English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Dinoflagellate blooms are natural phenomena that often occur in coastal areas, which in addition to their large number of nutrient-rich sites are characterized by highly restricted hydrodynamics within bays, marinas, enclosed beaches, and harbors. In these areas, massive proliferations of dinoflagellates have harmful effects on humans and the ecosystem. However, the high cell density reached during blooms make them vulnerable to parasitic infections. Under laboratory conditions parasitoids are able to exterminate an entire host population. In nature,  Parvilucifera  parasitoids infect the toxic dinoflagellate  Alexandrium minutum  during bloom conditions but their prevalence and impact remain unexplored. In this study, we evaluated the  in situ  occurrence, prevalence, and dynamics of  Parvilucifera  parasitoids during recurrent blooms of  A. minutum  in a confined site in the NW Mediterranean Sea as well as the contribution of parasitism to bloom termination.  Parvilucifera  parasitoids were recurrently detected from 2009 to 2013, during seasonal outbreaks of  A. minutum . Parasitic infections in surface waters occurred after the abundance of  A. minutum  reached 10 4 –10 5  cells L −1 , suggesting a density threshold beyond which  Parvilucifera  transmission is enhanced and the number of infected cells increases. Moreover, host and parasitoid abundances were not in phase. Instead, there was a lag between maximum  A. minutum  and  Parvilucifera  densities, indicative of a delayed density-dependent response of the parasitoid to host abundances, similar to the temporal dynamics of predator-prey interactions. The highest parasitoid prevalence was reached after a peak in host abundance and coincided with the decay phase of the bloom, when a maximum of 38% of the  A. minutum  population was infected. According to our estimates,  Parvilucifera  infections accounted for 5–18% of the total observed  A. minutum  mortality, which suggested that the contribution of parasitism to bloom termination is similar to that of other biological factors, such as encystment and grazing.

In situ Occurrence, Prevalence and Dynamics of Parvilucifera Parasitoids during Recurrent Blooms of the Toxic Dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum