Mary Ann Tiffany

The Glass Menagerie: diatoms for novel applications in nanotechnology

Diatoms are unicellular, eukaryotic, photosynthetic algae that are found in aquatic environments. Diatoms have enormous ecological importance on this planet and display a diversity of patterns and structures at the nano- to millimetre scale. Diatom nanotechnology, a new interdisciplinary area, has spawned collaborations in biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, physics, chemistry, material science and engineering. We survey diatom nanotechnology since 2005, emphasizing recent advances in diatom biomineralization, biophotonics, photoluminescence, microfluidics, compustat domestication, multiscale porosity, silica sequestering of proteins, detection of trace gases, controlled drug delivery and computer design. Diatoms might become the first organisms for which the gap in our knowledge of the relationship between genotype and phenotype is closed.

Chattonella marina (Raphidophyceae), a potentially toxic alga in the Salton Sea, California

Chattonella marina was found in high abundance in the phytoplankton of the Salton Sea from April to November, 1997. Maximum mean density was over 600 cells ml−1 mid-lake. It was not detected from January 1997 to March 1997 or in January and February 1998. Transmission electron microscope studies show the typical Chattonella features: a teardrop-shaped nucleus, numerous radially arranged chloroplasts and lack of a cell wall. Gills of fish collected at the height of the Chattonella bloom showed damage to the primary and secondary lamellae and increased numbers of mucus cells. To our knowledge this is the first report of a species of Chattonella in a salt lake.

Metazooplankton dynamics in the Salton Sea, California, 1997–1999

The dynamics of metazooplankton populations were studied over 3 years at the saline (43 g l−1) Salton Sea, Californias largest lake. Total abundance was highest in summer following late winter/early spring phytoplankton blooms. At this time, metazooplankton consisted mostly of the copepod, Apocyclops dengizicus, and the rotifer, Brachionus rotundiformis. In August or September, severe crashes in the metazooplankton populations occurred each year in mid-lake due to strong wind events which increased mixing and caused low oxygen and high sulfide concentrations throughout the water column. Larvae of the polychaete worm, Neanthes succinea and the barnacle, Balanus amphitrite were present mostly in late winter and spring. Their scarcity in summer is due in part to persistent anoxic bottom conditions that decrease adult populations and in part to predation by tilapia, an omnivorous fish that has become abundant in the lake since the 1960s. Two Synchaeta species, rotifers not previously reported from the Sea, were abundant in winter and spring and predation on these may have permitted the copepod to persist at low levels through the winter. There were two major changes in metazooplankton dynamics since 1954–1956 in addition to the appearance of the two synchaetid rotifers in the fauna. First, there are now much lower densities of barnacle and polychaete larvae in the fall, probably due to the invasion of the zooplanktivorous fish, tilapia. Second the precipitous crashes now seen in metazooplankton densities, especially the copepod, in late summer-early fall did not occur in the 1950s possibly because fall overturn events did not result in such high sulfide levels.

The diatom flora of the Salton Sea, California

We report on diatom species of the Salton Sea, a highly saline (43 g l−1) inland lake in California. We identified and photographed all diatom taxa encountered in the phytoplankton and benthos of the Salton Sea and its immediate tributaries. Ninety-four taxa were distinguished based on their morphological features using light- and electron microscopy. In the Salton Sea, there are four general categories of diatom assemblages related to their habitats: (1) A planktonic assemblage composed of Chaetoceros muelleri var. subsalsum, Cyclotella choctawhatcheeana, Cyclotella sp., Cylindrotheca closterium, Pleurosigma ambrosianum, Thalassionema sp.; (2) a benthic assemblage with diatoms that live on the bottom (e.g. genera Caloneis, Diploneis, Entomoneis, Gyrosigma, Plagiotropis, Pleurosigma, Surirella and Tryblionella), or in algal mats (Proschkinia bulnheimii, several species of Navicula and Seminavis gracilenta); (3) an epiphytic community attached to the macroscopic green algae which grow on the rocks and other hard surfaces near shore (e.g. Achnanthes brevipes, Licmophora ehrenbergii, Tabularia parva); and (4) a freshwater assemblage composed of species that get washed in by the rivers and other inflows discharging into the Sea (e.g. Achnanthidium minutissimum, Cocconeis pediculus, Cyclotella atomus, C. scaldensis, Nitzschia elegantula, T. weissflogii). The most striking feature of the phytoplankton is the abundance of species formerly known only from marine environments; this is not surprising given the high salinity and the peculiar history of the lake.

Possible importance of algal toxins in the Salton Sea, California

In response to wildlife mortality including unexplained eared grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) die-off events in 1992 and 1994 and other mortality events including large fish kills, a survey was conducted for the presence of algal toxins in the Salton Sea. Goals of this survey were to determine if and when algal toxins are present in the Salton Sea and to describe the phytoplankton composition during those times. A total of 29 samples was collected for toxicity analysis from both nearshore and midlake sites visited biweekly from January to December 1999. Dinoflagellates and diatoms dominated most samples, but some were dominated by a prymnesiophyte (Pleurochrysis pseudoroscoffensis) or a raphidophyte (Chattonella marina). Several types of blooms were observed and sampled. The dinoflagellate Gyrodinium uncatenum formed an extensive, dense (up to 310 000 cells ml−1) and long-lasting bloom during the winter in 1999. A coccolithophorid, Pleurochrysis pseudoroscoffensis, occurred at high densities in surface films and nearshore areas during the spring and summer of 1999. These surface films also contained high densities of one or two other species (an unidentified scrippsielloid, Heterocapsa niei, Chattonella marina). Localized blooms were also observed in the Salton Sea. An unknown small dinoflagellate reached high densities (110 000 cells ml−1) inside Varner Harbor, and an unidentified species of Gymnodinium formed a dense (270 000 cells ml−1) band along part of the southern shoreline during the summer. Three species known to produce toxins in other systems were found. Protoceratium reticulatum (=Gonyaulax grindleyi) and Chattonella marina were found in several samples taken during summer months, and Prorocentrum minimum was found in low densities in several samples. Extracts of most samples, including those containing known toxic species, showed a low level (<10% mortality across all concentrations) of activity in the brine shrimp lethality assay and were not considered toxic. All sample extracts tested in the mouse bioassay showed no activity. One sample extract taken from the bloom of the small dinoflagellate was highly active (100% mortality across all concentrations) in the brine shrimp lethality assay, but the active material could not be isolated. While dense algal blooms are common at the Salton Sea, no evidence gathered in this study suggests that algal toxins are present within phytoplankton cells; however, toxins actively excreted by cells may have been missed. Blooms of phytoplankton likely contribute to wildlife mortality at the Salton Sea. Possible mechanisms including intoxication due to ingestion of feathers in grebes and waterlogging caused by changes in surface tension are discussed.

Pleurochrysis pseudoroscoffensis (Prymnesiophyceae) blooms on the surface of the Salton Sea, California

Dense populations of the coccolithophore Pleurochrysis pseudoroscoffensis were found in surface films at several locations around the Salton Sea in February–August, 1999. An unidentified coccolithophorid was also found in low densities in earlier studies of the lake (1955–1956). To our knowledge, this is the first record of this widespread marine species in any lake. Samples taken from surface films typically contained high densities of one or two other phytoplankton species as well as high densities of the coccolithophore. Presence or absence of specific algal pigments was used to validate direct cell counts. In a preliminary screen using a brine shrimp lethality assay, samples showed moderate activity. Extracts were then submitted to a mouse bioassay, and no toxic activity was observed. These results indicate that blooms of P. pseudoroscoffensis are probably not toxic to vertebrates and do not contribute to the various mortality events of birds and fish that occur in the Salton Sea.

Stratification, sulfide, worms, and decline of the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) at the Salton Sea, California

Abstract Over the last half century the Salton Sea has been an important migratory stopover site for the Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis). However, in recent years there have been sporadic mass mortalities (i.e., 150,000 in 1992) and a great reduction in the number of grebes visiting during the winter. We propose that a worsening food supply is causing the decline and that starvation may be a major cause of the unexplained mortalities. While at the Sea, grebes forage almost exclusively on a benthic polychaete, the pileworm (Neanthes succinea). This resident pileworm population has increasingly been subject to periodic crashes driven by exposure to anoxic, sulfide rich, hypolimnetic water following lake mixing events. A set of interlocking mechanisms seem to be operating. These involve, in particular, increasing lake salinity, weather events favoring lake stratification, and booms and busts in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus × O. urolepis hornorum) and plankton populations, including those of toxic cyanobacteria. In spring, Eared Grebes arrive from the Gulf of California and many arrive in need of food to fuel the remainder of their migration. When pileworms are scarce, many grebes are able to continue on toward their northern breeding grounds, but those that lack sufficient energy stores are forced to stay and may eventually perish. This analysis is surely incomplete, and definitive explanations of the excessive drinking and waterlogged plumage often exhibited by Eared Grebes during mass dieoffs have yet to be found.

Sulfide irruptions and gypsum blooms in the Salton Sea as detected by satellite imagery, 1979–2006

Abstract Bright pale-green surface waters, locally called “green tides,” are visible to the naked eye and satellite sensors in patches at the Salton Sea, usually between May and November. These were studied using satellite remote sensing and by direct sampling. Algal blooms are ruled out as a cause as phytoplankton abundance, and chlorophyll concentrations were lower within the patches than in surrounding areas. The presence of abundant microscopic gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) crystals in surface waters suggests that scattering from this precipitating salt produces the intense signals. Biogeochemical factors include: the decomposition of organic matter, resultant anoxia and production of hydrogen sulfide by sulfate-reducing bacteria at depth, and oxidation back to sulfate and precipitation of gypsum during wind-induced overturn events. Sulfide concentrations following one such event in September 2005 ranged from 0.3 to 2.7 mg 1−1 at the surface and 1.2 to 25 mg 1−1 in bottom waters. Gypsum crystals occurred at densities up to 40,000 ml−1 in surface water on that date, most 20–30 μm in length with some as long as 190 μm. From 1998 to 2006, gypsum blooms appear to have increased in intensity and duration implying an increase in sulfide irruptions and anoxia in surface waters. As much as 97 percent of the lake was affected in early summer of 2003 and 75–80 percent in summers of 2005 and 2006. Events lasted for months at a time during these years. This intensification is likely due to the decline in abundance of a planktivorous fish, a hybrid tilapia, the California Mozambique mouthbrooder, leading to increased algal productivity, more severe anoxia and higher levels of dissolved hydrogen sulfide. Gypsum blooms seem to have occurred at least as far back as the 1970s, and are associated with frequent mass mortalities of fish, plankton and benthos.

Valve development in the diatom family Asterolampraceae H. L Smith 1872

Seven extant and two fossil species within the family Asterolampraceae were studied with light and electron microscopy. The sequence of stages in valve morphogenesis was determined for those species where presumably developing valves were found. Occasionally valves from sibling cells were found still attached to one another, as they had been within the mother frustule during the process of cell division, giving evidence that forming, not eroding valves were being observed. Hollow rays are the most distinctive feature of genera in this family and appear to be formed by the marginal fusion of “tuning fork”-like structures emanating from a central or eccentric annulus. Rimoportulae, formerly termed labiate processes because of their lip-like internal structure, form at the marginal end of the rays where the “tines” of the forks apparently fuse. The structure of cribra, coverings over the loculate areolae, is very different in the species studied and we show the mode of development also varies.

Spatial and temporal patterns of transparency and light attenuation in the Salton Sea, California, 1997–1999

Abstract Transparency, as measured by Secchi disk depth (SD), and light attenuation (Kd(PAR)) were measured in the Salton Sea in 1997–1999. Linear regression models were used to evaluate the relative importance of phytoplankton and non-phytoplankton substances in determining SD and Kd(PAR). Paired measurements of SD and Kd(PAR) made in 1999 were used to track relative changes in the importance of light absorption and scattering processes. Phytoplankton biomass was a poor predictor of both SD and Kd(PAR) at mid-lake stations, and this is most likely due to high concentrations of non-phytoplankton substances such as inorganic particulate matter in the Salton Sea. During strong windstorms in the warmer part of the year, the upper water column mixes with hydrogen sulfide-laden bottom waters, causing large crashes in plankton populations. This previously reported phenomenon also strongly affects the light regime through the production of gypsum crystals, which scatter large portions of penetrating light. Since a large amount of variation in both SD and Kd(PAR) is not explained by phytoplankton biomass, any use of this relationship to forecast future changes in water clarity through nutrient reductions must be done with caution.