Response of toxigenic Pseudo-nitzschia sp. to oil and dispersant exposure over 6 days

Pseudo-nitzschia is a common component of phytoplankton communities in the Gulf of Mexico, and some species can produce domoic acid, a potent neurotoxin. Some data suggests that Pseudo-nitzschia is fairly tolerant of oil exposure, but little to no work exists on how oil and dispersants impact its physiology and toxin production. This dataset is for a culture experiment done on a Pseudo-nitzschia sp. colony recently isolated from the Gulf of Mexico. Pseudo-nitzschia sp. was exposed to oil using the water accommodated fraction (WAF), and the dispersant Corexit by using a chemically enhanced WAF (CEWAF) and a diluted CEWAF (DCEWAF). Growth dynamics and photosynthetic performance was measured each day through the experiment, and measurements for domoic acid production and pigment content were done on the final day. Total oil concentration, as well as the alkane and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration, were characterized for each treatment.