The study aims to unravel the variability of Dinophysis spp. and their alleged toxins in conjunction with environmental drivers in Ambon Bay. Phytoplankton samples, lipophilic toxins and physiochemical water properties were analysed during a 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study aimed to document dinocyst ecological preferences in Ambon Bay, Eastern Indonesia, and to investigate if the bay sediments serve as a seedbank for toxic bloom events. To this end, dinocyst and geochemical analyses of surface sediment samples were performed, along with physicochemical water column parameters. Twentythree dinocyst species were identified, and high dinocyst concentrations (up to ~12,000 cysts g dry sediment) were found in the inner bay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of the present work was to unravel which environmental drivers govern the dynamics of toxic dinoflagellate abundance as well as their associated paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs), diarrhetic shellfish toxins (DSTs) and pectenotoxin-2 (PTX2) in Ambon Bay, Eastern Indonesia. Weather, biological and physicochemical parameters were investigated weekly over a 7-month period. Both PSTs and PTX2 were detected at low levels, yet they persisted throughout the research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWithin the past few decades, harmful algal blooms (HABs) have occurred frequently in Indonesian waters, resulting in environmental degradation, economic loss and human health problems. So far, HAB related studies mainly addressed ecological traits and species distribution, yet toxin measurements were virtually absent for Indonesian waters. The aim of the present study was to explore variability of the potentially toxic marine diatom genus Pseudo-nitzschia, as well as its neurotoxin domoic acid as a function of environmental conditions in Ambon Bay, eastern Indonesia.
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