ALBERT

Description: Micro-Raman spectroscopy has been used on adult bivalve shells to investigate organic and inorganic shell components but has not yet been applied to bivalve larvae. It is known that the organic matrix of larval shells contains pigments, but less is known about the presence or source of these molecules in larvae. We investigated Raman spectra of seven species of bivalve larvae to assess the types of pigments present in shells of each species and how the ratio of inorganic : organic material changes in a dorso-ventral direction. In laboratory experiments, we reared larvae of three clam species in waters containing different organic signatures to determine if larvae incorporated compounds from source waters into their shells. We found differences in spectra and pigments between most species but found less intraspecific differences. A neural network classifier for Raman spectra classified five out of seven species with greater than 85% accuracy. There were slight differences between the amount and type of pigment present along the shell, with the prodissoconch I and shell margin areas being the most variable. Raman spectra of 1-day-old larvae were found to be differentiable when larvae were reared in waters with different organic signatures. With micro-Raman spectroscopy, it may be possible to identify some unknown species in the wild and trace their natal origins, which could enhance identification accuracy of bivalve larvae and ultimately aid management and restoration efforts.

Description: INTRODUCTION: Lichens are self-sustaining partnerships comprising fungi as shape-forming partners for their enclosed symbiotic algae. They produce a tremendous diversity of metabolites (1050 metabolites described so far). OBJECTIVES: A comparison of metabolic profiles in nine lichen species belonging to three genera (Lichina, Collema and Roccella) by using an optimised extraction protocol, determination of the fragmentation pathway and the in situ localisation for major compounds in Roccella species. METHODS: Chemical analysis was performed using a complementary study combining a Taguchi experimental design with qualitative analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry techniques. RESULTS: Optimal conditions to obtain the best total extraction yield were determined as follows: mortar grinding to a fine powder, two successive extractions, solid:liquid ratio (2:60) and 700 rpm stirring. Qualitative analysis of the metabolite profiling of these nine species extracted with the optimised method was corroborated using MS and MS/MS approaches. Nine main compounds were identified: 1 β-orcinol, 2 orsellinic acid, 3 putative choline sulphate, 4 roccellic acid, 5 montagnetol, 6 lecanoric acid, 7 erythrin, 8 lepraric acid and 9 acetylportentol, and several other compounds were reported. Identification was performed using the m/z ratio, fragmentation pathway and/or after isolation by NMR analysis. The variation of the metabolite profile in differently organised parts of two Roccella species suggests a specific role of major compounds in developmental stages of this symbiotic association. CONCLUSION: Metabolic profiles represent specific chemical species and depend on the extraction conditions, the kind of the photobiont partner and the in situ localisation of major compounds.

Description: The seasonal variation of the intrusion of the Philippine Sea Water into the South China Sea was studied by analyzing the historical hydrographic station data in the northern South China Sea and the Philippine Sea. Water masses at 150, 200, and 250 m were classified by discriminant analysis according to their temperature-salinity characteristics. At each depth, most water in the study region was classified into two groups representing the Philippine Sea Water and the South China Sea Water, respectively. The geographic distribution of water masses in the South China Sea shows that the Philippine Sea Water was present along the continental margin south of China between October and January. A westward current in the northern South China Sea in winter was inferred from the distribution of the intrusion water.

Description: Multichannel seismic reflection data were used to determine the evolutionary history of the forearc region of the central Aleutian Ridge. Since at least late Miocene time this sector of the ridge has been obliquely underthrust 30° west of orthogonal convergence by the northwestward converging Pacific plate at a rate of 80–90 km/m.y. Our data indicate that prior to late Eocene time the forearc region was composed of rocks of the arc massif thinly mantled by slope deposits; the forearc region probably lacked both major depositional basins and a tectonically attached accretionary prism of offscraped oceanic deposits. Beginning in latest Miocene or earliest Pliocene time, a zone of outer-arc structural highs and a forearc basin began to form. Formation of these companion intraarc structures may be linked to the late Neogene growth of an accretionary wedge that formed as the result of the deposition of a thick turbidite wedge in the Aleutian Trench. Initial structures of the zone of outer-arc highs formed as the thickening wedge underran, compressively deformed, and uplifted the seaward edge of the arc massif above a landward dipping backstop thrust. Forearc basin strata ponded arcward of the elevating zone of outer-arc highs. However, most younger structures of the zone of outer-arc highs cannot be ascribed simply to the orthogonal effects of an underrunning wedge. Oblique convergence created a major right-lateral shear zone (the Hawley Ridge shear zone) that longitudinally disrupted the zone of outer-arc highs, truncating the seaward flank of the forearc basin and shearing the southern limb of Hawley Ridge, an exceptionally large antiformal outer-arc high structure. Slivers of forearc basement rocks and overlying strata have been transported along the shear zone that is flanked by differentially elevated structures attributed to localized transpressive and transtensional processes. Uplift of Hawley Ridge may be related to the thickening of the arc massif by westward directed basement duplexes. In addition, the forearc is disrupted by structures transverse to the margin that occur where unusually high-stress accumulations have resulted in the rupture of repeated great earthquakes. It is likely that many ancient active margins evolved in tectonic and depositional settings similar to those of the central Aleutian Ridge. Great structural complexity, including the close juxtaposition of coeval structures recording compression, extension, differential vertical movements, and strike-slip displacement, should be expected, even within areas of generally kindred tectonostratigraphic terranes.

Description: Uncertainty over the identity and age of Toba tephras across peninsular India persists, with radiometric age dates contradicting earlier compositional data, which have been used to identify this important Stratigraphie marker as the Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT). To address this issue, new single glass shard analyses have been performed for samples from Morgaon and Bori (north-western India), which have recently been dated at c. 800 ka. These, and indeed all Toba tephra samples thus far analysed from India, show the presence of four populations of glass shards (defined by their Ba/Y ratio), which uniquely identifies them as products of the c. 75-ka Youngest Toba eruption. Confirmation that the YTT fingerprint is characteristic comes from new analyses of Oldest Toba Tuff (OTT) glass shards from five sites in the Indian Ocean. These are compositionally identical to Layer D from the ODP site 758 Sediment core (c. 800 ka), and belong to a single, low-Ba population, clearly different from YTT. These analyses show that there is essentially no reworked OTT material in the YTT eruption, and indicate unequivocally that all known Toba tephra occurrences in India belong to the c. 75-ka Youngest Toba eruption.

Description: Several geochemical anomalies were observed before the Haichen, Longling, Tangshan, and Songpan earthquakes and their strong aftershocks. They included changes in groundwater radon levels; chemical composition of the groundwater (concentration of Ca++, Mg++, Cl−, SO4= and HCO3− ions); conductivity; and dissolved gases such as H2, CO2, etc. In addition, anomalous changes in water color and quality were observed before these large earthquakes. Before some events gases escaped from the surface, and there were reports of "ground odors" being smelled by local residents. The large amount of radon data can be grouped into long-term and short-term anomalies. The long-term anomalies have a radon emission build up time of from a few months to more than a year. The short-term anomalies have durations from a few hours or less to a few months.

Description: Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide in brown seaweed, has various biological activities including anti-tumor activity. We investigated the effects of fucoidan on the apoptosis of human promyeloid leukemic cells and fucoidan-mediated signaling pathways. Fucoidan induced apoptosis of HL-60, NB4, and THP-1 cells, but not K562 cells. Fucoidan treatment of HL-60 cells induced activation of caspases-8, -9, and -3, the cleavage of Bid, and changed mitochondrial membrane permeability. Fucoidan-induced apoptosis, cleavage of procaspases, and changes in the mitochondrial membrane permeability were efficiently blocked by depletion of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase kinase 1 (MEKK1), and inhibitors of MAPK kinase 1 (MEK1) and c Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK). The phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and JNK was increased in fucoidan-treated HL-60, NB4, and THP-1 cells, but not K562 cells. ERK1/2 activation occurred at earlier times than JNK activation and JNK activation was blocked by MEK1 inhibitor. In addition, fucoidan-induced apoptosis was inhibited by addition of glutathione and/or L-NAME, and fucoidan decreased intracellular glutathione concentrations and stimulated nitric oxide (NO) production. Buthionine-[R,S]-sulfoximine rendered HL-60 cells more sensitive to fucoidan. Depletion of MEKK1 and inhibition of MEK1 restored the intracellular glutathione content and abrogated NO production, whereas inhibition of JNK activation by SP600125 restored intracellular glutathione content but failed to inhibit NO production in fucoidan-treated HL-60 cells. These results suggest that activation of MEKK1, MEK1, ERK1/2, and JNK, depletion of glutathione, and production of NO are important mediators in fucoidan-induced apoptosis of human leukemic cells

Description: Until reliable procedures have been developed to preserve the phosphorus contained in particulate matter captured by in situ pumps and sediment traps and until these procedures are applied over a wide range of locations and depths in the sea, indirect methods will have to be used to determine the C/P ratio in marine detritus. We have taken two such approaches: (1) the use of C/N ratios for particulates captured in the upper thermocline in conjunction with 02/P and N/P ratios obtained from deconvolutions of ocean chemical data and (2) regression along isopycnals in the deep‐sea waters free of fossil fuel CO2. While neither approach yields a definitive answer, both suggest that a value of 127 carbon atoms per phosphorus atom would be a more appropriate interim value than that of 106 adopted long ago by A. C. Redfield and his associates.

Description: Forazoline A, a novel antifungal polyketide with in vivo efficacy against Candida albicans, was discovered using LCMS-based metabolomics to investigate marine-invertebrate-associated bacteria. Forazoline A had a highly unusual and unprecedented skeleton. Acquisition of 13C–13C gCOSY and 13C–15N HMQC NMR data provided the direct carbon–carbon and carbon–nitrogen connectivity, respectively. This approach represents the first example of determining direct 13C–15N connectivity for a natural product. Using yeast chemical genomics, we propose that forazoline A operated through a new mechanism of action with a phenotypic outcome of disrupting membrane integrity.

Description: Mutations or environmental factors that result in reversal of conspicuous left–right asymmetries provide an opportunity to study developmental mechanisms. They may also provide insight into evolutionary changes in asymmetry states within and between species. King crabs (family Lithodidae) have a larger right claw and females typically exhibit a dextrally offset abdomen. Nevertheless, I observed a high incidence of left handedness in laboratory reared box crabs (Lopholithodes foraminatus) and captured the first known egg-bearing female lithodid to exhibit reversed asymmetry. This provided a unique opportunity to characterize the reversed phenotype and to compare the incidence of reversed asymmetry in the offspring of normal and reversed females. Asymmetry of the chelae became apparent in the first postzoeal stage (glaucothoe) and handedness was maintained through subsequent instars. Females with larger left claws developed reversed abdominal asymmetry by the fourth crab stage. No reversed asymmetry was observed in the mandibles of zoea larvae or juveniles of either handedness. The incidence of reversed asymmetry in glaucothoe reared from one reversed and three normal females was high (between 20% and 30%), and independent of maternity (P=0.67). Removal of the right cheliped of fourth stage zoeae, and the major cheliped of glaucothoe, did not reverse the direction of asymmetry. Elevated larval rearing temperature also did not affect the frequency of reversed individuals. This lack of evidence for either heritability or induction of handedness is enigmatic. Further investigation of reversed asymmetry in lithodid crabs may provide valuable insights into the development and evolution of bilateral asymmetries.

Description: Eutrophication, coupled with loss of herbivory due to habitat degradation and overharvesting, has increased the frequency and severity of macroalgal blooms worldwide. Macroalgal blooms interfere with human activities in coastal areas, and sometimes necessitate costly algal removal programmes. They also have many detrimental effects on marine and estuarine ecosystems, including induction of hypoxia, release of toxic hydrogen sulphide into the sediments and atmosphere, and the loss of ecologically and economically important species. However, macroalgal blooms can also increase habitat complexity, provide organisms with food and shelter, and reduce other problems associated with eutrophication. These contrasting effects make their overall ecological impacts unclear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the overall effects of macroalgal blooms on several key measures of ecosystem structure and functioning in marine ecosystems. We also evaluated some of the ecological and methodological factors that might explain the highly variable effects observed in different studies. Averaged across all studies, macroalgal blooms had negative effects on the abundance and species richness of marine organisms, but blooms by different algal taxa had different consequences, ranging from strong negative to strong positive effects. Blooms' effects on species richness also depended on the habitat where they occurred, with the strongest negative effects seen in sandy or muddy subtidal habitats and in the rocky intertidal. Invertebrate communities also appeared to be particularly sensitive to blooms, suffering reductions in their abundance, species richness, and diversity. The total net primary productivity, gross primary productivity, and respiration of benthic ecosystems were higher during macroalgal blooms, but blooms had negative effects on the productivity and respiration of other organisms. These results suggest that, in addition to their direct social and economic costs, macroalgal blooms have ecological effects that may alter their capacity to deliver important ecosystem services.

Description: Transfer of the small gaseous molecules CO2 and NH3 across biological membranes, long thought to occur solely by simple diffusion, is now known to be facilitated by members of two multigene families: aquaporins (AQP) and rhesus (Rh) proteins. Although it is accepted that AQP1 and Rh proteins are involved in CO2 and NH3 transfer, respectively, the idea that a single channel can exhibit selectivity for both gases is controversial. Indeed, studies using the same in vitro model (human red blood cells) have provided evidence both for and against a role for Rh proteins as CO2 channels. Thus, this study was initiated to provide in vivo evidence for a dual function of Rh proteins as ammonia and CO2 channels. Here, we show that in zebrafish (Danio rerio), direct ammonia–CO2 competition experiments in adults or translational knockdowns of Rh proteins in larvae affects both ammonia and CO2 excretion. These results suggest that Rh proteins in zebrafish may be common pathways for transport of ammonia and CO2.

Description: Seismic techniques provide the highest-resolution measurements of the structure of the crust and have been conducted on a worldwide basis. We summarize the structure of the continental crust based on the results of seismic refraction profiles and infer crustal composition as a function of depth by comparing these results with high-pressure laboratory measurements of seismic velocity for a wide range of rocks that are commonly found in the crust. The thickness and velocity structure of the crust are well correlated with tectonic province, with extended crust showing an average thickness of 30.5 km and orogens an average of 46.3 km. Shields and platforms have an average crustal thickness nearly equal to the global average. We have corrected for the nonuniform geographical distribution of seismic refraction profiles by estimating the global area of each major crustal type. The weighted average crustal thickness based on these values is 41.1 km. This value is 10% to 20% greater than previous estimates which underrepresented shields, platforms, and orogens. The average compressional wave velocity of the crust is 6.45 km/s, and the average velocity of the uppermost mantle (Pn velocity) is 8.09 km/s. We summarize the velocity structure of the crust at 5-km depth intervals, both in the form of histograms and as an average velocity-depth curve, and compare these determinations with new measurements of compressional wave velocities and densities of over 3000 igneous and metamorphic rock cores made to confining pressures of 1 GPa. On the basis of petrographic studies and chemical analyses, the rocks have been classified into 29 groups. Average velocities, densities, and standard deviations are presented for each group at 5-km depth intervals to crustal depths of 50 km along three different geotherms. This allows us to develop a model for the composition of the continental crust. Velocities in the upper continental crust are matched by velocities of a large number of lithologies, including many low-grade metamorphic rocks and relatively silicic gneisses of amphibolite facies grade. In midcrustal regions, velocity gradients appear to originate from an increase in metamorphic grade, as well as a decrease in silica content. Tonalitic gneiss, granitic gneiss, and amphibolite are abundant midcrustal lithologies. Anisotropy due to preferred mineral orientation is likely to be significant in upper and midcrustal regions. The bulk of the lower continental crust is chemically equivalent to gabbro, with velocities in agreement with laboratory measurements of mafic granulite. Garnet becomes increasingly abundant with depth, and mafic garnet granulite is the dominant rock type immediately above the Mohorovicic discontinuity. Average compressional wave velocities of common crustal rock types show excellent correlations with density. The mean crustal density calculated from our model is 2830 kg/m3, and the average SiO2 content is 61.8%.

Description: The evolution of internal structure plays a pivotal role in the macroscopic response of granular materials to applied loads. A case in point is the so‐called ‘stress–dilatancy relation’, a cornerstone of Soil Mechanics. Numerous attempts have been made to unravel the connection between stress–dilatancy and the evolution of fabric and contact forces in a deforming granular medium. We re‐examine this connection in light of the recent findings on force chain evolution, in particular, that of collective force chain failure by buckling. This study is focussed on two‐dimensional deformation of dense granular assemblies. Analysis of individual and collective force chain bucklings is undertaken using data from a discrete element simulation. It is shown that the kinematics of force chain buckling lead to significant levels of local dilatation being developed in the buckling force chain particles and their confining first‐ring neighbors. Findings from the simulation are used to guide the development of a lattice model of collective, localized force chain buckling. Consideration of the statics and kinematics of this process yields a new stress–dilatancy relation. The physics of buckling, even at its simplest form, introduces a richness into the stress–dilatancy formulation in a way that preserves the essential aspects of fabric evolution, specifically the buckling mode.

Description: We present a conceptual model of fluid circulation in a ridge flank hydrothermal system, the Mariana Mounds. The model is based on chemical data from pore waters extracted from piston cores and from push cores collected by deep-sea research vessel Alvin in small, meter-sized mounds situated on a local topographic high. These mounds are located within a region of heat flow exceeding that calculated from a conductive model and are zones of strong pore water upflow. We have interpreted the chemical data with time-dependent transport-reaction models to estimate pore water velocities. In the mounds themselves pore water velocities reach several meters per year to kilometers per year. Within about 100 m from these zones of focused upflow velocities decrease to several centimeters per year up to tens of centimeters per year. A larger area of low heat flow surrounds these heat flow and topographic highs, with upwelling pore water velocities less than 2 cm/yr. In some nearby cores, downwelling of bottom seawater is evident but at speeds less than 2 cm/yr. Downwelling through the sediments appears to be a minor source of seawater recharge to the basaltic basement. We conclude that the principal source of seawater recharge to basement is where basement outcrops exist, most likely a scarp about 2–4 km to the east and southeast of the study area.

Description: Cormorants, Phalacocorax spp., have great potential to affect recreational fisheries and have increased substantially in abundance over the last decades in UK inland waters. Fabricated refuges provide a potential means of reducing fish losses, yet the benefits of such structures may be marginal if natural shelters are abundant and favoured, or if strong density-dependence limits refuge use. This study examined the efficacy of artificial shelters in mesocosm enclosures that allowed standardised and replicated observations of roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.), distribution. When given a choice between occupying open water, simulated reedbeds and artificial brushwood shelters, roach used brushwood shelters extensively across a range of fish densities. When fish had a choice of occupying open water or reedbeds offering no overhead cover, they actively avoided reedbeds and used open water almost exclusively. Occupation of reedbeds was positively related to the amount of overhead cover they provided. When artificial brushwood shelters and reedbeds offered complete overhead cover, brushwood shelters were occupied twice as much as reedbeds. Artificial shelters may therefore have wide application in stillwaters with abundant reedbeds unless the reedbeds are coupled with extensive overhead cover.

Description: Aftershocks of shallow earthquakes larger than magnitude 7 in the Aleutians, southern Alaska, southeast Alaska, and offshore British Columbia from 1920 to 1970 were relocated by computer in an attempt to delineate the rupture zones of large earthquakes. Plate tectonic theory indicates that gaps in activity for large earthquakes for the past 10's to 100's of years are likely sites of future large earthquakes. Three prominent gaps of this type are delineated: one in southeast Alaska; another in southern Alaska near the epicenters of the great earthquakes of 1899 and 1900; and one in the far western Aleutians. These gaps deserve high priority for study and instrumentation. Large earthquakes appear to be much more regular than smaller shocks in their distributions with respect to space, time, and size. Aftershock zones of events since 1930 that are larger than magnitude 7.8 are longer than 250 km and those less than 7.5 are shorter than 125 km. The rupture zones of events that occurred before 1930 could not be delineated from aftershock locations. Aftershock zones of large earthquakes tend to abut without significant overlap even for rupture zones as long as 1200 km. Nearly the entire Alaska-Aleutian zone from 145°W to 171°E has broken since 1938 in a series of large earthquakes. The rupture zones of five large events appear to form a space-time sequence that progressed from 155°W in 1938 to 171°E in 1965. This sequence is much like the well-known westward progression of activity since 1939 along the North Anatolian fault. Shocks with long rupture zones tend to occur along those parts of the Alaska-Aleutian zone that are relatively simple tectonically. The ends of many aftershock zones of large earthquakes are located at the intersection of major transverse features with the Aleutian arc. Large earthquakes rarely, if ever, reoccur along the same part of a fault zone in less than several tens of years, i.e. within a time less than that for substantial strain accumulation. Events of comparable magnitude that occur soon after some great earthquakes usually involve rupture in a region adjacent to but different from that of the main shock. The March 30, 1965, earthquake of magnitude 7.5, which involved normal faulting in the Aleutian trench, appears to have been triggered by thrust faulting along the adjacent inner margin of the trench in the magnitude 7.9 earthquake of February 4, 1965. Large events of the thrust type are commonly followed within ten years by events involving normal faulting in the adjacent part of the trench. Estimates of average displacements and of the repeat times of great earthquakes from measurements of 20-sec surface waves are systematically too small and do not agree with the meager historic record of great shocks. Other estimates of repeat times vary from 30 to 850 years, but neither of these extremes appears to be typical. The aftershock zone of the April 1, 1946, Aleutian earthquake, which generated one of the largest and most widespread seismic sea waves in the Pacific during this century, was very small. A large displacement of the ocean floor may be responsible for the generation of the large sea wave. An average displacement of 2.4 to 4.1 meters was calculated from amplitudes of 100-sec waves.

Description: We measured the respiratory isotope effect ϵresp for seven representative unicellular marine organisms. The bacterium Pseudomonas halodurans, the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, the phytoflagellates Cryptomonas baltica and Dunaliella tertiolecta, the heterotrophic flagellates Paraphysomonas imperforata and Bodo sp., and the ciliate Uronema sp. exhibit ϵresp values in the range 14-26‰. We also measured ϵresp for three metazoans. The ϵresp for the copepod Acartia tonsa ranged from 17 to 25‰, while two larger organisms, the mollusk Mercenaria mercenaria and the salmon Salmo salmar, respire with a smaller ϵresp of 5-10‰. The average respiratory isotope effect of the dominant marine respirers (the bacteria, microalgae and zooplankton) is about 20 ± 3‰. An ϵresp of this magnitude supports the hypothesis that the photosynthesis-respiration cycle is responsible for the 23.5‰ enrichment in the δ18O ratio of atmospheric O2 relative to seawater (the Dole effect). The large value and high variability in the average ϵresp limits the usefulness of a proposed method using the δ18O of naturally fractionated dissolved O2 in seawater as a tracer of primary production in the oligotrophic ocean.

Description: We review the current understanding of the Dole effect (the observed difference between the δ18O of atmospheric O2 and that of seawater) and its causes, extend the record of variations in the Dole effect back to 130 kyr before present using data on the δ18O of O2 obtained from studying the Vostok ice core (Sowers et al., 1993), and discuss the significance of temporal variations. The Dole effect reflects oxygen isotope fractionation during photosynthesis, respiration, and hydrologic processes (evaporation, precipitation, and evapotranspiration). Our best prediction of the present-day Dole effect, +20.8‰, is considerably lower than the observed value, +23.5‰, and we discuss possible causes of this discrepancy. During the past 130 kyr, the Dole effect has been 0.05‰ lower than the present value, on average. The standard deviation of the Dole effect from the mean has been only ±0.2‰, and the Dole effect is nearly unchanged between glacial maxima and interglacial periods. The small variability in the Dole effect suggests that relative rates of primary production in the land and marine realms have been relatively constant. Most periodic variability in the Dole effect is in the precession band, suggesting that changes in this global biogeochemical term reflects variations in low-latitude land hydrology and productivity or possibly variability in low-latitude oceanic productivity.

Description: 1. The hypothesis that cyanobacteria have higher optimum growth temperatures and higher growth rates at the optimum as compared to chlorophytes was tested by running a controlled experiment with eight cyanobacteria species and eight chlorophyte species at six different temperatures (20–35 °C) and by performing a literature survey. 2. In the experiment, all organisms except the chlorophyte Monoraphidium minutum grew well up to 35 °C. The chlorophyte Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was the fastest-growing organism over the entire temperature range (20–35 °C). 3. Mean optimum growth temperatures were similar for cyanobacteria (29.2 °C) and chlorophytes (29.2 °C). These results are concordant with published data, yielding slightly higher mean optimum growth temperatures for cyanobacteria (27.2 °C) than for chlorophytes (26.3 °C). 4. Mean growth rates of cyanobacteria at 20 °C (0.42 day−1) were significantly lower than those of chlorophytes at 20 °C (0.62 day−1). However, at all other temperatures, there were no differences between mean growth rates of cyanobacteria and chlorophytes. 5. Mean growth rates at the optimum temperature were similar for cyanobacteria (0.92 day−1) and chlorophytes (0.96 day−1). However, analysis of published data revealed that growth rates of cyanobacteria (0.65 day−1) were significantly lower than those of chlorophytes (0.93 day−1) at their optimum temperatures. 6. Although climate warming will probably lead to an intensification of cyanobacterial blooms, our results indicate that this might not be as a result of higher growth rates of cyanobacteria compared with their chlorophyte competitors. The competitive advantage of cyanobacteria can more likely be attributed to their ability to migrate vertically and prevent sedimentation in warmer and more strongly stratified waters and to their resistance to grazing, especially when warming reduces zooplankton body size.

Description: The Swedish UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site of the Birka and Hovgården Iron Age settlements is well suited for the testing of high-resolution archaeological prospection methods. In May 2006 ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometer test measurements were conducted at Birka, resulting in data of outstanding quality and new archaeological discoveries, but also demonstrating the need for increased spatial sampling regarding GPR prospection at complex Scandinavian sites. Therefore Birka was selected as a testing ground for a pilot study investigating the suitability of the novel multichannel GPR array system MIRA (MALÅ Imaging Radar Array) for efficient, large-scale GPR surveys with very dense spatial sampling. The study was conducted in May 2008 by MALÅ Geoscience AB in collaboration with the archaeological prospection unit of the Swedish National Heritage Board. The very high-resolution three-dimensional GPR pilot survey demonstrated that it is possible to survey 1 ha and more per day with 8 cm cross-line spacing, mapping archaeological structures in unprecedented resolution, such as postholes of only 25 cm diameter. This paper describes the tested technology and methodology as well as the fieldwork and the results of the study.

Description: Much attention has been paid, in recent years, to the potential application of the Ce anomaly, measured in various marine phases, as a paleoceanographic indicator of widespread marine anoxia. In this paper we present and discuss results from recent studies of present‐day rare earth element (REE) distributions (and hence Ce anomaly distributions) in the marine environment which are particularly pertinent to paleoceanography. Subsequently, we review and discuss the validity of the recent literature in which Ce anomalies have been employed as paleoredox indicators.

Description: In many geotechnical systems, it is not uncommon to observe failure in zones of high localized strain called shear bands. The existing models predict the existence and the extent of these localizations, but provide little insight into the micromechanics within the shear bands. This research captures and compares the variation in microstructure both inside and outside of shear bands that formed in physical laboratory plane strain and companion numerical two-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) biaxial compression experiments. Unsheared and sheared laboratory specimens of Ottawa 20–30 sand of varying dilatancy were solidified using a two-stage resin impregnation procedure. The solidified specimens were sectioned and the resulting surfaces were prepared for microstructure observation using optical bright-field microscopy and stereological analysis. Statistical properties of microstructural parameters for sub-regions in a grid pattern and along predefined inclined zones were determined. Similar measurements were performed on 2D DEM simulation specimens at varying strain levels to characterize the evolution of microstructure with increasing strain. The results showed how differences evolved in the mean, standard deviation, and entropy of void distributions with increasing global strain levels. The results indicate how disorder increases and that the material within the shear band does not adhere to the classical concept of critical state, but reaches a terminal void ratio that is largely a function of initial void ratio. Furthermore, there appears to be a transition zone between the far field and the fully formed shear block, as opposed to an abrupt delineation as is traditionally inferred.

Description: Core HU97048-007PC was recovered from the continental Labrador Sea slope at a water depth of 945 m, 250km seaward from the mouth of Cumberland Sound, and 400km north of Hudson Strait. Cumberland Sound is a structural trough partly floored by Cretaceous mudstones and Paleozoic carbonates. The record extends from 10 to 58 ka. On-board logging revealed a complex series of lithofacies, including buff-colored detrital carbonate-rich sediments [Heinrich (H)-events] frequently bracketed by black facies. We investigate the provenance of these facies using quantitative X-ray diffraction on drill-core samples from Paleozoic and Cretaceous bedrock from the SE Baffin Island Shelf, and on the〈2-mm sediment fraction in a transect of five cores from Cumberland Sound to the NW Labrador Sea. A sediment unmixing program was used to discriminate between sediment sources, which included dolomite-rich sediments from Baffin Bay, calcite-rich sediments from Hudson Strait and discrete sources from Cumberland Sound. Results indicated that the bulk of the sediment was derived from Cumberland Sound, but Baffin Bay contributed to sediments coeval with H-0 (Younger Dryas), whereas Hudson Strait was the source during H-events 1–4. Contributions from the Cretaceous outcrops within Cumberland Sound bracket H-events, thus both leading and lagging Hudson Strait-sourced H-events.

Description: Abundances of 12 species of planktonic foraminifera collected in two plankton tows from the east tropical Atlantic are compared to the chlorophyll content and the temperature of the sea water from which they were collected. As expected from previous work in the tropics, all dominant tropical species occur in greatest abundance within the photic zone. Many species occur in greatest abundances in the seasonal thermocline in association with the maximum chlorophyll concentration, while a few algal symbiont-bearing species occur in greatest abundance in the mixed layer. The δ18O measurements of planktonic foraminifera shells from core top sediment samples confirm the vertical stratification within the photic zone that is suggested by the relationship between hydrography and abundances found in the plankton tows and found in the statistical study by Ravelo et al. [1990]. Comparison between the measured δ18O values of planktonic foraminifera with the predicted δ18O profiles of the overlying water column at three core locations indicate that species abundances in the sediment record the seasonally integrated conditions of the photic zone and suggests that the abundance of a species in the sediment depends on whether the preferred ecological conditions of that species may be found within the photic zone of the overlying water column sometime during the year. Species which calcify below the photic zone have only trace relative abundances. Finally, it appears that the total range of δ18O values of the dominant species approximates the predicted annual δ18O of calcite range in the upper 80 m of the water column.

Description: In virtually every assessment of responses to large-scale crises and disasters, coordination is identified as a critical failure factor. After the crisis, official committees and political opponents often characterize the early phases of the response as a ‘failure to coordinate.’ Not surprisingly, improved coordination quickly emerges as the prescribed solution. Coordination, then, is apparently both the problem and the solution. But the proposed solutions rarely solve the problem: coordination continues to mar most crises and disasters. In the absence of a shared body of knowledge on coordination, it is hard to formulate a normative framework that allows for systematic assessment of coordination in times of crisis. As coordination is widely perceived as an important function of crisis and disaster management, this absence undermines a fair and balanced assessment of crisis management performance. This paper seeks to address that void. We aim to develop a framework that explains both the failure and success of crisis coordination. We do this by exploring the relevant literature, reformulating what coordination is and distilling from research the factors that cause failure and success.

Description: The purine alkaloid caffeine is a major component of many beverages such as coffee and tea. Caffeine and its metabolites theobromine and xanthine have been shown to have antioxidant properties. Caffeine can also act as adenosine-receptor antagonist. Although it has been shown that adenosine and antioxidants promote wound healing, the effect of caffeine on wound healing is currently unknown. To investigate the effects of caffeine on processes involved in epithelialisation, we used primary human keratinocytes, HaCaT cell line and ex vivo model of human skin. First, we tested the effects of caffeine on cell proliferation, differentiation, adhesion and migration, processes essential for normal wound epithelialisation and closure. We used 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) proliferation assay to test the effects of seven different caffeine doses ranging from 0·1 to 5 mM. We found that caffeine restricted cell proliferation of keratinocytes in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, scratch wound assays performed on keratinocyte monolayers indicated dose-dependent delays in cell migration. Interestingly, adhesion and differentiation remained unaffected in monolayer cultures treated with various doses of caffeine. Using a human ex vivo wound healing model, we tested topical application of caffeine and found that it impedes epithelialisation, confirming in vitro data. We conclude that caffeine, which is known to have antioxidant properties, impedes keratinocyte proliferation and migration, suggesting that it may have an inhibitory effect on wound healing and epithelialisation. Therefore, our findings are more in support of a role for caffeine as adenosine-receptor antagonist that would negate the effect of adenosine in promoting wound healing.

Description: Pore water has been analyzed from sediment cores taken from three areas on the eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge as part of FlankFlux 90, a study of hydrothermal circulation through mid-ocean ridge flanks. Seismic reflection and heat flow surveys (Davis et al., 1992a) indicate that the three areas differ in sediment thickness, basement topography, abundance of outcrops, basement temperature, and fraction of heat lost by advection versus conduction. Area 1 is on 0.6 Ma crust with nearly continuous basement outcrop, area 2 is on 1.3 Ma crust over the first buried ridge parallel to the present ridge axis, and area 3 is on 3.5–3.8 Ma crust over two axis-parallel buried ridges that penetrate the sediment cover in three locations. Each area includes a hydrothermal system in which seawater flows into basement, reacts with crustal basalt, and then exits basement either through the sediment or directly into the overlying water column. As constrained by concentrations of sulfate and lithium in the pore waters, at least some seawater enters basement in all three areas without reacting fully with the overlying sediment, even where no outcrops are known nearby. Speeds of up welling of pore water through the sediment have been estimated by fitting profiles of dissolved magnesium and chlorinity, which behave conservatively in these areas, to numerical time-dependent transport models. The estimated velocities range from 〈0.1 to 7.4 cm/yr; faster flows probably occur but were not sampled. Upwelling speed correlates positively with heat flow and basement highs and negatively with sediment thickness. The correlation with heat flow differs from area 2 to area 3 along with differences in physical properties of the turbidite sediment. We have documented pore water upwelling through sediment up to 100 m thick. We estimate that upwelling continues at decreasing speeds through sediment up to 160 m thick, corresponding to a heat flow of 0.44 W/m2 in area 2 and 0.3 W/m2 in area 3. Concentrations of magnesium and chlorinity in the altered seawater upwelling from basement are uniform within each area but differ from one area to the next. Both species remain at the bottom seawater concentration in area 1, where basement is cooled to 〈10°C at the base of the sediments mainly by advection. The concentration of magnesium decreases with increasing basement temperature in areas 2 and 3 to a minimum of 2.5 mmol/kg at about 90°C in area 3. The transition from largely advective to largely conductive heat loss occurs over only 20 km between areas 1 and 2 and corresponds to a dramatic change in the composition of fluid circulating through basement, as the uppermost basement is heated from 〈10° to 40–50°C. Chlorinity of the basement fluid increases above the present-day bottom seawater concentration in areas 2 and 3 and in nearly all other mid-ocean ridge flanks studied to date, as a result of rock hydration and the higher chlorinity of bottom seawater during the last glacial period. While chlorinity generally correlates positively with uppermost basement temperature in various ridge flank hydrothermal systems, it reaches a maximum in area 2 at only 40°C, probably because alteration there occurs at a lower water/rock ratio than elsewhere. For all mid-ocean ridge flanks studied to date, the temperature at the basement interface correlates better with the fraction of heat lost by advection versus conduction and with the average thickness of the sediment cover than with crustal age.

Description: In May 2006 high-resolution measurements using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic gradiometer systems conducted over selected areas at the site of the Viking Age settlement and trading place Birka in central Sweden demonstrated the suitability of these methods for archaeological prospection of Scandinavian proto-urban settlements. The non-invasive geophysical surveys revealed numerous structural details of the settlement: houses, property boundaries, track-ways, buried remains of the town ramparts dating from different building periods, including a gate, were mapped with a manually operated single-channel GPR system and a four-channel magnetometer array. The combination of these two prospection methods, state-of-the-art data processing and visualization and archaeological interpretation within a geographical information system resulted in valuable new information about the UNESCOWorld Cultural Heritage Site Birka-Hovgården.We present methodology and results of this first archaeological prospection case study conducted in 2006.

Description: An examination of 311 intraplate earthquakes in the Australian plate portion of the Pacific Ocean basin reported from 1918 to 1990 reveals that only 113 events are reliably intraplate, with most of the rest relocating to active trenches and transforms. The non-random distribution of the reliably intraplate events gives insight into the tectonic stresses present. The central Tasman Sea is mostly aseismic except for a swarm of activity at the predicted site of the Tasmantid hot spot. To the north, the broad regions of the Coral Sea, South Fiji Basin and Lord Howe Rise show very little intraplate seismicity, yet the narrow Norfolk Ridge and Three Kings Rise, caught between the double convergence of the New Hebrides and Tonga subduction zones, support many more earthquakes. High levels of intraplate seismicity in the southern Tasman Sea adjacent to the Macquarie Ridge Complex (MRC) indicate that this region may be undergoing internal deformation due to the unusual nature of the Australia-Pacific plate boundary. Additional support exists in the form of intraplate focal mechanisms similar to those at the plate boundary and a set of parallel gravity rolls which are observed in recent geoid maps. Some aftershocks of the Mw = 8.2 Macquarie Ridge earthquake of 1989 occurred in a fracture zone west of the Macquarie Ridge Complex [Das, 1992], but we have found several earthquakes from as early as 1924 which relocate to this feature, suggesting that its reactivation may be more significant than previously thought. This reactivation of a fossil fracture zone may be the result of the increasing amount of oblique convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates at the Macquarie Ridge Complex, formerly a spreading center, and the stresses associated with subducting recently formed Australian ocean crust beneath the older Pacific plate.

Description: The eastern Mediterranean transient (EMT) was caused by a combination of high‐salinity waters intruding into the Aegean Sea and the two particularly strong winters of 1991–1992 and 1992–1993. The approach in this chapter is to search for specific signatures in the historic hydrographic observations, which date back to 1910. To deal with the problem that up into the 1950s the data not only are of limited precision but also have gaps of about 20 years, it is advantageous to consider the fact that the evolution of the actual EMT is rather well documented over a similar time span. The chapter begins by outlining the characteristics of the current EMT. Thereafter, a selection of suitable hydrographic observations among the available historic data is provided to compare these with signatures expected from the evolution of the actual EMT.

Description: The Mauritanian coastal area is one of the most biologically productive upwelling regions in the world ocean. Shipboard observations carried out during maximum upwelling season and short-term moored observations are used to investigate diapycnal mixing processes and to quantify diapycnal fluxes of nutrients. The observations indicate strong tide-topography interactions that are favored by near-critical angles occurring on large parts of the continental slope. Moored velocity observations reveal the existence of highly nonlinear internal waves and bores and levels of internal wave spectra are strongly elevated near the buoyancy frequency. Dissipation rates of turbulent kinetic energy at the slope and shelf determined from microstructure measurements in the upper 200 m averages to ɛ = 5 × 10−8 W kg−1. Particularly elevated dissipation rates were found at the continental slope close to the shelf break, being enhanced by a factor of 100 to 1000 compared to dissipation rates farther offshore. Vertically integrated dissipation rates per unit volume are strongest at the upper continental slope reaching values of up to 30 mW m−2. A comparison of fine-scale parameterizations of turbulent dissipation rates for shelf regions and the open ocean to the measured dissipation rates indicates deficiencies in reproducing the observations. Diapycnal nitrate fluxes above the continental slope at the base of the mixed layer yielding a mean value of 12 × 10−2 μmol m−2 s−1 are amongst the largest published to date. However, they seem to only represent a minor contribution (10% to 25%) to the net community production in the upwelling region.

Description: Water transported by slabs into the mantle at subduction zones plays key roles in tectonics, magmatism, fluid and volatiles fluxes, and most likely in the chemical evolution of the Earth's oceans and mantle. Yet, incorporation of water into oceanic plates before subduction is a poorly understood process. Several studies suggest that plates may acquire most water at subduction trenches because the ocean crust and uppermost mantle there are intensely faulted caused by bending and/or slab pull, and display anomalously low seismic velocities. The low velocities are interpreted to arise from a combination of fluid-filled fractures associated to normal faulting and mineral transformation by hydration. Mantle hydration by transformation of nominally dry peridotite to water-rich serpentinite could potentially create the largest fluid reservoir in slabs and is therefore the most relevant for the transport of water in the deep mantle. The depth of fracturing by normal-fault earthquakes is usually not well constrained, but could potentially create deep percolation paths for water that might hydrate up to tens of kilometers into the mantle, restrained only by serpentine stability. Yet, interpretation of deep intraplate mineral alteration remains speculative because active-source seismic experiments have sampled only the uppermost few kilometers of mantle, leaving the depth-extent of anomalous velocities and their relation to faulting unconstrained. Here we use a joint inversion of active-source seismic data, and both local and regional earthquakes to map the three dimensional distribution of anomalous velocities under a seismic network deployed at the trench seafloor. We found that anomalous velocities are restrained to the depth of normal-fault micro-earthquake activity recorded in the network, and are considerably shallower than either the rupture depth of teleseismic, normal-fault earthquakes, or the limit of serpentine stability. Extensional micro-earthquakes indicate that each fault in the region slips every 2–3 months which may facilitate regular water percolation. Deeper, teleseismic earthquakes are comparatively infrequent, and possibly do not cause significant fracturing that remains open long enough to promote alteration detectable with our seismic study. Our results show that the stability field of serpentine does not constrain the depth of potential mantle hydration.

Description: The history of climate modeling begins with conceptual models, followed in the 19th century by mathematical models of energy balance and radiative transfer, as well as simple analog models. Since the 1950s, the principal tools of climate science have been computer simulation models of the global general circulation. From the 1990s to the present, a trend toward increasingly comprehensive coupled models of the entire climate system has dominated the field. Climate model evaluation and intercomparison is changing modeling into a more standardized, modular process, presenting the potential for unifying research and operational aspects of climate science

Description: This study presents a new estimate of the oceanic anthropogenic CO2(Cant) sink over the industrial era (1780 to present), from assimilation of potential temperature, salinity, radiocarbon, and CFC-11 observations in a global steady state ocean circulation inverse model (OCIM). This study differs from previous data-based estimates of the oceanic Cant sink in that dynamical constraints on ocean circulation are accounted for, and the ocean circulation is explicitly modeled, allowing the calculation of oceanic Cant storage, air-sea fluxes, and transports in a consistent manner. The resulting uncertainty of the OCIM-estimated Cant uptake, transport, and storage is significantly smaller than the comparable uncertainty from purely data-based or model-based estimates. The OCIM-estimated oceanic Cant storage is 160–166 PgC in 2012, and the oceanic Cant uptake rate averaged over the period 2000–2010 is 2.6 PgC yr−1 or about 30% of current anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This result implies a residual (primarily terrestrial) Cant sink of about 1.6 PgC yr−1 for the same period. The Southern Ocean is the primary conduit for Cant entering the ocean, taking up about 1.1 PgC yr−1 in 2012, which represents about 40% of the contemporary oceanic Cant uptake. It is suggested that the most significant source of remaining uncertainty in the oceanic Cant sink is due to potential variability in the ocean circulation over the industrial era.

Description: Contemporary genetic diversity is the product of both historical and contemporary forces, such as climatic and geological processes affecting range distribution and continuously moulded by evolutionary forces selection, gene flow and genetic drift. Predatory freshwater fishes, such as Northern Pike Esox lucius, commonly exhibit small population sizes, and several local populations are considered endangered. Pike inhabit diverse habitat types, including lakes, rivers and brackish marine waters, thus spanning from small isolated patches to large open marine systems. However, pike population structure from local to regional scales is relatively poorly described, in spite of its significance to developing conservation measures. We analysed microsatellite variation in a total of 1185 North European pike from 46 samples collected across both local and regional scales, as well as over time, to address two overarching questions: Is pike population structure associated with local and/or regional connectivity patterns, and which factors likely have the main influence on the contemporary distribution of genetic diversity? To answer this, we combined estimators of population diversity and structure to assess evidence of whether populations within (i) habitats, (ii) drainage systems and (iii) geographical regions are closer related than among these ranges, and whether patterns are temporally stable. Contrasting previous predictions that genetic drift obscures signals of postglacial colonisation history, we identified clear regional differences in population genetic signatures, suggesting a major effect of drainage divides on colonisation history and connectivity. However, several populations deviated from the general pattern, showing that local processes may be complex and need to be examined case-by-case.

Description: Gas hydrate-related bottom-simulating reflectors mark the phase boundary between hydrate and free gas in the subsurface, and therefore may be used to estimate geothermal gradients and hence heat flow. The depth and temperature of the phase boundary depend on the composition of the hydrateforming gas and of the pore fluid. In the absence of direct sampling, these compositions remain unknown. We develop an alternative approach that is less sensitive to compositional uncertainties and can be applied when the bottom-simulating reflector is densely sampled in a region with significant seabed relief. We apply this approach to a three-dimensional seismic dataset from the eastern Black Sea.

Description: The evolution of ridge-hotspot systems is not well understood. In this investigation, satellite-derived marine gravity data are used in conjunction with underway bathymetric and magnetic anomaly profiles to investigate the nature of ridge-hotspot interaction at four sparsely explored systems in the Southern Ocean. These systems illustrate three different stages of ridge-hotspot interaction in which a migrating spreading center approaches a hotspot (Pacific-Antarctic/Louisville), passes over or is captured by the hotspot (Mid-Atlantic/Shona-Discovery), and ultimately migrates away from the hotspot (Southeast Indian/Kerguelen). All of these systems show some evidence of discrete ridge jumps in the direction of the hotspot as the spreading center attempts to relocate toward the hotspot by asymmetric spreading. Interestingly, these ridge jumps show no evidence of propagating offsets as have been seen on many other ridge-hotspot systems. A simple model predicts that typical plume excess temperatures can weaken the lithosphere sufficiently to promote asymmetric spreading and possibly allow a discrete ridge jump. The presence of previously uncharted, obliquely oriented aseismic ridges and gravity lineations between the ridge and the hotspot supports the notion of asthenospheric flux from the plume to the spreading center both before and after the time when the hotspot is ridge centered. The azimuths of the aseismic ridges cannot be explained by plate kinematics alone; they consistently extend from the ends toward the centers of the adjacent spreading segments suggesting some interaction between plume derived asthenospheric flux and local lithospheric structure. The features discussed here also indicate that the transfer of asthenospheric material from the plume to the spreading center is influenced by the local plate boundary configuration and interaction with transform offsets.

Description: The combination of the Sunda megathrust and the (strike-slip) Sumatran Fault (SF) represents a type example of slip-partitioning. However, superimposed on the SF are geometrical irregularities that disrupt the local strain field. The largest such feature is in central Sumatra where the SF splits into two fault strands up to 35 km apart. A dense local network was installed along a 350 km section around this bifurcation, registering 1016 crustal events between April 2008 and February 2009. 528 of these events, with magnitudes between 1.1 and 6.0, were located using the double-difference relative location method. These relative hypocentre locations reveal several new features about the crustal structure of the SF. Northwest and southeast of the bifurcation, where the SF has only one fault strand, seismicity is strongly focused below the surface trace, indicating a vertical fault that is seismogenic to ∼15 km depth. By contrast intense seismicity is observed within the bifurcation, displaying streaks in plan and cross-section that indicate a complex system of faults bisecting the bifurcation. In combination with analysis of topography and focal mechanisms, we propose that the bifurcation is a strike-slip duplex system with complex faulting between the two main fault branches.

Description: Correlations between particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral fluxes in the deep ocean have inspired the inclusion of “ballast effect” parameterizations in carbon cycle models. A recent study demonstrated regional variability in the effect of ballast minerals on the flux of POC in the deep ocean. We have undertaken a similar analysis of shallow export data from the Arctic, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. Mineral ballasting is of greatest importance in the high-latitude North Atlantic, where 60% of the POC flux is associated with ballast minerals. This fraction drops to around 40% in the Southern Ocean. The remainder of the export flux is not associated with minerals, and this unballasted fraction thus often dominates the export flux. The proportion of mineral-associated POC flux often scales with regional variation in export efficiency (the proportion of primary production that is exported). However, local discrepancies suggest that regional differences in ecology also impact the magnitude of surface export. We propose that POC export will not respond equally across all high-latitude regions to possible future changes in ballast availability.

Description: Because the vast majority of species are well diverged, relatively little is known about the genomic architecture of speciation during the early stages of divergence. Species within recent evolutionary radiations are often minimally diverged from a genomic perspective, and therefore provide rare opportunities to address this question. Here, we leverage the hamlet radiation (Hypoplectrus spp., brightly coloured reef fishes from the tropical western Atlantic) to characterize genomic divergence during the early stages of speciation. Transect surveys and spawning observations in Belize, Honduras and Panama confirm that sympatric barred (H. puella), black (H. nigricans) and butter (H. unicolor) hamlets are phenotypically distinct and reproductively isolated, although hybrid spawnings and individuals with intermediate phenotypes are seen on rare occasions. A survey of approximately 100 000 restriction site-associated SNPs in 126 samples from the three species across the three replicate populations reveals extremely slight genomewide divergence among species (FST = 0.0038), indicating that ecomorphological differences and functional reproductive isolation are maintained in sympatry in a backdrop of extraordinary genomic similarity. Nonetheless, a very small proportion of SNPs (0.05% on average) are identified as FST outliers among sympatric species. Remarkably, a single SNP is identified as an outlier in repeated populations for the same species pair. A minicontig assembled de novo around this SNP falls into the genomic region containing the HoxCa10 and HoxCa11 genes in 10 teleost species, suggesting an important role for Hox gene evolution in this radiation. This finding, if confirmed, would provide a better understanding of the links between micro- and macroevolutionary processes.

Description: The role of biominerals in driving carbon export from the surface ocean is unclear. We compiled surface particulate organic carbon (POC), and mineral ballast export fluxes from 55 different locations in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. Substantial surface POC export accompanied by negligible mineral export was recorded implying that association with mineral phases is not a precondition for organic export to occur. The proportion of non-mineral associated sinking POC ranged from 0 to 80% and was highest in areas previously shown to be dominated by diatoms. This is consistent with previous estimates showing that transfer efficiency in such regions is low. However we propose that, rather than the low transfer efficiency arising from diatom blooms being inherently characterized by poorly packaged aggregates which are efficiently exported but which disintegrate readily in mid water, it is due to such environments having very high levels of unballasted organic C export.

Description: A numerical algorithm based on Fermat's Principle was developed to simulate the propagation of Global Positioning System (GPS) radio signals in the refractivity field of a numerical weather model. The unique in the proposed algorithm is that the ray-trajectory automatically involves the location of the ground-based receiver and the satellite, i.e. the posed two-point boundary value problem is solved by an implicit finite difference scheme. This feature of the algorithm allows the fast and accurate computation of the signal travel-time delay, referred to as Slant Total Delay (STD), between a satellite and a ground-based receiver. We provide a technical description of the algorithm and estimate the uncertainty of STDs due to simplifying assumptions in the algorithm and due to the uncertainty of the refractivity field. In a first application, we compare STDs retrieved from GPS phase-observations at the German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam (GFZ STDs) with STDs derived from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analyses (ECMWF STDs). The statistical comparison for one month (August 2007) for a large and continuously operating network of ground-based receivers in Germany indicates good agreement between GFZ STDs and ECMWF STDs; the standard deviation is 0.5% and the mean deviation is 0.1%.

Description: In the vast Low Nutrient Low-Chlorophyll (LNLC) Ocean, the vertical nutrient supply from the subsurface to the sunlit surface waters is low, and atmospheric contribution of nutrients may be one order of magnitude greater over short timescales. The short turnover time of atmospheric Fe and N supply (〈1 month for nitrate) further supports deposition being an important source of nutrients in LNLC regions. Yet, the extent to which atmospheric inputs are impacting biological activity and modifying the carbon balance in oligotrophic environments has not been constrained. Here, we quantify and compare the biogeochemical impacts of atmospheric deposition in LNLC regions using both a compilation of experimental data and model outputs. A metadata-analysis of recently conducted field and laboratory bioassay experiments reveals complex responses, and the overall impact is not a simple “fertilization effect of increasing phytoplankton biomass” as observed in HNLC regions. Although phytoplankton growth may be enhanced, increases in bacterial activity and respiration result in weakening of biological carbon sequestration. The application of models using climatological or time-averaged non-synoptic deposition rates produced responses that were generally much lower than observed in the bioassay experiments. We demonstrate that experimental data and model outputs show better agreement on short timescale (days to weeks) when strong synoptic pulse of aerosols deposition, similar in magnitude to those observed in the field and introduced in bioassay experiments, is superimposed over the mean atmospheric deposition fields. These results suggest that atmospheric impacts in LNLC regions have been underestimated by models, at least at daily to weekly timescales, as they typically overlook large synoptic variations in atmospheric deposition and associated nutrient and particle inputs. Inclusion of the large synoptic variability of atmospheric input, and improved representation and parameterization of key processes that respond to atmospheric deposition, is required to better constrain impacts in ocean biogeochemical models. This is critical for understanding and prediction of current and future functioning of LNLC regions and their contribution to the global carbon cycle.

Description: Summary 1. Parasitized females in mammals, fish and birds can enhance the immune defence of their offspring by transferring specific antibodies for the embryo. Likewise, social insect mothers transfer immunity despite the fact that invertebrates lack antibodies. 2.  Female trans-generational immune priming is consistent with parental investment theory, because mothers invest more into rearing their offspring than fathers. However, when immune priming is not directly linked to parental care, as is often the case in insects that abandon their eggs after oviposition, both sexes might benefit from protecting their offspring. 3. Using the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, we show that after parental exposure to heat-killed bacteria, trans-generational immune priming occurs through fathers as well as mothers. 4. This novel finding challenges the traditional view that males provide only genes to their offspring in species without paternal care, and raises the possibility of a division of tasks with respect to immune protection between parents.

Description: The importance of the Gulf Stream Extension region in climate and seasonal prediction research is being increasingly recognised. Here we use satellite-derived eddy momentum fluxes to drive a shallow water model for the North Atlantic Ocean that includes the realistic ocean bottom topography. The results show that the eddy momentum fluxes can drive significant transport, sufficient to explain the observed increase in transport of the Gulf Stream following its separation from the coast at Cape Hatteras, as well as the observed recirculation gyres. The model also captures recirculating gyres seen in the mean sea surface height field within the North Atlantic Current system east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, including a representation of the Mann Eddy.

Description: A decade of weak convection in the Labrador Sea associated with decreasing water mass transformation, in combination with advective and eddy fluxes into the convection area, caused significant warming of the deep waters in both the central Labrador Sea and boundary current system along the Labrador shelf break. The connection to the export of Deep Water was studied based on moored current meter stations between 1997 and 2009 at the exit of the Labrador Sea, near the shelf break at 5˚3N. More than 100 year -long current meter records spanning the full water column have been analyzed with respect to high frequency variability, decaying from the surface to the bottom layer, and for the annual mean flow, showing intra- to interannual variability but no detectable decadal trend in the strength of the deep and near-bottom flow out of the Labrador Sea.

Description: Recent work shows that multichannel seismic (MCS) systems provide detailed information on the oceans' finestructure. The aim of this paper is to analyze if high order numerical algorithms are suitable to accurately model the extremely weak wavefield scattered by the oceans' finestructures. For this purpose, we generate synthetic shot records along a coincident seismic and oceanographic profile acquired across a Mediterranean salt lens in the Gulf of Cadiz. We apply a 2D finite-difference time-domain propagation model, together with second-order Complex Frequency Shifted Perfectly Matched Layers at the numerical boundaries, using as reference a realistic sound speed map with the lateral resolution of the seismic data. We show that our numerical propagator creates an acoustical image of the ocean finestructures including the salt lens that reproduces with outstanding detail the real acquired one

Description: Recently seismic reflection methods have been successfully applied to oceanographic issues. Here, we present a new approach, combining XBT and CTD surveys with seismic observations, to visualize long sections with a resolution down to a few meters. The challenge to a full investigation of mixing processes has been the tremendous span of spatial scales ranging from hundreds of kilometers to centimeters. Traditional hydrographic observations could only resolve the large scale effects by measuring temperature and salinity profiles at discrete locations typically several kilometers apart, whereas dedicated localized measurements allowed investigation of the ocean fine structure at the other end of the spatial spectrum. The intermediate scales have in contrast been difficult to observe systematically. Here we present temperature and salinity data inverted from seismic observations that cover the intermediate scales and provide a new approach to image mesoscale processes and allow the investigation of their dynamics at unprecedented resolution.

Description: Nitrogen (N) fixation by specialized microorganisms (diazotrophs) influences global plankton productivity because it provides the ocean with most of its bio-available N. However, its global rate and large-scale spatial distribution is still regarded with considerable uncertainty. Here we use a global ocean nitrogen isotope model, in comparison with δ15NO3− observations, to constrain the pattern of N2 fixation across the Pacific Ocean. N2 fixation introduces isotopically light atmospheric N2 from to the ocean (δ15N = 0‰) relative to the oceanic average near 5‰, which makes nitrogen isotopes suitable to infer patterns of N2 fixation. Including atmospheric iron limitation of diazotrophy in the model shifts the pattern of simulated N2 fixation from the South Pacific to the North Pacific and from the East Pacific westward. These changes considerably improve the agreement with meridional transects of available δ15NO3− observations, as well as excess P (PO43− − NO3−/16), suggesting that atmospheric iron deposition is indeed important for N fixation in the Pacific Ocean. This study highlights the potential for using δ15N observations and model simulations to constrain patterns and rates of N fixation in the ocean.

Description: During the last decade, global surface temperatures did not increase as rapidly as in the preceding decades. Although relatively small compared to the observed centennial scale global warming, it has renewed interest in understanding and even predicting climate on time scales of decades, and sparked a community initiative on near‐term prediction that will feature in the fifth intergovernmental panel on climate change assessment report. Decadal prediction, however, is in its infancy, with only a few publications existing. This article has three aims. The first is to make the case for decadal prediction. Decadal fluctuations in global climate similar to that of recent decades were observed during the past century. Associated with large regional changes in precipitation and climate extremes, they are of socioeconomic importance. Climate models, which capture some aspects of observed decadal variability, indicate that such variations might be partly predictable. The second aim is to describe the major challenges to skilful decadal climate prediction. One is poor understanding of mechanisms of decadal climate variability, with climate models showing little agreement. Sparse observations in the past, particularly in the ocean, are also a limiting factor to developing and testing of initialization and prediction systems. The third aim is to stress that despite promising initial results, decadal prediction is in a highly experimental stage, and care is needed in interpreting results and utilizing data from such experiments. In the long‐term, decadal prediction has the potential to improve models, reduce uncertainties in climate change projections, and be of socioeconomic benefit. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Description: The Atlantic‐Mediterranean exchange of water at Gibraltar represents a significant heat and freshwater sink for the North Atlantic and is a major control on the heat, salt and freshwater budgets of the Mediterranean Sea. Consequently, an understanding of the response of the exchange system to external changes is vital to a full comprehension of the hydrographic responses in both ocean basins. Here, we use a synthesis of empirical (oxygen isotope, planktonic foraminiferal assemblage) and modeling (analytical and general circulation) approaches to investigate the response of the Gibraltar Exchange system to Atlantic freshening during Heinrich Stadials (HSs). HSs display relatively flat W–E surface hydrographic gradients more comparable to the Late Holocene than the Last Glacial Maximum. This is significant, as it implies a similar state of surface circulation during these periods and a different state during the Last Glacial Maximum. During HS1, the gradient may have collapsed altogether, implying very strong water column stratification and a single thermal and d18Owater condition in surface water extending from southern Portugal to the eastern Alboran Sea. Together, these observations imply that inflow of Atlantic water into the Mediterranean was significantly increased during HS periods compared to background glacial conditions. Modeling efforts confirm that this is a predictable consequence of freshening North Atlantic surface water with iceberg meltwater and indicate that the enhanced exchange condition would last until the cessation of anomalous freshwater supply into to the northern North Atlantic. The close coupling of dynamics at Gibraltar Exchange with the Atlantic freshwater system provides an explanation for observations of increased Mediterranean Outflow activity during HS periods and also during the last deglaciation. This coupling is also significant to global ocean dynamics, as it causes density enhancement of the Atlantic water column via the Gibraltar Exchange to be inversely related to North Atlantic surface salinity. Consequently, Mediterranean enhancement of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation will be greatest when the overturning itself is at its weakest, a potentially critical negative feedback to Atlantic buoyancy change during times of ice sheet collapse.

Description: The phosphorus budget of the pre-human modern ocean is constrained applying the most recent estimates of the natural riverine, eolian, and ice-rafted input fluxes, the phosphorus burial in marine sediments, and the hydrothermal removal of dissolved phosphate from the deep ocean. This review of current flux estimates indicates that the phosphorus budget of the ocean is unbalanced since the accumulation of phosphorus in marine sediments and altered oceanic crust exceeds the continental input of particulate and dissolved phosphorus. The phosphorus mass balance is further tested considering the dissolved phosphate distribution in the deep water column, the marine export production of particulate organic matter, rain rates of phosphorus to the seafloor, benthic dissolved phosphate fluxes, and the organic carbon to phosphorus ratios in marine particles. These independent data confirm that the phosphate and phosphorus budgets were not at steadystate in the pre-human global ocean. The ocean is losing dissolved phosphate at a rate of ≥ 11.6 x 1010 mol yr-1 corresponding to a decline in the phosphate inventory of ≥ 4.5 % kyr-1. Benthic data show that phosphate is preferentially retained in pelagic deep-sea sediments where extended oxygen exposure times favor the degradation of particulate organic matter and the up-take of phosphate in manganese and iron oxides and hydroxides. Enhanced C : P regeneration ratios observed in the deep water column (〉400 m water depth) probably reflect the preferential burial of phosphorus in pelagic sediments. Excess phosphate is released from continental margin sediments deposited in low-oxygen environments. The dissolved oxygen threshold value for the enhanced release of dissolved phosphate is ~20 μM. Benthic phosphate fluxes increase drastically when oxygen concentrations fall below this value.

Description: The decay kinetics of superoxide (O2−) reacting with organic matter was examined in oligotrophic waters at, and nearby, the TENATSO ocean observatory adjacent to the Cape Verde archipelago. Superoxide is the short-lived primary photochemical product of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) photolysis and also reacts with CDOM or trace metals (Cu, Fe) to form H2O2. In the present work we focused our investigations on reactions between CDOM and superoxide. O2− decay kinetics experiments were performed by adding KO2 to diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) amended seawater and utilizing an established chemiluminescence technique for the detection of O2− at nM levels. In Cape Verdean waters we found a significant reactivity of superoxide with CDOM with maximal rates adjacent to the chlorophyll maximum, presumably from production of new CDOM from bacteria/phytoplankton. This work highlights a poorly understood process which impacts on the biogeochemical cycling of CDOM and trace metals in the open ocean.

Description: Recent seismic evidence suggested that most oceanic plate hydration is associated with trench-outer rise faulting prior to subduction. Hydration at trenches may have a significant impact on the subduction zone water cycle. Previous seismic experiments conducted to the northwest of Nicoya Peninsula, Northern Costa Rica, have shown that the subducting Cocos lithosphere is pervasively altered, which was interpreted to be due to both hydration (serpentinization) and fracturing of the crustal and upper-mantle rocks. New seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction data were collected along two profiles, running parallel to the Middle American trench axis offshore of central Nicaragua, revealing lateral changes of the seismic properties of the subducting lithosphere. Seismic structure along both profiles is characterized by low velocities both in the crust and upper mantle. Velocities in the uppermost mantle are found to be in the range 7.3–7.5 km s−1; thus are 8–10 per cent lower than velocities typical for unaltered peridotites and hence confirm the assumption that serpentinization is a common process at the trench-outer rise area offshore of Nicaragua. In addition, a prominent velocity anomaly occurred within the crust beneath two seamounts. Here, velocity reduction may indicate increased porosity and perhaps permeability, supporting the idea that seamounts serve as sites for water percolation and circulation.

Description: We determined methane (CH4) emissions in a field enclosure experiment in a littoral freshwater marsh under the influence of experimentally simulated warming and enhanced nitrogen deposition. Methane emissions by ebullition from the marsh composed of Phragmites australis were measured with funnel traps deployed in a series of enclosures for two 3 week periods. Diffusive fluxes were estimated on the basis of measured CH4 concentrations and application of Fick's law. Neither diffusive nor ebullitive fluxes of methane were significantly affected by warming or nitrate enrichment, possibly because variability both within and among replicate experimental enclosures was high. Average emission rates resulted primarily from ebullition (0.2–30.3 mmol CH4 m−2 d−1), which were 4 orders of magnitude higher than estimated diffusive fluxes and were of similar importance as the coarsely estimated advective methane transport through plants. Significant correlations between dissolved oxygen and dissolved methane and ebullition flux suggest that methane release from the sediment might feed back positively on methane production by reducing dissolved oxygen in the water column and oxygen flux into the sediment. Nitrate may have a similar effect. Extrapolation of our limited data indicates that total methane fluxes from vegetated littoral zones of temperate lakes may contribute 0.5%–7% of the global natural CH4 emissions. These results emphasize the importance of freshwater marshes as sources of methane emissions to the atmosphere, even when they occupy only relatively small littoral areas. More detailed investigations are clearly needed to assess whether global warming and nitrogen deposition can have climate feedbacks by altering methane fluxes from these wetlands.

Description: The sensitivity of the hydrological cycle to changes in orbital forcing and atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations is assessed using a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice general circulation model (Kiel Climate Model). An orbitally-induced intensification of the summer monsoon circulation during the Holocene and Eemian drives enhanced water vapor advection into the Northern Hemisphere, thereby enhancing the rate of water vapor changes by about 30% relative to the rate given by the Clausius-Clapeyron Equation, assuming constant relative humidity. Orbitally-induced changes in hemispheric-mean precipitation are fully attributed to inter-hemispheric water vapor exchange in contrast to a GHG forced warming, where enhanced precipitation is caused by increased both the moisture advection and evaporation. When considering the future climate on millennial time scales, both forcings combined are expected to exert a strong effect.

Description: We present results from a seismic refraction and wide-angle experiment surveying an oceanic core complex on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 22°19′N. Oceanic core complexes are settings where petrological sampling found exposed lower crustal and upper mantle rocks, exhumed by asymmetric crustal accretion involving detachment faulting at magmatically starved ridge sections. Tomographic inversion of our seismic data yielded lateral variations of P wave velocity within the upper 3 to 4 km of the lithosphere across the median valley. A joint modeling procedure of seismic P wave travel times and marine gravity field data was used to constrain crustal thickness variations and the structure of the uppermost mantle. A gradual increase of seismic velocities from the median valley to the east is connected to aging of the oceanic crust, while a rapid change of seismic velocities at the western ridge flank indicates profound differences in lithology between conjugated ridge flanks, caused by un-roofing lower crust rocks. Under the core complex crust is approximately 40% thinner than in the median valley and under the conjugated eastern flank. Clear PmP reflections turning under the western ridge flank suggest the creation of a Moho boundary and hence continuous magmatic accretion during core complex formation.

Description: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the equator is a key region for many aspects of spreading axis studies, from biogeography to ridge-hotspot interaction. Despite this, the ridge axis had, until 2004, seen little systematic study. Repeated trips to the area since then have mapped and explored some 900 km of ridge length, from 2° to 14°S. The result is complete bathymetric and side-scan coverage of the axial region and the discovery and characterization of the first hydrothermal vents south of the equator. Such multisegment detailed and interdisciplinary coverage allows us to formulate a general model for the interplay between volcanism, tectonics, and hydrothermalism on a slow spreading ridge. The model defines three basic types of ridge morphology with specific hydrothermal characteristics: (a) a deep, tectonically dominated rift valley where hydrothermalism is seldom associated with volcanism and much more likely confined to long-lived bounding faults; (b) a shallower, segment-center bulge where a combination of repeated magmatic activity and tectonism results in repeated, possibly temporally overlapping periods of hydrothermal activity on the ridge axis; and (c) a very shallow axis beneath which temperatures in all but the uppermost crust are so high that deformation is ductile, inhibiting the formation of high-porosity deep fractures and severely depressing hydrothermal circulation. This model is used together with satellitederived predicted bathymetry to provide forecasts of the best places to look for hydrothermal sites in the remaining unexplored regions of the South Atlantic.

Description: The Sahara Slide is a giant submarine landslide on the northwest African continental margin. The landslide is located on the open continental slope offshore arid Western Sahara, with a headwall at a water depth of ∼2000 m. High primary productivity in surface waters drives accumulation of thick fine-grained pelagic/hemipelagic sediment sequences in the slide source area. Rare but large-scale slope failures, such as the Sahara Slide that remobilized approximately 600 km3 of sediment, are characteristic of this sedimentological setting. Seismic profiles collected from the slide scar reveal a stepped profile with two 100 m high headwalls, suggesting that the slide occurred retrogressively as a slab-type failure. Sediment cores recovered from the slide deposit provide new insights into the process by which the slide eroded and entrained a volcaniclastic sand layer. When this layer was entrained at the base of the slide it became fluidized and resulted in low apparent friction, facilitating the exceptionally long runout of ∼900 km. The slide location appears to be controlled by the buried headwall of an older slope failure, and we suggest that the cause of the slide relates to differential sedimentation rates and compaction across these scarps, leading to local increases of pore pressure. Sediment cores yield a date of 50–60 ka for the main slide event, a period of global sea level rise which may have contributed to pore pressure buildup. The link with sea level rising is consistent with other submarine landslides on this margin, drawing attention to this potential hazard during global warming.

Description: Wide-angle seismic data have been used to determine the velocity and density structure of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the Cape Verdes mid-plate swell. Seismic modelling reveals a ‘standard’ oceanic crust, ∼8 km in thickness, with no direct evidence for low-density bodies at the base of the crust. Gravity anomaly modelling within the constraints and resolution provided by the seismic model, does not preclude, however, a layer of crustal underplate up to 3 km thick beneath the swell crest. The modelling shows that while the seismically constrained crustal structure accounts for the short-wavelength free-air gravity anomaly, it fails to fully explain the long-wavelength anomaly. The main discrepancy is over the swell crest where the gravity anomaly, after correcting for crustal structure, is higher by about 30 mGal than it is over its flanks. The higher gravity can be explained if the top 100 km of the mantle beneath the swell crest is less dense than its surroundings by 30 kg m−3. The lack of evidence for low densities and velocities in the uppermost mantle, and high densities and velocities in the lower crust, suggests that neither a depleted swell root or crustal underplate are the origin of the observed shallower-than-predicted bathymetry and that, instead, the swell is most likely supported by dynamic uplift associated with an anomalously low density asthenospheric mantle.

Description: The supply of oxygen-rich water to the oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) of the eastern North and South Pacific via zonal tropical currents is investigated using shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler and hydrographic section data. Near the equator, the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC), Northern and Southern Subsurface Countercurrents (SCCs), and the Northern and Southern Intermediate Countercurrents (ICCs) all carry water that is oxygen richer than adjacent westward flows, thereby providing a net oxygen supply to the eastern Pacific OMZs. The synoptic velocity-weighted oxygen concentration difference between eastward and westward flows is typically 10–50 μmol kg−1. Subthermocline zonal oxygen fluxes reflect decreasing oxygen concentrations of the EUC, the SCCs, and the ICCs as they flow eastward. Approximately 30 year time series in well-sampled regions of the equatorial Pacific show oxygen content decreasing as rapidly as −0.55 μmol kg−1 yr−1 in the major oxygen supply paths of the OMZs for a 200–700 m layer and similar trends for a density layer spanning roughly these depths. This finding is in gross agreement with climate models, which generally predict expanding OMZs.

Description: Near the western boundary of the tropical North Atlantic, where the North Brazil Current (NBC) retroflects into the North Equatorial Countercurrent, large anticyclonic rings are shed. After separating from the retroflection region, the so-called NBC rings travel northwestward along the Brazilian coast, until they reach the island chain of the Lesser Antilles and disintegrate. These rings contribute substantially to the upper limb return flow of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation by carrying South Atlantic Water into the northern subtropical gyre. Their relevance for the northward transport of South Atlantic Water depends on the frequency of their generation as well as on their horizontal and vertical structure. The ring shedding and propagation and the complex interaction of the rings with the Lesser Antilles are investigated in the inline equation Family of Linked Atlantic Model Experiments (FLAME) model. The ring properties simulated in FLAME reach the upper limit of the observed rings in diameter and agree with recent observations on seasonal variability, which indicates a maximum shedding during the first half of the year. When the rings reach the shallow topography of the Lesser Antilles, they are trapped by the island triangle of St. Lucia, Barbados and Tobago and interact with the island chain. The model provides a resolution that is capable of resolving the complex topographic conditions at the islands and illuminates various possible fates for the water contained in the rings. It also reproduces laboratory experiments that indicate that both cyclones and anticyclones are formed after a ring passes through a topographic gap. Trajectories of artificial floats, which were inserted into the modeled velocity field, are used to investigate the pathways of the ring cores and their fate after they encounter the Lesser Antilles. The majority of the floats entered the Caribbean, while the northward Atlantic pathway was found to be of minor importance. No prominent pathway was found east of Barbados, where a ring could avoid the interaction with the islands and migrate toward the northern Lesser Antilles undisturbed.

Description: Aim: We investigate the relationship between local and regional richness in marine fouling assemblages using an expanded and globally replicated approach by incorporating two dimensions of diversity (taxonomic and functional) and different successional stages. Location: Global. Methods: In eight different biogeographic regions (Australia, Brazil, Chile, England, Italy, Japan, Portugal and Sweden) 68 polyvinylchloride (PVC) panels (15 × 15 × 0.3 cm) were deployed for colonization. Communities colonizing panels were analysed by measuring percentage cover at each of four different successional ages: 2, 4, 6 and 8 months. Local richness was assessed as the average number of species and functional groups (FGs) per panel and regional richness was evaluated as the estimated (Jack2) asymptote of the sample-accumulation curves for species and FG on experimental panels. Results: We found that the shape of the relationship between local and regional richness depended on successional stage and the type of richness considered, i.e. taxonomic or functional richness. Hardly any relationship was detectable between local taxonomic richness and regional taxonomic richness at any successional stage. In contrast, the relation between local functional and regional functional richness shows a unimodal pattern of change during succession, passing through the stages ‘independent’, ‘unsaturated rising’, ‘saturated rising’ and once again ‘independent’. Main conclusions: The relationship between local and regional richness, whether taxonomic or functional, frequently displays independence of the two scales, particularly in early and late phases of the successional process.

Description: Novel high-pressure biotechnical systems that were developed and applied for the study of anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) are described. The systems, referred to as high-pressure continuous incubation system (HP-CI system) and high-pressure manifold-incubation system (HP-MI system), allow for batch, fed-batch, and continuous gas-phase free incubation at high concentrations of dissolved methane and were designed to meet specific demands for studying environmental regulation and kinetics as well as for enriching microbial biomass in long-term incubation. Anoxic medium is saturated with methane in the first technical stage, and the saturated medium is supplied for biomass incubation in the second stage. Methane can be provided in continuous operation up to 20 MPa and the incubation systems can be operated during constant supply of gas-enriched medium at a hydrostatic pressure up to 45 MPa. To validate the suitability of the high-pressure systems, we present data from continuous and fed-batch incubation of highly active samples prepared from microbial mats from the Black Sea collected at a water depth of 213 m. In continuous operation in the HP-CI system initial methane-dependent sulfide production was enhanced 10- to 15-fold after increasing the methane partial pressure from near ambient pressure of 0.2 to 10.0 MPa at a hydrostatic pressure of 16.0 MPa in the incubation stage. With a hydraulic retention time of 14 h a stable effluent sulfide concentration was reached within less than 3 days and a continuing increase of the volumetric AOM rate from 1.2 to 1.7 mmol L−1 day−1 was observed over 14 days. In fed-batch incubation the AOM rate increased from 1.5 to 2.7 and 3.6 mmol L−1 day−1 when the concentration of aqueous methane was stepwise increased from 5 to 15 mmol L−1 and 45 mmol L−1. A methane partial pressure of 6 MPa and a hydrostatic pressure of 12 MPa in manifold fed-batch incubation in the HP-MI system yielded a sixfold increase in the volumetric AOM rate. Over subsequent incubation periods AOM rates increased from 0.6 to 1.2 mmol L−1 day−1 within 26 days of incubation. No inhibition of biomass activity was observed in all continuous and fed-batch incubation experiments. The organisms were able to tolerate high sulfide concentrations and extended starvation periods.

Description: Epsilonproteobacteria have been found globally distributed in marine anoxic/sulfidic areas mediating relevant transformations within the sulfur and nitrogen cycles. In the Baltic Sea redox zones, chemoautotrophic epsilonproteobacteria mainly belong to the Sulfurimonas gotlandica GD17 cluster for which recently a representative strain, S. gotlandica GD1T, could be established as a model organism. In this study, the potential effects of changes in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and pH on S. gotlandica GD1T were examined. Bacterial cell abundance within a broad range of DIC concentrations and pH values were monitored and substrate utilization was determined. The results showed that the DIC saturation concentration for achieving maximal cell numbers was already reached at 800 μmol L−1, which is well below in situ DIC levels. The pH optimum was between 6.6 and 8.0. Within a pH range of 6.6–7.1 there was no significant difference in substrate utilization; however, at lower pH values maximum cell abundance decreased sharply and cell-specific substrate consumption increased.

Description: The Southern Hemisphere winter stratosphere exhibits prominent traveling planetary-scale Rossby waves, which generally are not able to induce Stratospheric Sudden Warmings. A series of runs of a simplified general circulation model is presented, aimed at better understanding the generation of these waves. While the generation of planetary-scale traveling waves through the interaction of synoptic-scale waves is observed in a control run, when the model is truncated to permit only waves with zonal wave number 1 or 2, the long waves are found to increase in strength, leading to a considerably more active stratosphere including Sudden Warmings comparable in strength to Northern Hemisphere winter. This finding suggests that the role of tropospheric synoptic eddies is two-fold: while generating a weak planetary-scale wave flux into the stratosphere, their main effect is to suppress baroclinic instability of planetary-scale waves by stabilizing the tropospheric mean state.

Description: Harmful, bloom-forming cyanobacteria (CyanoHABs) are occurring with increasing regularity in freshwater and marine ecosystems. The most commonly occurring cyanobacterial toxins are the hepatotoxic microcystin and nodularin. These cyclic hepta- and pentapeptides are synthesised nonribosomally by the gene products of the toxin gene clusters mcy and nda, respectively. Understanding of the regulation of hepatotoxin production is incomplete, although there is strong evidence supporting the roles of iron, light, higher nitrate availability and inorganic carbon in modulating microcystin levels. The majority of these studies have focused on the unicellular freshwater, microcystin-producing strain of Microcystis aeruginosa, with little attention being paid to terrestrial or marine toxin producers. This review intends to investigate the regulation of microcystin and nodularin production in unicellular and filamentous diazotrophic cyanobacteria against the background of changing climate conditions. Special focus is given to diazotrophic filamentous cyanobacteria, for example Nodularia spumigena, capable of regulating their nitrogen levels by actively fixing dinitrogen. By combining data from significant studies, an overall scheme of the regulation of toxin production is presented, focussing specifically on nodularin production in diazotrophs against the background of increasing carbon dioxide concentrations and temperatures envisaged under current climate change models. Furthermore, the risk of sustaining and spreading CyanoHABs in the future ocean is evaluated.

Description: Climate and weather extremes are sporadically recurring events that may have major local or regional impacts on the society and the environment. These events are typically related to unusually high or low temperature, prolonged dry or wet conditions, heavy precipitation, or extreme winds. Extreme events are part of the overall climate and weather alongside average conditions and variability, and thus are not unexpected as such. Climate change is expected to affect not only means but also variability and extremes. Some inferences can be based on past and present observations, but analyses of especially rare events are hampered by the availability of long time series. Over time, depending on how far the on-going global warming takes us from the present and the past climate conditions, the weather and climate statistics may well come to shift in ways that are well outside observational data. This may lead to shifts in frequency, intensity and geographical distribution of different extremes. Indeed, projected changes in some extremes over the 21st century are quite robust, such as generally increasing warm and decreasing cold extremes. Possible changes in some other aspects, for example storms, remain much more uncertain. Science-based information both on robust findings and on relevant uncertainties on changing extremes can provide useful information for sectorial planning, disaster risk prevention and overall reduction of societal vulnerability related to climate and weather

Description: In this overview, we consider the rationale and practice of invertebrate introductions into Lithuanian waters, the current distribution of introduced species, test the theoretical expectations of introduction of peracaridan species into lakes, and summarize the large-scale consequences of these translocations. After some early attempts to transfer locally available species within the country, peracaridan species from the Ponto-Caspian region were introduced into Lithuanian waters during the 1960s (Pontogammarus robustoides, Obesogammarus crassus, Chaetogammarus warpachowskyi, Paramysis lacustris, Limnomysis benedeni and Hemimysis anomala). After their establishment at the site of first introduction in a newly constructed water reservoir on the Nemunas River, further deliberate introductions into Lithuanian lakes and water reservoirs, as well as into more distant areas, were undertaken. These introduced species soon contributed to fish diet and a subsequent increase in the production of commercially important fish was envisaged. However, our collation of available data does not support the enhancement of fish production in Lithuanian lakes. Although perch (selected as a model fish species) assimilated the introduced species into diet and sometimes in large quantities, there was no subsequent influence on somatic growth rates when compared with perch from lakes devoid of alien peracaridans. Comparisons of littoral fish communities of different lakes, and commercial catches in the lake with the most numerous populations of introduced species also indicate no significant effect on fish production. Negative consequences of introduction are more than obvious in contrast. To date, most of the introduced Ponto-Caspian amphipod and mysid species occur in different sites of the Baltic Sea basin outside Lithuania, and their further dispersal may be expected. These species, especially amphipods, have proved to be highly ecologically aggressive, inducing change in resident macroinvertebrate communities and causing increase of biological contamination (i.e. detract from naturalness). Thus, the introduction of alien fodder species was ill advised from an economic, and even adverse from an environmental perspective.

Description: 1. Macroecology has prospered in recent years due in part to the wide array of climatic data, such as those provided by theWorldClim and CliMond data sets, which has become available for research. However, important environmental variables have still been missing, including spatial data sets on UV-B radiation, an increasingly recognized driver of ecological processes. 2. We developed a set of globalUV-B surfaces (glUV) suitable to match common spatial scales in macroecology. Our data set is based on remotely sensed records fromNASA’sOzone Monitoring Instrument (Aura-OMI). Following a similar approach as for theWorldClim and CliMond data sets, we processed daily UV-B measurements acquired over a period of eight years into monthly mean UV-B data and six ecologically meaningful UV-B variables with a 15-arc minute resolution. These bioclimatic variables represent Annual Mean UV-B, UV-B Seasonality, Mean UV-B of Highest Month, Mean UV-B of Lowest Month, Sum of Monthly Mean UV-B during Highest Quarter and Sum of Monthly Mean UV-B during Lowest Quarter. We correlated our data sets with selected variables of existing bioclimatic surfaces for land and with Terra–MODIS Sea Surface Temperature for ocean regions to test for relations to known gradients and patterns. 3. UV-B surfaces showed a distinct seasonal variance at a global scale, while the intensity of UV-B radiation decreased towards higher latitudes and was modified by topographic and climatic heterogeneity. UV-B surfaces were correlated with global mean temperature and annual mean radiation data, but exhibited variable spatial associations across the globe.UV-B surfaces were otherwise widely independent of existing bioclimatic surfaces. 4. Our data set provides new climatological information relevant for macroecological analyses. As UV-B is a known driver of numerous biological patterns and processes, our data set offers the potential to generate a better understanding of these dynamics inmacroecology, biogeography, global change research and beyond. The glUV data set containing monthly mean UV-B data and six derived UV-B surfaces is freely available for download at: http://www.ufz.de/gluv.

Description: Natural antifouling products have been the subject of considerable attention. We screened marine algae for antifouling activity and discovered omaezallenes, the new bromoallene-containing natural products isolated from the red alga Laurencia sp. Described is the isolation, structure elucidation, and total syntheses of omaezallenes. The relative and absolute configurations of natural omaezallenes were unambiguously established through total synthesis. The antifouling activities and ecotoxicity of omaezallenes were also evaluated.

Description: To reconstruct the history of water mass exchange between the NE Atlantic and the Nordic seas, sediment cores from ∼2 km water depth were studied across Termination II (TII) and through the last interglaciation (MIS5e). During early TII the sudden appearance of the low-latitude planktonic foraminifera Beella megastoma is noted in both regions along with a steep decrease in benthic foraminiferal δ18O. Since other proxies indicate that surface waters were cold and stratified because of meltwater, conditions which prevented near-surface thermohaline circulation and vertical convection in the Nordic seas, water mass exchange between the two areas occurred at the subsurface. During later TII, surface conditions changed, and this subsurface circulation style was eventually replaced by vertical convection. In the Nordic seas, B. megastoma vanished from the record together with ice-rafted debris (IRD) at the end of TII, while subpolar foraminiferal abundance rose. Peak interglacial conditions with intensive vertical convection now fully developed, generating a bottom water temperature gradient of ∼4°C between the two areas. However, surface water temperatures deteriorated in the Nordic seas already notably before IRD recurred, and δ18O increased at the end of MIS5e.

Description: Hyperthermophilic iron reducers are common in hydrothermal chimneys found along the Endeavour Segment in the northeastern Pacific Ocean based on culture-dependent estimates. However, information on the availability of Fe(III) (oxyhydr) oxides within these chimneys, the types of Fe(III) (oxyhydr) oxides utilized by the organisms, rates and environmental constraints of hyperthermophilic iron reduction, and mineral end products is needed to determine their biogeochemical significance and are addressed in this study. Thin-section petrography on the interior of a hydrothermal chimney from the Dante edifice at Endeavour showed a thin coat of Fe(III) (oxyhydr) oxide associated with amorphous silica on the exposed outer surfaces of pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite in pore spaces, along with anhydrite precipitation in the pores that is indicative of seawater ingress. The iron sulfide minerals were likely oxidized to Fe(III) (oxyhydr) oxide with increasing pH and Eh due to cooling and seawater exposure, providing reactants for bioreduction. Culture-dependent estimates of hyperthermophilic iron reducer abundances in this sample were 1740 and 10 cells per gram (dry weight) of material from the outer surface and the marcasite-sphalerite-rich interior, respectively. Two hyperthermophilic iron reducers, Hyperthermus sp. Ro04 and Pyrodictium sp. Su06, were isolated from other active hydrothermal chimneys on the Endeavour Segment. Strain Ro04 is a neutrophilic (pHopt 7–8) heterotroph, while strain Su06 is a mildly acidophilic (pHopt 5), hydrogenotrophic autotroph, both with optimal growth temperatures of 90–92 °C. Mössbauer spectroscopy of the iron oxides before and after growth demonstrated that both organisms form nanophase (〈12 nm) magnetite [Fe3O4] from laboratory-synthesized ferrihydrite [Fe10O14(OH)2] with no detectable mineral intermediates. They produced up to 40 mm Fe2+ in a growth-dependent manner, while all abiotic and biotic controls produced 〈3 mm Fe2+. Hyperthermophilic iron reducers may have a growth advantage over other hyperthermophiles in hydrothermal systems that are mildly acidic where mineral weathering at increased temperatures occurs.

Description: Marine sponges are generally classified as high microbial abundance (HMA) and low microbial abundance (LMA) species. Here, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was applied to investigate the diversity, specificity and transcriptional activity of microbes associated with an LMA sponge (Stylissa carteri), an HMA sponge (Xestospongia testudinaria) and sea water collected from the central Saudi Arabia coast of the Red Sea. Altogether, 887 068 denoised sequences were obtained, of which 806 661 sequences remained after quality control. This resulted in 1477 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that were assigned to 27 microbial phyla. The microbial composition of S. carteri was more similar to that of sea water than to that of X. testudinaria, which is consistent with the observation that the sequence data set of S. carteri contained many more possibly sea water sequences (~24%) than the X. testudinaria data set (~6%). The most abundant OTUs were shared between all three sources (S. carteri, X. testudinaria, sea water), while rare OTUs were unique to any given source. Despite this high degree of overlap, each sponge species contained its own specific microbiota. The X. testudinaria-specific bacterial taxa were similar to those already described for this species. A set of S. carteri-specific bacterial taxa related to Proteobacteria and Nitrospira was identified, which are likely permanently associated with S. carteri. The transcriptional activity of sponge-associated microorganisms correlated well with their abundance. Quantitative PCR revealed the presence of Poribacteria, representing typical sponge symbionts, in both sponge species and in sea water; however, low transcriptional activity in sea water suggested that Poribacteria are not active outside the host context.

Description: Whole genome amplification (WGA) approaches provide genomic information on single microbial cells and hold great promise for the field of environmental microbiology. Here, the microbial consortia of the marine sponge Aplysina aerophoba were sorted by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and then subjected to WGA. A cosmid library was constructed from the WGA product of a sample containing two bacterial cells, one a member of the candidate phylum Poribacteria and one of a sponge-specific clade of Chloroflexi. Library screening led to the genomic characterization of three cosmid clones, encoding a polyketide synthase (PKS), a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) and the Chloroflexi 16S rRNA gene. PCR screening of WGA products from additional, FACS-sorted single bacterial symbiont cells supports the assignment of the Sup-PKS gene to the Poribacteria and the novel NRPS gene to the Chloroflexi. This promising single-cell genomics approach has permitted cloning of entire gene clusters from single microbial cells of known phylogenetic origin and thus provides a sought-after link between phylogeny and function.

Description: Das Phylum Schwämme und die mit ihnen assoziierten mikrobiellen Konsortien sind eine reichhaltige Quelle an neuartigen Wirkstoffen. Insbesondere die Naturstoffdiversität der Schwamm-assoziierten mikrobiellen Konsortien ist noch wenig untersucht. Methoden wie die klassische Kultivierung und die Metagenomik sind vielversprechende Ansätze zur umweltschonenden und nachhaltigen Gewinnung von neuen, bioaktiven Wirkstoffen aus Mikroorganismen. Insbesondere angesichts des vermehrten Auftretens von Antibiotika-resistenten Keimen sowie der ständigen Konfrontation mit neuen Infektionskrankheiten ist die Suche nach neuen Antibiotika/Antiinfektiva weiterhin dringend geboten.

Description: This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Temperature Data Temperature Observations Stratospheric Water Vapor Summary and Discussion Appendix A: Linear Regression Analysis

Description: Several slope failures are observed near the deformation front on the frontal ridges of the northern Cascadia accretionary margin off Vancouver Island. The cause for these events is not clear, although several lines of evidence indicate a possible connection between the occurrence of gas hydrate and submarine landslide features. The presence of gas hydrate is indicated by a prominent bottom-simulating reflector (BSR), at a depth of ∼265–275 m beneath the seafloor (mbsf), as interpreted from vertical-incidence and wide-angle seismic data beneath the ridge crests of the frontal ridges. For one slide, informally called Slipstream Slide, the velocity structure inferred from tomography analyses shows anomalous high velocities values of about 2.0 km s−1 at shallow depths of 100 mbsf. The estimated depth of the glide plane (100 ± 10 m) closely matches the depth of these shallow high velocities. In contrast, at a frontal ridge slide just to the northwest (informally called Orca Slide), the glide plane occurs at the same depth as the current BSR. Our new results indicate that the glide plane of the Slipstream slope failure is associated with the contrast between sediments strengthened by gas hydrate and overlying sediments where little or no hydrate is present. In contrast, the glide plane of Orca Slide is between sediment strengthened by hydrate underlain by sediments beneath the gas hydrate stability zone, possibly containing free gas. Additionally, a set of margin perpendicular normal faults are imaged from seafloor down to BSR depth at both frontal ridges. As inferred from the multibeam bathymetry, the estimated volume of the material lost during the slope failure at Slipstream Slide is about 0.33 km3, and ∼0.24 km3 of this volume is present as debris material on the ocean basin floor. The 20 per cent difference is likely due to more widely distributed fine sediments not easily detectable as bathymetric anomalies. These volume estimates on the Cascadia margin are approaching the mass failure volume for other slides that have generated large tsunamis—for example 1–3 km3 for a 1998 Papua New Guinea slide.

Description: The recent discovery of large ionospheric disturbances associated with sudden stratospheric warmings (SSW) has challenged the current understanding of mechanisms coupling the stratosphere and ionosphere. Non-linear interaction of planetary waves and tides has been invoked as a primary mechanism for such coupling. Here we show that planetary waves may play a more complex role than previously thought. Planetary wave forcing induces a global circulation that leads to the build-up of ozone density in the tropics at 30–50 km altitude, the primary region responsible for the generation of the migrating semidiurnal tide. The increase in the ozone density reaches 25% and lasts for ∼35 days following the SSW, long after the collapse of the planetary waves. Ozone enhancements are not only associated with SSW but are also observed after other amplifications in planetary waves. In addition, the longitudinal distribution of the ozone becomes strongly asymmetric, potentially leading to the generation of non-migrating semidiurnal tides. We report a persistent increase in the variability of ionospheric total electron content that coincides with the increase in stratospheric ozone and we suggest that the ozone fluctuations affect the ionosphere through the modified tidal forcing.

Description: A brief description of the Deterministic Modelling Hydrological System (DMHS) ‘Runoff–Erosion–Pollution’ proposed by the first author is presented. This system is being developed with the aim of giving it a universal character so that it can be applied in mountainous and flat terrain, and in basins of different natural climatic zones regardless of their size. The main feature of the model is its independence of the scaling problem. The basis of our approach consists of a simple theory of runoff elements. This is different from the generally accepted use of partial differential equations such as the Saint Venant equation for surface and channel flow and the Boussinesq equation for underground waters describing the water movement from runoff formation origins to the basin outlet. The results of runoff simulation for six mountainous watersheds of different sizes across Eastern Siberia within the Lena River basin and their statistical evaluation are presented. The selected river basins ranged in size from about 40 km2 (small scale) to the entire Lena River basin (2·4 million km2), classified as a large-scale basin.

Description: Sponges are important components of marine benthic environments and are associated with microbial symbionts that carry out ecologically relevant functions. Stylissa carteri is an abundant, low-microbial abundance species in the Red Sea. We aimed to achieve the functional and taxonomic characterization of the most actively expressed prokaryotic genes in S. carteri. Prokaryotic mRNA was enriched from sponge total RNA, sequenced using Illumina HiSeq technology and annotated using the metagenomics Rapid Annotation using Subsystem Technology (MG-RAST) pipeline. We detected high expression of archaeal ammonia oxidation and photosynthetic carbon fixation by members of the genus Synechococcus. Functions related to stress response and membrane transporters were among the most highly expressed by S. carteri symbionts. Unexpectedly, gene functions related to methylotrophy were highly expressed by gammaproteobacterial symbionts. The presence of seawater-derived microbes is indicated by the phylogenetic proximity of organic carbon transporters to orthologues of members from the SAR11 clade. In summary, we revealed the most expressed functions of the S. carteri-associated microbial community and linked them to the dominant taxonomic members of the microbiome. This work demonstrates the applicability of metatranscriptomics to explore poorly characterized symbiotic consortia and expands our knowledge of the ecologically relevant functions carried out by coral reef sponge symbionts.

Description: Many marine sponges contain massive numbers of largely uncultivated, phylogenetically diverse bacteria that seem to be important contributors to the chemistry of these animals. Insights into the diversity, origin, distribution, and function of their metabolic gene communities are crucial to dissect the chemical ecology and biotechnological potential of sponge symbionts. This study reveals a sharp dichotomy between high and low microbial abundance sponges with respect to polyketide synthase (PKS) gene content, the presence of methyl-branched fatty acids, and the presence of members of the symbiotic candidate phylum "Poribacteria". For the symbiont-rich sponge Cacospongia mycofijiensis, a source of the tubulin-inhibiting fijianolides (=laulimalides), near-exhaustive large-scale sequencing of PKS gene-derived PCR amplicons was conducted. Although these amplicons exhibit high diversity at the sequence level, almost all of them belong to a single, architecturally unique group of PKSs present in "Poribacteria" and are proposed to synthesize methyl-branched fatty acids. Three components of this PKS were studied in vitro, providing initial insight into its biochemistry.

Description: There is an association between the polar stratospheric temperature in the northern winter and the solar cycle in the winters when the 50-mb equatorial winds are westerly: The lower the sunspot number in such winters, the lower is the temperature. No major mid-winter warmings occurred in these winters when the sunspot number was below about 100. There is no such relationship in the easterly phase of the QBO. In that phase the temperatures are generally higher than in the westerly phase, and major mid-winter warmings occur regardless of the state of the solar cycle.

Description: Marine biologists have gone through a paradigm shift, from the assumption that marine populations are largely ‘open’ owing to extensive larval dispersal to the realization that marine dispersal is ‘more restricted than previously thought’. Yet, population genetic studies often reveal low levels of genetic structure across large geographic areas. On the other side, more direct approaches such as mark-recapture provide evidence of localized dispersal. To what extent can direct and indirect studies of marine dispersal be reconciled? One approach consists in applying genetic methods that have been validated with direct estimates of dispersal. Here, we use such an approach—genetic isolation by distance between individuals in continuous populations—to estimate the spatial scale of dispersal in five species of coral reef fish presenting low levels of genetic structure across the Caribbean. Individuals were sampled continuously along a 220-km transect following the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, population densities were estimated from surveys covering 17 200 m2 of reef, and samples were genotyped at a total of 58 microsatellite loci. A small but positive isolation-by-distance slope was observed in the five species, providing mean parent-offspring dispersal estimates ranging between 7 and 42 km (CI 1–113 km) and suggesting that there might be a correlation between minimum/maximum pelagic larval duration and dispersal in coral reef fishes. Coalescent-based simulations indicate that these results are robust to a variety of dispersal distributions and sampling designs. We conclude that low levels of genetic structure across large geographic areas are not necessarily indicative of extensive dispersal at ecological timescales.

Description: Gridded datasets have been constructed for the physical parameters controlling the formation of gas hydrate. Simultaneous solutions to the gas hydrate phase and pressure-temperature equations were obtained for each node of these grids. The results show sub-bottom depths of potential methane hydrate BSRs. These are presented as colour contoured grids for the thickness of the hydrate stability zone for the European margins. The chart proposes that if gas hydrates exist over these areas, then this is the potential depth to the BSR. This depth is generally greater along the continental margins and also increases with increasing age of the margin. Shallowing of the BSR can be seen over areas of thinned continental crust and plateaus. The geological factors controlling gas hydrate formation determine areas of likely occurrence so the apparent paucity of identified hydrate layer BSRs off the European margins, particularly in the Mediterranean, is most notable.

Description: We present data on the burial, displacement and exhumation history of the Himalayan fold-thrust belt in eastern Bhutan. These data document the magnitude and timing of displacement of large, discrete structures and highlight temporal variability in shortening rates. Eight new40Ar/39Ar ages from white mica, 32 new zircon (U-Th)/He ages, 7 new apatite fission track ages, and 1 new U-Pb zircon (LA-MC-ICP-MS) metamorphic rim growth age are combined with published cooling ages and deformation temperatures, and incremental shortening magnitudes from restorations of two published balanced cross sections, to illustrate the kinematic and temporal development of the Bhutan thrust belt. Integrating these data from ∼23 Ma to the present illustrates rapid horizontal shortening rates (28–35 mm/yr) between 23–20 Ma and 15–10 Ma, separated by more moderate rates (10–23 mm/yr). Shortening rates decrease significantly to 7–10 mm/yr (and possibly as low as 3–4 mm/yr) from 10 to 0 Ma. This decrease is interpreted to represent the onset of strain partitioning in the eastern part of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogenic system, between shortening in the Bhutan thrust belt, uplift of the Shillong Plateau, and deformation and outward growth of the northern and eastern Tibetan Plateau. Within estimated error, horizontal shortening rates during emplacement of the Main Central thrust sheet and during construction of the upper Lesser Himalayan duplex approached India-Asia tectonic velocities. Thus, for periods of time between ∼23–20 Ma and ∼15–10 Ma, the Bhutan thrust belt may have absorbed nearly all India-Asian convergence at this longitude.

Description: Single crystal (U-Th)/He dating was applied to 24 apatite and 23 zircon grains from the Wetumpka impact structure, Alabama, USA. This small approximately 5–7.6 km impact crater was formed in a shallow marine environment, with no known preserved impact melt, thus offering a challenge to common geochronological techniques. A mean (U-Th)/He apatite and zircon age of 84.4 ± 1.4 Ma (2σ) was obtained, which is within error of the previously estimated Late Cretaceous impact age of approximately 83.5 Ma. In addition, helium diffusion modeling of apatite and zircon grains during fireball/contact, shock metamorphism, and hydrothermal events was undertaken, to show the influence of these individual thermal processes on resetting (U-Th)/He ages in the Wetumpka samples. This study has shown that the (U-Th)/He geochronological technique has real potential for dating impact structures, especially smaller and eroded impact structures that lack impact melt lithologies.

Description: The effects of different phases of semidiurnal and spring-neap tidal cycles on phytoplankton and environmental drivers were evaluated in a tidal, freshwater location of a mesotidal estuary (Guadiana estuary, SW Iberia). An Eulerian approach was used and sampling covered different seasons during 2008. Samples were collected during spring and neap tides, at high tide, mid-ebb, low tide and mid-flood. Several physical-chemical variables were measured, as well as phytoplankton abundance and biomass. Salinity was higher at high-tide and suspended particulate matter was higher during spring tides and flood, due to higher vertical mixing and resuspension of bottom sediments. Chlorophyll a concentration during winter and summer neap tides was higher than during spring tides, whilst the abundance of pennate diatoms was higher during winter and Spring spring tides than during neap tides, probably reflecting differences in river discharge. Overall, tidally-induced differences detected in the freshwater tidal reaches of the Guadiana estuary were not as considerable as those observed in the lower estuary. However, the occurrence of tidally-induced variability in some seasons reflects that thorough sampling programs to study estuarine tidal dynamics should be conducted throughout the year. Occasional sampling will not reflect the typical variability of these highly dynamic systems. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Description: The Baltic Sea is characterised by a heterogeneous oceanographic environment. The deep water layers forming the habitat of Baltic cod (Gadus morhua callarias L.) are subjected to frequently occurring pronounced anoxic conditions. Adverse oxygen conditions result in physiological stress for organisms living under these conditions. For cod e.g. a direct relationship between oxygen availability and food intake with a decreasing ingestion rate at hypoxia could be revealed. In the present study, the effects of oxygen deficiency on consumption rates were investigated and how these translate to stock size estimates in multi-species models. Based on results from laboratory experiments, a model was fitted to evacuation rates at different oxygen levels and integrated into the existing consumption model for Baltic cod. Individual mean oxygen corrected consumption rates were 0.1–10.9% lower than the uncorrected ones. At the currently low predator stock size, however, the effect of oxygen-reduced consumption on the total amount of eaten prey biomass and thus predation mortalities was only marginal. But should successful management lead to higher cod stock sizes in the future, then total predation mortalities will greatly increase and thus improved precision of these estimates would be valuable for the assessment of prey stocks.

Description: Parasitism is a common form of life and represents a strong selective pressure for host organisms. In response to this evolutionary pressure, vertebrates have developed genetically coded defences such as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Mechanisms of parasite-mediated selection not only maintain outstanding polymorphism in these genes but have also been proposed to further promote host population divergence and ultimately speciation because it can drive evolution of local adaptation in which MHC genes play a crucial role. This review first highlights the dynamics and complexity of parasite-mediated selection in natural systems, which not only depends on dominating parasite strategies and on the taxonomic diversity of the parasite community but also includes the differences in parasite communities between habitats and niches, creating divergent selection on locally adapted populations. Then the different ways in which MHC genes potentially allow vertebrates to respond to these dynamics and to adapt locally are outlined. Finally, it is proposed that varying selection strength in time and space may lead to variation in the strength of precopulatory reproductive isolation which has evolved to maintain local adaptation.

Description: Archean cratons belong to the most remarkable features of our planet since they represent continental crust that has avoided reworking for several billions of years. Even more, it has become evident from both geophysical and petrological studies that cratons exhibit deep lithospheric keels which equally remained stable ever since the formation of the cratons in the Archean. Dating of inclusions in diamonds from kimberlite pipes gives Archean ages, suggesting that the Archean lithosphere must have been cold soon after its formation in the Archean (in order to allow for the existence of diamonds) and must have stayed in that state ever since. Yet, although strong evidence for the thermal stability of Archean cratonic lithosphere for billions of years is provided by diamond dating, the long-term thermal stability of cratonic keels was questioned on the basis of numerical modeling results. We devised a viscoelastic mantle convection model for exploring cratonic stability in the stagnant lid regime. Our modeling results indicate that within the limitations of the stagnant lid approach, the application of a sufficiently high temperature-dependent viscosity ratio can provide for thermal craton stability for billions of years. The comparison between simulations with viscous and viscoelastic rheology indicates no significant influence of elasticity on craton stability. Yet, a viscoelastic rheology provides a physical transition from viscously to elastically dominated regimes within the keel, thus rendering introduction of arbitrary viscosity cutoffs, as employed in viscous models, unnecessary.