POSTER Session 2

BIOLUMINESCENT SIGNATURES IN FOUR MARINE ENVIRONMENTS

The Underwater Bioluminescent Assessment Tool (UBAT) by Seabird Scientific was used to measure bioluminescence with 60 Hz sampling rate in the Banana River FL (AUG 2023), East Sound WA (MAY 2024), Gulf of Mexico 15 NM nearshore (FEB 2024), and 130 NM offshore (FEB 2024). In these four locations, the bioluminescent communities showed different species composition, inherent diversity, abundances, and bioluminescent signatures. Unique background bioluminescent signals can often be attributed to dinoflagellates such as Pyrodinium bahamense as seen in the Banana River, Noctiluca scintillans in East Sound, and Protoperidinium depressum, Tripos spp., Pyrocystis spp. in the Gulf of Mexico. Intermittent high intensity flashes are attributed to zooplankton such as: Oikopleura spp. (Gulf of Mexico), gelatinous organisms which were present in all locations such as Mnemiopsis leidyi (Banana River), Ocyropsis maculata (Gulf of Mexico), and Clytia gregaria (East Sound). Both Gulf of Mexico sampling sites exhibited very high species diversity with multiple species of bioluminescent dinoflagellates and zooplankton. Conversely, East Sound and Banana River had only two major bioluminescent contributors: a single dinoflagellate species and a gelatinous zooplankton species. Concurrent in situ shadowgraph video images of organisms were collected for all sites, and discrete samples were collected for bench top microscopy and cell organism abundance counts. This study describes the bioluminescence patterns detected within planktonic communities using the UBAT in four different environments.

*Abigail Blackburn, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, USA, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9903-3181

Francis Letendre, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, USA

Michael Twardowski, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, USA

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