Nutrient-based method for assessing the hazard degree of red tide: a case study in the Zhejiang coastal waters, East China Sea

• Published in: Environmental earth sciences Vol. 70; no. 6; pp. 2671 - 2678
• Main Authors: Wen, Shiyong, Song, Lili, Long, Hua, Yu, Jun, Gao, Shugang, Zhao, Dongzhi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.11.2013; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Algae; algal blooms; Algal growth; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biogeosciences; Biological and medical sciences; case studies; coastal water; Coastal waters; Coasts; Disasters; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environmental Science and Engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geochemistry; Geographic information systems; Geology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Marine and continental quaternary; Nutrients; Original Article; Outbreaks; Pollution, environment geology; Red tides; Remote sensing; Risk assessment; Sea water ecosystems; Spatial distribution; specific growth rate; Surficial geology; Synecology; Terrestrial Pollution; East China Sea; Zhejiang China; West Pacific; Asia; China; Pacific Ocean; Far East; INW, Donghai Sea; Hazard degree assessment of red tide disasters; Nutrient; Zhejiang coastal waters; East China Sea; impact statements; models; growth rates; maps; density; probability; geographic information systems; remote sensing; case studies; spatial distribution; tides; nutrients; currents; growth
• ISSN: 1866-6280; 1866-6299
• DOI: 10.1007/s12665-013-2324-0

The assessment of the hazard degree of red tide is a new research field. The current study analyzes the relationship between the specific growth rate and N/P atomic ratio of red tide to obtain the assessment results of red tide under various N/P atomic ratios. This study aims to develop a nutrient-based method that can assess the hazard degree of red tide disasters based on the algal growth and cell density threshold of red tide outbreaks. This study obtained the following four main findings: (1) a nutrient-based tolerance model of the algal growth that can provide a quantitative description of Shelford’s law of tolerance was established, (2) a method that can assess the hazard degree of red tide disasters based on the time the algal growth reached the cell density threshold of red tide outbreaks was proposed, (3) the hazard degree assessment of red tide disasters was classified into four grades, namely, very high, high, medium, and low, and (4) the spatial distribution map of the Alexandrium tamarense red tide outbreak probability in the Zhejiang coastal waters was generated using the proposed method and the geographic information system and remote sensing technology.