Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Additionally, increasing human settlements in the near-shore modify the
environment trough eutrophication and pollution processes, and signifi cantly
affect the marine biota and human health (e.g., McMichael et al. 2006, Moore
et al. 2008, Noyes et al. 2009). The synergistic effects of anthropogenically
driven temperature rise (Barnett et al. 2005) and eutrophication (Cloern
2001) can enhance the occurrence of harmful algae blooms HABs in the
coasts (Edwards et al. 2006, Moore et al. 2008, Paerl and Huisman 2008).
HABs have signifi cant negative implications for the marine ecosystem
functioning, as they can cause detriment to biodiversity and eventual death
of predators, causing severe impacts on fi sheries and resource availability
with serious repercussion for human health and economy. In addition,
parasitic infection of phytoplankton has been increasingly documented in
relation to enhanced temperature, changes in pH, salinity and turbulence
(Kühn and Hofmann 1999, Kühn and Köhler-Rink 2008); and parasitism has
been suggested as a natural control of HABs (Elbrächter and Schnepf 1998).
Parasitoid protists of phytoplankton comprise diverse taxonomic groups,
such as euglenozoa, dinofl agellates, cercomonads, plasmodiophorids,
oomycetes and chytrids (fungi). Parasitism is often highly host-specifi c, and
the rates of infection and transmission increase with host population density,
which is drastically reduced when conditions allow epidemic outbreaks
of disease (Tillmann et al. 1999). How climate change and anthropogenic
infl uence will affect parasite-host assemblages in coastal system needs
further investigation (Brooks and Hoberg 2007, Colin and Poulin 2012).
Particular attention must focus on parasitism of phytoplankton because it
constitutes an important detrimental factor of biomass at the base of the
food webs (Kagami et al. 2007).
Climate-driven modifi cations in coastal environments are expected
to increase and continue, as well as human settlements in the near-shore
and marine resources exploitation (IPCC 2007). Hence, addressing the
alterations at the base of the food webs and the repercussion on the
ecosystems structure and dynamics (e.g., carbon fl uxes, trophic interactions,
HABs, parasitism) is crucial for safeguarding habitat sustainability and
developing a sustainable management of ecosystem services. For this
purpose, long-term phytoplankton records are essential to understand how
coastal environments respond to variations in climate and anthropogenic
perturbations or their synergies.
Summary of Common Phytoplankton Responses to a
Changing Climate
Climate-driven modifi cations in marine water physics and chemistry impact
phytoplankton from the individual to ecosystem levels (Fig. 4) through
alterations in both bottom-up and top-down controls, namely resources
