Today, essentially every coastal country in the world is affected by harmful algal blooms (HABs), a phenomenon that, in the last decades, has been increasing in frequency and abundance. Some of the HABs causative microalgae produce biotoxins that can lead to illness and death in humans, and oceanic life, because of the transfer of biotoxins through the food web. To safeguard public health, governmental authorities conduct HABs monitoring through manual microalgae cell counts and biotoxin analyses in shellfish. However, usually, cell counts cannot provide more than a few days of early warning of shellfish biotoxins contamination.

The ultimate cause for biotoxins production by HABs is not clear, but based on the inherent toxicity of these compounds and the negative effects that some toxin-producing algae have on their grazers, biotoxins have been suggested to act as a protection against grazers. Thus, predator-prey chemical interactions may be an important driver in the formation of HABs and may potentially offer a cost-efficient approach to improve accuracy and lead time for predicting the accumulation of biotoxins in shellfish.

This project has received funding from the “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) through a Junior Leader Retaining Fellowship (LCF/BQ/PR23/11980049).