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Water
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Studies on the Diversity and Ecology of Marine Phytoplankton
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Studies on the Diversity and Ecology of Marine Phytoplankton

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Oceans and Coastal Zones".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (13 July 2022) | Viewed by 4139

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Κalliopi Pagou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Athens, Greece
Interests: phytoplankton ecology and primary production; ecosystem processes; eutrophication assessment and indicators; harmful algal bloom dynamics; European Directives implementation
Dr. Ioanna Varkitzi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, Athens, Greece
Interests: water quality assessment; harmful algal blooms (HABs) dynamics; eutrophication processes; pelagic habitat status
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine phytoplankton accounts for more than 45% of the photosynthetic net primary production on Earth, comprising an extremely diverse group of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Various studies examined the effects of biodiversity alterations on marine ecosystem functioning, concluding that biodiversity plays a major role in sustaining ecosystems’  productivity and stability.

Phytoplankton communities are highly dynamic in response to environmental and anthropogenic forcings (such as climate change and ocean acidification, eutrophication and other pollution, circulation patterns, atmospheric deposition, etc.). Such small or large scale responses are also traceable with the use of of satellite observation, allowing for the monitoring of larger marine areas.

In recent decades, other new tools in phytoplankton studies have also emerged, with molecular methods being at the forefront of the field. Genetic diversity has been associated with specific biogeographical origins, and functional trait diversity has revealed the underlying mechanisms for the fitness of phytoplankton communities along environmental gradients and the impacts on marine ecosystems.

This Special Issue attempts to elucidate these aspects in order to gain more satisfactory biodiversity assessment and monitoring. The aim of this Special Issue is to collate studies reporting on recent innovations and modern techniques, trends, and concerns, as well as the practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of marine phytoplankton diversity and ecology. Research articles, reviews, notes, and comments are welcome.

Dr. Κalliopi Pagou
Dr. Ioanna Varkitzi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • marine phytoplankton
  • biodiversity
  • ecology
  • algal blooms and HABs
  • genetic diversity
  • eutrophication
  • monitoring
  • indicators
  • satellite data and remote sensing
  • environmental assessment

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3241 KiB  
Article
Dumping of Dredge Spoil in the Pelagic Habitat: Focus on Trophic Status, Phytoplankton Diversity Responses and Generation of Blooms
by Ioanna Varkitzi, Alexandra Pavlidou, Maria Pantazi, Eleni Rousselaki, Georgios-Angelos Hatiris, Eirini Gratsia, Vasilios Kapsimalis and Kalliopi Pagou
Water 2022, 14(15), 2343; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152343 - 29 Jul 2022
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Abstract
This study presents the impacts of dredge spoil dumping in the pelagic habitat during a 27-month monitoring survey in eastern Mediterranean coastal waters (Saronikos Gulf, Aegean Sea), with a focus on changes in trophic status and eutrophication levels, phytoplankton diversity and bloom dynamics. [...] Read more.
This study presents the impacts of dredge spoil dumping in the pelagic habitat during a 27-month monitoring survey in eastern Mediterranean coastal waters (Saronikos Gulf, Aegean Sea), with a focus on changes in trophic status and eutrophication levels, phytoplankton diversity and bloom dynamics. A number of environmental parameters and phytoplankton metrics were significantly influenced by the dumping operations, specifically phytoplankton diversity indices (number of species, Diatoms:Dinoflagellates ratio) and total abundance, Chlorophyll-a, light transmission, dissolved oxygen and inorganic nutrients, N:P ratio, and the Eutrophication Ιndex (a metric for trophic status assessment). Phosphates started to increase after the first year of dumping operations, shifting the N:P ratio to values lower than 10. A similarity cluster analysis highlighted that the phytoplankton community structure during the pre-dumping and the early-dumping period was clearly discriminated from the period during and after the dumping operations. A clear shift with an increase in the Diatoms:Dinoflagellates ratio was observed immediately after the initiation of dumping operations, which maximized in the dumping site after two years of operations. Diatoms dominated the phytoplankton communities, reaching ~ 95% relative abundance in the dumping site. High biomass producers or potentially toxic diatom species proliferated forming blooms. Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries was the most frequent potentially toxic species. A multivariate analysis (RDA) highlighted that among a suite of phytoplankton metrics plotted against stressors relevant to dumping, the Eutrophication Index, Chlorophyll-a, the diversity index Diatoms:Dinoflagellates ratio and the abundance of the potentially toxic diatom P. multiseries emerged as the most suitable to reflect the responses of phytoplankton communities to dumping. Dredge spoil dumping at sea poses pressures to ecosystem components addressed by the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) monitoring programs. In such a context, this study further supports the role of phytoplankton diversity and blooms as sensitive monitoring elements for the environmental status assessment and dumping management in coastal waters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Studies on the Diversity and Ecology of Marine Phytoplankton)
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8 pages, 1305 KiB  
Communication
Impact of a Dinophysis acuminata Bloom on the Copepod Acartia clausi: First Indications
by Constantin Frangoulis, Epaminondas D. Christou, Ioanna Varkitzi, Soultana Zervoudaki, Isabel Maneiro, Camilla Svensen, Kalliopi Pagou, Georgia Assimakopoulou, Ioannis Hatzianestis and Edna Granéli
Water 2022, 14(14), 2204; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14142204 - 12 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1417
Abstract
Faecal pellet production and content along with egg production of the dominant copepod species Acartia clausi were studied in the Thermaikos Gulf (NW Aegean Sea) during a pre-bloom and a bloom of the toxic dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata. Both faecal pellet production (6.8–8.6 [...] Read more.
Faecal pellet production and content along with egg production of the dominant copepod species Acartia clausi were studied in the Thermaikos Gulf (NW Aegean Sea) during a pre-bloom and a bloom of the toxic dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata. Both faecal pellet production (6.8–8.6 ind−1 d−1) and egg production (15.8–47.6 ind−1 d−1) appeared unrelated to the D. acuminata bloom. Less than 11% of the copepod faecal pellets contained one or two D. acuminata cells, almost intact, whereas the other material in the pellets was broken into small pieces or amorphous shapes. The toxin outflux seemed to be insignificant when compared to the mean toxin concentration from the whole D. acuminata population. Finally, the potential grazing impact of A. clausi on D. acuminata during the study period was low. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Studies on the Diversity and Ecology of Marine Phytoplankton)
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