Harmful /
Nuisance
Algal
Blooms:
Funding:
NSF, NOAA/NYSG/BTRI
Award Numbers: NOAA/NYSG - R/CMB-21 and R/CMB-15
NSF -
OCE-9521254
PI's: T.M. Kana, H. MacIntyre,
M.W. Lomas, J.C. Cornwell & P.M. Glibert
"Nearly two decades ago in June of 1985, clammers, fishermen,
and boaters reported a significant discoloration of the waters in Great South
Bay, Long Island, and so began research on the
previously undescribed nuisance marine algae Aureococcus anophagefferens,
commonly known as the brown tide."
Lomas and Gobler,
2004
Example
of a brown tide bloom so thick
that light hardly penetrates the water. This usually results in the
death of benthic seagrasses and macroalgae.
Coastal ecosystems
along the United
States east coast have
been exposed to increasing anthropogenic pressures. In
particular, nutrient inputs are dramatically increasing resulting in
eutrophication of many coastal systems. Eutrophication, beyond
the increased nutrient concentrations, has resulted in a diversity of
detrimental impacts on coastal ecosystems. Two distinct impacts
are the increases in anoxic volumes in such systems as the Gulf of
Mexico, middle reaches of the Chesapeake Bay Neuse River Estuary.
The second impact is hypothesized changes in phytoplankton community
structure in response to either altered nutrient concentrations or
types (e.g., inorganic nutrients versus organic nutrients).
Indeed, one hypothesis for the increased prevalence of harmful algal
blooms (HABs) in the past several decades is eutrophication. One
such HAB that my group has researched is Aureococcus
anophagefferens a small (~2μm)
Pelagophyte algae closely related to the deep
ocean species Pelagococcus
subviridis
and the Texas brown
tide Aureoumbra
lagunensis, whose name literally means
“golden sphere causing cessation of feeding”.
My
research has focused on
the nutritional ecology of this organism, in
particular its ability to utilize a variety of carbon and nitrogen
substrates. Our research has shown that this species has an
enhanced capacity to assimilate organic nitrogen sources relative to
co-occurring phytoplankton species, which has been shown to contribute
to its competitive success in both bottle incubations and mesocosm
experiments. At the culmination of this research we
have developed a mechanistic model for shallow coastal bays that links
blooms of Aureococcus anophagefferens
to destabilization of the benthic microalgal community. This
destabilization of the benthic community removes a sink
term for nutrients in benthic pore waters which further fuels
water column phytoplankton blooms. This HAB species
continues to cause significant problems on the U.S. East coast
from New York to South Carolina, and across the Atlantic Ocean to
South Africa.
Publications
Resulting from
this
Research:
Lomas,
M.W.,
Kana, T.M., MacIntyre, H.L. and Cornwell, J. 2004.
Interannual variability of Aureococcus
anophagefferens in
Quantuck Bay Long Island: Natural
test of the DON hypothesis. Harmful Algae,
3:389-402. (download
PDF)
Kana,
T.M., Lomas, M.W., MacIntyre,
H.L.
Cornwell, J. and Gobler, C. 2004. Stimulation
of the brown
tide organism,
Aureococcus
anophagefferens,
by selective nutrient additions to in situ mesocosms.
Harmful Algae, 3:377-388.
(download
PDF)
MacIntyre,
H.L., Lomas, M.W.,
Cornwell, J.C.,
Suggett, D.J., Gobler, C.J., Koch, E.W., and Kana, T.M. 2004. Mediation
of
benthic
pelagic coupling by microphytopbenthos: An energy- and
material-based
model for initiation of blooms of Aureococcus
anophagefferens.
Harmful
Algae, 3:403-437. (download
PDF)
Lomas,
M. W.,
and Gobler, C. J. 2004. Aureococcus
anophagefferens research: 20 years and counting. Harmful
Algae,
3:273-277. (download
PDF)
Lomas, M.W.,
Glibert, P. M., Clougherty, D. A., Huber, D. E., Jones, J., Alexander,
J., and
Haramoto, E. 2001. Elevated
organic nutrient ratios associated
with brown tide blooms of Aureococcus anophagefferens
(Pelagophyceae). J. Plank. Res.
23:1339-1344. (download
PDF)
Glibert, P. M., Magnien, R., Lomas, M. W.,
Alexander, J., Fan, C., Haramoto, E., Trice, M. and Kana, T.
2001.
Harmful algal blooms in the
Chesapeake Bay, USA:
Comparison of events. Estuaries
24:875-883. (download
PDF)
Berg, G.M., Glibert, P.M., Lomas, M.W.,
and
Burford, M. 1997. Organic nitrogen
uptake and growth by the Chrysophyte
Aureococcus
anophagefferens during
a brown
tide event. Mar Biol., 129:377-387. (download PDF)
Lomas, M. W.,
Glibert, P., Berg, G., and Burford, M. 1996.
Characterization of nitrogen uptake by Aureococcus
anophagefferens as a
function of incubation duration, substrate concentration, irradiance
and
temperature. J. Phycol.,
32:907-916.
Research
Awards
Supporting this Research:
Brown Tide Research Initiative:
New York Sea Grant Projects R/CMB-21 and R/CMB-15
University of Maryland Center for
Environmental Science - Horn Point Laboratory Knapp Educational
Fellowship
NSF
Grant OCE - 9521254
Other Relevant
Research Links:
Brookhaven
National Laboratory - Peconic
Estuary Studies
New
York Sea Grant - Brown Tide
Research Initiative
U.S.
ECOHAB Program
