Climate variability and Dinophysis acuta blooms in an upwelling system

Patricio A Díaz; Manuel Ruiz-Villarreal; Yolanda Pazos; Teresa Moita; Beatriz Reguera

doi:10.1016/j.hal.2015.11.007

Climate variability and Dinophysis acuta blooms in an upwelling system

Harmful Algae. 2016 Mar:53:145-159. doi: 10.1016/j.hal.2015.11.007. Epub 2016 May 3.

Authors

Patricio A Díaz¹, Manuel Ruiz-Villarreal², Yolanda Pazos³, Teresa Moita⁴, Beatriz Reguera⁵

Affiliations

¹ Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390 Vigo, Spain; Programa de Investigación Pesquera & Instituto de Acuicultura, Universidad Austral de Chile, PO Box 1327, Los Pinos s/n, Balneario Pelluco, Puerto Montt, Chile. Electronic address: patriciodiaz@uach.cl.
² Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña, Muelle das Ánimas s/n, 15001 A Coruña, Spain.
³ Instituto Tecnolóxico para o Control do Medio Mariño de Galicia (INTECMAR), Peirao de Vilaxoán s/n, 36611 Vilagarcía de Arousa, Pontevedra, Spain.
⁴ Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), Av. Brasília, 1449-006 Lisboa, Portugal.
⁵ Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390 Vigo, Spain.

PMID: 28073440
DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2015.11.007

Abstract

Dinophysis acuta is a frequent seasonal lipophilic toxin producer in European Atlantic coastal waters associated with thermal stratification. In the Galician Rías, populations of D. acuta with their epicentre located off Aveiro (northern Portugal), typically co-occur with and follow those of Dinophysis acuminata during the upwelling transition (early autumn) as a result of longshore transport. During hotter than average summers, D. acuta blooms also occur in August in the Rías, when they replace D. acuminata. Here we examined a 30-year (1985-2014) time series of D. acuta from samples collected by the same method in the Galician Rías. Our main objective was to identify patterns of distribution and their relation with climate variability, and to explain the exceptional summer blooms of D. acuta in 1989-1990. A dome-shaped relationship was found between summer upwelling intensity and D. acuta blooms; cell maxima were associated with conditions where the balance between upwelling intensity and heating, leading to deepened thermoclines, combined with tidal phase (3 days after neap tides) created windows of opportunity for this species. The application of a generalized additive model based on biological (D. acuta inoculum) and environmental predictors (Cumulative June-August upwelling CUI_JJA, average June-August SST_JJA and tidal range) explained more than 70% of the deviance for the exceptional summer blooms of D. acuta, through a combination of moderate (35,000-50,000m³s^-1km^-1) summer upwelling (CUI_JJA), thermal stratification (SST_JJA>17°C) and moderate tidal range (∼2.5m), provided D. acuta cells (inoculum) were present in July. There was no evidence of increasing trends in D. acuta bloom frequency/intensity nor a clear relationship with NAO or other long-term climatic cycles. Instead, the exceptional summer blooms of 1989-1990 appeared linked to extreme hydroclimatic anomalies (high positive anomalies in SST and NAO index), which affected most of the European Atlantic coast.

Keywords: Climate anomalies; Dinophysis acuta; Exceptional summer blooms; Galician Rías; Thermal stratification; Upwelling intensity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Atlantic Ocean
Climate*
Dinoflagellida / physiology*
Environmental Monitoring
Models, Biological*
Portugal
Seawater
Water Movements*