A preliminary assessment of harmful algal blooms in Kuwait’s marine environment
Keywords:
Arabian Gulf, red tide, toxic algae, phytoplankton, microphytobenthos, marine mortalityAbstract
Microalgal blooms occur in Kuwait's waters year round. Seasonal non-harmful blooms are part of the annual succession in marine ecosystems and are a typical phenomenon in Kuwait's waters as well as in the Gulf region. The ecology and taxonomy of phytoplankton in Kuwait's waters have been studied during the past few decades; however, only very limited detailed taxonomical studies have been done on marine phytoplankton as a whole, as well as on potentially harmful species. Together with the phytoplankton, benthic microalgae are important primary producers and an essential component of the intertidal zone in Kuwait's marine environment. Potentially toxic microalgae were found in the intertidal sediments of Kuwait.
A total of 62 identified taxa can be categorized as potentially harmful species in the collected samples from Kuwait's waters and intertidal flats. Among them, 43 taxa are potentially toxic to humans and marine biota, and 10 taxa are potentially harmful to fish and invertebrates. Potentially toxic species are usually recorded in low densities in Kuwait's waters. However, the presence of a significant number of potentially harmful species in its phytoplankton can be regarded as a significant finding with latent hazards for humans and marine ecosystems. Documentation of this sporadic high abundance together with significant species richness of the potentially toxic phytoplankton, requires more intensive and comprehensive studies of Kuwait's marine environment.
References
Al-Hassan, R. H., Ali, A. M. and Radwan, S. S. 1990. Lipids and their constituent fatty acids of Phaeocystis sp. from the Arabian Gulf. Mar. Biol., 105: 9–14.
Al-Kaisi, K. A. 1976. On the phytoplankton of the Arabian Gulf, 1–31. Edinburgh, UK: Joint Oceanographic Assembly.
Al-Kandari, M., Al-Yamani, F. and Al-Rifaie, K. 2009. Marine Phytoplankton Atlas of Kuwait's Waters, Kuwait: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. www.kisr.edu.kw/Data/Site1/images/kisr_publications/99906-41-24-2.pdf
Al-Yamani, F. and Saburova, M. 2010. Illustrated Guide on the Flagellates of Kuwait's Intertidal Soft Sediment, Kuwait: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. www.kisr.edu.kw/Data/Site1/images/kisr_publications/978–99906-95–04-5.pdf
Al-Yamani, F., Al-Ghunaim, A., Subba Rao, D. V., Khan, N. Y., Al-Ghool, M., Murupped, M., Al-Qatma, S. and Luis, M. 2000. Fish Kills, Red Tides, Kuwait's Marine Environment, Kuwait: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. www.kisr.edu.kw/Data/Site1/images/kisr_publications/978–99906-41–90-5.pdf
Al-Yamani, F. Y., Bishop, J., Ramadhan, E., Al-Husaini, M. and Al-Ghadban, A. N. 2004. Oceanographic Atlas of Kuwait's Waters, Kuwait: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research.
Al-Yamani, F., Saburova, M. and Polikarpov, I. 2011. Harmful algal blooms in Kuwait. : 51–52. Presented at International Conference GULF II: The State of the Gulf Ecosystem: Functioning and Services, 2011 February 2–9, Kuwait
Anderson, D. M. 1989. “Toxic algal blooms and red tides: A global perspective”. In Red tides: Biology, Environmental Science, and Toxicology, 11–16. Elsevier. Proc. 1st Int. Symp. on Red Tides
Anderson, D. M., Hoagland, P., Kaoru, Y. and White, A. W. 2000. Estimated annual economic impacts resulting from harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the United States. WHOI Technical Report WHOI-2000-11.http://www.whoi.edu/fileserver.do?id=24159andpt=10andp=19132
Brand, L. E., Campbell, L. and Bresnan, E. 2012. Karenia: The biology and ecology of a toxic genus. Harmful Algae, 14: 156–178.
Enomoto, Y. 1971. Oceanographic survey and biological study of shrimps in the waters adjacent to the eastern cost of the State of Kuwait. Bull. Tokai Reg. Fish Res. Lab. N 66
Faust, M. A. and Gulledge, R. A. 2002. Identifying Harmful Marine Dinoflagellates. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, 1–144. Washington, DC: Department of Systematic Biology - Botany, National Museum of Natural History V. 42.
Glibert, P. M. 2007. Eutrophication and Harmful Algal Blooms: a complex global issue, examples from the Arabian Seas including Kuwait Bay, and an introduction to the global ecology and oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) programme. Int. J. of Oceans and Oceanography, 2: 157–169.
Guiry, M. D. and Guiry, G. M. 2012. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, Galway: National University of Ireland. http://www.algaebase.org
Hallegraeff, G. M. 1993. A review of harmful algal blooms and their apparent global increase. Phycologia, 32: 79–99.
Heil, C. A., Glibert, P. M., Al-Sarawi, M. A., Faraj, M., Behbehani, M. and Husain, M. 2001. First record of a fish-killing Gymnodinium sp. bloom in Kuwait Bay, Arabian Sea: chronology and potential causes. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser., 214: 15–23.
Jacob, P. G., Zarba, M. A. and Anderlini, V. 1979. Hydrography, chlorophyll and plankton of the Kuwaiti coastal waters. Indian Journal of Mar. Sci., 8: 150–154.
Kim, H. G. 2006. “Mitigation and controls of HABs”. In Ecology of Harmful Algae, Edited by: Edna, G. and Turner, J. T. 327–338. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Kromkamp, J. C., de Brouwer, F. C., Blanchard, G. F., Forster, R. M. and Creach, V., eds. 2006. Functioning of microphytobenthos in estuaries, Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Moestrup, Ø., Akselman, R., Cronberg, G., Elbraechter, M., Fraga, S., Halim, Y., Hansen, G., Hoppenrath, M., Larsen, J., Lundholm, N., Nguyen, L. N. and Zingone, A., eds. 2012. “IOC-UNESCO Taxonomic Reference List of Harmful Microalgae”. http://www.marinespecies.org/HAB
Polikarpov, I., Al-Yamani, F. and Saburova, M. 2009. “Space-time variability of phytoplankton structure and diversity in the north-western part of the Arabian Gulf (Kuwait's waters)”. In Environment, Biodiversity and Conservation in the Middle East 2008 October 20–23. BioRisk 3 Edited by: Krupp, F., Musselman, L. J., Kotb, M. M.A. and Weidig, I. 83–96. Aqaba, Jordan Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress
Richlen, M. L., Morton, S. L., Jamali, E. A., Rajan, A. and Anderson, D. M. 2010. The catastrophic 2008–2009 red tide in the Arabian gulf region, with observations on the identification and phylogeny of the fish-killing dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides. Harmful Algae, 9: 163–172.
Saburova, M., Al-Yamani, F. and Polikarpov, I. 2009. “Biodiversity of free-living flagellates in Kuwait's intertidal sediments”. In Environment, Biodiversity and Conservation in the Middle East Edited by: Krupp, F. F., Musselman, L. J., Kotb, M. M.A. and Weidig, I. 97–110. Aqaba, Jordan Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress2008 October 20–23. BioRisk 3
Sheppard, C., Al-Husiani, M., Al-Jamali, F., Al-Yamani, F., Baldwin, R., Bishop, J., Benzoni, F., Dutrieux, E., Dulvy, N. K., Subba Rao, D. V., S.R., Jones, D. A., Loughland, R., Medio, D., Nithyanandan, M., Pilling, G. M., Polikarpov, I., Price, A. R., Purkis, S., Riegl, B., Saburova, M., Namin, K. S., Taylor, O., Wilson, S. and Zainal, K. 2010. The Gulf: A young sea in decline. Mar. Poll. Bull., 60: 13–38.
Smayda, T. J. 1990. “Novel and nuisance phytoplankton blooms in the sea: Evidence for a global epidemic”. In Toxic marine phytoplankton: Proc. 4th Int. Conf., Elsevier, 29–40. The Netherlands: Elsevier.
Smayda, T. J. 1997. Harmful phytoplankton blooms: Their ecophysiology and general relevance to phytoplankton blooms in the sea. Limnol. Oceanogr., 42: 1137–1153.
Subba Rao, D. V. and Al-Yamani, F. 1998. Phytoplankton ecology in the water between Shatt Al-Arab and the Straits of Hurmuz, Arabian Gulf: a review. Plankton Biol. Ecol., 45: 101–116.
Subba Rao, D. V., Al-Yamani, F., Lennox, A., Pan, Y. and Al-Said, T. F.O. 1999. Biomass and production characteristics of the first red tide noticed in Kuwait Bay, Arabian Gulf. J. Plankton Res., 21(4): 805–810.
Subba Rao, D. V., Al-Hassan, J. M., Al-Yamani, F., Al-Rafaie, K., Ismail, W., Nageswara Rao, C. V. and Al-Hassan, M. 2003. Elusive red tides in Kuwait coastal waters. Harmful Algae News, 24: 10–13.
Uhlig, G. 1968. Quantitative methods in the study of interstitial fauna. Trans. Am. Microsc. Soc., 87: 226–232.
Utermöhl, H. 1958. Zur Vervollkommnung der quantitativen. (The improvement of quantitative phytoplankton methodology. Phytoplankton-Methodik. Mitt. Int. Verein. Theor. Angew. Limnol., 9: 1–38. In German.)
Published
Issue
Section
License
Manuscripts must be original. They must not be published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. It is required that the lead author of accepted papers complete and sign the MSU Press AEHM Author Publishing Agreement and provide it to the publisher upon acceptance.
