Abstract
Halophila stipulacea is an invasive seagrass in the Caribbean Sea that also harbors a phytomyxid endoparasite. Phytomyxean parasites are known to cause disease in agricultural crops and are documented to form galls in some seagrass species. Here we make the first report of phytomyxid infection of Halophila stipulacea in the Bahía de Jobos in Salinas, Puerto Rico. We found phytomyxid infected H. stipulacea at 3 of 5 sites examined, expanding the documented range of the Marinomyxa marina phytomyxid infection by almost 400 km from where it was first documented in 2018. Presence of the endoparasite has not impeded H. stipulacea dispersal and continued expansion of H. stipulacea will likely spread both the host seagrass and the endoparasite.
Funding source: US EPA
Award Identifier / Grant number: RARE project # 2278
About the authors
James E. Kaldy is an ecologist with the Pacific Ecological Systems Division, U.S. EPA in Newport, OR. He holds a Ph.D. from University of Texas at Austin, a MSc from the University of New Hampshire, and a BS from Southampton College, NY. His research focusses on seagrass ecophysiological responses to stressors and biogeochemical drivers in order to better understand and detect the impacts of eutrophication and climate change on seagrass communities.
Cayla Sullivan is a Life Scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2’s Long Island Sound Office. In 2019, she obtained a MS in soil and water sciences from the University in Florida where her research focused on climate change impacts on tropical seagrass meadows. Her current work focuses on large aquatic ecosystem management with emphasis on the protection and restoration of eelgrass in the Long Island Sound.
Angel Dieppa is the Research Coordinator at the Jobos Bay NERR. He has a BS in marine biology and an MS in biological oceanography from the Univ. of Puerto Rico. His research focuses on marine and estuarine processes with emphasis on seagrass, mangroves, and climate change effects.
Ivelisse Cappielo Cosme obtained a BS in biotechnology from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) at Ponce in 2020 and is currently pursuing an MPH with an emphasis in environmental health from the UPR-Medical Sciences Campus. Cappielo is currently an ORISE participant at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2’s Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, where her research aims to provide a better understanding of human impacts in a tropical urban estuary, focusing on the San Juan Bay Estuary system.
Michael Schiebout received his PhD from the University of Northern Colorado and is currently a professor and researcher at Union University (Jackson, TN). Trained as a plant ecologist on the Shortgrass Steppe of New Mexico and Colorado, he has expanded his research to the ecology of submerged vegetation in the Caribbean Basin, specifically focusing on understanding growth characteristics and monitoring of turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum) populations in Puerto Rico and Southwest Florida.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank A. Pabón and M. Muñoz Hincapié and the staff at the Jobos Bay NERR, D. López Ocasio at DNRA as well as E. Huertas, M. Reiss, I. Wojtenko, J. Perzley and M. Pensak from US EPA Region 2 for their contributions to the project. Thanks also to D. Willette, G. Winters and V. Kolátková for assistance with identification of the endoparasite. Plant collections were obtained under Scientific collecting permit # 2021-IC-083 from Puerto Rico DNRA. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved the manuscript.
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Author contributions: James Kaldy: conceptualization, writing – original, supervision, project management, funding; Cayla Sullivan: investigation, writing – review editing; Angel Dieppa: conceptualization, investigation, writing – review editing, project administration; Ivelisse Cappielo Cosme: investigation, writing – review editing; Marco Orizondo Lugo: investigation, writing – review editing; Michael Schiebout: investigation, writing – review editing.
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Research funding: This work was funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a Region 2, Regionally Applied Research Effort (RARE) project (#2278). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the US EPA.
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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
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