Cyst production in four species of neritic dinoflagellates

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Abstract
The production of resting cysts in four species of dinoflagellates (Scrippsiella trochoidea, Ensiculifera sp., Alexandrium lusitanicum and Lingulodinium polyedra) was studied in response to several environmental factors of ecological importance (nitrate, phosphate, iron, copper and cyanocobalamin deficiencies, high concentrations of copper, turbulence, darkness plus concentration. as well as various media biologically conditioned by dinoflagellates) using unialgal cultures and enrichments of natural populations. Some nutritional deficiencies, mainly phosphorus or nitrogen (in this order), are the most effective inducers of encystment. Among the other deficiencies tested, only iron deficiency was important, affecting only A.lusitanicum. In some cases, biological conditioning produced considerable encystment reductions, making it an important means of competition between species. We suggest that encystment may be induced in these neritic species by deficiencies in compounds that act as indicators of changes in the hydrographic conditions to which the particular species are adapted.

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