Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-20T18:11:42.113Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An experimental search for phytoplanktonic algae producing external metabolites which condition natural sea waters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Douglas P. Wilson
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association Citadel Hill, Plymouth

Extract

In a search for phytoplanktonic algae which may condition water masses by excreted metabolites monocultures of 29 species of diatoms and flagellates, also of one sedentary alga, were tested with developing eggs and larvae of two species of sea-urchin and of a polychaete. Results indicated that about half of the algal species examined, using both unfiltered cultures and filtrates from them, probably do not produce metabolites affecting development of the three animal species employed in this work. Others were harmful or favourable to them in various ways. One flagellate species in particular, Olisthodiscus luteus N. Carter was of outstanding interest, with effects on larvae varying from toxic to favourable according to culture density and amount of dilution with normal sea water. Ancillary experiments eliminated the possibility that excessively high or low pH could be responsible for observed effects, while others showed that in a semi-toxic environment crowding of eggs and larvae can be beneficial but not in non-toxic media. In the main experimental search for possible effects of metabolites, eggs and larvae were never crowded.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, B. C. & Ballantine, D., 1957. The toxin from Gymnodinium veneficum Ballantine. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 36, 169189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akesson, B., 1980. The use of certain polychaetes in bioassay studies. Rapport et procis-verbaux des reunions. Conseil international pour rexploration de la mer, 179, 315321.Google Scholar
Boalch, G. T., 1961 a. Studies on Ectocarpus in culture. I. Introduction and methods of obtaining uni-algal and bacteria-free cultures. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 41, 279286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boalch, G. T., 1961 b. Studies on Ectocarpus in culture. II. Growth and nutrition of a bacteria-free culture. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 41, 287304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, E. I., Knox, S. & Liddicoat, M. I., 1979. The relationship between inorganic and organic nutrients in sea water. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 59, 239250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogg, G. E., 1966. The extracellular products of algae. Oceanography and Marine Biology, an Annual Review, 4, 195212.Google Scholar
Gross, F., 1937. Notes on the culture of some marine plankton organisms. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 21, 753768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hellebust, J. A., 1965. Excretion of some organic compounds by marine phytoplankton. Limnology and Oceanography, 10, 192206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hellebust, J. A., 1974. Extracellular products. In Algal Physiology and Biochemistry (ed. Stewart, W. D. P.), pp. 838863. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. [Botanical Monographs, vol. 10.]Google Scholar
Hendey, N. J., 1974. A revised check-list of British marine diatoms. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 54, 277—300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinne, O., 1977. Echinodermata. In Marine Ecology, vol. 3, part 2 (ed. Kinne, O.), pp. 936967. Wiley-Interscience.Google Scholar
Obayashi, N., 1980. Comparative sensitivity of various developmental stages of sea urchins to some chemicals. Marine Biology, 58, 163171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, C. E., 1938. Some aspects of integration in plankton communities. Journal du Conseil, 13, 309322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, C. E., 1947. The ecological effects of external metabolites. Biological Reviews, 22,270295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lucas, C. E., 1949. External metabolites and ecological adaptation. Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology, no. 3, 336356.Google Scholar
Lucas, C. E., 1955. External metabolites in the sea. Papers in Marine Biology and Oceanography, Deep-Sea Research, 3 (suppl.), 139148.Google Scholar
Lucas, C. E., 1961 a. Interrelationships between aquatic organisms mediated by external metabolites. Oceanography, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1961, 499517.Google Scholar
Lucas, C. E., 1961 b. On the significance of external metabolites in ecology. Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology, no. 15, 190206.Google Scholar
Mcintyre, A. D. & Pearce, J. B. (eds), 1980. Biological effects of marine pollution and the problems of monitoring. Rapport et procis-verbaux des reunions. Conseil permanent international pour Vexploration de la mer, 179, 346 pp.Google Scholar
Parke, M. & Dixon, P. S., 1976. Check-list of British marine algae - third revision. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 56, 527594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratt, D. M., 1966. The struggle for supremacy in the Bay plankton. Maritimes, 10, 1315.Google Scholar
Sieburth, J. McN., 1968. The influence of algal antibiosis on the ecology of marine micro-organisms. In Advances in Microbiology of the Sea, vol. 1 (ed. Droop, M. R. and Wood, E. J. F.), pp. 6394. London and New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Srinivasagam, R. T., 1966. Effect of biological conditioning of sea water on development of larvae of a sedentary polychaete. Nature, London, 212, 742743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stebbing, A. R. D., 1979. An experimental approach to the determinants of biological water quality. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B), 286, 465481.Google Scholar
Stebbing, A. R. D., 1980. The biological measurement of water quality. Rapport et procisverbaux des reunions. Conseil international pour I'exploration de la mer, 179, 310314.Google Scholar
Wilson, D. P., 1951. A biological difference between natural sea waters. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 30, 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. P., 1967. Some aspects of larval ecology. Proceedings of the Plymouth Athenaeum, 1, 6369.Google Scholar
Wilson, D. P., 1968. Some aspects of the development of eggs and larvae of Sdbellaria alveolata (L.). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 48, 367386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. P., 1971. Sabellaria colonies at Duckpool, North Cornwall, 1961–1970. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 51, 509580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. P. & Armstrong, F. A. J., 1952. Further experiments on biological differences between natural sea waters. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 31, 335349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. P. & Armstrong, F. A. J., 1954. Biological differences between sea waters: experiments in 1953. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 33, 347360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. P. & Armstrong, F. A. J., 1958. Biological differences between sea waters: experiments in 1954 and 1955. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 37. 331348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D. P. & Armstrong, F. A. J., 1961. Biological differences between sea waters: experiments in 1960. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 41, 663681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar