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GROWTH RATES, PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION OF THE RED-TIDE DINOFLAGELLATE, ALEXANDRIUM MONILATUM
Citation:
Juhl, A. R. GROWTH RATES, PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION OF THE RED-TIDE DINOFLAGELLATE, ALEXANDRIUM MONILATUM. Presented at 10th International Conference on Harmful Algae, St. Petersburg, FL, Oct 21-25, 2002.
Description:
Alexandrium monilatum is a thecate, autotrophic, bioluminescent and chain-forming dinoflagellate. Although it has been known to be associated with red tides and fish kills along the US Gulf of Mexico coast for almost 50 years, little basic physiological information is available for this species. Blooms typically occur during the summer in coastal oceanic and estuarine environments. The hypothesis that A. monilatum blooms tend to occur when conditions favor high growth rates will be tested by comparing environmental conditions
documented during natural blooms with growth rates of cultured isolates at different temperatures and salinities. Once the temperature and salinity optima for this species have been established, follow-up experiments will examine how simple physiological indicators vary with growth rate during both N- and P-limited batch culture growth. Parameters to be measured include cell size, chlorophyll/cell, N/cell, bulk C:N, and mean chain length. Establishing such relationships may facilitate use of these measures in determining growth rates and physiological condition of in situ blooms. Minimum N and P cell quotas will be determined and used to
calculate the nutrient sources necessary to support typical bloom cell concentrations.