Effects of Prorocentrum donghaiense and Alexandrium catenella on the material transfer in a simulated marine food chain

The biochemical composition of Prorocentrum donghaiense was analyzed and the effects of P. donghaiense and Alexandrium catenella on the transport of materials through a simulated marine food chain were investigated. The results showed that the content of phenylalanine, histidine and lysine in P. donghaiense was obviously lower than that in other dietary microalgae. Fed with P. donghaiense solely, the gross conversion efficiencies (GCEs) of A. salina increased gradually when the algal densities were lower than 4 × 104 cells/ml, and decreased gradually at higher densities. When fed with the mixture of P. donghaiense and the diatom Nitzschia. closterium, A. salina preferred grazing on P. donghaiense to grazing on N. closterium, and the GCEs of A. salina decreased with the increasing density of P. donghaiense. Exposed to A. catenella, A. salina lost weight and no Chlorophyll a was detected in the guts, which indicated that A. salina did not ingest the algal cells. When the re-suspended cells and cell-free medium of A. catenella were mixed with N. closterium or P. donghaiense, respectively, the grazing and GCEs of A. salina were all diminished. Consequently, the large-scale blooms of P. donghaiense and A. catenella in the East China Sea could adversely affect zooplankton owing to insufficient food or nutrition, and therefore impact the material transfer efficiency through the food chain.