Abstract:

Karenia brevis is the organism responsible for “red tide” bloom events that occur in the Gulf of Mexico on a nearly annual basis along the southwestern coast of Florida. This dinoflagellate produces a brevetoxin that inhibits neuroactivity in marine animals and causes respiratory irritation in humans. This study analyzes the effects of oil and dispersants on the reoccurring toxic microalgae to determine possible outcomes in the event of an oil spill.

Suggested Citation:

Manoj Kamalanathan, Savannah Mapes, Jessica Hillhouse, Noah Claflin, Antonietta Quigg. 2019. Response of Karenia brevis growth and brevetoxin production to oil and dispersant exposure. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/9S7P1KD6

Purpose:

To gain a mechanistic understanding behind how oil affects red tide forming Karenia brevis.

Data Parameters and Units:

The dataset consists of several excel files showing measurements of the parameters described below: Fv/Fm: relative fluorescence Sigma PSII: Å2 (quanta)-1 Chlorophyll a: microgram per cell Alpha: micromol e-.micromol-1 photons ETRmax: micromol.electrons m2.s-1 Tau: microsecond Cell counts: cells per ml Extracellular brevetoxin: ng per ml

Methods:

The water accommodated fraction (WAF), chemically enhanced WAF (CEWAF) and diluted CEWAF (DCEWAF) was prepared using the Chemical Response to Oil Spills Ecological Effects Research Forum (CROSERF) method as per described in Bretherton et al. 2018. The total of 500 mL of media was used for each treatment. To prepare one liter of WAF, 400 μl of oil was added, and the same quantity of oil was used to prepare CEWAF with 20 μl of dispersant. DCEWAF was prepared by diluting the CEWAF 1:10. The initial cell counts were 5000 cells per ml. The medium was prepared using artificial seawater.

Instruments:

A BioTek CytationTM 5 imaging reader controlled by Gen5 2.09 software (USA) was used to acquire data.

Provenance and Historical References:

Bretherton, L., Williams, A., Genzer, J., Hillhouse, J., Kamalanathan, M., Finkel, Z. V., & Quigg, A. (2018). Physiological response of 10 phytoplankton species exposed to Macondo oil and the dispersant, Corexit. Journal of Phycology. doi:10.1111/jpy.12625

Individual Files: