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Heterotrophic dinoflagellates Gyrodinium spp. are one of the major grazers of phytoplankton in many coastal waters. Gyrodinium dominans, G. jinhaense, and G. moestrupii have similar morphologies but different edible prey species. To explore the variations in the ecological niches of these three species, we investigated their spatial-temporal distributions in Korean waters. Because of the high similarity in morphology among these three Gyrodinium species, we used real-time polymerase chain reactions to quantify their abundance in water samples that were seasonally collected from 28 stations along the Korean Peninsula from April 2015 to October 2018. Cells of G. dominans were found at all sampling stations, G. jinhaense at 26 stations, and G. moestrupii at 22 stations, indicating that all three species were widely distributed in Korea. Furthermore, all three species displayed strong seasonal distributions. The largest numbers of the stations where G. dominans and G. jinhaense cells were present were found during the summer (26 and 23 stations, respectively), but that for G. moestrupii was found in the autumn (15 stations). The abundance of G. dominans was positively correlated with that of G. jinhaense, but not with that of G. moestrupii. The highest abundances of G. dominans (202.5 cells mL-1) and G. jinhaense (20.2 cells mL-1) were much greater than that of G. moestrupii (1.2 cells mL-1). The highest abundances of G. dominans and G. jinhaense were found in July, whereas that of G. moestrupii was found in March. The abundances of G. dominans and G. jinhaense, but not G. moestrupii, were positively correlated with water temperature. Therefore, the spatial-temporal distributions of G. dominans and G. jinhaense were closer than those of G. moestrupii and G. dominans or G. jinhaense. This differs from results based on the relative differences in ribosomal DNA sequences and the types of edible prey reported in the literature. Thus, the variations in spatial-temporal distributions and prey species of these three Gyrodinium species suggest that they may have different ecological niches in Korean coastal waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gymnodinium smaydae is a newly described mixotrophic dinoflagellate that feeds on only Heterocapsa spp. and Scrippsiella acuminata among 19 tested algal prey. It is one of the fastest growing dinoflagellates when feeding, but does not grow well without prey. To investigate its spatial-temporal distributions in Korean waters, we quantified its abundance in water samples that were seasonally collected from 28 stations along the Korean Peninsula from April 2015 to October 2018, using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions. This dinoflagellate had a wide distribution, as reflected by the detection of G. smaydae cells at 23 of the sampling stations. However, this distribution had a strong seasonality; it was detected at 21 stations in the summer and only one station in winter. The abundance of G. smaydae was significantly and positively correlated with chlorophyll a concentration as well as with water temperature. However, there were no significant correlations between the abundance of G. smaydae and salinity, concentrations of nutrients, or dissolved oxygen concentration. During the study period, G. smaydae was present when water temperatures were 7.6- 28.0°C, salinities were 9.6-34.1, concentrations of NO3 were not detectable-106.0 μM, and concentrations of PO4 were not detectable-3.4 μM. The highest abundance of G. smaydae was 18.5 cells mL-1 in the coastal waters of Jinhae in July 2017 when the chlorophyll a concentration was 127 mg m-3 and water temperature was 23.8°C. Therefore, the spatialtemporal distribution of G. smaydae in Korean coastal waters may be affected by chlorophyll a concentration and water temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]