Phosphorus limitation might promote more toxin content in the marine invader dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum

Autor: Maestrini, S. Y., Béchemin, C., Daniel Grzebyk, Hummert, C.
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2000
Předmět:
Zdroj: Plankton Biology & Ecology (1343-0874) (The Plankton Society of Japan), 2000-02, Vol. 47, N. 1, P. 7-11
Scopus-Elsevier
Popis: Alexandrium minutum (strain AM89BM) has been grown in semi-continuous culture (0.2 vol. d super(-1)) in N-limiting (NO sub(3) super(-): PO sub(4) super(3-)=1.6 and 3.16), in P-limiting (N: P=160 and 80), and in N and P balanced (N: P=16) media. The toxin content in cells changed greatly according to the N: P ratio. Cells grown in N: P balanced condition showed an average total paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) content of 1.24 fmol cell super(-1). In N-limiting conditions, cells contained ca. 3 times less toxin with mean values of 0.41-0.45 fmol cell super(-1). In contrast, cells grown in P-limiting conditions contained on average 3.5 and 7 times more toxins than in the balanced N: P condition: 4.31 fmol cell super(-1) in the N: P=160 medium and 8.01 fmol cell super(-1) in the N: P=80 medium. The toxin content per carbon unit shows the same trend; the lowest content in N: P16 conditions at 59.0 fmol PSP nmol C super(-1). Since present trends in nutrient loading are assumed to have skewed some historically stable situations towards higher N: P ratios, the stimulation of toxin production by P-limiting media has important ecological consequences; in niches where DIN: DIP is >16, populations of A. minutum sufficiently concentrated to represent a significant fraction of shellfish food could pose a serious problem
Databáze: OpenAIRE