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Temporary cyst formation of Heterocapsa triquetra (Dinophyceae) in natural populations

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Abstract

Heterocapsa triquetra (Ehrenberg) Stein is a phototrophic marine dinoflagellate with wide coastal distribution. It is known to be capable of mixotrophy and diel vertical migration. The species was particularly abundant in the Gulf of Finland (the Baltic Sea) during the summers of 1996 and 1998, leading to discolouration of water on the south-west coast of Finland. Large-scale (50 m3) coastal mesocosm experiments in the north-west Gulf of Finland (the Baltic Sea) in the summers of 1996 and 1998 with daily mineral nutrient additions provoked a biomass increase of phytoplankton dominated by H. triquetra. From the first days of the experiment temporary cysts of H. triquetra were found in the bottom sediment water of the mesocosms. Maximum temporary cyst production rates reached values up to 20×106 cysts m−2 day−1, accounting for <1% of the depth-integrated motile population size. The environmental features favouring temporary cyst production remain uncertain; zooplankton grazing and nutrient stress are potential factors. Temporary cysts of H. triquetra were observed in a unialgal culture (f/2 medium) isolated in summer 1999 from Eel Pond (Woods Hole, Mass., USA).

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Estonian Science Foundation (ETF 3329, 5262), the European Commission through the FATE project (EC grant EVK3-2001-00050), the Walter and Andreé de Nottbeck Foundation, Fulbright Foundation, and NSF/NATO grant DGE-9804544. I am grateful to the research team PELAG (T. Tamminen, A.S. Heiskanen, R. Lignell, K. Kivi, P. Tuomi, and P. Kuuppo) for planning and executing the mesocosm experiments. Special thanks to the staff of the Tvärminne zoological station (University of Helsinki) for their help and hospitality. Critical remarks of the two anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged. The mesocosm experiments were part of a MAST III project COMWEB (no. CT960052). This is contribution no. 11067 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

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  1. Institute of Botany and Ecology, University of Tartu, Lai 40, 51005, Tartu, Estonia

    K. Olli

  2. Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    K. Olli

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Correspondence to K. Olli.

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Communicated by M. Kühl, Helsingør

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Olli, K. Temporary cyst formation of Heterocapsa triquetra (Dinophyceae) in natural populations. Marine Biology 145, 1–8 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1295-9

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