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Effects of suspended and sedimented clays on juvenile hard clams, Mercenaria mercenaria, within the context of harmful algal bloom mitigation

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Abstract

Increased interest in using ecologically inert clays to flocculate, sediment, and thus mitigate harmful algal blooms at nearshore mariculture sites has prompted studies on the effectiveness of this method on prolific blooms, such as those caused by the neurotoxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis in the Gulf of Mexico. Potential repercussions of this control strategy revolve around the increased flux of suspended particles to the benthos. Juvenile suspension-feeding bivalves are potentially vulnerable as they could suffer burial, a decrease in clearance rates, and/or an increase in pseudofeces production in response to suspended clay, leading to reduced growth and delay in attaining size refuge from predators. Here we assess lethal and sublethal effects on juvenile hard clams, Mercenaria mercenaria, in a 2-week flume application of phosphatic clay to simulated blooms of the nontoxic dinoflagellates Heterocapsa triquetra and Prorocentrum micans. Flow regimes simulated two contrasting, “worst-case” field conditions where (1) low flow allowed complete sedimentation and formation of a benthic sediment layer, and (2) high flow allowed complete particle suspension. No clam mortalities occurred in either treatment. The sedimentation treatment showed variable growth inhibition in shell and/or tissue, but effects were not apparent compared to controls (no sediment layer), and clams rapidly resumed siphon contact with the overlying water column. In contrast, a strong growth effect (~90% reduction in shell and tissue growth) occurred in particle-suspension trials compared to no-clay controls. These results suggest that repeated clay applications in the field are likely more detrimental to clams in a high-energy environment leading to prolonged in situ resuspension of clay than in an environment favoring sedimentation.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Melissa Anderson, Steve McKenna, Debbie van der Meer, and Scott MacQuarrie from the IMB, NRC, and Robert Jordan and Bryan Schofield from Dalhousie University for their technical support and assistance in various aspects of this work. We thank Barry Hargrave at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography for the use of his fluorescent microscope for the past 2 years and for helpful comments. Paul Hill, Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, also provided valuable advice, which greatly benefited this work. We extend our thanks to WHOI postdoctoral fellows Stace Beaulieu, Aishao Li, and especially Mario Sengco for providing the clay and valuable unpublished information used in experimental design. This project was funded by ECOHAB-EPA (U.S. EPA grant No. R-825551-01-0l) via a subcontract from WHOI (D.A.) to V.M.B. at IMB, NRC. Supplementary student support was provided by a Dalhousie University Graduate Fellowship and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Graduate Research Award. This effort was supported by the U.S. ECOHAB Program sponsored by NOAA, U.S. EPA, NSF, NASA, and ONR. This is contribution No. 42389 from IMB, NRC, No. 10833 from WHOI, and 81 from the ECOHAB program. This study was carried out in accordance with required Canadian legal and ethical standards.

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  1. Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J1, Canada

    Marie-Claude Archambault & Jon Grant

  2. Institute for Marine Biosciences, National Research Council of Canada, 1411 Oxford Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3Z1, Canada

    V. Monica Bricelj

  3. Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS 32, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA

    Donald M. Anderson

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  1. Marie-Claude Archambault
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  2. V. Monica Bricelj
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  3. Jon Grant
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Correspondence to Marie-Claude Archambault.

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Communicated by R.J. Thompson, St. John’s

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Archambault, MC., Bricelj, V.M., Grant, J. et al. Effects of suspended and sedimented clays on juvenile hard clams, Mercenaria mercenaria, within the context of harmful algal bloom mitigation. Marine Biology 144, 553–565 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-003-1222-5

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