Motility and autotoxicity in Karenia mikimotoi (Dinophyceae)

Karenia mikimotoi is one of the most common red-tide dinoflagellates proliferating in the eastern North Atlantic and around Japan. Kills of marine fauna are associated with its blooms. In mixed water columns it migrates vertically, while in stratified water columns, the population remains confined within pycnocline layers. Wind events, increasing mixing and agitation initiate declines in its populations. This paper is focused on the formulation of mortality rate relative to shear rate. Autotoxicity is demonstrated by the use of a synthetic toxin. Bioconvection observed in cultures allows the establishment of a trade-off between phototropism, which leads to the local accumulation of cells, and their autotoxicity, which would prevent cell concentration. The combination of these processes allows diffusion of the toxin into the underlying water, where it subsequently degrades. Confinement of the population in the pycnocline layer results also from another trade-off between growth conditions and shear-rate-modulated mortality. A simplified encounter kernel was introduced into the population dynamics equation to account for a mortality factor. Under realistic forcing conditions with a small number of parameters, this model reproduced the confinement of the population in the pycnocline layer, the proper timing and the duration of the recurrent K. mikimotoi bloom on the Ushant front (France).