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Assessing phytoplankton dynamics in a small bay amidst upwelling and anthropogenic pressure (Algarrobo Bay, Central Chile)

2018; Frontiers Media; Volume: 5; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3389/conf.fmars.2018.06.00009

2296-7745

Afonso Ferreira, Carolina Sá, Nélson Silva, Carolina Beltrán, Ana Dias, Ana C. Brito,

Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies

Event Abstract Back to Event Assessing phytoplankton dynamics in a small bay amidst upwelling and anthropogenic pressure (Algarrobo Bay, Central Chile) Afonso M. Ferreira1*, Carolina Sá1, 2, Nélson Silva3, Carolina Beltrán1, Ana M. Dias1 and Ana C. Brito1, 4 1 Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Portugal 2 Centre for Marine and Environmental Research, University of the Algarve, CIMA, Portugal 3 Escuela de Ciencias del Mar, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile 4 Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Portugal In the last few decades, several studies have reported substantial effects on coastal ecosystems driven by anthropogenic pressure, e.g. climate change (Fulweiler & Nixon, 2009), eutrophication (Cerco & Noel, 2013), fisheries (Gascuel et al., 2016), etc. Such threats are ever-changing and can disturb and alter phytoplankton communities at several taxonomic levels. Phytoplankton are considered as one of the most susceptible organisms to environmental changes (e.g. Boyd, 2002), particularly in terms of light and nutrient availability (Reynolds, 2006; Brito et al., 2010). This study was conducted at Algarrobo Bay (Central Chile; 33º 21’ S 71º 40 W), a small coastal embayment under the influence of both upwelling and anthropogenic pressure (i.e. strong seasonal tourism). The main goal of this study is to analyze the phytoplankton community spatial distribution and evaluate how environmental drivers influence its composition. Fulfilling this goal contributes to understanding the phytoplankton dynamics in dynamic coastal ecosystems. Sampling took place at ~30 stations spread-out along the Algarrobo Bay’s vicinity in October 2013. Phytoplankton cell abundance (microscopy) and pigment concentration (High Performance Liquid Chromatography – HPLC) were analyzed for each sample. A chemotaxonomic approach (HPLC-CHEMTAX; Mackey et al., 1996; Wright et al., 1996) was used to derive the relative abundance of major phytoplankton groups, as described in Brito et al. (2015). NO2-, NO3-, PO43- and Si[OH]4 concentrations were also determined. In addition, an upwelling index (UI) was calculated, according to Gonzalez-Nuevo et al., (2014). Upwelling offshore the Algarrobo Bay was observed to be permanent, although erratic (i.e., characterized by short intense upwelling events). The southern part of the bay is relatively sheltered from the northward Chilean Coastal Current (Aiken et al., 2008) due to Peñagrande and Fraile Points. In this area, higher phytoplankton biomass, temperature and dissolved oxygen, as well as low nutrient concentrations and N:P ratio were observed. In the northern part, however, a more turbulent water column and high nutrient concentrations were verified. Community-wise, phytoplankton in the Algarrobo Bay was typical of an upwelling region. Diatoms (mainly Chaetoceros sp.) dominated most stations and were more abundant in the southern part of the bay, while flagellates were favored in the northern part. Dinoflagellates were relatively scarce. CHEMTAX results showed that diatoms not only dominated most coastal stations, but also some offshore upwelling-influenced stations, albeit in much lower cell abundance than observed inshore. Accordingly, canonical ordination analyzes using CHEMTAX results suggest that diatoms in the Algarrobo Bay were associated to waters with low temperature, high salinity, low N:P ratios and, probably as a consequence of their presence, low concentration of Si. Flagellates, however, were linked to high temperature, high N:P ratios and were seen to be more abundant in stations with higher dissolved oxygen concentrations. Water column stability was identified as the main factor separating cyanobacteria and prasinophytes from dinoflagellates in the bay. Similar distinct oceanographic and biological patterns have been observed in other coastal embayments in main eastern boundary upwelling systems: Benguela Current System (Pitcher & Nelson, 2006), California Current System (Ryan et al., 2008; Walter et al., 2018), Canary Current System (Moita et al., 2003) and Humboldt Current System (Kahry et al., 2004). In each of these cases, the studied bay acts as an upwelling shadow zone, i.e., when a bay is sheltered from upwelling coastal jets, resulting in the bloom incubation zone where phytoplankton species may accumulate and lead to noxious eutrophication events (Ryan et al., 2008, 2014). This may be occurring in the southern part of the Algarrobo Bay, as these results are in line with recent reports of frequent macroalgal blooms in this area (Serramalera et al., 2013). Thus, the bay may be susceptible to eutrophication events, which would impact local communities and local ecosystem services. Further studies and monitoring of the area are recommended to fully understand the processes occurring in the area and prevent any eutrophication events. Acknowledgements The authors are deeply indebted to all who assisted during sampling and laboratory work in Chile and Portugal, particularly Randy Finke, Ricardo Calderón, Wiebe Kooistra, Sylvain Faugeron, Paola Reinoso, Ricardo Prego, Vanda Brotas, Ana Amorim and Vera Veloso. Ana C. Brito was funded by FCT (IF/00331/2013). Carolina Sá received a grant from EU FP7 AQUA-USERS (FP7-607325).This study was conducted under the EU ASSEMBLE Project (FP7-227799) and also received support from FCT (UID/MAR/04292/2013). References Aiken, C.M., Castillo, M.I. and Navarrete, S.A., 2008. A simulation of the Chilean Coastal Current and associated topographic upwelling near Valparaíso, Chile. Continental Shelf Research, 28(17), pp.2371-2381. Boyd, P.W., 2002. Environmental factors controlling phytoplankton processes in the Southern Ocean1. 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Hydrobiologia 629: 147-156 Gascuel, D., Coll, M., Fox, C., Guénette, S., Guitton, J., Kenny, A., Knittweis, L., Nielsen, J.R., Piet, G., Raid, T. and Travers‐Trolet, M., 2016. Fishing impact and environmental status in European seas: a diagnosis from stock assessments and ecosystem indicators. Fish and Fisheries, 17(1), pp.31-55. Gonzalez-Nuevo, G., Gago, J. and Cabanas, J.M., 2014. Upwelling index: a powerful tool for marine research in the NW Iberian upwelling system. Journal of Operational Oceanography, 7(1), pp.47-57. Kahru Mati, Michell B. Greg, Diaz Anibal, Miura Manuel, 2011. MODIS detects a devastating algal bloom in Paracas Bay, Peru. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union 85, 465–472. Mackey, M., Mackey, D., Higgins, H., Wright, S., 1996. CHEMTAX - a program for estimating class abundances from chemical markers:application to HPLC measurements of phytoplankton. Marine Ecology Progress Series 144, 265–283. Moita, M.T., Oliveira, P.B., Mendes, J.C., Palma, A.S., 2003. 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Ryan, J.P., McManus, M.A., Kudela, R.M., Lara Artigas, M., Bellingham, J.G., Chavez, F.P., Doucette, G., Foley, D., Godin, M., Harvey, J.B.J., Marin, R., Messié, M., Mikulski, C., Pennington, T., Py, F., Rajan, K., Shulman, I., Wang, Z., Zhang, Y., 2014. Boundary influences on HAB phytoplankton ecology in a stratification-enhanced upwelling shadow. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, Harmful Algal Blooms in Stratified Systems 101, 63–79. Serramalera, L.,Wesselman, M., Von Dassow, P., Fernández, M., Beltran, J., Flores, V. 2013. First description of a noxious macroalgal bloom of the chlorophyta Ulva spp. in Central Chile: evidence of bottom-up and top-down control. ASLO 2013 aquatic sciences meeting, New Orleans, USA. Poster presentation. Walter, R.K., Armenta, K.J., Shearer, B., Robbins, I., Steinbeck, J., 2018. Coastal upwelling seasonality and variability of temperature and chlorophyll in a small coastal embayment. Continental Shelf Research 154, 9–18. Wright, S.W., Thomas, D.P., Marchant, H.J., Higgins, H.W., Mackey, M.D. and Mackey, D.J., 1996. Analysis of phytoplankton of the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean: Comparisons of microscopy and size frequency data with interpretations of pigment HPLC data using the'CHEMTAX'matrix factorisation program. Marine Ecology Progress Series, pp.285-298. Keywords: Phytoplankton assemblage, HPLC-CHEMTAX, Upwelling shadow, coastal upwelling system., Microscopy Conference: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Biodiversity, Conservation and Coastal Management Citation: Ferreira AM, Sá C, Silva N, Beltrán C, Dias AM and Brito AC (2019). Assessing phytoplankton dynamics in a small bay amidst upwelling and anthropogenic pressure (Algarrobo Bay, Central Chile). Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00009 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 03 May 2018; Published Online: 07 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Mr. Afonso M Ferreira, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Lisbon, Portugal, ambferreira@fc.ul.pt Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Afonso M Ferreira Carolina Sá Nélson Silva Carolina Beltrán Ana M Dias Ana C Brito Google Afonso M Ferreira Carolina Sá Nélson Silva Carolina Beltrán Ana M Dias Ana C Brito Google Scholar Afonso M Ferreira Carolina Sá Nélson Silva Carolina Beltrán Ana M Dias Ana C Brito PubMed Afonso M Ferreira Carolina Sá Nélson Silva Carolina Beltrán Ana M Dias Ana C Brito Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.