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Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 23013

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Prof. Dr. YingZhong Tang

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Guest Editor

The Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
Interests: marine ecology; ecology of phytoplankton and harmful algal blooms in particular (e.g., ecotoxicology, allelopathy, auxotrophy); life history of dinoflagellates and other HAB species; molecular ecology of resting cysts (stages) in dinoflagellates and other HAB-causing species; biogeography of resting stages of HAB species; bioremediation using massive cultivation of macroalgae; resting cysts in ballast tank sediments

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As we have observed an ever-increasing number of events of harmful algal blooms (HABs) worldwide in the past decades, we have also witnessed progress in understanding of numerous aspects of the ecology of HABs, from the taxonomy of HAB-forming species to the identification of a variety of toxins, from monitoring to modelling and forecasting, from laboratory-based ecophysiological study to automated or remotely controlled in situ sampling and even experimental and data analyses! Given all these fabulous advancements, we have seen more research on macro- but less on micro-nutrients, more on static but less on fluctuating temperature, more on effects of bacteria but less on those of fungi and viruses, more on toxicity and toxins but less on allelopathy and allelochemicals as well as the relationship between toxicity and allelopathy, more on shellfish poisoning toxins and their producers but less on ichthyotoxicity, and more on well-characterized or common species but much less on species that cause disastrous effects locally. We have seen many gaps between the sub-cellular and ecosystem levels of understanding of HABs.

With the considerations expressed above, I gratefully welcome your submissions to this Special Issue, which, rather than targeting a grand picture, report novel (thus gap-filling) findings in the ecology of HABs with the support of solid evidence! From my point of view, a paper with grain-sized novel discoveries is much more appreciable than those trying to address an issue of broad interests but that fail to provide any "waterproof" evidence!

I am looking forward to receiving your wonderful manuscripts!

Prof. Dr. YingZhong Tang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

omics study on HABs
interactions between HABs and bacteria, fungi, and virus
interaction between toxicity and allelopathy
new types of toxic effects
interaction between different trophic modes
new technology or approaches in prevention, control, and mitigation (PCM) of HABs
intrinsic and environmental factors controlling the dynamics of HABs
mixotrophy/phagotrophy/osmotrophy

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 34927 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Abundant Species Diversity and Essential Functions of Bacterial Communities Associated with Dinoflagellates as Revealed from Metabarcoding Sequencing for Laboratory-Raised Clonal Cultures

by Yunyan Deng, Kui Wang, Zhangxi Hu and Ying-Zhong Tang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(8), 4446; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19084446 - 07 Apr 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2178

Abstract

Interactions between algae and bacteria represent an important inter-organism association in aquatic environments, which often have cascading bottom-up influences on ecosystem-scale processes. Despite the increasing recognition of linkages between bacterioplankton and dynamics of dinoflagellate blooms in the field, knowledge about the forms and functions of dinoflagellate-bacteria associations remains elusive, mainly due to the ephemeral and variable conditions in the field. In this study, we characterized the bacterial community associated with laboratory cultures of 144 harmful algal strains, including 130 dinoflagellates (covering all major taxonomic orders of dinoflagellates) and 14 non-dinoflagellates, via high-throughput sequencing for 16S rRNA gene amplicons. A total of 4577 features belonging to bacteria kingdom comprising of 24 phyla, 55 classes, 134 orders, 273 families, 716 genera, and 1104 species were recovered from the algal culture collection, and 3 phyla (Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes) were universally present in all the culture samples. Bacterial communities in dinoflagellates cultures exhibited remarkable conservation across different algal strains, which were dominated by a relatively small number of taxa, most notably the γ-proteobacteria Methylophaga, Marinobacter and Alteromonas. Although the bacterial community composition between dinoflagellates and non-dinoflagellate groups did not show significant difference in general, dinoflagellates harbored a large number of unique features (up to 3811) with relatively low individual abundance and enriched in the potential methylotrophs Methylophaga. While the bacterial assemblages associated with thecate and athecate dinoflagellates displayed no general difference in species composition and functional groups, athecate dinoflagellates appeared to accommodate more aerobic cellulolytic members of Actinobacteria, implying a more possible reliance on cellulose utilization as energy source. The extensive co-occurrence discovered here implied that the relationships between these algal species and the bacterial consortia could be viewed as either bilaterally beneficial (i.e., mutualism) or unilaterally beneficial at least to one party but virtually harmless to the other party (i.e., commensalism), whereas both scenarios support a long-term and stable co-existence rather than an exclusion of one or the other. Our results demonstrated that dinoflagellates-associated bacterial communities were similar in composition, with enrichment of potential uncultured methylotrophs to one-carbon compounds. This work enriches the knowledge about the fundamental functions of bacteria consortia associated with the phycospheres of dinoflagellates and other HABs-forming microalgae. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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13 pages, 3700 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Toxic Characteristics and Action Mode of the Mixotrophic Dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea on Co-Occurring Phytoplankton and Zooplankton

by Xiaoer Wu, Ying Yang, Yeyin Yang, Ping Zhong and Ning Xu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(1), 404; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19010404 - 30 Dec 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1478

Abstract

The mixotrophic dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea frequently forms harmful algal blooms around the world and has caused massive deaths of shellfish, finfish and birds, yet its toxic mechanism is still unclear. In this study, toxic effects of A. sanguinea on co-culturing phytoplankton and zooplankton were investigated. The results showed that sonicated cultures of A. sanguinea JX13 and JX14, isolated from the Pearl River Estuary, had a significant lethal effect on the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis, with the highest mortality rate of 80%. The highest inhibition rates of A. sanguinea cultures JX13 (90%) and JX14 (80%) on R. salina were much higher than that of AS2 (20%). Toxicity varied with the growth stage, during which A. sanguinea cells in the exponential stage showed the highest toxicity (40%), while A. sanguinea filtrate had the highest toxicity (10%) in the decline stage. The action mode of A. sanguinea toxicity on plankton was explored through an osmotic membrane culture device. It was found that A. sanguinea JX13 displayed an inhibitory effect on coexisting phytoplankton, whether they had contact or not, but the inhibition rate increased by 25% with contact. A lethal effect of A. sanguinea JX13 on rotifer Brachionus plicatilis was observed only in contact treatment. This study suggests that direct contact is the key action mode to trigger the release of toxins and induce toxic effects of A. sanguinea on co-occurring plankton. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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11 pages, 1117 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pseudocochlodinium profundisulcus Resting Cysts Detected in the Ballast Tank Sediment of Ships Arriving in the Ports of China and North America and the Implications in the Species’ Geographic Distribution and Possible Invasion

by Lixia Shang, Xinyu Zhai, Wen Tian, Yuyang Liu, Yangchun Han, Yunyan Deng, Zhangxi Hu and Ying Zhong Tang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(1), 299; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19010299 - 28 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1803

Abstract

Over the past several decades, much attention has been focused on the dispersal of aquatic nonindigenous species via ballast tanks of shipping vessels worldwide. The recently reclassified dinoflagellate Pseudocochlodinium profundisulcus (previously identified as Cochlodinium sp., Cochlodinium geminatum, or Polykrikos geminatus) was not reported in China until 2006. However, algal blooming events caused by this organism have been reported almost every year since then in the Pearl River Estuary and its adjacent areas in China. Whether P. profundisulcus is an indigenous or an invasive species has thus become an ecological question of great scientific and practical significance. In this study, we collected the sediments from ballast tanks of ships arriving in the ports of China and North America and characterized dinoflagellate resting cysts via a combined approach. We germinated two dark brownish cysts from the tank of an international ship (Vessel A) arriving at the Jiangyin Port (China) into vegetative cells and identified them as P. profundisulcus by light and scanning electron microscopy and phylogenetic analyses for partial LSU rDNA sequences. We also identified P. profundisulcus cyst from the ballast tank sediment of a ship (Vessel B) arriving in the port of North America via single-cyst PCR and cloning sequencing, which indicated that this species could be transported as resting cyst via ship. Since phylogenetic analyses based on partial LSU rDNA sequences could not differentiate all sequences among our cysts from those deposited in the NCBI database into sub-groups, all populations from China, Australia, Japan, and the original sources from which the cysts in the two vessels arrived in China and North America were carried over appeared to share a very recent common ancestor, and the species may have experienced a worldwide expansion recently. These results indicate that P. profundisulcus cysts may have been extensively transferred to many regions of the world via ships’ ballast tank sediments. While our work provides an exemplary case for both the feasibility and complexity (in tracking the source) of the bio-invasion risk via the transport of live resting cysts by ship’s ballast tanks, it also points out an orientation for future investigation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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15 pages, 5035 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quorum Sensing Bacteria in the Phycosphere of HAB Microalgae and Their Ecological Functions Related to Cross-Kingdom Interactions

by Yanchao Zhang, Li Zheng, Shuai Wang, Yangguo Zhao, Xiyuan Xu, Bin Han and Tianyi Hu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(1), 163; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19010163 - 24 Dec 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3655

Abstract

It has been proven that the relationship between microalgae and bacteria affects the dynamic process of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Microalgae-associated microorganisms widely exist in the phycosphere and play an essential role in algae-bacteria cross-kingdom interactions. Among these processes, quorum sensing (QS), as a communication system of bacteria, is thought to participate in algae-bacteria interactions. However, the species of QS bacteria in the phycosphere and their ecological function are still unknown. In this study, microalgae-associated microorganisms with a QS system were screened by the biosensor method and identified based on 16S rRNA gene analysis. The types and number of acyl-L-homoserine lactone (AHL) signalling molecules produced by QS bacteria were analysed by thin layer chromatography (TLC) bioautography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The film formation, β-dimethylmercaptopropionic (DMSP) degradation and algae growth effects of QS bacteria were investigated. The results showed that 113 QS bacteria were isolated from 842 microalgae-associated bacteria. Detection of AHL molecules in 10 different species of QS bacteria showed that most of them were N-(3-Oxodecanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (OC10-HSL), N-Octanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C8-HSL) and N-(3-Oxooctanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (OC8-HSL). All 10 QS bacteria had film-forming ability, and they could degrade DMSP (except strain E26). The crude metabolic extracts of the 10 QS bacteria can inhibit or promote microalgae growth to different degrees. Our study is helpful to understand the role of microalgae-associated microorganisms with the QS system in algae-bacteria interactions and community succession of HAB microalgae. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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16 pages, 2463 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mitigation of CyanoHABs Using Phoslock^® to Reduce Water Column Phosphorus and Nutrient Release from Sediment

by Ji Li, Kevin Sellner, Allen Place, Jeffrey Cornwell and Yonghui Gao

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13360; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182413360 - 18 Dec 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2625

Abstract

Cyanobacterial blooms can be stimulated by excessive phosphorus (P) input, especially when diazotrophs are the dominant species. A series of mesocosm experiments were conducted in a lake dominated by a cyanobacteria bloom to study the effects of Phoslock^®, a phosphorus adsorbent. The results showed that the addition of Phoslock^® lowered the soluble reactive phosphate (SRP) concentrations in water due to efficient adsorption and mitigated the blooms. Once settled on the sediments, Phoslock^® serves as a barrier to reduce P diffusion from sediments into the overlying waters. In short-term (1 day) incubation experiments, Phoslock^® diminished or reversed SRP effluxes from bottom sediments. At the same time, the upward movement of the oxic–anoxic interface through the sediment column slightly enhanced NH₄⁺ release and depressed N₂ release, suggesting the inhibition of nitrification and denitrification. In a long-term (28 days) experiment, Phoslock^® hindered the P release, reduced the cyanobacterial abundance, and alleviated the bloom-driven enhancements in the pH and oxygen. These results suggest that, through suppression of internal nutrient effluxes, Phoslock^® can be used as an effective control technology to reduce cyanobacteria blooms common to many freshwater systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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14 pages, 1985 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biodiversity and Spatial-Temporal Dynamics of Margalefidinium Species in Jiaozhou Bay, China

by Shuya Liu, Mengjia Zhang, Yongfang Zhao and Nansheng Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11637; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182111637 - 06 Nov 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2148

Abstract

Many Margalefidinium species are cosmopolitan harmful algal bloom (HAB) species that have caused huge economic and ecological damage. Despite extensive research on Margalefidinium species, the biodiversity and spatial-temporal dynamics of these species remain obscure. Jiaozhou Bay is an ideal area for HAB research, being one of the earliest marine survey areas in China. In this study, we carried out the first metabarcoding study on the temporal and spatial dynamics of Margalefidinium species using the 18S rDNA V4 region as the molecular marker and samples collected monthly at 12 sampling sites in Jiaozhou Bay in 2019. Two harmful Margalefidinium species (M. polykrikoides and M. fulvescens) were identified with potentially high genetic diversity (although we cannot rule out the possibility of intra-genome sequence variations). Both M. polykrikoides and M. fulvescens demonstrated strong temporal preference with a sharp peak of abundance in early autumn (September), but without showing strong location preference in Jiaozhou Bay. Our results revealed that temperature might be the main driver for their temporal dynamics. Knowledge of biodiversity and spatial-temporal dynamics of the Margalefidinium species may shed light on the understanding of mechanisms underlying strongly biased occurrences of Margalefidinium blooms recorded globally. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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18 pages, 4992 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Healthier Communities of Phytoplankton and Bacteria Achieved via the Application of Modified Clay in Shrimp Aquaculture Ponds

by Yu Ding, Xiuxian Song, Xihua Cao, Liyan He, Shanshan Liu and Zhiming Yu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11569; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182111569 - 04 Nov 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2234

Abstract

The composition and stability of microbial communities in aquaculture water are crucial for the healthy growth of shrimp and present considerable risk to aquatic ecosystems. The modified clay (MC) method has been proposed as an efficient and safe solution for the mitigation of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Currently, the effects of MC on microbial communities in aquaculture water remain unknown. Here, we adopted the MC method to regulate shrimp-culture water quality and evaluated the effects of MC on the composition and stability of phytoplankton together with bacteria communities through high-throughput sequencing. On the one hand, a prominent change in the composition of microbial community was observed, with green algae becoming the most abundant genera and pathogens being infrequent in the MC-treated pond, which was more conducive to the growth of shrimp than that in the control pond. Moreover, MC could increase the diversity and stability of the microbial community structure in the water column, which had a higher anti-interference ability, as demonstrated by the analysis of the diversity and molecular ecological network. Taken together, MC could reduce the possibility for the occurrence of HABs and maintain a stable microbial community, which is beneficial for the health and high yield of shrimp. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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17 pages, 22760 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metabarcoding Analysis of Harmful Algal Bloom Species in the Western Pacific Seamount Regions

by Qing Xu, Chunzhi Wang, Kuidong Xu and Nansheng Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11470; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182111470 - 31 Oct 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2050

Abstract

The Western Pacific is the most oligotrophic sea on Earth, with numerous seamounts. However, the plankton diversity and biogeography of the Western Pacific in general and the seamount regions in particular remains largely unexplored. In this project, we quantitatively analyzed the composition and distribution patterns of plankton species in the Western Pacific seamount regions by applying metabarcoding analysis. We identified 4601 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) representing 34 classes in seven protist phyla/divisions in the Western Pacific seamount regions, among which Dinoflagellata was by far the most dominant division. Among the 336 annotated phytoplankton species (including species in Dinoflagellata), we identified 36 harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, many of which displayed unique spatial distribution patterns in the Western Pacific seamount regions. This study was the first attempt in applying ASV-based metabarcoding analysis in studying phytoplankton and HAB species in the Western Pacific seamount regions, which may facilitate further research on the potential correlation between HABs in the Western Pacific seamount regions and coastal regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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13 pages, 15808 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mechanism by Which MC Controls Harmful Algal Blooms Revealed by Cell Morphology of Aureococcus anophagefferens

by Jianan Zhu, Zhiming Yu, Liyan He, Xihua Cao, Hena Ji and Xiuxian Song

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11191; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182111191 - 25 Oct 2021

Viewed by 1538

Abstract

On the basis of field experience, a bloom does not continue after treatment with modified clay (MC), even though the residual harmful algal bloom (HAB) biomass accounts for 20–30% of the initial cells. This interesting phenomenon indicates that, in addition to causing flocculation, MC can inhibit the growth of residual cells. Here, from a cell morphology perspective, Aureococcus anophagefferens was used as a model organism to explore this scientific issue and clarify the mechanism by which MC mitigates harmful algal blooms (HABs). The results showed that, at an ~70% removal efficiency, neutral clay (NC) could not effectively inhibit the growth of residual cells, although it caused various forms of damage to residual cells, such as cell deformation, cell breakage, decreased extracellular polysaccharides (EPS), increased cell membrane permeability, and increased cytoplasmic granularity, due to physical collisions. After modification, some physical and chemical properties of the clay particle surface were changed; for example, the surface electrical properties changed from negative to positive, lamellar spacing increased, hardness decreased, adhesion chains increased, adhesion improved, and the number of absorption sites increased, enhancing the occurrence of chemical and electrochemical effects and physical collisions with residual cells, leading to severe cell deformation and chemical cell breakage. Thus, MC effectively inhibited the growth of residual cells and controlled HABs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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17 pages, 4605 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Modified Clay on Phaeocystis globosa Growth and Colony Formation

by Xiangzheng Ren, Zhiming Yu, Lixia Qiu, Xihua Cao and Xiuxian Song

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(19), 10163; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph181910163 - 27 Sep 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1903

Abstract

Phaeocystis globosa is a globally distributed harmful algal blooms (HABs) species dominated by the colonial morphotype, which presents dramatic environmental hazards and poses a threat to human health. Modified clay (MC) can effectively flocculate HAB organisms and prevent their subsequent growth, but the effects of MC on colony-dominated P. globosa blooms remain uncertain. In this paper, a series of removal and incubation experiments were conducted to investigate the growth, colony formation and colony development of P. globosa cells after treatment with MC. The results show that the density of colonies was higher at MC concentrations below 0.2 g/L compared to those in the control, indicating the role of P. globosa colonies in resistance to environmental stress. Concentrations of MC greater than 0.2 g/L could reduce the density of solitary cells and colonies, and the colony diameter and extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) content were also decreased. The adsorption of MC to dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) and the cell damage caused by collision may be the main mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. These results elucidate that the treatment with an appropriate concentration of MC may provide an effective mitigation strategy for P. globosa blooms by preventing their growth and colony formation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Understanding for the Ecology of Marine HABs)

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