Camilo Rodríguez-Villegas

Universidad de Los Lagos

In recent decades, the alteration of coastal food webs (via aquaculture, fishing, and leisure activities), nutrient loading, and an expansion of monitoring programs have prompted an apparent worldwide rise in Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs). Over this time, a parallel increase in HABs has also been observed in the Chilean southern austral region (Patag...

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are recurrent in the NW Patagonia fjords system and their frequency has increased over the last few decades. Outbreaks of HAB species such as Alexandrium catenella, a causal agent of paralytic shellfish poisoning, and Protoceratium reticulatum, a yessotoxins producer, have raised considerable concern due to their adverse...

Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) pose a severe socio-economic problem worldwide. The dinoflagellate species Alexandrium catenella produces potent neurotoxins called saxitoxins (STXs) and its blooms are associated with the human intoxication named Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP). Knowing where and how these blooms originate is crucial to predict bloom...

The frequency of harmful algal blooms (HABs) has increased over the last two decades, a phenomenon enhanced by global climate change. However, the effects of climate change will not be distributed equally, and Chile has emerged as one important, vulnerable area. The Chilean Patagonian region (41-56 • S) hosts two marine ecoregions that support robu...

Over the recent decades, an apparent worldwide rise in Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) has been observed due to the growing exploitation of the coastal environment, the exponential growth of monitoring programs, and growing global maritime transport. HAB species like Alexandrium catenella—responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)—Protoceratiu...

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) of toxin-producing microalgae are recurrent in Patagonian fjord systems. Like toxigenic HABs, high-biomass harmful algal blooms (HB-HABs) have important socio-economic repercussions, but most studies have focused on the former. Here we report the formation and development of an intense HB- HAB of Prorocentrum micans that...

Species of the Dinophysis acuminata complex are the main cause of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning worldwide. These mixotrophs perform photosynthesis with plastids stolen from specific ciliate prey. Current transport models forecast advection of established populations, but modelling bloom development and maintenance also needs to consider the prey (...

The Inner Sea of Chiloé (ISC), northern Patagonia is a topographically and hydrographically heterogeneous area of critical interest to the Chilean blue economy due to the intensive artisanal benthic fisheries and aquaculture practices. Using benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages from Macrocystis pyrifera holdfasts, this study exposes how environmen...

At the end of summer 2020, a moderate (~105 cells L−1) bloom of potential fish-killing Karenia spp. was detected in samples from a 24 h study focused on Dinophysis spp. in the outer reaches of the Pitipalena-Añihue Marine Protected Area. Previous Karenia events with devastating effects on caged salmon and the wild fauna of Chilean Patagonia had bee...

In recent decades, global dissolved oxygen (DO) measurements have registered a decrease of ∼1%–2% in oxygen content, raising concerns regarding the negative impacts of ocean deoxygenation on marine life and the greenhouse gas cycle. By combining in situ data from 2016 to 2022, satellite remote sensing, and outputs from a physical‐biogeochemical mod...

Dinophysis acuminata and D. acuta, which follows it seasonally, are the main producers of lipophilic toxins in temperate coastal waters, including Southern Chile. Strains of the two species differ in their toxin profiles and impacts on shellfish resources. D. acuta is considered the major cause of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) outbreaks in S...

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) in southern Chile are a serious threat to public health, tourism, artisanal fisheries, and aquaculture in this region. Ichthyotoxic HAB species have recently become a major annual threat to the Chilean salmon farming industry, due to their severe economic impacts. In early austral autumn 2021, an intense bloom of the rap...

Harmful algal blooms, in particular recurrent blooms of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella, associated with paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), frequently limit commercial shellfish harvests, resulting in serious socioeconomic consequences. Although the PSP-inducing species that threaten the most vulnerable commercial species of shellfish ar...

Dinophysis acuminata and D. acuta, which produce diarrheogenic toxins and pectenotoxins in southern Chile, display site-specific differences in interannual variability (2006-2018) in Reloncaví, Pitipalena and Puyuhuapi fjords (41-46 • S), Chilean Patagonia. Linear Models show decreasing trends in rainfall and river discharge. Latitudinal decreasing...

The bloom-forming toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella was first detected in southern Chile (39.5–55° S) 50 years ago and is responsible for most of the area’s cases of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Given the complex life history of A. catenella, which includes benthic sexual cysts, in this study, we examined the potential link between...

The bloom-forming toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella was first detected in Southern Chile (39.5–55°S) 50 years ago and is responsible for most of the area’s cases of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Given the complex life history of A. catenella, which includes benthic sexual cysts, in this study we examined the potential link between l...

Dinophysis acuta and D. acuminata are associated with lipophilic toxins in Southern Chile. Blooms of the two species coincided during summer 2019 in a highly stratified fjord system (Puyuhuapi, Chilean Patagonia). High vertical resolution measurements of physical parameters were carried out during 48 h sampling to i) explore physiological status (e...

With the exception of a few taxonomic studies, the meiofauna of Chilean Patagonia have scarcely been studied. We report the initial results of an extensive sampling (16 stations) of the fjords, channels and continental shelf of northern Chilean Patagonia. At each sampling station, in addition to quantitative and qualitative meiofaunal samples; wate...