HABs in coastal upwelling systems: Insights from an exceptional red tide of the toxigenic dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum

Alexandrium minutum blooms generally occur in semi-enclosed sites such as estuaries, harbours and lagoons, where enhanced stratification, restricted circulation and accumulation of resting cysts in the sediment set suitable habitat conditions for the proliferation of this paralytic shellfish poisoni...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Nogueira, Enrique, Bravo, Isabel, Montero, Pedro, Díaz-Tapia, Pilar, Calvo, Silvia, Ben-Gigirey, Begoña, Figueroa, Rosa Isabel, Garrido, José L., Ramilo-Rivero, María Isabel, Lluch-Fernández, María Nuria, Rossignoli, Araceli E., Riobó, Pilar, Rodríguez Hernández, Francisco José
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/321874
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/321874
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108790
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Alexandrium minutum
Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo
Medio Marino
Time-series
Model simulations
Galician Rías
NW Iberian Peninsula
Paralytic shellfish poisoning
Harmful algal bloom
fish
coastal upwelling
upwelling
access
indicators
Descripción
Sumario:Alexandrium minutum blooms generally occur in semi-enclosed sites such as estuaries, harbours and lagoons, where enhanced stratification, restricted circulation and accumulation of resting cysts in the sediment set suitable habitat conditions for the proliferation of this paralytic shellfish poisoning toxigenic species. In the Galician Rías Baixas (NW Iberian Peninsula), according to weekly time-series between 1994 and 2020, blooms of A. minutum were recurrent in small, shallow estuarine bays inside the Rías de Vigo and Pontevedra, but rarely detected, and if so at low concentrations, out of these environments. However, from May to July 2018 it developed as usual in the small inner bays but then spread over both Rías (Vigo and Pontevedra) causing discoloured waters during one month and prolonged harvesting closures. Meteorological conditions during that period (rains / runoff higher than climatological averages, sustained temperature increment and oscillating wind pattern –i.e., series of upwelling-relaxation cycles), fostered optimal circumstances for the development of that extensive and massive proliferation: strong vertical stratification and the alternation of retention and dispersion processes. Simulations from a particle tracking model portrayed the observed bloom development phases: onset and development inside a small inner bay; transport within the surface layer, from these sites towards the interior parts of the Ría; and dispersion all over the embayment. Seedbeds with high concentrations of resting cysts were detected several months after the bloom, which may have favoured flourishment of A. minutum in the following two years, markedly in 2020. The present work contributes to the general understanding of the dynamics of harmful algal blooms (HABs), from which surveillance indicators of the state of marine ecosystems and their evolution can be derived. We hypothesize that the intensity and frequency of A. minutum proliferations in the Galician Rías could increase under projected climate trends.