HABWAVE – Relevance of the Combination of Biological and Physical Processes in the Initiation of Harmful Algal Blooms on the NW Coast of Portugal

Summary

HABWAVE investigates harmful algal blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum, and other cyst-producing species, in the upwelling system off NW Portugal. Rather than attributing bloom variability mainly to the planktonic stage, the project tests the hypothesis that blooms may be seeded from a benthic cyst bed, resuspended and transported to surface waters by physical oceanographic processes. It combines physical oceanography, sedimentology, cyst physiology and hydrodynamic modelling to build new forecasting capacity for harmful algal blooms.

Objectives

• Identify the physical processes responsible for bottom particulate-matter dynamics through in situ observations and satellite data.
• Investigate the presence of cyst beds in bottom sediments and in the adjacent benthic nepheloid layer.
• Study the physiological traits of Gymnodinium catenatum cysts and other potentially toxic species.
• Develop a hydrodynamic model to assess the transport of resting cysts.
• Produce a conceptual model contributing to an operational forecasting system for harmful algal blooms.

Tasks

My contribution focused on the cyst-related components of the project:

• 1In situ data collection and analysis — physical forcing, sedimentary dynamics and the relation between cysts and fine-sediment (silt) dynamics
• 2Dynamics of suspended particulate matter — benthic nepheloid layer characterisation and its relation to shelf cyst beds
• 3Physiology of harmful-algal-bloom resting stages — physiological traits of G. catenatum cysts feeding into the hydrodynamic model

Main Outputs

Publications

• •García-Moreiras, I., Oliveira, A., Santos, A.I., Oliveira, P.B., Amorim, A. (2021). Environmental Factors Affecting Spatial Dinoflagellate Cyst Distribution in Surface Sediments Off Aveiro-Figueira da Foz (Atlantic Iberian Margin). Frontiers in Marine Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.699483
• •García-Moreiras, I., Hatherly, M., Zonneveld, K.A.F., et al. (2023). New physical and biological evidence of lateral transport affecting dinoflagellate cyst distribution in the benthic nepheloid layer along a land-sea transect off Figueira da Foz (Atlantic Iberian margin). Frontiers in Marine Science 10, 1270343. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1270343

Datasets

• •García-Moreiras, I., Hatherly, M., Zonneveld, K.A.F., et al. Dinoflagellate cyst abundances in the benthic nepheloid layer, sediment trap and surface sediments off Figueira da Foz (NW Portugal, Atlantic Iberian margin). PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.963833
• •García-Moreiras, I., Hatherly, M., Zonneveld, K.A.F., et al. Dinoflagellate cyst concentrations in surface sediments, off Figueira da Foz (NW Portugal, Atlantic Iberian margin). PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.963830
• •García-Moreiras, I., Hatherly, M., Zonneveld, K.A.F., et al. Dinoflagellate cyst concentrations in the benthic nepheloid layer, off Figueira da Foz (NW Portugal, Atlantic Iberian margin). PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.963823
• •García-Moreiras, I., Hatherly, M., Zonneveld, K.A.F., et al. Dinoflagellate cyst counts in the benthic nepheloid layer, sediment trap and surface sediments off Figueira da Foz (NW Portugal, Atlantic Iberian margin). PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.963762
• •García-Moreiras, I., Hatherly, M., Zonneveld, K.A.F., et al. Dinoflagellate cyst abundance in the benthic nepheloid layer, sediment trap and surface sediments off Figueira da Foz (NW Portugal, Atlantic Iberian margin). PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.963768
• •García-Moreiras, I., Hatherly, M., Zonneveld, K.A.F., et al. Dinoflagellate cyst concentrations in a sediment trap off Figueira da Foz (NW Portugal, Atlantic Iberian margin). PANGAEA. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.963775

Conference Communications

To be added.

For the complete list of contributions related to this project, please visit the project’s official website.