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Temporal abundance patterns of the red tide dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans along the southeast coast of Australia

2002; Inter-Research; Volume: 236; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/meps236075

1616-1599

Jocelyn Dela‐Cruz, Penelope A. Ajani, Rebecca Lee, Tim Pritchard, Iain M. Suthers,

Marine Biology and Ecology Research

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 236:75-88 (2002) - doi:10.3354/meps236075 Temporal abundance patterns of the red tide dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans along the southeast coast of Australia Jocelyn Dela-Cruz1,2,*, Penelope Ajani3, Randall Lee3, Tim Pritchard3, Iain Suthers1 1School of Biological Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, New South Wales, Australia 2Environmental Science Section, and 3Water Science Section, Environment Protection Authority, PO Box A290, Sydney South 1232, New South Wales, Australia *E-mail: delacruz@epa.nsw.gov.au ABSTRACT: Noctiluca scintillans was seasonally abundant during the austral spring and summer with typical values of 16 cells l-1, but depleted in autumn and winter, with values of 80%) of Noctiluca cells contained food particles in their vacuoles during the diatom blooms, suggesting that the increase in abundance of Noctiluca was most likely stimulated by food availability. Pulses of small-sized Noctiluca cells during the diatoms blooms were indicative of this population growth. The δ15N isotopic similarity of the red tide cells collected from spatially and temporally distant water masses suggests that the prey of Noctiluca were derived from a single nutrient source, most likely uplifted slope water. This study shows that the predominant underlying mechanism regulating population growth of Noctiluca along the southeast coast of Australia is the uplifting of nutrient-rich slope water. The uplifting events stimulate phytoplankton blooms which in turn stimulate Noctiluca blooms. KEY WORDS: Red tides · Noctiluca · Dinoflagellates · Uplifting · Slope water · Thalassiosira Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 236. Online publication date: July 03, 2002 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2002 Inter-Research.