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Special Issue "Plankton Ecology in Shallow Coastal Waters"

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (21 January 2022) | Viewed by 9884

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zita Gasiunaite

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Guest Editor

Marine Research Institute, Klaipeda University, Klaipeda, Lithuania
Interests: marine ecology; marine environment; eutrophication; biological oceanography; marine biodiversity; ecosystem ecology; community structure; plankton ecology; estuaries

Dr. Piotr Margonski
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Gdynia, Poland
Interests: environmental drivers of stock-recruitment relationships of Baltic Sea commercial fish species;trophic interactions between zooplankton and ichthyoplankton; implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive including development and testing of indicators

Dr. Javier Gilabert

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Departmento of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain
Interests: phytoplankton ecology; oceanography; physical-biological interactions; biogeochemistry; hydrodynamics and ecosystem modeling; underwater robotics; underwater autonomous vehicles; harmful algae blooms; microalgae biotechnology; coastal lagoons

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Shallow coastal waters are the place of interplay of diverse human pressures and increasing climate variability, becoming more and more exposed to hydrological extremes, e.g., sudden high freshwater discharges and floods, prolonged drought, and heat waves. Plankton communities are known as fast and effective indicators of environmental changes. Moreover, shifts in plankton community level could have significant ecosystem effects up to socioeconomic impacts through commercially exploited fish stocks.

This Special Issue aims to bring together the latest fundamental, theoretical, and applied research on bacterio-, phyto-, zoo- and ichthyoplankton communities, from descriptive in situ and case studies to interdisciplinary, experimental studies, methodology, and modeling. We are particularly interested in papers on novel analytical techniques, big data for plankton ecology, major drivers of plankton communities state and changes, climate impact including forecasting of effects, impact of submarine groundwater discharge, genetics, plankton biogeochemistry, planktonic boundaries interactions, food web functioning, connectivity, eutrophication, plankton indicators of environmental state, role and impact of aliens, biodiversity conservation, and restoration of plankton assemblages.

Dr. Zita Gasiunaite
Dr. Piotr Margonski
Dr. Javier Gilabert
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 2200 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

plankton ecology
shallow coastal waters
climate change
methodology
marine technology

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Open AccessCommunication

Features of the Distribution of Chlorophyll-a Concentration along the Western Coast of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in Spring

Pavel R. Makarevich

Veronika V. Vodopianova

Aleksandra S. Bulavina

Pavel S. Vashchenko

and

Tatiana G. Ishkulova

Water 2021, 13(24), 3648; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13243648 - 18 Dec 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1784

Abstract

In spring 2016, the thermohaline characteristics of water masses and the distribution of chlorophyll-a concentration in the pelagic zone of the eastern part of the Barents Sea were studied. For the first time, in the conditions of an abnormally warm year and the absence of ice cover, a complex of hydrobiological works was carried out on a section crossing the Barents Sea from south to north along the western coast of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. High concentrations of chlorophyll-a > 1 ˂ 6 mg/m³ at all stations of the transect indicate a stage of spring bloom in the successional cycle of microalgae. Significant differences in the content of chlorophyll-a in waters of various origins were revealed. The highest concentrations of chlorophyll-a corresponded to Arctic surface water (5.56 mg/m³). Slightly lower values were observed in the transformed Atlantic waters of the Novozemelskoe and Kolguevo–Pechorskoe currents (3.53 ± 0.97–3.71 ± 1.04 mg/m³), and the lowest was in the Barents waters (1.24 ± 0.84–1.45 ± 1.13 mg/m³). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plankton Ecology in Shallow Coastal Waters)

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Open AccessArticle

Taxonomy and Physiology of Oxyrrhis marina and Oxyrrhis maritima in Korean Waters

and

Eun Young Yoon

Water 2021, 13(15), 2057; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13152057 - 28 Jul 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1525

Abstract

The genus Oxyrrhis is a heterotrophic dinoflagellate found in diverse marine environments. Oxyrrhis spp. have received attention owing to their ecological and industrial importance, high lipid contents, and docosahexaenoic acid formation. To the best of our knowledge, contrary to O. marina, ecophysiological characterization studies on O. maritima have not yet been reported. Therefore, we investigated the taxonomy and ecophysiology of four strains of O. marina from coastal waters and two strains of O. maritima from the littoral tidepool waters of Korea. Based on phylogenetic trees constructed using internal transcribed spacer ribosomal DNA (ITS rDNA) and SSU rDNA of dinoflagellates, the clade of all four O. marina strains was divergent from that of the two O. maritima strains. We measured the growth rates of both species at various water temperatures (10–36 °C), salinities (5–90), and light intensities (0–100 µE·m⁻²·s⁻¹). The lowest (O. marina and O. maritima: 10 °C) and highest temperatures (O. marina: <35 °C, O. maritima: >35 °C) revealed that O. maritima has more tolerance to high salinity. This study provides a basis for understanding the ecophysiology of O. marina and O. maritima and their population dynamics in marine ecosystems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plankton Ecology in Shallow Coastal Waters)

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Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

When a Year Is Not Enough: Further Study of the Seasonality of Planktonic Protist Communities Structure in an Ice-Free High Arctic Fjord (Adventfjorden, West Spitsbergen)

Anna Maria Dąbrowska

Józef Maria Wiktor

Józef Mikołaj Wiktor, Jr.

Svein Kristiansen

Anna Vader

and

Tove Gabrielsen

Water 2021, 13(14), 1990; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13141990 - 20 Jul 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1729

Abstract

As a contribution to understanding the ecological framework of protistan seasonal succession patterns, we present the weekly-to-monthly (January–October) light microscopy-based study of nano- and microplanktonic protist communities of Adventfjorden waters in 2013. In general, protist dynamics corresponded to the classic paradigm for the Arctic ice-free waters with extremely low abundance and diversity in winter, with the main abundance and chlorophyll-a peak in April-May, followed by a diverse but low abundant community during summer/autumn. However, the reference of the obtained data to the previously conducted year-round research in 2012 allows us to observe substantial variability in seasonal patterns between the two consecutive years. The most striking difference concerned the spring bloom composition and abundance, with clear domination of Phaeocystis pouchetii in Atlantified fjord waters in 2012 and Bacillariophyceae-dominated (mainly Fragilariopsis, Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii, and, in a lesser extent, also Pseudo-nitzschia seriata) bloom in 2013 when local water prevailed. On the other hand, a surprisingly high share of spring bloom taxa persisted throughout the summer/autumn of 2013 when they co-occurred with typical summer taxa (dinoflagellates and other small flagellates). Their extended growth could, at least in part, result from scarce Ciliophora throughout the season, which, in turn, can be attributed to the high grazing pressure of very numerous meroplankton and mesozooplankton. In light of this, our results may be relevant in discussions proposed for the West Spitsbergen waters link between the Atlantic water inflow and the spring bloom composition, as well as its further progression in the productive season. They also highlight the strong need for further high-resolution monitoring of annual plankton cycles and great caution when looking for phenological patterns within a single year or when interpreting short-term data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plankton Ecology in Shallow Coastal Waters)

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Open AccessArticle

Environmental Impacts on Zooplankton Functional Diversity in Brackish Semi-Enclosed Gulf

and

Water 2021, 13(14), 1881; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13141881 - 07 Jul 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2067

Abstract

Zooplankton as an essential component in the pelagic food web are directly linked to pelagic ecosystem functioning. Therefore, comprehension of zooplankton functional diversity (FD) and its responses to environmental changes is crucial for ecosystem-based view. To identify FD responses to environmental drivers, we analysed 25 years of summer data on the brackish mesozooplankton community (including rotifers, cladocerans, copepods, and meroplankton) from the eutrophied, shallow Gulf of Riga (Baltic Sea). We established that within the Gulf of Riga, open waters are notably different from coastal regions based on the dynamics of hydrological conditions (temperature, salinity), cyanobacterial dominance, abundance of mesozooplankton functional groups, and mesozooplankton FD indices. Competition over resources in combination with hydrodynamic features and predation by adult herring were seemingly the central structuring mechanism behind the dynamics of FD metrics (richness, evenness, divergence, and dispersion) within coastal mesozooplankton communities. Whereas predation by young herring was an important driver only for the mesozooplankton communities in the open waters. Cyanobacterial dominance, used as a proxy for food quality and availability, had no effect on summer mesozooplankton FD metrics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plankton Ecology in Shallow Coastal Waters)

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Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Spatial and Temporal Diversity of Cyanometabolites in the Eutrophic Curonian Lagoon (SE Baltic Sea)

Renata Pilkaitytė

Donata Overlingė

Zita Rasuolė Gasiūnaitė

and

Hanna Mazur-Marzec

Water 2021, 13(13), 1760; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13131760 - 25 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1873

Abstract

This work aims to determine the profiles of cyanopeptides and anatoxin synthetized by cyanobacteria in the Lithuanian part of the Curonian Lagoon (SE Baltic Sea) and to characterize their spatial and temporal patterns in this ecosystem. Cyanometabolites were analysed by a LC-MS/MS system and were coupled to a hybrid triple quadrupole/linear ion trap mass spectrometer. During the investigation period (2013–2017), 10 microcystins, nodularin, anatoxin-a, 16 anabaenopeptins, including 1 oscillamide, 12 aeruginosins, 1 aeruginosamide, 3 cyanopeptolins and 4 microginins were detected. The most frequently detected metabolites were found at all investigated sites. Demethylated microcystin variants and anabaenopeptins had the strongest relationship with Planktothrix agardhii, while non-demethylated microcystin variants and anatoxin had the strongest relationship with Microcystis spp. Low concentrations of some microcystins: [Asp³]MC-RR, MC-RR, MC-LR, as well as a few other cyanopeptides: AP-A and AEG-A were found during the cold period (December–March). Over the study period, Aphanizomenon, Planktothrix and Microcystis were the main dominant cyanobacteria species, while Planktothrix, Microcystis, and Dolichospermum were potentially producers of cyanopeptides and anatoxin detected in samples from the Curonian Lagoon. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plankton Ecology in Shallow Coastal Waters)

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