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Abstract
<p class="first" id="P1">Inshore and offshore waters of the Gulf of Maine (USA) have
spring/summer harmful
algal blooms (HABs) of the toxic dinoflagellate
<i>Alexandrium fundyense</i>, which is responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning
(PSP) in humans. The calanoid
copepod
<i>Calanus finmarchicus</i> co-occurs with
<i>A. fundyense</i> during the seasonal blooms. At that time,
<i>C. finmarchicus</i> population abundances are high, dominated by immature copepods
preparing for diapause,
and by actively-reproducing adults. High survival has been reported for copepods exposed
to toxic
<i>A. fundyense</i>, but little is known about possible sublethal effects. In this
study,
<i>C. finmarchicus</i> adult females were fed either a control diet of non-toxic
<i>Rhodomonas</i> spp. or one of two diets containing either low dose (LD) or high
dose (HD) levels
(50 and 200 cells mL
<sup>−1</sup>, respectively) of toxic
<i>A. fundyense</i> for a total of 7 days in two independent experiments. As expected,
ingestion of the
dinoflagellate had no effect on copepod survival and grazing activity. However, significant
reductions of egg production and egg viability were observed in
<i>C. finmarchicus</i> females fed on either experimental diet. After the 7-day experiment,
total nauplius
production by females on the LD and HD diets was reduced by 35% to 75% compared to
the control females. These results suggest that blooms of
<i>A. fundyense</i> in the Gulf of Maine may be an environmental challenge for
<i>C. finmarchicus</i> populations, with a potential negative effect on copepod recruitment.
</p>