• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.375-388
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• 2020

Ocean acidification and warming, identified as environmental concerns likely to be affected by climate change, are crucial determinants of algal growth. The ichthyotoxic raphidophytes Chattonella species are responsible for huge economic losses and environmental impact worldwide. In this study, we investigated the impact of CO2 on the thermal performance curves (TPCs) of Chattonella marina and Chattonella ovata grown under temperatures ranging from 13 to 34℃ under ambient pCO2 (350 μatm) and elevated pCO2 (950 μatm). TPCs were comparable between the species or even between pCO2 levels. With the exception of the critical thermal minimum (CTmin) for C. ovata, CTmin for C. marina and the thermal optimum (Topt) and critical thermal maximum (CTmax) for both species did not change with elevation of pCO2 levels. While CO2 enrichment increased the maximum photosynthetic rates (Pmax) up to 125% at the Totp of 30℃, specific growth rates were not significantly different under elevated pCO2 for the two species. Overall, C. ovata is likely to benefit from climate change, potentially widening its range of thermal tolerance limit in highly acidic waters and contributing to prolonged phenology of future phytoplankton assemblages in coastal waters.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.674-682
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• 2009

Recently, the occurrence of harmful algae blooms from the Chattonella group has been increasing and expanding in the southern and western seas of Korea. We investigated the relationship between growth kinetics and nutrients in the harmful algae Chattonella marina and Chattonella ovata of the South Sea, Korea. As a result; high concentrations of ammonium ($30\;{\mu}M$ and above) was not effective to the growth of C. ovata, while C. marina displayed good growth at concentration of $100\;{\mu}M$. The half-saturation constant ($K_s$) of C. marina for ammonium ($2.51\;{\mu}M$), nitrate ($5.36\;{\mu}M$) and phosphate ($0.75\;{\mu}M$) was higher than C. ovata (1.85, 4.01, and $0.61\;{\mu}M$, respectively). This indicates that C. ovata can achieve higher cell densities than C. marina under lower nutrient conditions. These $K_s$ values were comparatively higher than those of diatoms and other flagellates previously reported. Therefore, our results indicate that the growth of C. marina and C. ovata is less adapted to lower nutrient environments than other competition species, such as Skeletonema costatum and Cochlodinium polykrikoides.

• ALGAE
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.281-291
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• 2022

Quantifying the abundance of Chattonella species is necessary to effectively manage the threats from ichthyotoxic raphidophytes, which can cause large-scale mortality of aquacultured fish in temperate waters. The identification and cell counting of Chattonella species have been conducted primarily on living cells without fixation by light microscopy because routine fixatives do not retain their morphological features. Species belonging to the Chattonella marina complex, including C. marina and C. marina var. ovata, had high genetic similarities and the lack of clear morphological delimitations between the species. To estimate the abundance of C. marina complex in marine plankton samples, we developed a protocol based on the droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) assay, with C. marina complex-specific primers targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA. Cell abundance of the C. marina complex can be determined using the ITS copy number per cell, ranging from 25 ± 1 for C. marina to 112 ± 7 for C. marina var. ovata. There were no significant differences in ITS copies estimated by the ddPCR assay between environmental DNA samples from various localities spiked with the same number of cells of culture strains. This approach can be employed to improve the monitoring efficiency of various marine protists and to support the implementation of management for harmful algal blooms, which are difficult to analyze using microscopy alone.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.140-147
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• 2010

We investigated the effects of water temperature, salinity and irradiance on the growth of the harmful algae Chattonella ovata isolated from South Sea, Korea. C. ovata grew under all combinations of water temperatures and salinity, except for all the salinity conditions at the water temperature of $10^{\circ}C$, with the salinity of 7.5 psu and 10 psu at $15^{\circ}C$, and 7.5 psu at $20^{\circ}C$ and $30^{\circ}C$. The maximum specific growth rate was $0.62\;day^{-1}$ at the combination of $30^{\circ}C$ and 30 psu. The results of two-way ANOVA indicated that growth rate depended greatly on the water temperatures while not being affected by interactions with the salinity. This indicates that C. ovata is a stenothermal and euryhaline organism, preferring high water temperatures. C. ovata did not grow at irradiance ${\leq}30\;{\mu}mol$ photons $m^{-2}s^{-1}$. Photoinhibition did not occur at $800\;{\mu}mol$ photons $m^{-2}s^{-1}$, which was the maximum irradiance used in this study. The irradiance-growth curve was described as $\mu$ = 0.74(I-16.0)/(I+43.9) at $30^{\circ}C$ and 30 psu. The half-saturation light intensity ($K_s$) was $75.9\;{\mu}mol$ photons $m^{-2}s^{-1}$ and compensation photon flux density ($I_c$) was $16.0\;{\mu}mol$ photons $m^{-2}s^{-1}$, especially this value was comparatively lower than those of Skeletonema costatum and other flagellates previously reported. Therefore, our results indicate that C. ovata has advantageous physiological characteristics for interspecific competition at the embayment and coastal areas of Korea in summer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.967-972
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• 2018

The genus Chattonella belonging to the class raphidophyceae, is a harmful algal bloom species. Recently, its occurrence has been increasing and expanding along the Korean coast. Species identification of the genus Chattonella only by morphological observation is difficult due to the lack of rigid cell walls. In this study, the morphological characteristics and genetic affinity of Chattonella sp. isolated from Deungnyang Bay in 2017 were examined. We carried out single-cell isolation from field samples then sequenced three different areas using the single-cell PCR method: 1) parts of ribosomal operon, the large subunit (LSU) of the rDNA, 2) the chloroplast-encoded subunit psaA of Photosystem I, and 3) rbcL encoding the large subunit of the Rubisco gene. The cells were morphologically very similar to the general genus Chattonella ($74.0{\pm}10.1{\mu}m$ in length, $33.1{\pm}3.6{\mu}m$ in width). The three partial gene sequences were insufficient to justify distinction at the species rank. However, they clustered at 99-100 % sequence similarity with C. marina, C. marina var. antiqua and C. marina var. ovata.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.362-372
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• 2010

In order to understand what leads to the appearance of harmful Chattonella algae in the Yeosu coastal waters of Korea, we measured environmental parameters every week at one station from May to November, 2006, and April to October, 2007. Four species of Chattonella appeared during the monitoring period: C. antiqua, C. globosa, C. marina and C. ovata. The range of water temperature and salinity were $15.0-27.9^{\circ}C$ and 17.6~33.0 psu, respectively, when Chattonella appeared, and their maximum cell density (4,840 cells/L) was at $27.1^{\circ}C$ and 33.0 psu. During the monitoring periods, the range of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), phosphate (DIP) and chlorophyll $\alpha$ (Chl-$\alpha$) concentrations in surface waters were $1.20-52.23\;{\mu}M$ ($8.59{\pm}8.97\;{\mu}M$), $0.03-1.56\;{\mu}M$ ($0.47{\pm}0.31\;{\mu}M$) and $0.45-31.12\;{\mu}g/L$ ($3.58{\pm}4.77\;{\mu}g/L$), respectively. Chattonella occurred at low cell density when the Chl-$\alpha$ concentration increased because of supplied nutrients, whereas their cell density increased during the periods of rapid decrease in Chl-$\alpha$. The results of growth experiments based on batch culture showed that the half saturation constant ($K_s$) of C. antiqua on ammonium (${NH_4}^-$), nitrate (${NO_3}^-$) and phosphate (${PO_4}^{2-}$) were $3.89{\mu}M$, $5.01\;{\mu}M$ and $0.63\;{\mu}M$, respectively. These Ks values are higher than those reported for diatoms and other flagellates at the DIP concentration (average $0.47{\mu}M$) of Yeosu coastal waters. Although the maximum specific growth rate (${\mu}_{max}$) of C. antiqua was lower than diatoms, it was higher than those of other flagellates. Therefore, our results indicate that the DIP level in the study area was too low to support Chattonella blooms, although Chattonella species have physiological characteristics that enable them to grow more rapidly than other flagellates when nutrient levels are higher than their $K_s$.