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Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. Abundance and Toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Implications for Monitoring and Management of Ciguatera

Ciguatera poisoning (CP) poses a significant threat to ecosystem services and fishery resources in coastal communities. The CP-causative ciguatoxins (CTXs) are produced by benthic dinoflagellates including Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa spp., and enter reef food webs via grazing on macroalgal substrates....

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Autores principales: Liefer, Justin D., Richlen, Mindy L., Smith, Tyler B., DeBose, Jennifer L., Xu, Yixiao, Anderson, Donald M., Robertson, Alison
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230442/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34200870
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13060413
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author Liefer, Justin D.
Richlen, Mindy L.
Smith, Tyler B.
DeBose, Jennifer L.
Xu, Yixiao
Anderson, Donald M.
Robertson, Alison
author_facet Liefer, Justin D.
Richlen, Mindy L.
Smith, Tyler B.
DeBose, Jennifer L.
Xu, Yixiao
Anderson, Donald M.
Robertson, Alison
author_sort Liefer, Justin D.
collection PubMed
description Ciguatera poisoning (CP) poses a significant threat to ecosystem services and fishery resources in coastal communities. The CP-causative ciguatoxins (CTXs) are produced by benthic dinoflagellates including Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa spp., and enter reef food webs via grazing on macroalgal substrates. In this study, we report on a 3-year monthly time series in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands where Gambierdiscus spp. abundance and Caribbean-CTX toxicity in benthic samples were compared to key environmental factors, including temperature, salinity, nutrients, benthic cover, and physical data. We found that peak Gambierdiscus abundance occurred in summer while CTX-specific toxicity peaked in cooler months (February–May) when the mean water temperatures were approximately 26–28 °C. These trends were most evident at deeper offshore sites where macroalgal cover was highest year-round. Other environmental parameters were not correlated with the CTX variability observed over time. The asynchrony between Gambierdiscus spp. abundance and toxicity reflects potential differences in toxin cell quotas among Gambierdiscus species with concomitant variability in their abundances throughout the year. These results have significant implications for monitoring and management of benthic harmful algal blooms and highlights potential seasonal and highly-localized pulses in reef toxin loads that may be transferred to higher trophic levels.
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spelling pubmed-82304422021-06-26 Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. Abundance and Toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Implications for Monitoring and Management of Ciguatera Liefer, Justin D. Richlen, Mindy L. Smith, Tyler B. DeBose, Jennifer L. Xu, Yixiao Anderson, Donald M. Robertson, Alison Toxins (Basel) Article Ciguatera poisoning (CP) poses a significant threat to ecosystem services and fishery resources in coastal communities. The CP-causative ciguatoxins (CTXs) are produced by benthic dinoflagellates including Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa spp., and enter reef food webs via grazing on macroalgal substrates. In this study, we report on a 3-year monthly time series in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands where Gambierdiscus spp. abundance and Caribbean-CTX toxicity in benthic samples were compared to key environmental factors, including temperature, salinity, nutrients, benthic cover, and physical data. We found that peak Gambierdiscus abundance occurred in summer while CTX-specific toxicity peaked in cooler months (February–May) when the mean water temperatures were approximately 26–28 °C. These trends were most evident at deeper offshore sites where macroalgal cover was highest year-round. Other environmental parameters were not correlated with the CTX variability observed over time. The asynchrony between Gambierdiscus spp. abundance and toxicity reflects potential differences in toxin cell quotas among Gambierdiscus species with concomitant variability in their abundances throughout the year. These results have significant implications for monitoring and management of benthic harmful algal blooms and highlights potential seasonal and highly-localized pulses in reef toxin loads that may be transferred to higher trophic levels. MDPI 2021-06-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8230442/ /pubmed/34200870 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13060413 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Liefer, Justin D.
Richlen, Mindy L.
Smith, Tyler B.
DeBose, Jennifer L.
Xu, Yixiao
Anderson, Donald M.
Robertson, Alison
Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. Abundance and Toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Implications for Monitoring and Management of Ciguatera
title Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. Abundance and Toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Implications for Monitoring and Management of Ciguatera
title_full Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. Abundance and Toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Implications for Monitoring and Management of Ciguatera
title_fullStr Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. Abundance and Toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Implications for Monitoring and Management of Ciguatera
title_full_unstemmed Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. Abundance and Toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Implications for Monitoring and Management of Ciguatera
title_short Asynchrony of Gambierdiscus spp. Abundance and Toxicity in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Implications for Monitoring and Management of Ciguatera
title_sort asynchrony of gambierdiscus spp. abundance and toxicity in the u.s. virgin islands: implications for monitoring and management of ciguatera
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230442/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34200870
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13060413
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