BIOL10511 Lecture 4. Prokaryotes to eukaryotes.

Case study of euglenoids & dinoflagellates

How gas vesicles work

When hungry, Gulf of Mexico algae go toxic. ScienceDaily Mar. 12, 2013
When Gulf of Mexico algae don't get enough nutrients, they focus their remaining energy on becoming more and more poisonous to
ensure their survival, according to a new study by scientists from North Carolina State University and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
The study shows that harmful and ubiquitous Karenia brevis algae, which cause red tide blooms across the Gulf of Mexico, become
two to seven times more toxic when levels of phosphorus, a major algal nutrient found in fertilizers and human waste, are low. Like
wearing a suit of armor, producing highly toxic cells allows the algae to defend themselves against opportunistic waterborne grazers
like zooplankton. Red tide blooms in the Gulf are linked to fish kills and other ecological and economic damage in the region, and are
also linked to respiratory ailments in humans. These blooms occur annually in the Gulf, but it's hard to predict where or when they'll
occur or how long they'll last.
Drs. Rance Hardison and Damian Shea, in a paper in the journal PLOS ONE, say that the findings could help coastal managers
make better predictions about the harmful effects of red tide blooms. "Public-health managers can test phosphorus levels in waters
across various Gulf locations," Hardison said, "and know that low levels could indicate highly toxic red tide blooms. Then they can
close nearby shellfish beds or take other measures to keep sea life -- and humans -- safe."
The researchers tested five different K. brevis species from varied geographic locations and limited some samples' growth by
withholding phosphorus while allowing others to enjoy a full diet of phosphorus. Depending on the species, algal cells with limited
access to phosphorus had 2.3 to 7.3 times more toxin than algal cells that were filled up with phosphorus.
"At the end of a red tide bloom, when the nutrients are used up, K. brevis cells produce a burst of toxicity. Now we understand the
biological mechanism behind some of the varied toxic levels seen in Gulf algal cells," Shea, an NC State professor of biology and
environmental toxicology, said.
The irony of the inverse relationship between phosphorus and algal toxicity is not lost on the researchers. In a modern-day catch-22,
excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen play key roles in fueling algal growth and harmful algal bloom development. As bloom
density increases, cells use up the available nutrients such as phosphorus. This slows the growth of K. brevis cells, causing them to
become more toxic. Previous research conducted by Hardison, a NOAA oceanographer who received his Ph.D. from NC State,
showed similar effects when nitrogen was the limiting nutrient.
"We believe the findings will be useful to help model future toxic algal blooms and how harmful they'll be," Hardison said.

Brown Tide Has Emerged Off Long Island…ScienceDaily June 11, 2013 — A brown tide has emerged within some, but not all, of
Long Island's south shore estuaries. Monitoring by the Gobler Laboratory in the Stony Brook University School of Marine and
Atmospheric Sciences has revealed that a brown tide has developed in eastern Moriches Bay, Quantuck Bay, and western
Shinnecock Bay. Abundances of the brown tide organism in this region progressively increased through the month of May and were
recorded at maximal densities of more than 800,000 cells per milliliter in western Shinnecock Bay as of June 1st. Densities above
50,000 cells per milliliter can be harmful to marine life.
The brown tide alga, Aureococcus anophagefferens, has been notorious on Long Island since it first appeared in 1985 having been
responsible for the demise of the largest bay scallop fishery on the US east coast in the Peconic Estuary, the loss of eelgrass across
Long Island, and the inhibition of hard clam recovery efforts in Great South Bay. This marks the seventh consecutive year these
destructive blooms have occurred in the Moriches-Quantuck-Shinnecock Bay system. While brown tides have also occurred in Great
South Bay as recently as 2008 and 2011, the presence of a new ocean inlet in eastern Great South Bay that formed during Hurricane
Sandy may be assisting in keeping the blooms away in 2013.
Dr. Christopher Gobler indicated that the distribution of this year's brown tide comes as good news to some and bad news to others.
"The absence of a brown tide in Great South Bay may be a 'Gift from Sandy'," Gobler said. "Since the new inlet was created following
the Hurricane Sandy, we've seen higher salinity, lower chlorophyll, lower nitrogen, and stronger flushing in eastern Great South Bay.
The inability of the brown tide organism to form a bloom in this region is consistent with these conditions and should help promote the
growth of hard clams and eelgrass in this bay." The news for the eastern regions of the Long Island's south shore was not as good.
"The combination of poor flushing and intensive nitrogen loading into the eastern Moriches-western Shinnecock Bay region makes it
highly vulnerable to algal blooms," said Gobler. "We had hoped that the cooler spring and the efforts of the Shinnecock Bay
Restoration Program to restock filter feeding shellfish in the Bay might restrict this year's bloom. We are still hopeful that these filter
feeders may make this year's bloom less intense in this region than it has been in recent years," said Gobler noting that in 2011 and
2012, cell densities of the brown tide were more than twice as dense as the current bloom at two million cells per milliliter.