Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory: projects/activities

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Directory entires that have specified Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory as one of the geographic regions for the project/activity and are included in the AMAP, ENVINET, SAON and SEARCH directories. Note that the list of regions is not hierarchical, and there is no relation between regions (e.g. a record tagged with Nunavut may not be tagged with Canada). To see the full list of regions, see the regions list. To browse the catalog based on the originating country (leady party), see the list of countries.

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Displaying: 1 - 4 of 4
1. Reducing the environmental impact of sea cage fish farming through the cultivation of seaweeds

Although the most visible effect of fish cage aquaculture is the output of particulate organic waste, 80% of the total nutrient losses from fish farming are plant-available as potentially eutrophicating substances. This project will assess the ability of commercially important seaweeds, cultivated in the immediate vicinity of caged fish, to reduce the impact of such nutrient releases. The algae cultivated in high nutrient sites will be tested as a food source for humans and for cultivated shellfish, and a model of the distribution of dissolved contaminants from sea-cage fish farms will be developed to predict the impact of introducing algal cultivation at any site.

Pathways Biological effects Fish Spatial trends Environmental management Contaminant transport Food webs Sediments Pesticides Temporal trends Ecosystems
2. Oceanographic Applications to Eutrophication in Regions of Restricted Exchange (OAERRE)

1. Observations of the physics of vertical and open boundary exchange in Regions of Restricted Exchanges (REEs), leading to improved parameterisation of these processes in research and simplified models. 2. Study of the phytoplankton and pelagic micro-heterotrophs responsible for production and decomposition of organic material, and of sedimentation, benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling, in RREs, with the results expressed as basin-scale parameters. 3. Construction of closed budgets and coupled physical-biological research models for nutrient (especially nitrogen) and organic carbon cycling in RREs, allowing tests of hypotheses about biogeochemistry, water quality and the balance of organisms. 4. Construction of simplified 'screening' models for the definition, assessment and prediction of eutrophication, involving collaboration with 'end-users', and the use of these models to analyse the costs and benefits of amelioration scenarios.

Pathways Biological effects Sources Catchment studies Spatial trends Pollution sources Environmental management Contaminant transport Local pollution Sediments Temporal trends Ecosystems Eutrophication
3. Diversity and function of the bacterial flora of the toxic alga Gymnodinium catenatum Graham

1. To descirbe and compare the phylogenetic diversity and distribution of the total bacterial flora associated with G catenatum cysts and vegetative cells. 2. To culture and identify bacteria from G catenatum, and identify/characterise any bacteria capable of autonomous PST production in G. catenatum 3. To examine the effect of cyst surface sterilisation and re-introduction of bacteria on PST production in G catenatum 4. Survey bacteria for quorum sensing capability (cell signaling) and detect in situ quorum sesing in xenic G. catenatum cultures, relating to toxicity development. 5. Develop molecular markers of cross species quorum sensing, facilitating analysis of quorum sensing in uncultivated bacteria.

Pathways Biological effects Sources Fish Environmental management Food webs Human health Ecosystems Human intake
4. Correlation between algal presence in water and toxin presence in shellfish

1. Analysis of existing data from the current shellfish monitoring programmes in order to design a suitable sampling strategy 2. Ideentification of toxic algal species in UK waters 3. Construction of a detailed time-series at several key sites in the UK for toxic phytoplankton and shellfish toxin occurence 4. Comparison of the genotype versus toxicity of suspected toxic species between sites

Pathways Biological effects Algal Biology Fish Contaminant transport Exposure Food webs Ecosystems Human intake