Sodwana Bay, situated within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, is ecologically important as it contains high-latitude corals and the most southerly known population of coelacanths. This thesis utilised stable isotope and lipid analyses to investigate the trophic ecology of the area, in particular, understanding the relative contribution of inshore and offshore primary production to consumers inhabiting intertidal and shallow subtidal, coral reef, deep reef, canyon head and pelagic habitats. Seaweeds, excluding certain species of red seaweeds with highly depleted carbon signatures, and phytoplankton, such as diatoms, were found to be the principal sources of primary production for all consumers. Offshore production was typified by dinoflagellates. Particulate organic matter (POM) was spatio-temporally variable. Three distinct productivity periods related to nutrient cycling were noted with enriched carbon signatures and higher organic matter loads associated with warmer water. Inshore primary production was an important source of carbon to consumers in all habitats with the exception of zooplankton that were more reliant on pelagic primary production. Benthic invertebrates reflected a gradient in the utilisation of inshore production, due to the reduced availability of this source further offshore. Consumers at the furthest sites offshore were found to include a substantial quantity of inshore-derived production in their diets. Fishes, which are more mobile, were found to incorporate a similar proportion of inshore production into their diets regardless of where they were collected from.

The central objective of this study is to understand phytoplankton community response following the global mass extinction event at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary. The objective is approached through analysis of dinoflagellate cyst assemblages across the boundary interval in the North Pacific. Dinoflagellate cysts are powerful tools for deep time paleoenvironmental reconstructions and this group of microfossils has been vastly underutilized in this region of the world. On this premise, comprehensive marine palynological surveys were undertaken for the Oyster Bay Formation of eastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada and Shatsky Rise in the northwest Pacific. The Oyster Bay Formation work resulted in the discovery of the first K/Pg boundary succession west of the Rocky Mountains based on biostratigraphic controls and refined taxonomy for the genus Cannosphaeropsis found within these strata. Three new taxa are described: Cannosphaeropsis franciscana subsp. vacuoseptata subsp. nov., Cannosphaeropsis franciscana subsp. vesiculata subsp. nov. and Phelodinium fensomei sp. nov. The cyst assemblages reveal endemic associations and signals of transition between offshore coastal to estuarine settings in keeping with global eustatic trends. Oyster Bay Formation results and interpretations are compared to analyses of core samples from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 577 at Shatsky Rise. Contrast is seen between a diverse, highly productive coastal to estuarine environment in the Oyster Bay Formation as represented by organic-walled taxa and an oligotrophic bathyal environment at Shatsky Rise during the same interval as represented by a small number of calcareous taxa. These two regions form the basis for comparison between differing assemblages in order to ascertain the extent to which phytoplankton communities were affected by changes in sea-surface and water mass conditions in conjunction with the K/Pg event. The findings reveal measurable impacts of climate and paleoenvironmental change reflected by shifts in assemblage composition and cyst morphology. A lack of extinction among many forms is consistent with studies from around the globe as presented in an exhaustive review of the literature. The dinoflagellates were marginally impacted with the most specialized taxa presenting a record of sea-surface temperature fluctuation, nutrient supply and opportunistic niche exploitation. / Graduate / 2022-08-20

Florações de microalgas potencialmente nocivas têm aumentado em termos globais e causado impactos na aquicultura, no turismo, na saúde humana e em vários aspectos do funcionamento dos ecossistemas. No Brasil, uma atenção cada vez maior tem sido dada ao tema, em virtude do elevado potencial de nossas águas para o cultivo de bivalves marinhos, um dos grupos de invertebrados mais afetados. Deste modo, a preocupação com a contaminação de consumidores humanos tem gerado projetos voltados para a detecção de espécies potencialmente nocivas e de suas toxinas, mas ainda há poucos estudos sobre interações alimentares entre as espécies de fitoplâncton e zooplâncton. No presente trabalho interações entre dinoflagelados potencialmente nocivos e organismos pertencentes ao zooplâncton marinho foram investigadas em dois capítulos. Capítulo 1: O presente estudo tem como objetivo avaliar a influência do dinoflagelado potencialmente nocivo Alexandrium tamiyavanichii na alimentação e reprodução do copépode planctônico marinho Temora turbinata. Taxas de produção de ovos e sucesso de eclosão naupliar foram estimadas para fêmeas alimentadas em misturas de A. tamiyavanichii e do dinoflagelado Prorocentrum minimum, tratado aqui como alimento controle. Capítulo 2: O principal objetivo deste estudo foi analisar os efeitos de exsudatos de dinoflagelados e células intactas na sobrevivência e mobilidade de táxons zooplanctônicos de uma região subtropical (Ubatuba, Brasil). Efeitos letais foram observados em cinco dos seis táxons testados, três dos quais (náuplios de copépodes, tintinídeos e larvas de gastrópodes) quando expostos a exsudatos e dois (rotíferos e larvas de braquiúros) quando expostos a células intactas. Em adição, larvas de gastrópodes demonstraram comprometimento da mobilidade após exposição à exsudatos. Apenas larvas de poliquetas não foram aparentemente afetadas no curso dos experimentos. / Harmful algae blooms have increased globally and caused impacts in aquaculture, tourism, and human health and in various aspects of ecosystem functioning. In Brazil, increasing attention has been given to this issue, because of the high potential of our waters for marine bivalve farming. Therefore, there are risks of contamination of the crops, and consequent poisoning of the consumers. This concern has led research projects to mostly focus on the detection of potentially harmful species and their toxins, with few initiatives to understand feeding interactions among species of phytoplankton and zooplankton. In this research interactions between potentially harmful dinoflagellates and marine zooplankton were investigated in two chapters. Chapter 1 - This study aims to evaluate the influence of the potentially harmful dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamiyavanichii on Temora turbinata feeding and reproduction. Egg production rates and hatching success were estimated for females fed on mixtures of A. tamiyavanichii and P. minimum. Chapter 2: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of dinoflagellate exudates and intact cells on the survivorship and mobility of zooplankton taxa from a subtropical location (Ubatuba, Brazil). Lethal effects were observed in five out of six taxa investigated, three of which (copepod nauplii, tintinnids and gastropod larvae) when exposed to dinoflagellate exudates and two (rotifers and brachyuran zoeae) when exposed to intact cells. In addition, gastropod larvae displayed mobility impairment during exposure to dinoflagellate exudates. Only polychaete larvae were not apparently affected during the course of the experiments.

Florações de microalgas potencialmente nocivas têm aumentado em termos globais e causado impactos na aquicultura, no turismo, na saúde humana e em vários aspectos do funcionamento dos ecossistemas. No Brasil, uma atenção cada vez maior tem sido dada ao tema, em virtude do elevado potencial de nossas águas para o cultivo de bivalves marinhos, um dos grupos de invertebrados mais afetados. Deste modo, a preocupação com a contaminação de consumidores humanos tem gerado projetos voltados para a detecção de espécies potencialmente nocivas e de suas toxinas, mas ainda há poucos estudos sobre interações alimentares entre as espécies de fitoplâncton e zooplâncton. No presente trabalho interações entre dinoflagelados potencialmente nocivos e organismos pertencentes ao zooplâncton marinho foram investigadas em dois capítulos. Capítulo 1: O presente estudo tem como objetivo avaliar a influência do dinoflagelado potencialmente nocivo Alexandrium tamiyavanichii na alimentação e reprodução do copépode planctônico marinho Temora turbinata. Taxas de produção de ovos e sucesso de eclosão naupliar foram estimadas para fêmeas alimentadas em misturas de A. tamiyavanichii e do dinoflagelado Prorocentrum minimum, tratado aqui como alimento controle. Capítulo 2: O principal objetivo deste estudo foi analisar os efeitos de exsudatos de dinoflagelados e células intactas na sobrevivência e mobilidade de táxons zooplanctônicos de uma região subtropical (Ubatuba, Brasil). Efeitos letais foram observados em cinco dos seis táxons testados, três dos quais (náuplios de copépodes, tintinídeos e larvas de gastrópodes) quando expostos a exsudatos e dois (rotíferos e larvas de braquiúros) quando expostos a células intactas. Em adição, larvas de gastrópodes demonstraram comprometimento da mobilidade após exposição à exsudatos. Apenas larvas de poliquetas não foram aparentemente afetadas no curso dos experimentos. / Harmful algae blooms have increased globally and caused impacts in aquaculture, tourism, and human health and in various aspects of ecosystem functioning. In Brazil, increasing attention has been given to this issue, because of the high potential of our waters for marine bivalve farming. Therefore, there are risks of contamination of the crops, and consequent poisoning of the consumers. This concern has led research projects to mostly focus on the detection of potentially harmful species and their toxins, with few initiatives to understand feeding interactions among species of phytoplankton and zooplankton. In this research interactions between potentially harmful dinoflagellates and marine zooplankton were investigated in two chapters. Chapter 1 - This study aims to evaluate the influence of the potentially harmful dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamiyavanichii on Temora turbinata feeding and reproduction. Egg production rates and hatching success were estimated for females fed on mixtures of A. tamiyavanichii and P. minimum. Chapter 2: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of dinoflagellate exudates and intact cells on the survivorship and mobility of zooplankton taxa from a subtropical location (Ubatuba, Brazil). Lethal effects were observed in five out of six taxa investigated, three of which (copepod nauplii, tintinnids and gastropod larvae) when exposed to dinoflagellate exudates and two (rotifers and brachyuran zoeae) when exposed to intact cells. In addition, gastropod larvae displayed mobility impairment during exposure to dinoflagellate exudates. Only polychaete larvae were not apparently affected during the course of the experiments.

Les dinoflagellés sont un groupe très varié d’eucaryotes unicellulaires principalement retrouvés en milieu marin où ils ont un rôle écologique majeur dans la production primaire des océans et dans la formation des récifs coralliens. Ils sont aussi responsables de phénomènes néfastes comme les marées rouges et la production de toxines qui contaminent les crustacées et les poissons lorsque les conditions sont propices à leur multiplication rapide. Ces organismes possèdent des caractéristiques moléculaires uniques chez les eucaryotes, particulièrement en ce qui a trait au noyau. Le génome des dinoflagellés s’y retrouve condensé sous forme de cristal liquide stabilisé par des cations métalliques plutôt que sous forme de nucléosomes organisés par des histones. Cette forme condensée persiste tout au long du cycle cellulaire et limite la transcription des gènes à des boucles d’ADN qui se retrouvent à la périphérie des chromosomes. Ces caractéristiques inhabituelles, jumelées à une taille souvent imposante de leur génome, ont grandement limité l’étude des mécanismes moléculaires de base comme la régulation de la transcription. Afin de mieux caractériser ce processus chez ces organismes, le dinoflagellé Lingulodinium polyedrum, qui est étudié majoritairement pour ses multiples rythmes circadiens, a été utilisé. Tout d’abord, le séquençage à haut-débit a été utilisé afin de caractériser le transcriptome complet de l’organisme à quatre temps différents au cours d’une journée. De façon surprenante, ce séquençage a montré que très peu des transcrits varient entre les temps et que ces variations sont de faible amplitude, ce qui contraste fortement avec les résultats obtenus chez d’autres groupes d’organismes. Une inhibition pharmacologique de la transcription a aussi été effectuée et montre que les rythmes de photosynthèse et de bioluminescence continuent d’osciller de façon circadienne en absence de transcription. Ces résultats suggèrent que le modèle traditionnel de génération des rythmes circadiens par des boucles de rétroaction transcription/traduction est probablement absent chez Lingulodinium. La deuxième approche consiste en la caractérisation de deux protéines à domaine cold-shock (CSD), un domaine d’origine bactérienne qui est fortement surreprésenté chez les dinoflagellés et annoté comme potentiel facteur de transcription. Ces deux protéines ont une préférence pour la liaison de l’ADN simple brin versus l’ADN double brin tout en étant ii capable de lier de l’ARN. Par ailleurs, ces liaisons aux acides nucléiques ne sont pas spécifiques à une séquence particulière. L’analyse de leur abondance après un passage prolongé en condition froide n’a pas permis de déceler une augmentation importante de l’abondance des deux protéines et celles-ci sont également incapable de complémenter un quadruple mutant des protéines cold-shock chez E. coli. Ces données suggèrent que les CSDs des dinoflagellés ne sont probablement pas des facteurs de transcription séquence-spécifique et qu’ils ont également une fonction différente des protéines bactériennes. La troisième approche consiste en la réticulation in vivo des protéines interagissant avec la chromatine. Après réticulation, la chromatine a été purifiée et les protéines associées à ceux-ci ont été extraites et identifiées par spectrométrie de masse. Parmi les protéines identifiées, il y a un nombre réduit de protéines de liaison à l’ADN en comparaison avec des données similaires chez les animaux. Des peptides provenant d’une histone H4 ont aussi été identifiés, ce qui consiste en une des premières identifications de ce type de protéine chez les dinoflagellés. Plusieurs protéines de liaison à l’ARN ont été identifiées et pourraient permettre de réguler diverses étapes de la biologie des ARNm et ainsi moduler la traduction. Quelques protéines reliées au contrôle du cycle cellulaire et à la réparation de l’ADN ont aussi été identifiées. Mises ensemble, ces trois approches permettent de suggérer que la régulation de la transcription et de l’abondance des ARNm semblent avoir une importance moindre chez les dinoflagellés que chez les autres eucaryotes. / Dinoflagellates are a diverse group of unicellular eukaryotes found in marine habitat where they have a major role in the primary production of the ocean and in the formation of coral reefs. They are also responsible for some of the harmful algal blooms whose toxin production can contaminate crustacean and fish. Dinoflagellates possess unique molecular characteristics in eukaryotes, especially for their nucleus. For example, their genome is found in a permanently condensed liquid crystalline state stabilized by metallic cations instead of the nucleosome organized by histones. This condensed form persists throughout the cell cycle and limits transcription to DNA loops localized at the periphery of the chromosomes. These unusual characteristics, coupled with a generally large genome size, have greatly limited the study of basic molecular mechanisms such as transcription regulation. In order to better characterize this process for the dinoflagellates, I used Lingulodinium polyedrum, a dinoflagellate studied extensively for its circadian rhythms. As a first approach, high-throughput sequencing was used to characterize the complete transcriptome of the organism at four different times throughout the day. Surprisingly, this sequencing revealed that an extremely low number of transcripts vary in abundance between time points and that those variations are of low amplitude, a result in stark contrast with what has been observed in other organisms. A pharmacological inhibition of transcription was also done and shows that bioluminescence and photosynthesis rhythms persist in absence of transcription, suggesting that the classical transcription/translation feedback loop used to generate rhythmic timing in eukaryotes is probably absent in Lingulodinium. The second approach was the characterization of two proteins with a cold-shock domain (CSD), a type of domain strongly overrepresented in dinoflagellates and predicted to be a potential transcription factor. Those two proteins showed a preferential binding to single stranded DNA versus double stranded DNA while also being able to bind RNA, and were not specific to a particular sequence. Protein abundance analysis after a prolonged cold shock did not yield a massive increase in the abundance of those two proteins, as seen in E. coli. Furthermore, neither protein was able to complement a quadruple cold shock protein (CSP) mutant in E. coli. Data gathered here suggest that CSD proteins in dinoflagellates are probably iv not sequence-specific transcription factors and may also have a function different from bacterial CSP. The third approach consisted of the in vivo cross-linking of chromatin-interacting proteins. After cross-linking, the chromatin was purified and the proteins associated with it extracted and identified by mass spectrometry. Of the identified proteins, few DNA binding proteins were found, unlike similar studies done in animals. Peptides derived from a histone H4 were discovered, one of the first instances of histone identification in dinoflagellates. Multiple proteins able to bind RNA have been identified and could be used to regulate multiple steps of RNA biology and therefore modulate RNA translation. Some proteins related to cell cycle control and DNA repair were also identified. Taken together, these three approaches support the view that the transcriptional regulation and control over mRNAs abundance seem to have a lower importance in dinoflagellate than in other eukaryotes.

Les dinoflagellés sont des eucaryotes unicellulaires retrouvés dans la plupart des écosystèmes aquatiques du globe. Ces organismes amènent une contribution substantielle à la production primaire des océans, soit en tant que membre du phytoplancton, soit en tant que symbiontes des anthozoaires formant les récifs coralliens. Malheureusement, ce rôle écologique majeur est souvent négligé face à la capacité de certaines espèces de dinoflagellés à former des fleurs d'eau, parfois d'étendue et de durée spectaculaires. Ces floraisons d'algues, communément appelées "marées rouges", peuvent avoir de graves conséquences sur les écosystèmes côtiers, sur les industries de la pêche et du tourisme, ainsi que sur la santé humaine. Un des facteurs souvent corrélé avec la formation des fleurs d'eau est une augmentation dans la concentration de nutriments, notamment l’azote et le phosphore. Le nitrate est un des composants principaux retrouvés dans les eaux de ruissellement agricoles, mais également la forme d'azote bioaccessible la plus abondante dans les écosystèmes marins. Ainsi, l'agriculture humaine a contribué à magnifier significativement les problèmes associés aux marées rouges au niveau mondial. Cependant, la pollution ne peut pas expliquer à elle seule la formation et la persistance des fleurs d'eau, qui impliquent plusieurs facteurs biotiques et abiotiques. Il est particulièrement difficile d'évaluer l'importance relative qu'ont les ajouts de nitrate par rapport à ces autres facteurs, parce que le métabolisme du nitrate chez les dinoflagellés est largement méconnu. Le but principal de cette thèse vise à remédier à cette lacune. J'ai choisi Lingulodinium polyedrum comme modèle pour l'étude du métabolisme du nitrate, parce que ce dinoflagellé est facilement cultivable en laboratoire et qu'une étude transcriptomique a récemment fourni une liste de gènes pratiquement complète pour cette espèce. Il est également intéressant que certaines composantes moléculaires de la voie du nitrate chez cet organisme soient sous contrôle circadien. Ainsi, dans ce projet, j'ai utilisé des analyses physiologiques, biochimiques, transcriptomiques et bioinformatiques pour enrichir nos connaissances sur le métabolisme du nitrate des dinoflagellés et nous permettre de mieux apprécier le rôle de l'horloge circadienne dans la régulation de cette importante voie métabolique primaire. Je me suis tout d'abord penché sur les cas particuliers où des floraisons de dinoflagellés sont observées dans des conditions de carence en azote. Cette idée peut sembler contreintuitive, parce que l'ajout de nitrate plutôt que son épuisement dans le milieu est généralement associé aux floraisons d'algues. Cependant, j’ai découvert que lorsque du nitrate était ajouté à des cultures initialement carencées ou enrichies en azote, celles qui s'étaient acclimatées au stress d'azote arrivaient à survivre près de deux mois à haute densité cellulaire, alors que les cellules qui n'étaient pas acclimatées mourraient après deux semaines. En condition de carence d'azote sévère, les cellules arrivaient à survivre un peu plus de deux semaines et ce, en arrêtant leur cycle cellulaire et en diminuant leur activité photosynthétique. L’incapacité pour ces cellules carencées à synthétiser de nouveaux acides aminés dans un contexte où la photosynthèse était toujours active a mené à l’accumulation de carbone réduit sous forme de granules d’amidon et corps lipidiques. Curieusement, ces deux réserves de carbone se trouvaient à des pôles opposés de la cellule, suggérant un rôle fonctionnel à cette polarisation. La deuxième contribution de ma thèse fut d’identifier et de caractériser les premiers transporteurs de nitrate chez les dinoflagellés. J'ai découvert que Lingulodinium ne possédait que très peu de transporteurs comparativement à ce qui est observé chez les plantes et j'ai suggéré que seuls les membres de la famille des transporteurs de nitrate de haute affinité 2 (NRT2) étaient réellement impliqués dans le transport du nitrate. Le principal transporteur chez Lingulodinium était exprimé constitutivement, suggérant que l’acquisition du nitrate chez ce dinoflagellé se fondait majoritairement sur un système constitutif plutôt qu’inductible. Enfin, j'ai démontré que l'acquisition du nitrate chez Lingulodinium était régulée par la lumière et non par l'horloge circadienne, tel qu'il avait été proposé dans une étude antérieure. Finalement, j’ai utilisé une approche RNA-seq pour vérifier si certains transcrits de composantes impliquées dans le métabolisme du nitrate de Lingulodinium étaient sous contrôle circadien. Non seulement ai-je découvert qu’il n’y avait aucune variation journalière dans les niveaux des transcrits impliqués dans le métabolisme du nitrate, j’ai aussi constaté qu’il n’y avait aucune variation journalière pour n’importe quel ARN du transcriptome de Lingulodinium. Cette découverte a démontré que l’horloge de ce dinoflagellé n'avait pas besoin de transcription rythmique pour générer des rythmes physiologiques comme observé chez les autres eukaryotes. / Dinoflagellates are unicellular eukaryotes found in most aquatic ecosystems of the world. They are major contributors to carbon fixation in the oceans, either as free-living phytoplankton or as symbionts to corals. Dinoflagellates are also infamous because some species can form spectacular blooms called red tides, which can cause serious damage to ecosystems, human health, fisheries and tourism. One of the factors often correlated with algal blooms are increases in nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrate is one of the main components of agricultural runoffs, but also the most abundant bioavailable form of nitrogen in marine environments. Thus, agricultural activities have globally contributed to the magnification of the problems associated with red tides. However, bloom formation and persistence cannot be ascribed to human pollution alone, because other biotic and abiotic factors are at play. Particularly, it is difficult to assess the relative importance of nitrate addition over these other factors, because nitrate metabolism in dinoflagellate is mostly unknown. Filling part of this gap was the main goal of this thesis. I selected Lingulodinium polyedrum as a model for studying nitrate metabolism, because this dinoflagellate can easily be cultured in the lab and a recent transcriptomic survey has provided an almost complete gene catalogue for this species. It is also interesting that some molecular components of the nitrate pathway in this organism have been reported to be under circadian control. Thus, in this project, I used physiological, biochemical, transcriptomic and bioinformatic approaches to enrich our understanding of dinoflagellate nitrate metabolism and to increase our appreciation of the role of the circadian clock in regulating this important primary metabolic pathway. I first studied the particular case of dinoflagellate blooms that occur and persist in conditions of nitrogen depletion. This idea may seems counterintuitive, because nitrogen addition rather than depletion, is generally associated with algal blooms. However, I discovered that when nitrate was added to nitrogen-deficient or nitrogen-sufficient cultures, those that had been acclimated to nitrogen stress were able to survive for about two months at high cell densities, while non-acclimated cells died after two weeks. In conditions of severe nitrogen limitation, cells could survive a little bit more than two weeks by arresting cell division and reducing photosynthetic rates. The incapacity to synthesize new amino acids for these deprived cells in a context of on-going photosynthesis led to the accumulation of reduced carbon in the form of starch granules and lipid bodies. Interestingly, both of these carbon storage compounds were polarized in Lingulodinium cells, suggesting a functional role. The second contribution of my thesis was to identify and characterize the first nitrate transporters in dinoflagellates. I found that in contrast to plants, Lingulodinium had a reduced suite of nitrate transporters and only members of the high-affinity nitrate transporter 2 (NRT2) family were predicted to be functionally relevant in the transport of nitrate. The main transporter was constitutively expressed, which suggested that nitrate uptake in Lingulodinium was mostly a constitutive process rather than an inducible one. I also discovered that nitrate uptake in this organism was light-dependent and not a circadian-regulated process, as previously suggested. Finally, I used RNA-seq to verify if any transcripts involved in the nitrate metabolism of Lingulodinium were under circadian control. Not only did I discovered that there were no daily variations in the level of transcripts involved in nitrate metabolism, but also that there were no changes for any transcripts present in the whole transcriptome of Lingulodinium. This discovery showed that the circadian timer in this species did not require rhythmic transcription to generate biological rhythms, as observed in other eukaryotes.

Blastodinium, a genus of the phytoplanktonic dinoflagellates, was found to be inhabiting the gut region of the copepod species Labidocera. Copepods are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, being the most numerous multicellular organisms on planet earth. Being primary consumers, they play important ecological roles, passing energy from one trophic level to the next. As zooplankton, estuarine copepods contribute substantially to carbon cycling as they undergo diurnal migration to avoid daylight UV-B damage and surface water predation. Blastodinium are presumed to infect copepods via ingestion of zoospores by juvenile hosts, who function as microhabitats for acquiring nutrients in non-photosynthetic species or in nutrient-limited environments. Blastodinium may hinder reproduction of copepod hosts, thereby influencing local copepod populations and, by extension, food webs up to humanity. Copepod populations may also help contain disease spread, such as malaria and Dengue fever, through their consumption of mosquito larvae in standing water. Further evaluation of copepods for Blastodinium may help shed light on the limited knowledge of this species and the nature of its relationship with copepods, as well as its effects on copepod populations and the higher order consequences of its parasitism.