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Alexandrium tamarense is a harmful algal species that can produce saxitoxins, a suite of powerful neurotoxins that bioaccumulate up the food chain and can have severe economic and health impacts. With harmful algal blooms increasing temporally and spatially, it is important for us to understand the relationship between harmful algal blooms and nutrients, particularly nitrogen from anthropogenic sources. To this end, the stable nitrogen isotopic composition (δ¹⁵N) of medium nitrate, algal cells and toxin in both nitrogen-replete and nitrogen-limited batch cultures of A. tamarense were measured in order to assess the potential for using the δ¹⁵N of the toxin as a tracer of the nitrogen source used for growth. A. tamarense cells grown under nitrate-replete conditions were depleted by 1.5‰ relative to the growth medium, and saxitoxin was depleted by 1.5‰ relative to the whole cells. Under nitrate-limiting conditions, the isotopic difference between cells and saxitoxin changed as nitrate in the growth medium was depleted, indicating uncoupling of toxin synthesis and cell growth rates under changing external nutrient conditions. Determination of the absolute magnitude of the isotopic differences between the medium nitrate and either the cells or the saxitoxin was confounded by 1) using two different nitrate sources – one nitrate source was used to grow the inoculum and a different nitrate source was used for the experimental medium - with different ‰ values and 2) the presence of an unidentified, isotopically-light, nitrogen blank in the low-nitrate medium samples. I conclude that STX nitrogen isotope values have the potential to be used as nitrogen source indicators. However, overall fractionation between whole cells and STX is unknown due to the uncoupling between cell growth and STX synthesis observed during my nitrogen-limited experiment. Based on previous research on cell growth and toxin production dynamics under different nutrient regimes, it is also reasonable to assume that the observed results here may differ if a different nitrogen source was utilized by the cells for STX production. Further research could include isotope analysis of cultures grown on different nitrogen sources, such as ammonium and urea; isotopic analysis of additional compounds, such as amino acids; or use of additional stable isotopes, such as C or O. / text

La prise de conscience des problèmes d'environnement et des effets directs et indirects des activités humaines a conduit à renforcer la surveillance haute fréquence des écosystèmes marins par l'installation de stations de mesures multicapteurs autonomes. Les capteurs, installés dans des milieux hostiles, sont sujets à des périodes de calibration, d'entretien voire des pannes et sont donc susceptibles de générer des données bruitées, manquantes voire aberrantes qu'il est nécessaire de filtrer et compléter avant toute exploitation ultérieure. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif du travail est de concevoir un système numérique automatisé robuste capable de traiter de tel volume de données afin d’améliorer les connaissances sur la qualité des systèmes aquatiques, et plus particulièrement en considérant le déterminisme et la dynamique des efflorescences du phytoplancton. L'étape cruciale est le développement méthodologique de modèles de prédiction des efflorescences du phytoplancton permettant aux utilisateurs de disposer de protocoles adéquats. Nous proposons pour cela l'emploi du modèle de Markov caché hybridé pour la détection et la prédiction des états de l'environnement (caractérisation des phases clefs de la dynamique et des caractéristiques hydrologiques associées). L'originalité du travail est l'hybridation du modèle de Markov par un algorithme de classification spectrale permettant un apprentissage non supervisé conjoint de la structure, sa caractérisation et la dynamique associée. Cette approche a été appliquée sur trois bases de données réelles : la première issue de la station marine instrumentée MAREL Carnot (Ifremer) (2005-2009), la seconde d’un système de type Ferry Box mis en œuvre en Manche orientale en 2012 et la troisième d’une station de mesures fixe, installée le long de la rivière Deûle en 2009 (Agence de l’Eau Artois Picardie - AEAP). Le travail s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une collaboration étroite entre l'IFREMER, le LISIC/ULCO et l'AEAP afin de développer des systèmes optimisés pour l’étude de l’effet des activités anthropiques sur le fonctionnement des écosystèmes aquatiques et plus particulièrement dans le contexte des efflorescences de l’algue nuisible, Phaeocystis globosa. / Because of the growing interest for environmental issues and to identify direct and indirect effects of anthropogenic activities on ecosystems, environmental monitoring programs have recourse more and more frequently to high resolution, autonomous and multi-sensor instrumented stations. These systems are implemented in harsh environment and there is a need to stop measurements for calibration, service purposes or just because of sensors failure. Consequently, data could be noisy, missing or out of range and required some pre-processing or filtering steps to complete and validate raw data before any further investigations. In this context, the objective of this work is to design an automatic numeric system able to manage such amount of data in order to further knowledge on water quality and more precisely with consideration about phytoplankton determinism and dynamics. Main phase is the methodological development of phytoplankton bloom forecasting models giving the opportunity to end-user to handle well-adapted protocols. We propose to use hybrid Hidden Markov Model to detect and forecast environment states (identification of the main phytoplankton bloom steps and associated hydrological conditions). The added-value of our approach is to hybrid our model with a spectral clustering algorithm. Thus all HMM parameters (states, characterisation and dynamics of these states) are built by unsupervised learning. This approach was applied on three data bases: first one from the marine instrumented station MAREL Carnot (Ifremer) (2005-2009), second one from a Ferry Box system implemented in the eastern English Channel en 2012 and third one from a freshwater fixed station in the river Deûle in 2009 (Artois Picardie Water Agency). These works fall within the scope of a collaboration between IFREMER, LISIC/ULCO and Artois Picardie Water Agency in order to develop optimised systems to study effects of anthropogenic activities on aquatic systems functioning in a regional context of massive blooms of the harmful algae, Phaeocystis globosa.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are found worldwide, particularly in places where warm, well-lit, and stagnant waters are common. HABs can have negative effects on aquatic plants and wildlife due to the reduction in light availability associated with turbidity, decrease in O2 availability, and the production of secondary metabolites that can harm or even prove lethal. Aquatic ecosystems are regularly being affected by elevated salinity because of recent water management strategies, episodes of drought, and salt water intrusion. This research focused on how salinity levels ranging from 0-10ppt affected physiological attributes such as cellular growth and abundance, cell mortality, toxin release, and oxidative stress in the toxigenic cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa. It was determined that salinity treatments of 7ppt and above caused a decrease in both cellular growth and abundance, as well as an increase in toxin release due to cell mortality. M. aeruginosa was able to survive in salinities up to 7ppt. A pattern of caspase activity in response to elevated salinity was shown, but whether cellular mortality was due solely to programmed cell death (PCD) was not definitive. A strong antioxidant response, measured through catalase activity, was noted when salinity was enhanced to 7ppt. Above this value, the damaging effects of salinity caused elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell death. It was determined that the maximum amount of hydrogen peroxide that M. aeruginosa could withstand without significant impact to growth and abundance was below 250µM. Salinities of 7ppt and above had a negative impact on the physiology of M. aeruginosa, leading to cell death and an increase in microcystin release into the environment. These two factors can lead to fish kills, poor drinking water, and other recreational and commercial problems for an aquatic ecosystem. By determining the precise salinity that HAB cellular mortality is imminent, predictive models can be employed to predict the impacts of salt intrusion and groundwater management.

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No description available.

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No description available.