Phosphorus limitation might promote more toxin content in the marine invader dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum
| Type | Article | ||||||||
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| Date | 2000-02 | ||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||
| Other localization | http://www.plankton.jp/PBE/ | ||||||||
| Author(s) | Maestrini Serge1, Bechemin Christian2, Grzebyk Daniel1, Hummert Christian3 | ||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | 1 : CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Ecologie Marine et Aquaculture de L'Houmeau (CNRS-IFREMER), B.R 5. F-17137 L'Houmeau, France 2 : Ifremer, Centre de Recherche en Ecologie Marine et Aquaculture de L'Houmeau (CNRS-IFREMER), B.R 5. F-17137 L'Houmeau, France 3 : University of Jena, Institute ofNutrition and Environment, Dornburger Str. 25, D-07743 Jena, Germany |
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| Source | Plankton Biology & Ecology (1343-0874) (The Plankton Society of Japan), 2000-02 , Vol. 47 , N. 1 , P. 7-11 | ||||||||
| Keyword(s) | Alexandrium minutum, Phosphorus limitation, Toxin content, PSP | ||||||||
| Abstract | Alexandrium minutum (strain AM89BM) has been grown in semi-continuous culture (0.2 vol. d super(-1)) in N-limiting (NO sub(3) super(-): PO sub(4) super(3-)=1.6 and 3.16), in P-limiting (N: P=160 and 80), and in N and P balanced (N: P=16) media. The toxin content in cells changed greatly according to the N: P ratio. Cells grown in N: P balanced condition showed an average total paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) content of 1.24 fmol cell super(-1). In N-limiting conditions, cells contained ca. 3 times less toxin with mean values of 0.41-0.45 fmol cell super(-1). In contrast, cells grown in P-limiting conditions contained on average 3.5 and 7 times more toxins than in the balanced N: P condition: 4.31 fmol cell super(-1) in the N: P=160 medium and 8.01 fmol cell super(-1) in the N: P=80 medium. The toxin content per carbon unit shows the same trend; the lowest content in N: P<16 conditions was 6.5 fmol PSP nmol C super(-1), whereas in the N: P=16 condition it was 3.3 times higher at 21.8 fmol PSP nmol C super(-1) and 9 times higher in N: P>16 conditions at 59.0 fmol PSP nmol C super(-1). Since present trends in nutrient loading are assumed to have skewed some historically stable situations towards higher N: P ratios, the stimulation of toxin production by P-limiting media has important ecological consequences; in niches where DIN: DIP is >16, populations of A. minutum sufficiently concentrated to represent a significant fraction of shellfish food could pose a serious problem | ||||||||
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