Action
(Web of Science)
14. Life Below Water
(Web of Science; OpenAlex)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018
Populations of the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis that remain near the benthos in deep shelf water in the Gulf of Mexico could be the source for toxic bloom occurrences near shore. A biophysical dynamic simulation model and migrating drifters were used to assess whether such 'seed populations' could persist in nature. The vertical migration responses of plankton to an exclusively benthic nutrient source and light limitation would result in near-benthic behavioral trapping of a slowly growing population in conditions found on the West Florida Shelf (WFS). The model in- dicated that for a 50 m deep bottom, a 2-m-thick layer of ≥2 µmol NO3 - /NO2 - fluxing from the benthos was the minimum needed to permit growth for dark- adapted K. brevis in an oligotrophic water column. Growth rates depended more on the duration of expo- sure to nutrients than on concentration; a 1-m-thick nutrient layer sustained minimum growth levels inde- pendently of the nutrient distri bution at depths ≤40 m. Field experiments using Autonomous Behaving La- grangian Explorer drifters (ABLEs) that exhibited bio- mimetic vertical migration responses to the external environment demonstrated a benthically-oriented movement pattern in response to natural light and cues correlated with elevated near-benthic nutrients. Aver- age measurements of nutrients and light from the bot- tom 2 m of the water column in a potential bloom- forming region of the WFS were higher than the model-generated requirements for growth, suggesting that coastal nutrient distributions could support a ben- thic population offshore. Under upwelling conditions, such populations could be advected inshore to frontal convergence zones and form toxic 'red tide' blooms.