phytoplankton communities play a significant role in the oceanic biological pump by forming the base of the trophic structure. increase in nutrients loading affects spatial and temporal distribution of phytoplankton. this study examined the phytoplankton community structure and ecological indices in relation to nutrients dynamics in both estuarine and oceanic areas of ramisi-vanga systems alon...

The quantitative importance and trophic role of heterotrophic dinoflagellates was s tuded at a permanent station in the Kattegat, Denmark. Heterotrophlc dinoflagellates were most abundant during periods characterized by large phytoplankton forms (e.g. diatoms and dinoflagellates). During these periods the heterotrophic dinoflagellate blomass corresponded to between 13 and 77 % of the phytoplank...

A group of marine dinoflagellates (Alveolata, Eukaryota), consisting of ∼10 species of the genus Alexandrium, Gymnodinium catenatum and Pyrodinium bahamense, produce the toxin saxitoxin and its analogues (STX), which can accumulate in shellfish, leading to ecosystem and human health impacts. The genes, sxt, putatively involved in STX biosynthesis, have recently been identified, however, the evo...

[1] Extensive AUVs surveys showed that during the development of upwelling, bioluminescent dinoflagellates from the northern part of the Monterey Bay, California (called the upwelling shadow area), were able to avoid advection by southward flowing currents along the entrance to the Bay, while non-bioluminescent phytoplankton were advected by currents. It is known that vertical swimming of dinof...

Dinoflagellates are key species in marine environments, but they remain poorly understood in part because of their large, complex genomes, unique molecular biology, and unresolved in-group relationships. We created a taxonomically representative dataset of dinoflagellate transcriptomes and used this to infer a strongly supported phylogeny to map major morphological and molecular transitions in ...

This study examined the sterol compositions of 102 dinoflagellates using clustering and cluster validation techniques, as a means of determining the relatedness of the organisms. In addition, dinoflagellate sterol-based relationships were compared statistically to 18S rDNA-based phylogenetic relationships using the Mantel test. Our results indicated that the examined dinoflagellates formed six ...

Competition of three bloom-forming marine phytoplankton (diatom Skeletonema costatum, and dinoflagellates Prorocentrum minimum and Alexandrium tamarense) was studied through a series of multispecies cultures with different nitrate (NaNO3) and phosphate (NaH2PO4) levels and excess silicate to interpret red tide algae succession. S. costatum outgrew the other two dinoflagellates in nitrate and ph...

In this paper, we focus on dinoflagellate ecology, toxin production, fossil record, and a molecular phylogenetic analysis of hosts and plastids. Of ecological interest are the swimming and feeding behavior, bioluminescence, and symbioses of dinoflagellates with corals. The many varieties of dinoflagellate toxins, their biological effects, and current knowledge of their origin are discussed. Kno...

Alkaline phosphatase (AP) is a key enzyme for phytoplankton to utilize dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) when dissolved inorganic phosphorus is limited. While three major types of AP and their correspondingly diverse subcellular localization have been recognized in bacteria, little is known about AP in eukaryotic phytoplankton such as dinoflagellates. Here, we isolated a full-length AP cDNA fr...

Dinoflagellates can be classified both botanically and zoologically; however, they are typically put in the botanical division Pyrrhophyta. As a group they appear most related to the protistan ciliates and apicomplexans at the ultrastructure level. Within the Pyrrhophyta are both unarmored and armored forms of the dominant, motile flagellated stage. Unarmored dinoflagellates do not have thecal ...