Pigment concentration data for mesocosm incubation experiment simulating a phytoplankton bloom in Chesapeake Bay August 2021

Website: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/959920
Data Type: experimental, Cruise Results
Version: 1
Version Date: 2025-05-16

Project
» Marine Diatom-Parasite Relationships in Upwelling Systems (Marine Diatom-Parasite Relationships)
ContributorsAffiliationRole
Ward, Bess B.Princeton UniversityPrincipal Investigator
Lee, JennaPrinceton UniversityScientist
Mickle, AudreyWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO)BCO-DMO Data Manager

Abstract
A mesocosm experiment was performed in August 2021 on the R/V Hugh Sharp, cruise HRS2110, at a station near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to simulate a phytoplankton bloom and to assess changes in assemblage and biogeochemical processes while excluding changes due to advection. Three 20-L carboys were filled with filtered bay water, inoculated with surface water and sampled daily for a week. Nutrient concentrations, nitrate and bicarbonate uptake rates, pigment concentrations and samples for 18S rRNA gene sequence analysis were collected once or more times per day. 15NO3- and H13CO3- tracer incubations were performed alongside pigment and DNA sampling to compare temporal trends in community composition and primary productivity (nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) transport rates). These results address the nature of phytoplankton blooms, and present a more complex relationship between bloom progression and phytoplankton diversity that usually assumed or detected by traditional methods. This dataset contains the measured pigment concentrations for the three replicate mesocosms over the course of the simulated bloom. These data were collected by Jenna Lee from Princeton University.


Coverage

Location: Chesapeake Bay, USA. 37.27044 N, 76.09268 W sample depth 5 m, total depth 25 m
Spatial Extent: Lat:37.27044 Lon:-76.09268
Temporal Extent: 2021-08-04 - 2021-08-10

Methods & Sampling

The mesocosm experiment was performed in August 2021 on the R/V Hugh Sharp, cruise HRS2110, at a station near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Surface water (2–5 m) was collected from the study site (37.27o N, 76.09o W), located near the mouth of the bay. Incubation medium was prepared by pumping surface water (~5 m) directly from the sample site through a series of nylon mesh and glass fiber filters, ending with a 0.3 μm filter, using a double diaphragm pump into three 24-L translucent polycarbonate (PC) carboys. Surface water inoculum was collected using a rosette system with 12–L Niskin bottles and a CTD profiler from 2–4 m depth and pre–filtered through 210 μm nylon mesh before being added to the mesocosms to produce a 10 % inoculation. Carboys were incubated for eight days in an on–deck water bath, using a seawater flow–through system drawn from surface water and a plastic screen shade covering to keep incubation temperature and light similar to in situ conditions. 

Samples for pigment analysis were collected twice daily at 12:00 and 18:00 starting on day 2. Duplicate samples (100–400 mL) were filtered onto pre–combusted (500o C for ~5 h) 0.3 μm 25 mm GF-75 filters using pigment-dedicated filter-holders. Filters were stored individually at -80o C. Pigment samples were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) (Pinckney et al., 1996, 2001).


BCO-DMO Processing Description

- Imported "Mesocosm_CB2021_Pigments.xlsx" into the BCO-DMO system
- Set types
- Exported file as "959920_v1_mesocosm_cb_pigments.csv"


Problem Description

Samples 6, 8, and 10 were not collected due to volume constraints. 

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Data Files

File
959920_v1_mesocosm_cb_pigments.csv
(Comma Separated Values (.csv), 7.04 KB)
MD5:c6996e7460f41a51529bdfe50ec9bacc
Primary data file for dataset ID 959920, version 1

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Related Publications

Lee, J. A., Vineis, J. H., Poupon, M. A., Resplandy, L., & Ward, B. B. (2025). Phytoplankton community succession and biogeochemistry in a bloom simulation experiment at an estuary-ocean interface. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-871
Results
Pinckney, J. L., 2010. Chapter 11. The USC Method. In: The Fourth SeaWiFS HPLC Analysis Round-Robin Experiment (SeaHARRE-4).  Eds. Hooker, S. B., Thomas, C. S., Van Heukelem, L., Schlüter, L., Russ, M. E., Ras, J., Claustre, H., Clementson, L., Canuti, E., Berthon, J.-F., Perl, J., Nomandeau, C., Cullen, J., Kienast, M., and J. L. Pinckney. NASA/TM–2010–215857. pp: 65-67 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20110008482/downloads/20110008482.pdf
Methods
Pinckney, J. L., Millie, D. F., Howe, K. E., Paerl, H. W., & Hurley, J. P. (1996). Flow scintillation counting of 14C-labeled microalgal photosynthetic pigments. Journal of Plankton Research, 18(10), 1867–1880. doi:10.1093/plankt/18.10.1867
Methods
Pinckney, J. L., Richardson, T. L., Millie, D. F., & Paerl, H. W. (2001). Application of photopigment biomarkers for quantifying microalgal community composition and in situ growth rates. Organic Geochemistry, 32(4), 585–595. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0146-6380(00)00196-0 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0146-6380(00)00196-0
Methods

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Parameters

ParameterDescriptionUnits
Samp_No

Sample number

unitless
Carboy

Sample source; inoculum, inoculum dilution, or carboy A, B, or C

unitless
Rep

Replicate number

unitless
Day

Day of the experiment (1-7)

day
Date_Local

Date of collection (UTC-4)

unitless
Time_Local_Collected

Time of sampling event (UTC-4, 24-hr time)

unitless
Time_Local_Filtered

Time that sample was filtered (UTC-4, 24-hr time)

unitless
ISO_DateTime_UTC_Collection

Datetime of collection (UTC)

unitless
Samp_Vol

Sample volume

liters
Chl_c1c2

Chlorophyll c1 + c2 concentration

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
Perid

Peridinin concentration; avg. effective LOD = 0.004, avg. effective LOQ = 0.012

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
ButFuc_19

19'Butanoyloxy-fucoxanthin concentration; avg. effective LOD = 0.004, avg. effective LOQ = 0.012

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
Fuco

Fucoxanthin concentration; avg. effective LOD = 0.004, avg. effective LOQ = 0.013

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
HexFuc_19

19'Hexanoyloxy-fucoxanthin concentration; avg. effective LOD = 0.003, avg. effective LOQ = 0.009

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
Zeax

Zeaxanthin concentration; avg. effective LOD = 0.003, avg. effective LOQ = 0.011

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
Gyro

Gyroxanthin-diester concentration; avg. effective LOD = 0.003, avg. effective LOQ = 0.008

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
Chl_a

Chlorophyll a concentration; avg. effective LOD = 0.009, avg. effective LOQ = 0.030

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
Chl_ide_a

Chlorophyllide a concentration

micrograms of pigment per liter (µg L-1)
Notes

Notes about experiment

unitless


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Instruments

Dataset-specific Instrument Name
High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
Generic Instrument Name
High-Performance Liquid Chromatograph
Dataset-specific Description
Pigment samples were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) (Pinckney et al., 1996, 2001, 2010).
Generic Instrument Description
A High-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) is a type of liquid chromatography used to separate compounds that are dissolved in solution. HPLC instruments consist of a reservoir of the mobile phase, a pump, an injector, a separation column, and a detector. Compounds are separated by high pressure pumping of the sample mixture onto a column packed with microspheres coated with the stationary phase. The different components in the mixture pass through the column at different rates due to differences in their partitioning behavior between the mobile liquid phase and the stationary phase.


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Deployments

HRS2110

Website
Platform
R/V Hugh R. Sharp
Start Date
2021-08-03
End Date
2021-08-21
Description
See more information about this cruise in Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R): https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/HRS2110


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Project Information

Marine Diatom-Parasite Relationships in Upwelling Systems (Marine Diatom-Parasite Relationships)

Coverage: Eastern Boundary Upwelling Regions


NSF Award Abstract:
A recent global survey of surface ocean waters revealed that microbial parasites comprise half of the eukaryotic plankton diversity and suggested that biological interactions, including parasites, play an important role in the ecology of many types of microscopic algae, which are the base of the ocean food web, but not diatoms. Diatoms are among the most abundant microalgae, particularly in upwelling areas where nutrient-rich deep currents feed the ocean's surface and support the world's greatest fisheries. Yet this survey did not investigate high-productivity regions, leaving a significant knowledge gap. Diatoms may be successful in upwelling regions because they evade predators and parasites, but it seems more reasonable that they, like all other microalgae, also have biological enemies. In this study, the researchers use a large set of available samples from upwelling regions to investigate the effect of parasites on the proliferation of diatom communities and resulting primary production. The project supports a graduate student and provides hands-on research experiences for high school and undergraduate college students. The study data are also integrated into courses taught by the principal investigator.

The discovery that half of the eukaryotic diversity in the Tara Oceans sequence database belongs to putatively parasitic microbes implies a revolution in our understanding of biological control of primary production. Ecosystem models are only beginning to incorporate the effect of viruses on production and community composition, but eukaryotic parasites add yet another dimension with potentially vast biogeochemical implications. While viral predation is generally thought to divert material flux away from grazers and into the dissolved organic carbon pool, increasing community diversity and microbial biomass, phytoplankton biomass diverted into parasite biomass becomes available to grazers. Experimental determination of parasite activity is difficult in natural systems, so most of the evidence for diversity, abundance, and host interactions of eukaryotic parasites is based on DNA sequence data. The Tara Oceans database suggests that diatoms have very few biotic interactions, leading to a stronger dependence on bottom-up factors (e.g., nutrients). However, this database did not represent high productivity upwelling regions. This project addresses two hypotheses: 1) diatoms in highly productive episodic upwelling systems are involved in host-parasite interactions that can be identified in co-occurrence networks during blooms; and 2) the community composition and abundance of host-parasite pairs vary over the course of the bloom in a manner consistent with density dependence on the host. In this project, abundance, diversity, and dynamics of parasites in upwelling systems are investigated by tag sequencing, metagenomics, and targeted qPCR of diatom-parasite pairs identified from archived samples from diatom-dominated upwelling systems (California Current, Eastern Tropical Pacific), the North Atlantic Spring bloom, and from two mesocosm experiments of diatom blooms induced by inoculation of surface seawater into nitrate-rich Monterey Bay seawater. Biogeochemical parameters (nutrients, primary production, nitrate assimilation, etc.) for those samples are available. In addition, the research team is using the outputs of the bioinformatics analysis in network and time series analysis to discover links among hosts and parasites.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.



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Funding

Funding SourceAward
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE)

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