Record Details

Large-scale bloom of Akashiwo sanguinea in the Northern California current system in 2009

ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

Field Value
Title Large-scale bloom of Akashiwo sanguinea in the Northern California current system in 2009
Names White, Angelicque E. (creator)
Watkins-Brandt, Katie S. (creator)
McKibben, S. Morgaine (creator)
Du, Xiuning (creator)
Peterson, William T. (creator)
et al. (creator)
Date Issued 2014-07 (iso8601)
Note To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Elsevier and can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/harmful-algae.
Abstract Significant seabird mortality on the Oregon (OR) and Washington (WA) coast in 2009 has been attributed
to a massive bloom of the dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea (K. Hirasaka) G. Hansen & Ø. Moestrup.
Initial, albeit limited, observations suggested this bloom began in WA and reached OR waters through
southward transport. Here, we explore a combination of remote sensing products and an exceptional
latitudinal dataset of plankton counts collected in the surfzone and offshore in OR and WA coastal
waters. Records of satellite ocean color for this period support the new finding that blooms were
concurrent in OR and WA waters, with no evidence for latitudinal propagation as had been previously
suggested. Plankton analyses further indicate that there was a rapid and synchronized increase of A.
sanguinea between late August and mid-September of 2009 along wide swaths of the OR and WA coasts.
Bloom onset occurred during a prolonged quiescent and warm period in late August–early September,
near the end of the March–October upwelling phase. An upwelling event in October likely contributed to
foam production through vertical mixing of A. sanguinea rich waters. Bloom intensity peaked earlier and
at higher levels in WA waters as compared to OR with cell concentrations exceeding 1.5 x 10⁶ cells L⁻¹
(WA) and ~350,000 cells L⁻¹ (OR). In OR samples, A. sanguinea cells comprised upwards of 90% of
dinoflagellate cell counts and ~30% of total phytoplankton cells. At some locations, A. sanguinea persisted
well into November–December of 2009, during which time satellite sea surface temperature records
indicated anomalously warm surface waters (up to ~5°C greater than climatological means). Taken
together, the data reveal a HAB event of a magnitude unprecedented in over a decade of observations. We
hypothesize that these blooms originated from either a cryptic cyst bed and/or a pelagic seed bank of
viable vegetative cells.
Genre Article
Topic Akashiwo sanguinea
Identifier White, A. E., Watkins-Brandt, K. S., McKibben, S. M., Wood, A. M., Hunter, M., Forster, Z., ... & Peterson, W. T. (2014). Large-scale bloom of Akashiwo sanguinea in the Northern California current system in 2009. Harmful Algae, 37, 38-46. doi:10.1016/j.hal.2014.05.004

© Western Waters Digital Library - GWLA member projects - Designed by the J. Willard Marriott Library - Hosted by Oregon State University Libraries and Press