A year-long study in the Bay of Banyuls-sur-Mer (France) assessed the inputs from the local intermittent Baillaury River and the stimulation of nearshore phytoplankton blooms. During flash-floods, dissolved inorganic nitrogen, phosphate and dissolved organic carbon concentrations in the river were neither correlated to the river discharge nor to the season. Silicate was correlated to the river discharge. The particulate organic matter load was diluted in a mineral matrix (3–4%) but had a high nutritional quality at the beginning of the flash-flood. The offshore response to the single major flow event (October 2005) was monitored daily during two weeks at 350 m (8 m water depth) and 1.4 km from the river mouth (long-term monitoring station, 27 m water depth). The flash-flood signal was partly hidden at the shallowest site by swell resuspension of bottom sediments. At the deepest station, three phases were identified: (1) at the beginning of flow, river dissolved inputs dilute conservatively leading to increased dissolved inorganic nitrogen and silicate concentrations and decreased seawater salinity, (2) during the main turbid pulse, phosphate is released and (3) after the water column cleared, diatom photosynthesis occurred at 3 m below the water surface, leading seven days after the flow peak discharge to a high of 2 µg L−1 of chlorophyll a, which vanished three days later. The nutrients and salinity recovered their pre-flow values at that time. This dynamics of nutrients and chlorophyll during a flash-flood event is consistent with long-term monitoring data.

We investigated the impact of an invasive species, Crepidula fornicata on the hydrodynamics and transport properties of the benthic boundary layer. We present results obtained by three different approaches: 1) in-situ measurements of near-bottom current and suspended sediment concentration on two sites in the Bay of Brest (Brittany, France), 2) velocity measurements in controlled laboratory experiments of flows over a bed of artificial Crepidula shells, and 3) numerical simulations of the flow over two-dimensional shell-like bed forms. Numerical and laboratory experiments showed that both the bed erosion and the exchange velocity between the canopy and the outer flow decrease as the roughness density increases. These results suggest a sheltering effect by the Crepidula shells increasing with the surface density of shells. This trend was also found in field measurements: during spring tides, higher particle resuspension was observed on the muddy sand bottom with few chains of slipper limpets compared with the high-density area. However, other processes may explain these data; their importance is thus discussed in this study.

Among the potential biotic factors affecting population dynamics, parasitism has received relatively little attention. The purpose of this study was to inventory marine bivalve parasites and to investigate relations between different parasite communities. Five intertidal stations along the French Atlantic shore were studied between Brittany and Arcachon Bay. Two bivalves (the edible cockle, Cerastoderma edule, and the Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum) were sampled and examined. The parasites included a bacterium (Vibrio tapetis), a protozoan (Perkinsus sp.), and digenetic trematode metacercariae (10 species). Perkinsus sp. prevalence and density in clams were higher than those measured in cockles (30 250 vs. 36 cells g−1 of gill wet weight, respectively) while digeneans were more common in cockles (46 metacercariae per cockle host vs. 1 per clam host). Distributions of digeneans and Perkinsus sp. were similar along the Atlantic shore. However, at each sampling station and at the individual scale, no correlation between Perkinsus sp. and digenean abundance was detected. These results suggest different ecological niches used by these two parasites within a community of bivalves but a similar response to environmental factors such as temperature and salinity. Vibrio tapetis was found at relatively high prevalence in all stations for both bivalve species (from 17% to 43% in cockles and from 23% to 50% in clams), but was associated with a low prevalence of Brown Ring Disease (BRD), a shell disease caused by this pathogen. No statistically significant relationship of these parasitic bacteria with trematodes and Perkinsus sp. was evidenced in the present study.

Among benthic organisms, bivalves are often used as bioindicators of environmental pollution because of their high bioaccumulation capacities for heavy metals leading to metallothioneins (MT) induction. MT are small cytosolic metal-binding proteins involved in metal homeostasis and detoxification in living organisms. These proteins can also be induced by a wide range of factors, such as hormones, physical stress, parasitism. MT quantification in relation to parasitism is rarely reported in literature, while parasites are omnipresent and have deleterious impacts on bivalves. Moreover, only a few number of MT genes have been characterized in molluscs. This study describes the partial sequence of the MT gene (Cemt1) in the edible cockle Cerastoderma edule. The cockle's MT cDNA was sequenced and showed over 80% homology to several other bivalve MT sequences. This sequence was then used to determine MT specific primers which can be used in quantitative real time PCR. MT protein and gene expression levels were quantified for individuals selected under different conditions: free from or infected by the digenean trematode Himasthla elongata, and under cadmium exposure at 15 µg Cd L−1. Results evidenced that MT concentrations were significantly increased by both treatments; parasite infection and Cd exposure. Moreover, congruent results between MT protein and gene expression levels were obtained.

Adult oysters Crassostrea gigas were experimentally fed with Alexandrium catenella and Alexandrium minutum which are responsible for recurrent toxic blooms in French coastal waters. C. gigas produced faeces and pseudofaeces containing intact and viable temporary pellicular cysts of these two Paralytic toxin producing species. When incubated in favourable conditions, these pellicular cysts were able to germinate at high rates (between 74 and 94%) and the resulting vegetative cells divided with growth rates close to the non- ingested cells (control). The toxin profile of the vegetative cells originated from the germinated temporary cysts was analyzed by liquid chromatography/fluorescence detection. Total toxin content of newly germinated cells was lower than that of cultured cells. Besides, cell contents of C2, B1, B2 and dcGTX3 toxins featured some changes. Our results suggest that the increased spreading of toxic dinoflagellates through the transfer of shellfish from contaminated towards pristine coastal areas cannot be ruled out. We also suggest that pellicular cysts and newly germinated cells could represent a potential way for the transfer of paralytic toxins toward the higher trophic levels.

In October and November 2003 a bloom of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella was observed in the North-east zone of Thau lagoon (French Mediterranean coast). Sea water samples were collected every hours to evaluate time-related variations of phytoplankton concentrations and to compare the relative ratio of A. catenella versus other phytoplankton species during the outbreak. From these observations, trials using recirculated sea water systems were performed to: i) evaluate the physiological effects on oyster of increasing proportions of A. catenella within a mixed microalgal diet where the non-toxic diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii was present at concentration: 1500 cells ml−1, ii) compare the effect of two temperatures (12 °C and 18 °C) on paralytic toxin accumulation rates in oyster flesh by ion-pairing high performance liquid chromatography (IP-HPLC) detection, iii) analyse toxin biotransformation during the contamination process, iv) evaluate the role of the different types of oyster tissue on the bioaccumulation mechanism.

The results showed: i) a significant effect of temperature increase on clearance rate and toxin uptake, ii) no detectable time-related effects of toxic algal food on pre-ingestion sorting or on toxin profiles in oyster flesh, iii) either negative or positive effects of A. catenella concentrations on toxin uptake (“threshold” effect), iv) high amounts of toxins in the digestive gland, accounting for more than 80% of overall shellfish toxicity. The daily amount of toxins (Qtox) taken up by each oyster was evaluated by means of a global one-compartment model. However a two-compartment model finally gave the best match with real contamination kinetics, since it integrated both toxins sequestered in oyster tissues and toxins moving in through the digestive tract.

Interdecadal versus interannual time-scale variations of catch data of three anchovy fisheries distributed in the Humboldt Current System (HCS) were analyzed during the period 1960–2002, by using first a loess smoother. The loess residual data were considered as the interannual variation. Interdecadal changes were highly coherent for the three fisheries of anchovy distributed in the HCS, while there were differences in terms of interannual variations. The north-central Peru fishery was similar to the south Peru-northern Chile fishery in terms of the interannual component of fluctuation of these fisheries which was significantly and negatively related with El Niño-Southern Oscillations events occurring during the spring of the previous year. Interdecadal synchronous variations in the three anchovy fisheries suggest a common forcing by long-term environmental factors in the HCS, although other causes cannot be excluded. During the last 40 years, coherent changes in anchovy fisheries were observed, and this synchronous pattern is out of phase with large-amplitude sardine regimes. Long-term climate variability seems to be the main cause for interdecadal fluctuations in anchovy fisheries in the HCS, although available time series are too short to prove this link and exclude the hypothesis of nonenvironmental forcing. Large-amplitude regime shifts may be more important to consider than interannual changes since they can affect simultaneously and more dramatically the three anchovy fisheries distributed in the Humboldt Current System.

Anchovy and common sardine co-occur in the same reproductive and feeding habitat off central southern Chile (33°00'–41°20'S), and have a similar reproductive strategy. Egg-survey data from one survey carried out during the austral winter in 2005 were used to analyze the spawning spatial structure of anchovy (Engraulis ringens) and common sardine (Strangomera bentincki) through geostatistical techniques and generalized additive models. The spawning spatial structure of both species was characterized by a spatial autocorrelation intensity varying similarly with distance in all directions, ranging between 27.2 and 32.6 km for anchovy and common sardine, respectively. In average, egg density of anchovy was higher than egg density of common sardine, with the bulk of the spawning for both species located in the southern sector of the study area (38°S–40°S). In this sector, both species showed an overlapped distribution, and egg densities were mainly associated to shallow and coastal zones, suggesting that coastal shape and bottom depth are important factors for the spawning of both species. In the south sector, the egg density of both species was positively correlated, indicating that spatial structure of the spawning is not explained by a different strategy of space occupation among anchovy and common sardine.

In mainland Portugal, rays constitute an important by-catch of multi-gear shelf fisheries. However and despite their economical importance, landing information discriminated by species is scarce. The relative stability in Portuguese annual landings of rays and skates can be misinterpreted as no evidence for species declines. The present concern on the overexploitation of individual species arises from both theoretical considerations about biological and ecological traits and for historical reasons.

This work constitutes an approach for a retrospective analysis of ray landings in mainland Portugal. Data from research surveys carried along the Portuguese coast was used to infer possible changes in species composition on Portuguese landings. Clusters were determined based on data collected during surveys from species composition for three time-periods, 1989-1991, 1995-1997 and 2001-2003. The relative importance of the associate species within clusters was the input data to define discriminating rules posteriorly used to assign clusters to landings from each commercial vessel. The results show an increase of species relative importance and changes on species abundance: Raja brachyura and Raja clavata decreased, whilst Leucoraja naevus, increased. Furthermore, it was observed a decrease on the mean weight of the two first species and a relative stability in the last one. Such results reflect the importance of species life-history characteristics in particular, on the response to fishing impact.

This study performed in the Patapédia River (Québec, Gaspésie) was designed to examine the space utilization and mobility patterns of individual Atlantic salmon parr over short time scales with frequent detections of position. In August 2004, n = 7 radio-tagged Atlantic salmon parr were located every 20 min during 10 tracking periods chosen to take into account the dawn, day, dusk and night periods. Parr showed important inter individual variability in space utilization and mobility patterns, occupying large home ranges (123 to 5602 m2) and sometimes migrating 2 km upstream in the river. No differences were observed in the mean distance travelled among the four daily periods by individual fish, but the estimated home ranges utilized during the four daily periods overlapped only partially, demonstrating that parr partly occupy different areas of the river during different parts of the daily cycle. The results suggest that an intense survey on a small number of fish may contribute to a complementary comprehension of space utilization and mobility patterns of Atlantic salmon parr when viewed in association with results from studies surveying larger number of fish at lower frequency.