ASPECTS OF THE ORIGINS, ECOLOGY, AND CONTROL OF GOLDEN ALGA PRYMNESIUM PARVUM: INTRODUCTION TO THE FEATURED COLLECTION

摘要

The microscopic golden alga Prymnesium parvum is a harmful algal bloom species with a complex life cycle, physiology, and ecology. It has a haploid-diploid life cycle, two flagellated stages, and a nonmotile form (Larsen, 1998; Johnsen et al., 2010). P. parvum has several survival strategies including forming a cyst under unfavorable conditions (Pie-naar, 1980; Green et al., 1982; Johnsen et al., 2010). The vegetative P. parvum thrives in wide ranges of salinities and temperatures (Shilo and Aschner, 1953; Larsen and Bryant, 1998) and gets nourishment from a variety of sources. Like most green algae, it manufactures its own food when inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus are replete (Nicholls, 2003); but when these nutrients are scarce, it releases a suite of chemical substances (prymnesins) that make other sources of food or nutrients available.