The ability of the branchiopod, Artemia salina, to graze upon harmful algal blooms caused by Alexandrium fundyense, Aureococcus anophagefferens, and Cochlodinium polykrikoides

MARIA ALEJANDRA MARCOVAL; JERÓNIMO PAN; YING ZHONG TANG; CHRISTOPHER J. GOBLER

ESTUARINE COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 131 p. 235 - 244

0272-7714

We present experiments that examined the grazing and survivorship of zooplankton native (Acartiatonsa) and non-native (Artemia salina) to NY (USA) estuaries when exposed to blooms and cultures of thethree harmful algae native to NY, Alexandrium fundyense, Aureococcus anophagefferens (strains CCMP1850 and CCMP 1984) and Cochlodinium polykrikoides. During experiments with cultures ofA. anophagefferens, clearance rates (CR) of A. salina were significantly greater than those of A. tonsa forboth algal strains examined. A. salina fed on cultures of C. polykrikoides at higher rates than all phytoplanktonspecies examined, including the control diet (Rhodomonas salina), and faster than rates ofA. tonsa fed C. polykrikoides. During experiments with A. fundyense, A. salina actively grazed all cellconcentrations (250e1500 cells ml1) while A. tonsa did not feed at any concentration. Percent mortalityof A. salina and A. tonsa fed A. fundyense for 48 h were 43 7.7% and 72 7.8%, respectively, percentagessignificantly higher than those of individuals fed all other algal diets. During 25 field experiments usingnatural blooms of the three HAB species performed across six NY estuaries, A. salina significantly(p < 0.05) reduced cell densities of A. anophagefferens, C. polykrikoides, and A. fundyense relative to thecontrol treatments in all but one experiment. The sum of these findings demonstrates that a failure tograze these HABs by the indigenous copepod, A. tonsa, may permit blooms to occur. In addition, theability of A. salina to graze these HABs at densities that were inhibitory to A. tonsa suggests that A. salinacould, in some circumstances, be considered as a part of mitigation strategy for these events.