ALBERT

Description: Blooms of Alexandrium spp. are a well-known phenomenon in Northern European waters. While A. tamarense/catenella, and A. pseudogonyaulax have been reported from marine waters, high densities of A. ostenfeldii are mainly observed at lower salinities in North Sea estuaries and the Baltic Sea, suggesting salinity as a driver of Alexandrium species composition and toxin distribution. To investigate this relationship, an oceanographic expedition through a natural salinity gradient was conducted in June 2016 along the coasts of Denmark. Besides hydrographic data, phytoplankton and sediment samples were collected for analyses of Alexandrium spp. cell and cyst abundances, for toxin measurement and cell isolation. Plankton data revealed the predominance of A. pseudogonyaulax at all transect stations while A. ostenfeldii and A. catenella generally contributed a minor fraction to the Alexandrium community. High abundances of A. pseudogonyaulax in the shallow enclosed Limfjord were accompanied by high amounts of goniodomin A (GDA). This toxin was also detected at low abundances along with A. pseudogonyaulax in the North Sea and the Kattegat. Genetic and morphological characterization of established strains showed high similarity of the Northern European population to distant geographic populations. Despite low cell abundances of A. ostenfeldii, different profiles of cycloimines were measured in the North Sea and in the Limfjord. This field survey revealed that salinity alone does not determine Alexandrium species and toxin distribution, but emphasizes the importance of habitat conditions such as proximity to seed banks, shelter, and high nutrient concentrations. The results show that A. pseudogonyaulax has become a prominent member of the Alexandrium spp. community over the past decade in the study area. Analyses of long term monitoring data from the Limfjord confirmed a recent shift to A. pseudogonyaulax dominance. Cyst and toxin records of the species in Kiel Bight suggest a spreading potential into the brackish Baltic Sea, which might lead to an expansion of blooms under future climate conditions.

Description: The marine dinophycean genus Azadinium has been identified as the primary source of azaspiracids (AZA), a group of lipophilic phycotoxins known to accumulate in shellfish. Blooms of Azadinium in the southern Atlantic off Argentina have been described from the 1990s, but due to a lack of cultures, the diversity of South-Atlantic Azadinium has not yet been fully explored and their toxin production potential is completely unknown. During a spring 2010 research cruise covering the El Rinco´n (ER) estuarine system (North Patagonian coast, Argentina, Southwestern Atlantic) a search was conducted for the presence of Azadinium. Although neither Azadinium cells nor AZA in field plankton samples were detected, 10 clonal strains of Azadinium poporum were successfuly established by incubation of sediment samples. Argentinean A. poporum were more variable in size and shape than the type description but conformed to it by the presence of multiple pyrenoids with starch sheath, in plate pattern and arrangement, and in the position of the ventral pore located on the left side of the pore plate. In contrast to all previous description of A. poporum, isolates of the Argentinean A. poporum possessed a distinct field of pores on the second antapical plate. Conspecificity of the Argentinean isolates with A. poporum was confirmed by molecular phylogeny of concatenated ITS and LSU rDNA sequences, where all Argentinean isolates together with some Chinese A. poporum strains formed a well-supported ribotype clade within A. poporum. All isolates produced AZA with the same profile, consisting of AZA-2 as the major compound and, to a lesser extent, its phosphated form. This is the first report of a phosphated marine algal toxin. This first confirmation of the presence of AZA producing Azadinium in the Argentinean coastal area underlines the risk of AZA shellfish contamination episodes in the Southwestern Atlantic region.

Description: The overlay of cooler nutrient enriched Beagle–Magellan water with warmer nutrient depleted shelf water and a strong stratification of the water column in the San Jorge Gulf region, Argentina, coincided with relatively high dinoflagellate abundances in April 2012, up to 34,000 cells L− 1. This dinoflagellate proliferation was dominated by Ceratium spp., but environmental conditions also favored to a lesser amount the occurrence of toxigenic dinoflagellates, such as Alexandrium tamarense and Protoceratium reticulatum, whose toxins were hardly detected in any other areas along the expedition transect of the R/V Puerto Deseado between 38 and 56°S (Ushuaia–Mar del Plata) in March/April 2012. Generally vegetative cells of A. tamarense and P. reticulatum co-occurred with their respective phycotoxins in the water column and their cysts in the upper sediment layers. Two strains of A. tamarense were isolated from the bloom sample and morphologically characterized. Their PSP toxin profiles consisted of C1/2, gonyautoxins 1/4 and to a lesser amount of neosaxitoxin and confirmed earlier data from this region. The ratios between autotrophic picoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria were higher in shelf waters in the north than in Beagle–Magellan waters in the south of San Jorge Gulf.

Description: Fluorescence spectroscopy is commonly used to investigate the distribution and dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in marine systems. However, the direct comparison with chemical signatures is essential to substantiate the molecular composition of specific fluorescent components. Here we report the relation between optical and chemical signatures of DOM in waters of the Beagle Channel (BCW) (south-east of Tierra del Fuego, in the southern Argentine shelf) at the Pacific-Atlantic connection and neighboring coastal (CW) and oceanic (OW) waters (54.75–55.75°S, 64–68°W). The relationships among concentrations of total dissolved carbohydrates (TDCHO) and amino acids (TDAA), and fluorescent DOM (FDOM), including terrestrial “humic-like” (FDOMC) and “protein-like” compounds (FDOMT), and bioavailability of DOM components were assessed from field measurements acquired in the austral summer 2012. The maximal concentrations of TDCHO, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and FDOMc intensities were found in BCW, while the minima in OW, displaying a negative correlation with salinity. This spatial distribution of biogeochemical signals suggests that humic compounds contributed by continental runoff contain refractory carbohydrates, and FDOMC resulted as a reliable tracer of carbon pathways in the Pacific-Atlantic connection. Conversely, TDAA and FDOMT showed the opposite distributional trend, with minimal concentrations in BCW and the maxima in CW and OW. The significant positive correlation of TDAA with salinity suggests open water sources of these components, however, phytoplankton biomass (Chla) in CW and OW was significantly lower than in BCW, ruling out the assumption of autochthonous source in open waters. TDAA were negatively correlated with the abundance of heterotrophic bacteria (HB), which displayed a consistent decrease from BCW towards OW, suggesting high bacterial uptake of TDAA in the BCW. This bacterial uptake is supported by the observed variation in carbon contribution of TDAA to DOC (amino acids carbon yield, in %), which is an indicator of DOM lability. The negative correlation found between amino acids carbon yield and HB abundance reflects intense bacterial activity in BCW, where phytoplankton biomass was maximum. Hence, higher DOM “freshness” occurs in the BCW, suggesting a tight coupling between microbial production and consumption.

Description: The present work reports the first data set on particulate organic carbon (POC) and nitrogen (PON), and the highresolution modelling of their stable isotope variability in the Patagonian Cold Estuarine System (PCES), with focus on particulate organic matter (POM) origin and distribution in dependence on physical, chemical and biological parameters. POC, PON, stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen isotopes (δ15N), dissolved organic nitrogen, phaeopigments, diatom, dinoflagellate and heterotrophic bacteria (HB) abundance are reported for 17 stations in different waters masses in the southern end of the Argentine shelf in late summer 2012. Most parameters denote clear differences between Beagle-Magellan Water (BMW), Subantarctic ShelfWater (SSW) and Subantarctic Water (SAW). POC and PON decreased frommaxima in BMWto intermediate values in SSWandminima in SAW. There was a highly significant correlation among POC, PON and fluorescence indicators of diagenetic maturity of dissolved humic matter. This, together with the inverse correlations of salinity with POC and PON, and the wide range of C:N ratios indicate that POM in the study area is partly derived from terrestrial runoff, superimposed by autochthonous components from plankton of different life stages. HB abundance was significantly correlated with POC and dissolved organic matter (DOM), likely reflecting a resource control of HB and a significant contribution of bacterial biomass to POM in the nanoparticle fraction. The direct relationship between HB and dissolved humics suggests bacterial uptake of DOM fractions otherwise considered refractory. POM complexity was reflected in a wide variation of δ13C, despite the narrowtemperature range of this region. The variability of stable isotopes of POC could be accounted for by a modelwith a degree of detail hitherto not reported in the literature. Amultiple regression including C:N ratio, ammonium and the quotient between log abundance of diatoms, dinoflagellates and HB explained 92% of δ13C variance, mostly produced by ammonium. Despite the strong effect of ammonium on δ13C, δ15N variability was largely explained by a strong inverse relationship with the fraction of unutilized nitrate, suggesting dominance of nitrate uptake. However, the proportion of presumably isotopically heavier ammoniumderived fromcontinental runoff in the marine δ15N-POM pool is unknown and requires investigation of the isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the PCES. The presented newinformation and its comparison with data fromother sectors of the Argentine shelf constitute a contribution to an approach for the understanding of the organicmatter dynamics that can be potentially expanded to the entire Southwest Atlantic.