NRC Harmful Phytoplankton Monitoring Project - Graves Shoal

This long-term project (1996-2006) was carried out by the National Research Council of Canada with the cooperation of Dalhousie University Oceanography Department with additional funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Aquanet. The goals were to determine the distribution of harmful phytoplankton, to monitor for novel toxins and identify their planktonic origin, to investigate methods for the early detection of toxic algal blooms and to evaluate and improve monitoring strategies by developing and implementing new technology. Phytoplankton samples were collected at regular intervals at two Nova Scotian aquaculture sites at Grave’s Shoal (1996-1998) and Ship Harbour (1998-2006). Samples were collected for phytoplankton profiles and phytotoxin analysis. Associated physicochemical and optical sensing data were collected concurrently to monitor the occurrence of harmful algae blooms. Harmful species responsible for the production of PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning), DSP (diarrhetic shellfish poisoning), ASP (amnesic shellfish poisoning) and spirolides were enumerated and correlated with toxin concentrations. Clonal isolates were established from net tow samples that contained toxic species. Only the pipe sample phytoplankton profile data is included in this data set. Sampling was conducted at one site on Graves Shoal. Plankton samples were collected using either a pipe sampler or a net to sample the entire water column. Plankton samples were transported on ice back to the lab for analysis including qualitative taxonomy of dinoflagellates and diatoms. Two common toxic dinoflagellates known to co-occur in this area are Alexandrium tamarense and A. ostenfeldii. These two species cannot be distinguished with a light microscope. Confirmational genetic analysis was conducted to provide an estimate of their abundance ratios however in this dataset the two species were combined. This OBIS collection contains species distribution information from the Graves Shoal sampling area.

Citation: Lewis, N.I. 2015. NRC Harmful phytoplankton monitoring project - Graves Shoal. In OBIS Canada digital collections. Published by OBIS Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Version 1. digital

Published: March 29, 2022 at 20:53

URL: http://ipt.iobis.org/obiscanada/resource?r=nrc_harmfulphytoplankton_gs