ALBERT

Description: The NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub (2015-2021) delivered a project that developed and progressed the adoption of nine national standards for marine survey design and sampling (field-manuals-marine-sampling-monitor-australian-waters). The project was a success, with 136 individuals from 53 organisations contributing to what is colloquially known as the SOPs (standard operating procedures). The SOPs are now considered best practices, being adopted at State, Commonwealth, and international levels by a range of users, including industry and in developing nations. Without taking the next steps and establishing national and long-term governance and application guidance, the SOPs run the risk of becoming outdated and being no longer fit-for-purpose as related to national marine monitoring objectives for key values and pressures. The first step in the development of a future framework for national marine standards is to solicit input from the marine science community about their needs. As such, we coordinated a workshop and questionnaire to collect this information (Advancing National Ocean Best Practices and Standards). The aims of the online workshop and questionnaire were: ● To improve the uptake and applicability of the national marine standard operating procedures (SOPs) and other best practices across diverse users; and ● To guide further actions on the development of future SOPs and how they are used. The workshop had 46 attendees, while the questionnaire had 47 respondents, both predominantly represented by people from Australia. High-level barriers to uptake of the SOPs were related to funding, awareness, training, content, and institutional support. Workshop participants also identified operational barriers and potential solutions. Importantly, there was consensus to continue the SOP program in the long-term, including the possible inclusion of methods, guides, and practices outside of NESP. Feedback from workshop participants and questionnaire participants was summarised into the following broad recommendations: ● Develop new SOPs, including those currently planned for NESP 2.2 (drop cameras, socioeconomic surveys, microplastics) as well as SOPs related to eDNA, drones, sub-bottom profiling, threatened and protected species, and underwater visual census ● Develop revised SOPs to provide clearer or more specific data release guidelines, updated guidelines regarding Indigenous partnerships, engagement and Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property, glossary or list of standardised terminology and case studies to highlight diversity of users and objectives. ● Increase relevance to other user groups, particularly First Nations, by understanding the needs, preferences and capabilities of these groups and using this information to tailor existing SOPs or develop new ones as required. ● Establish an oversight committee to develop and implement a national best practice endorsement process; identify the need for new and revised SOPs, facilitate accessibility and uptake of SOPs, and track uptake and impact. The input described in this report will be used in a 2024 implementation plan to guide the future of the SOP program.

Description: Published

Description: Refereed

Description: The proposed project will make contributions to marine natural disaster prevention of countries in the Indo-Pacific region. The project will have major focus on education and intelligent collaborations among young scientists. There will be summer course being offered to students from all participating institutions every year, together with personnel exchange program. The technology for developing regional physical-biological modeling will be introduced and the operational forecasting systems for regional environments are expected to be developed in the coastal regions along the Indian and western Pacific Ocean.

Description: Unpublished

Description: Given the go ahead, deep-sea mining operations are likely to continue for decades on a substantial spatial scale and the resulting sediment plumes combined, are likely to extend beyond the licenced mining areas, and could lead to the chronic exposure of deep-sea organisms to a mixture of metals, even mobile species, such as fish, that could conceivably display avoidance behaviour. The metal concentrations, often substantially below lethal doses, mean that individual mortality is too blunt a measure to allow assessment of “serious harm”. Commonly used cellular biomarkers of exposure in ecotoxicology include DNA damage using the Comet assay. True deep-sea ecotoxicological studies with fish are rare and to our knowledge, there are no published data or method optimizations for deep-sea fish. Coryphaenoides ssp. were collected during SMARTEX expedition 1 (Feb/Mar, 2023) to the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Eastern Pacific Ocean using a baited trap deployed between 4580–4,732m depth for 24–48 h. Blood and gill tissue were removed and processed for the Comet assay. In order to reduce artefactual DNA damage from cryopreservation observed previously, two sets of samples were prepared: a cryopreservative (10% DMSO) was added to one set of samples and stored at − 80 ◦C; the second set was used to perform a Comet assay within hours of collection. A custom-built gimble table enabled horizontal electrophoresis at sea after which Comet assay slides were dried and stored at room temperature until further analysis. The Comet assay was also assessed in freshly sampled and frozen rainbow trout cells as a proxy control in order to evaluate potential artefacts from the collection and sampling procedure of the deep-sea fish. The blood samples processed at sea had a significantly reduced level of DNA damage compared to the frozen samples. There was no significant difference between the fresh deep-sea and rainbow trout samples. However, the freshly prepared gill samples in Coryphaenoides ssp. showed substantial artefacts, possibly as a consequence of barotrauma. These results represent the first effort at establishing baseline DNA damage data for deep-sea fish, an essential component in understating and quantifying the impact of deep-sea mining.

Description: Published

Description: Refereed

Description: Despite the intensifying interest in flash drought both within the United States and globally, moist tropical landscapes have largely escaped the attention of the flash drought community. Because these ecozones are acclimatized to receiving regular, near-daily precipitation, they are especially vulnerable to rapid-drying events. This is particularly true within the Caribbean Sea basin where numerous small islands lack the surface and groundwater resources to cope with swiftly developing drought conditions. This study fills the tropical flash drought gap by examining the pervasiveness of flash drought across the pan-Caribbean region using a recently proposed criterion based on the evaporative demand drought index (EDDI). The EDDI identifies 46 instances of widespread flash drought “outbreaks” in which significant fractions of the pan-Caribbean encounter rapid drying over 15 days and then maintain this condition for another 15 days. Moreover, a self-organizing maps (SOM) classification reveals a tendency for flash drought to assume recurring typologies concentrated in one of the Central American, South American, or Greater Antilles coastlines, although a simultaneous, Caribbean-wide drought is never observed within the 40-yr (1981–2020) period examined. Furthermore, three of the six flash drought typol- ogies identified by the SOM initiate most often during Phase 2 of the Madden–Julian oscillation. Collectively, these find- ings motivate the need to more critically examine the transferability of flash drought definitions into the global tropics, particularly for small water-vulnerable islands where even island-wide flash droughts may only occupy a few pixels in most reanalysis datasets.

Description: Published

Description: Refereed

Description: Hypoxia (O2 〈 2 mg/L) driven by eutrophication in estuaries and shelves is a worldwide expanding problem. The role of organic matter (OM) inputs is emerging as an important contributor to this issue, beside the well-known implication of inorganic nutrients. The St. Lawrence Estuary, one of the largest and deepest estuarine system in the world is facing strong persistent and increasing hypoxia. In this context, transport and exchange of particulate and dissolved organic matter (POM and DOM, respectively) were investigated as a first step to understand their implication in hypoxia. Tributaries and Gulf contributions were compared to St. Lawrence Estuary inventories for the spring freshet (May), the summer low-flow (August), and the fall-mixing (October). Furthermore, changes in OM ratios were examined along the estuarine gradient from the upper St. Lawrence Estuary (USLE), downstream of the maximum turbidity zone, to the lower estuary (LSLE). For the USLE, net transport was always positive and net export/loading ratios suggested that 64–90% of POM and 30–63% of DOM were either retained or transformed during its course from tributaries to LSLE. Net transport from the USLE toward the LSLE was 3–13 fold more important in May than in August or October. For the LSLE, net transport to the Gulf was generally negative meaning that OM production was the dominating proces. The extremely high net export/loading ratios in August indicate that POM production was 28.8 to 41.4 times the combined inputs of tributaries and Gulf. Net export/loading ratios remained superior to one during May and October (1.7–9.4) for the LSLE. Changes along the upstream–downstream continuum were seen for POM, with a steady increase relative to total suspended matter from 7.3% to 50.2%, but they were not observed for DOM, for which no obvious trends were detected. Our results highlight the importance of explicitly considering OM in eutrophication monitoring programs of the St. Lawrence Estuary, as the mineralisation of a portion of the large OM pool size could influence our understanding of hypoxia and acidification of the deep waters of LSLE.

Description: Published

Description: Refereed

Description: The All-Atlantic Blue Schools Network (AA-BSN) is a remarkable network implemented under the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance. It has really embraced the spirit of this science diplomacy process: Connect, Act and Collaborate. It started from an idea back in 2019 when several Ocean Literacy experts from along and across the Atlantic Ocean got together in scope of the AANChOR project, funded to implement the Belem Statement. It builds on the experience of the Blue School in Portugal and the AAORA Working Group on Ocean Literacy in scope of the Galway Statement. With 16 Atlantic countries engaged (as of January 2023), 28 National coordinators from 18 institutions, 455 schools reached, 125 178 students and 3 458 teachers engaged it is truly an example of the desire of the All-Atlantic Ocean Literacy community to get together, to effectively act through a very specific collaboration opportunity and to impact tomorrow’s generation! By connecting schools from Atlantic countries to raise and promote ocean literacy and society awareness AA-BSN is contributing to European, National and International strategies. The bottom-up process where each school builds its own project based on its socio-cultural-economic reality is, in my opinion, the basis for the success of AA-BSN. And imagine… all that was possible in less than two years and with a pandemic period in between. AA-BSN is really an inspiring joint activity from the Atlantic Ocean Literacy community! Congratulation to all the team and those engaged. Well done!

Description: Published

Description: Not Known

Description: Research in the last few decades has revealed that rapidly ascending airstreams in extratropical cyclones – socalled warm conveyor belts (WCBs) – play an important role in extratropical atmospheric dynamics. However on the subseasonal timescale, the modulation of their occurrence frequency, henceforth referred to as WCB activity, has so far received little attention. Also, it is not yet clear whether WCB activity may affect tropospheric teleconnection patterns, which constitute a source of predictability on this subseasonal timescale. Using reanalysis data, this study analyzes the modulation of WCB activity by the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO). A key finding is that WCB activity increases significantly over the western North Pacific when the convection of the MJO is located over the Indian Ocean. This increased WCB activity, which is stronger during La Niña conditions, is related to enhanced poleward moisture fluxes driven by the circulation of subtropical Rossby gyres associated with the MJO. In contrast, when the convection of the MJO is located over the western North Pacific, WCB activity increases significantly over the eastern North Pacific. This increase stems from a southward shift and eastward extension of the North Pacific jet stream. However, while these mean increases are significant, individual MJO events exhibit substantial variability, with some events even exhibiting anomalously low WCB activity. Individual events of the same MJO phase with anomalously low WCB activity over the North Pacific tend to be followed by the known canonical teleconnection patterns in the Atlantic–European region; i.e., the occurrence frequency of the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is enhanced when convection of the MJO is located over the Indian Ocean and similarly for the negative phase of the NAO when MJO convection is over the western North Pacific. However, the canonical teleconnection patterns are modified when individual events of the same MJO phase are accompanied by anomalously high WCB activity over the North Pacific. In particular, the link between MJO and the negative phase of the NAO weakens considerably. Reanalysis data and experiments with an idealized general circulation model reveal that this is related to anomalous ridge building over western North America favored by enhanced WCB activity. Overall, our study highlights the potential role of WCBs in shaping tropical–extratropical teleconnection patterns and underlines the importance of representing them adequately in numerical weather prediction models in order to fully exploit the sources of predictability emerging from the tropics.

Description: Published

Description: Refereed

Description: Species of Diaporthe (syn. Phomopsis) are important endophytes, saprobes and pathogens, infecting a wide range of plants and resulting in important crop diseases. However, the species occurring on pear remain largely unresolved. In this study, a total of 453 Diaporthe isolates were obtained from branches of Pyrus plants (including P. bretschneideri, P. communis, P. pyrifolia and P. ussuriensis collected from 12 provinces in China) showing shoot canker symptoms. Phylogenetic analyses based on five loci (ITS, TEF, CAL, HIS, and TUB) coupled with morphology of 113 representative isolates revealed that 19 Diaporthe species were isolated, representing 13 known species (including D. caryae, D. cercidis, D. citrichinensis, D. eres, D. fusicola, D. ganjae, D. hongkongensis, D. padina, D. pescicola, D. sojae, D. taoicola, D. unshiuensis and D. velutina) and six new species described here as D. acuta, D. chongqingensis, D. fulvicolor, D. parvae, D. spinosa and D. zaobaisu. Although Koch’s postulates confirmed all species to be pathogenic, a high degree of variation in aggressiveness was observed. Moreover, these species have a high diversity, plasticity, and prevalence related to the geographical location and pear species involved.

Description: Gymnosporangium species (Pucciniaceae, Pucciniales, Basidiomycota) are the causal agents of cedarapple rust diseases, which can lead to significant economic losses to apple cultivars. Currently, the genus contains 17 described species that alternate between spermogonial/aecial stages on Malus species and telial stages on Juniperus or Chamaecyparis species, although these have yet to receive a modern systematic treatment. Furthermore, prior studies have shown that Gymnosporangium does not belong to the Pucciniaceae sensu stricto (s.str.), nor is it allied to any currently defined rust family. In this study we examine the phylogenetic placement of the genus Gymnosporangium. We also delineate interspecific boundaries of the Gymnosporangium species on Malus based on phylogenies inferred from concatenated data of rDNA SSU, ITS and LSU and the holomorphic morphology of the entire life cycle. Based on these results, we propose a new family, Gymnosporangiaceae, to accommodate the genus Gymnosporangium, and recognize 22 Gymnosporangium species parasitic on Malus species, of which G. lachrymiforme, G. shennongjiaense, G. spinulosum, G. tiankengense and G. kanas are new. Typification of G. asiaticum, G. fenzelianum, G. juniperi-virginianae, G. libocedri, G. nelsonii, G. nidus-avis and G. yamadae are proposed to stabilize the use of names. Morphological and molecular data from type materials of 14 Gymnosporangium species are provided. Finally, morphological characteristics, host alternation and geographical distribution data are provided for each Gymnosporangium species on Malus.

Description: The open source Video In Situ Snowfall Sensor (VISSS) is a novel instrument for the characterization of particle shape and size in snowfall. The VISSS consists of two cameras with LED backlights and telecentric lenses that allow accurate sizing and combine a large observation volume with relatively high resolution and a design that limits wind disturbance. Here, movies and images of falling precipitation particles are provided for station Ny-Ålesund from July 2022 to December 2023. For further details on the VISSS Sensor see Maahn et al. (2024).