Elsevier

Harmful Algae

Volume 3, Issue 1, January 2004, Pages 39-49
Harmful Algae

The occurrence of potentially toxic dinoflagellates and diatoms in a subtropical lagoon, the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, USA

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hal.2003.08.003Get rights and content

Abstract

The occurrence of potentially toxic phytoplankton species was examined over a 5-year period in a region of the Indian River Lagoon in Florida that has recently been subject to ecologically significant events, putatively related to algal toxins. The results of the study reveal a significant presence of two species of phytoplankton that have been shown to be toxic in Florida or other regions of world, the dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense var. bahamense and the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia pseudodelicatissima. Concentrations of the former species reached 638,000 cells l−1 and concentrations of the latter reached 23.9 million cells l−1. In addition, the abundance of one of these species, P. bahamense var. bahamense appears to have increased over the 5-year study period from 1997 to 2002. It may be hypothesized that rainfall events following a regional drought period resulted in a flushing of bioavailable phosphorus and nitrogen into the Indian River Lagoon that stimulated P. bahamense var. bahamense blooms. The significance of these results is discussed within the context of the ecology of this flow-restricted lagoon.

Introduction

Global concerns over recent trends toward increased rates of coastal eutrophication have drawn attention to the issue of harmful algal blooms (Paerl, 1988, Hallegraeff, 1993, Smayda, 1989, Smayda, 1992, Nixon, 1995, Richardson and Jorgensen, 1996). Blooms of toxic algae in lagoons and estuaries have been blamed for a range of environmental problems, including fish kills (Smayda, 1992, Steidinger et al., 1998), shellfish dieoffs (Shumway, 1990), and marine mammal deaths (Landsberg and Steidinger, 1997). However, defining the more general role of specific harmful algal species in highly dynamic coastal ecosystems can often be a challenging task due to the lack of long-term monitoring information on phytoplankton composition.

In this paper, we present the results of a 5-year effort to examine phytoplankton dynamics in a region of the Indian River Lagoon in Florida that has recently been subject to ecologically significant phenomena, putatively related to algal toxins. These phenomena include saxitoxin found in local pufferfish (Landsberg et al., 2002) and unexplained losses of clam larvae in regional hatcheries that use the lagoon as a source of water (L. Sturmer, personal communication). Many of the regions of the lagoon subject to these observations are flow-restricted environments with slow turnover rates of water (Sheng et al., 1990, Smith, 1993). It is well known that coastal ecosystems subject to low water turnover rate are especially prone to the buildup of high algal biomass, given the presence of sufficient nutrients (Knoppers et al., 1991, Monbet, 1992). The Indian River Lagoon is subject to high nutrient concentrations (Phlips et al., 2002) and is characterized by periodic blooms of dinoflagellates, diatoms and blue-green algae (Steidinger et al., 1998, Phlips et al., 2002, Badylak and Phlips, 2003). The goal of this study was to evaluate the abundance of potentially toxic phytoplankton species within a key region of concern within the lagoon, near the city of Titusville. The results of the study reveal a significant presence of two species of phytoplankton that have been shown to be toxic in Florida or other regions of the United States, the dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense (Landsberg et al., 2002) and the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia pseudodelicatissima (Martin et al., 1990, Hallegraeff, 1993, Fryxell et al., 1997, Parsons et al., 1999, Pan et al., 2001, Hargrave and Maranda, 2002, Stehr et al., 2002). In addition, the abundance of one of these species, P. bahamense appears to have increased over the 5-year study period. The significance of these results is discussed within the context of the ecology of the lagoon.

Section snippets

Study site description

The Indian River Lagoon is a geomorphic component of the east coast barrier reef system of Florida, USA. The lagoon extends 252 km from the warm temperate environment of Ponce de Leon Inlet near Daytona Beach to the subtropical region of Jupiter Inlet near Ft. Pierce. The width of the lagoon varies from 0.2 to 5 km and depths in the lagoon are generally less than 3 m. A number of ecologically distinct regions exist within the lagoon, which differ considerably in water exchange properties (Sheng et

General trends in phytoplankton abundance and composition

A number of features of the Indian River Lagoon make it a candidate for algal blooms. Long residence times, shallow depth, and high nutrient concentrations all contribute to algal biomass potential in large portions of the lagoon (Phlips et al., 2002), characteristics it shares with other restricted lagoonal ecosystems around the world (Monbet, 1992, Knoppers et al., 1991). The region of the lagoon near Titusville, examined in this paper, exhibits all these characteristics. As might be

Acknowledgements

We thank Jan Landsberg of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for her support of this work and review of the manuscript. We thank Joel Steward of the St. Johns River Water Management District for his support of this research. We thank Scott Whittaker of the Laboratories of Analytical Biology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History for his technical advice concerning SEM procedures. We also give special thanks to Phyllis Woodford of Merritt Island for her

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      bahamense from P. bahamense var. compressum) did not produce PSTs (Steidinger et al., 1980; Azanza and Taylor, 2001) until an extensive bloom in the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast of Florida coincided with pufferfish toxicity events in 2002 (Phlips et al., 2004). Landsberg et al. (2006) later reported saxitoxin bioaccumulation in pufferfish from the same area, concurrent with P. bahamense blooms.

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