Suppliment: Parasitism of Bloom-Forming Dinoflagellates: Host Specificity and Ecological Implications

对有毒和无毒鞭毛藻引起的红潮在全球蔓延的日益关注，使研究兴趣集中在影响水华形成物种积累、持续和死亡的物理和生物相互作用上。赤潮对海洋动物造成的有害影响以及对公众健康和商业渔业的相关风险也促使人们对检测、预测和可能控制有害藻华的方法产生兴趣。最近的研究表明，包括病毒、细菌和原生动物在内的微寄生虫在海洋环境中大量存在。此外，寄生虫引起的浮游细菌和浮游植物的死亡可引起宿主丰度在数小时至数天的时间尺度上的种群水平变化。赤潮鞭毛虫被其寄生亲戚角化阿米巴虫感染与宿主种群的迅速减少有关。这种寄生虫也被认为是防止花华形成的重要因素。虽然所有这些自由生活的鞭毛虫感染都归因于一种寄生虫，但最近的数据表明，角尾甲虫是一种由多种宿主特异性寄生虫组成的物种复合体。本研究将进一步了解切萨皮克湾赤潮潮寄主特异性与潮生鞭毛虫寄生之间的相互作用。它还将有助于定义浮游系统中宿主-寄生虫相互作用的复杂性，并为寄生在微生物食物网动态中的作用提供新的见解。五个具体的假设将使用最先进的形态学和分子方法进行测试。

Increasing concern over the global spread of red tides produced by toxic and non-toxic dinoflagellates has focused research interest on physical and biological interactions that influence the accumulation, persistence, and demise of bloom-forming species. The harmful effects imposed by red tides on marine fauna and associated risks to public health and commercial fisheries have also prompted interest in means to detect, predict, and potentially control harmful algal blooms. Recent studies have shown that microparasites, including viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, are abundant in marine environments. Furthermore, parasite-induced mortality of bacterioplankton and phytoplankton can cause population level changes in host abundance on time scales of hours to days. Infection of red-tide dinoflagellates by their parasitic relative Amoebophrya ceratii has been linked to rapid declines in host populations. This parasite has also been implicated as an important factor in preventing bloom formation. while all such infections of free-living dinoflagellates have been attributed to a single species of parasite, recent data suggest that A. ceratii is a species complex composed of multiple host-specific parasites. This research will further the understanding of red-tide ecology by considering the interplay between host specificity and parasitism of bloom-forming dinoflagellates in Chesapeake Bay. It will also help define the complexity of host-parasite interactions in planktonic systems and provide new insight on the role of parasitism in microbial food-web dynamics. Five specific hypotheses will be tested using state-of-the-art morphological and molecular methods.