Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2020, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (6): 122-130.doi: 10.11978/2020030CSTR: 32234.14.2020030

• Marine Biology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Causative species of Phaeocystis blooms in Beibu Gulf

XU Yixiao1,2(), HE Xilin1,2, ZHANG Teng1,2, LAN Wenlu3   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China
    2. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Surface Process and Intelligent Simulation, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China
    3. Marine Environmental Monitoring Center of Guangxi, Beihai 536000, China
  • Received:2020-03-16 Revised:2020-06-15 Online:2020-10-10 Published:2020-06-15
  • Contact: XU Yixiao E-mail:xuyixiao_77@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(41976155);National Natural Science Foundation of China(41506137);Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi(2016GXNSFBA380037)

Abstract:

In recent years, Phaeocystis has become the main causative species for algal blooms in the Beibu Gulf of China. It has deleterious effects on marine ecosystem and aquaculture, and causes nuclear power plant safety problems in Fangcheng. It is thus urgent to further analyze the causative species of Phaeocystis in the region. In February and March 2017, nine strains of Phaeocystis sp. identified by optical microscope were isolated during algal blooms in Qinzhou Bay and Weizhou Island; their SSU rDNA sequences were then analyzed using Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree. The results showed that all nine strains of Phaeocystis sp. were morphologically consistent with those of Phaeocystis globosa. Their genetic distance varied between 0.0000-0.0073; and in the phylogenetic tree, all clustered in the same branch with those P. globosa from other seawaters. Among them, WZS3-1 strain in the Beibu Gulf had the closest genetic relationship with P. globosa from Gulf of Mexico CCMP627, Surinam CCMP628, Ecuador CCMP1528, South Africa P162, China Sea RCC:K1398 and Santou97, exhibiting a genetic distance of 0.0000. Strains of WZS1, WZS2, WZS4, and WZS5 in the Beibu Gulf had a genetic distance of 0.0000 with Hong Kong SKLMP_T005 and Bohai BOHAI1. The intraspecific genetic distance of P. globosa (0.0000-0.0071) is significantly smaller than the interspecific genetic distance of P. globosa (0.0084-0.0440). As a result, these nine strains from Beibu Gulf all belong to P. globosa. The phylogenetic distance for strains of P. globosa do not reflect their geographical distance. The findings of this study are essential for Phaeocystis culture collection, their further ecophysiological study and understanding of occurrence mechanisms for Phaeocystis blooms in the Beibu Gulf.

Key words: Phaeocystis globosa, phylogenetic tree, genetic distance, harmful algal blooms, Beibu Gulf

CLC Number: 

  • X55