Protists of the Ocean

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Protists of the Ocean

• "Eukaryotes that are neither Animals, Fungi, nor
  Plants"

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Ameoba with ingested Diatoms
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Paramecium

• Lunch!

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Plant like ProtistsAutotrophic oxygen producers

• Euglena
• Algae
• Single celled
• Phytoplankton
• Cyanobacteria
• Diatoms
• Dinoflagellates
• Multi-celled
• Sea weeds

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Euglena

• Has flagella
• Mostly lives in fresh water
• Has light sensitive red eyespot
• Autotrophic and heterotrophic

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Phytoplankton Ocean Food!

• Derived from the Greek words phyto (plant) and
  plankton (made to wander or drift), phytoplankton
  are microscopic organisms that live in watery
  environments, both salty and fresh.
• Some phytoplankton are bacteria, some are
  protists, and most are single-celled plants.
  Among the common kinds are cyanobacteria,
  silica-encased diatoms, dinoflagellates, green
  algae, and chalk-coated coccolithophores.

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Algae single celled

• Prokaryotic
• Cyanobacteria
• Single-celled to filamentous blue-green alga or
  cyanobacterium
• Photosynthetic
• Produce much of the oxygen in the world

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Life in a Glass House

• Diatoms
• Most abundant of single celled protists
• Account for 20 of photosynthesis
• Silica shells make them great fossils to study

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Dinoflagellates

• The term "dinoflagellate" means "whirling
  flagella"
• Each has two flagella
• Most are photosynthetic
• Some are parasitic
• Can cause problems with blooms
• Red tide
• produce a neurotoxin which affects muscle
  function in susceptible organisms.
• Humans may be affected by eating fish or
  shellfish containing the toxins.
• paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP (from
  eating affected shellfish, such as clams,
  mussels, and oysters)
• serious but are not usually fatal.

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Seaweed

• Seaweeds are algae that live in the sea or in
  brackish water. Scientists often call them
  "benthic marine algae", which just means
  "attached algae that live in the sea".
• There are about 10,000 species of seaweeds
• three basic colors red, green, and brown
• Red and Brown are in salt water
• Green often in fresh water

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Conjugation Sexual Reproduction
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Filamentous Green Alga
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Colonial Algae
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Multicellular Green Algae
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Kelp Forestskelp forest web cam
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Detrimental Aspects of Algae

• Blooms of freshwater algae
• Red tides and marine blooms
• Toxins accumulated in food chains
• Damage to cave paintings, frescoes, and other
  works of art
• Fouling of ships and other submerged surfaces
• Fouling of the shells of commercially important
  bivalves

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Red tide bloom

• Prorocentrum micans bloom
• Associated with Hurricane Floyd, which ended a
  dry summer
• surface of water slick with this dinoflagellate

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Algal Bloom Before and After
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Red tide
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Toxic Phytoplankton Human poisoning

• Paralytic shellfish poisoning - saxitoxin
• Neurotxic shellfish poisoning - brevetoxin
• Ciguatera fish poisoning - ciguatoxin and
  maitotoxin
• Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning - okadaic acid
• Amnesic shellfish poisoning - domoic acid
• Cyanobacterial neurotoxins - anatoxins
• Cyanobacterial hepatotoxins - microcystin,
  nodularin
• Dermatitis - lyngbyatoxin, aplysiatoxin

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Benefits of Algae

• used commercially for toothpastes, soaps, ice
  cream, tinned meats, fabric printing etc,
• Food for humans
• Food for invertebrates and fishes in mariculture
• Animal feed
• Soil fertilizers and conditioners in agriculture
• Treatment of waste water
• Diatomaceous earth ( diatoms)
• Chalk deposits
• Drugs
• The total wholesale value of dried brown algae
  worldwide collected in the wild or cultivated is
  less than 100 million dollars.

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Brown Tide

• Causes
• Species golden-brown algae
• Aureococcus anophagefferens, A. lanunensis
• Changes in groundwater, nutrients
• Impacts
• Zooplankton lose their appetites and die
• Reduced sunlight kills plants
• Death of bivalves (mussels, scallops etc)
• What can we do?
• Less fertilizers!

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Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning

• Causes
• Diatoms (Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries,
  Paustralis)
• Impacts
• Toxin- domoic acid causes permanent loss of short
  term memory and may be fatal
• Shell fish, crabs, and fish may be affected
• Sea lion, pelicans, and cormorants also
• What to do?

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Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning

• Causes
• Phytoplankton like Dinophysis acuminata, D.
  fortii, and Prorocentrum lima
• Impacts
• Toxins lots of them
• Cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and
  diarrhea
• Affect mussels, oysters, scallops and the humans
  and mammals who eat them
• What to do?

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Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning

• Causes
• Dinoflagellates Karenia brevis
• Impacts
• Toxins produced brevetoxin which affects
  manatees, dolphins, oysters, fish, clams, and
  birds and humans by consumption or breathing in
  the sea foam containing the toxin
• Causes diarrhea, vomiting, neurologic symptoms,
  and asthma-like symptoms. NO known antidote but
  most recover in a few days
• What to do?

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Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning

• Causes
• Algae Alexandrium
• Impacts
• Toxin affects mussels, clams, crabs, oysters,
  scallops, herring, sardines, marine mammals, and
  birds, and humans
• Symptoms include numbness, paralysis and
  respiratory failure. No known antidote and death
  may occur from respiratory arrest within 24 hours
• What to do?

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Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms

• Causes
• Excessive growths of cyanobacteria
• Impacts
• Toxins affect nerves, liver tissues in mammals,
  birds, fishes and invertbrates
• Humans can be affected by inhaling toxins causing
  nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, difficulty
  breathing, allergic reactions, skin irritation,
  liver damage, and neurologic symptoms
• Increased turbidity so decreased light
• What to do?

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Pfiesteria piscicida

• Causes
• dinoflagellate
• Impacts
• Flu like symptoms, skin rashes, memory loss in
  commercial fishermen and women.
• What to do?