Dinoflagellate cysts in recent marine sediments from Scapa Flow, Orkney, Scotland
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Linda B. Joyce
Abstract
To determine the composition, abundance and horizontal distribution of resting cysts in modern coastal sediments from Scapa Flow, Orkney, Scotland, sediment samples were collected from 12 stations. Twenty-six dinoflagellate cyst types representing eight motile-defined genera and one cyst-defined genus were observed. Four species or species groups dominated the assemblage for the Flow as a whole, Scrippsiella trochoidea, unidentified round brown cysts, Polykrikos schwartzii and Alexandrium tamarense. Total cyst abundance ranged from 37–1524 cysts ml−1 wet sediment. The majority of cysts occurred in the central area of the Flow, where higher densities were observed. Of particular importance is the distribution and abundance of cysts of A. tamarense. Since 1991 there have been annual toxic episodes of paralytic shellfish poisoning, caused by the vegetative stage of A. tamarense, in Scapa Flow, leading to widespread bans on all shellfish activities for months at a time. Cysts of A. tamarense were widely distributed within the Flow and ranged from 0–212 cysts ml−1 wet sediment. The overall widespread distribution and higher abundances of cysts of A. tamarense in the central areas of the Flow indicate potential seedbeds for initiation of future vegetative growth and subsequent outbreaks of paralytic shellfish poisoning.
Copyright © 2004 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
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Articles in the same Issue
- Dinoflagellate cysts in recent marine sediments from Scapa Flow, Orkney, Scotland
- Dinoflagellate cysts in recent marine sediments from the east coast of Russia
- Variation in chemical defenses against herbivory in southwestern Atlantic Stypopodium zonale (Phaeophyta)
- Seasonal variations in fatty acid composition of Caulerpa taxifolia (M. Vahl.) C. Ag. in the northern Adriatic Sea (Malinska, Croatia)
- Chemical composition and biological activity of the brackish-water green alga Cladophora rivularis (L.) Hoek
- Ultrastructure of tetrasporogenesis in the red alga Rhodymenia californica var. attenuata (Rhodymeniaceae, Rhodymeniales, Rhodophyta)
- Organisation of the microtubular cytoskeleton in protoplasts from Palmaria palmata (Palmariales, Rhodophyta)
- Thalassiosira fryxelliae nov. spec. (Bacillariophyceae) from Argentinian coastal waters
- Short-term uptake of dissolved organic nitrogen by an axenic strain of Ulva pertusa (Chlorophyceae) using [15]N isotope measurements
- The occurrence of Boodleopsis vaucherioidea Calderón-Sáenz et Schnetter (Udoteaceae, Chlorophyta) in Brazil
- First record of Undaria pinnatifida (Harvey) Suringar (Laminariales, Phaeophyta) on the Pacific coast of Mexico
- World atlas of seagrasses
- The genus Dictyota (Dictyotales, Phaeophyta) in the Indian Ocean
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