ALBERT

Description: Establishing sustainable and responsible speleotourism development is a major challenge and involves complex activities. Adequate theoretical starting point is the application of geoethical values related to the conservation and protection of the caves to be used for touristic purposes. Positive and negative cases of human behaviors towards speleological geoheritage are discussed, in order to highlight what should be done in cave management to avoid malpractices and on what elements could be founded adequate strategies aimed at promoting sustainable speleotourism. This is important to tourism management organizations involved in the promotion of caves and in creating economic opportunities for local populations, while respecting cave ecosystems. Modern cave management must be focused on the protection of the cave ecosystems, finding ways to achieve at the same time an economic development of local communities. But this approach needs the adoption of a geoethical framework of values to be shared by all stakeholders involved so that successful cooperation can be achieved despite differences in interests and expectations. The aim of this paper is to raise the awareness about the need to apply the values of geoethics to speleotourism, stimulating new fields of discussion within the scientific and technical communities involved in studies and activities related to geotourism and geoheritage. The possibilities of developing new ways to manage caves, in order to promote a sustainable socio-economic development of local communities, have to be balanced with the protection of natural environments as much as possible. The proposed theoretical frameworks have the goal to increase the discussion on the best ways of connecting speleotourism to sustainable and responsible cave management, presenting two case studies, and pointing out potential solutions.

Description: Open access funding provided by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia within the CRUI-CARE Agreement

Description: Published

Description: id 73

Description: 7SR AMBIENTE – Servizi e ricerca per la società

Description: 1TM. Formazione

Description: 2TM. Divulgazione Scientifica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Large earthquakes occurring worldwide have long been recognized to be non Poisson distributed, so involving some large scale correlation mechanism, which could be internal or external to the Earth. Till now, no statistically significant correlation of the global seismicity with one of the possible mechanisms has been demonstrated yet. In this paper, we analyze 20 years of proton density and velocity data, as recorded by the SOHO satellite, and the worldwide seismicity in the corresponding period, as reported by the ISC-GEM catalogue. We found clear correlation between proton density and the occurrence of large earthquakes (M 〉 5.6), with a time shift of one day. The significance of such correlation is very high, with probability to be wrong lower than 10-5. The correlation increases with the magnitude threshold of the seismic catalogue. A tentative model explaining such a correlation is also proposed, in terms of the reverse piezoelectric effect induced by the applied electric field related to the proton density. This result opens new perspectives in seismological interpretations, as well as in earthquake forecast.

Description: Published

Description: 11495

Description: 7T. Variazioni delle caratteristiche crostali e precursori sismici

Description: JCR Journal

Description: We reconstruct the composite dynamics of Mt. Vesuvius volcano in the period 2012–2019 from the study of ground deformation, seismicity, and geofluid (groundwater and fumarolic fluids) circulation and recognize complex spatio-temporal variations in these observables at medium (years) and short (months) time-scales. We interpret the observed patterns as the combined effect of structural changes affecting the volcanic edifice and variations of the dynamics of the hydrothermal system. In particular, we identify a change in the activity state of Mt. Vesuvius. After the activity reached minimum levels in 2014, the centroid of the surface manifestations migrated towards the SE. Episodic variations of co-seismic and aseismic deformation and fluid release, if analysed separately, would likely have been interpreted as pseudo-random oscillations of the background geophysical and geochemical signals. When organised in a comprehensive, multiparametric fashion, they shed light on the evolution of the volcano in 4D (x,y,z, time) space. These inferences play a crucial role in the formulation of civil protection scenarios for Mt. Vesuvius, a high risk, densely urbanized volcanic area which has never experienced unrest episodes in the modern era of instrumental volcanology.

Description: Published

Description: 965

Description: 2V. Struttura e sistema di alimentazione dei vulcani

Description: JCR Journal

Description: This project started in October 2015 with a crazy idea: prepare and submit a funding application for an international, multidisciplinary and non-traditional scientific outreach project… within the next 48 hours. Well, it worked out. A group of highly motivated young researchers from Canada and Europe united to combine arts and science and produce a series of outreach comic strips about permafrost (frozen ground). The aim of the project is to present and explain scientific research conducted across the circumpolar Arctic, placing emphasis on field work and the rapidly changing northern environment. The target audience is kids, youth, parents and teachers, with the general goal of making permafrost science more fun and accessible to the public. Because guess what : permafrost represents an area of more than twenty million km2 in the Northern Hemisphere, a huge area. As the climate warms, permafrost thaws and becomes unstable for houses, roads and airports. This rapid thawing of previously frozen ground also disrupts plant and animal habitats, impacts water quality and the ecology of lakes, and releases carbon into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases, making climate change even stronger. Hence permafrost and its response to climate change concerns us all. The project received initial support from the International Permafrost Association (IPA) as a targeted ‘Action Group’, and since then several other sponsors have joined the project. Here we are, now, two years after this first idea. What you are about to read is the result of an iterative process of exchanging ideas between artists and scientists. We first made an application call and received 49 applications from artists in 16 countries. Through a formal review process, we then selected two artists to work on this project: Noémie Ross from Canada, and Heta Nääs from Finland. With input from scientists, Noémie and Heta created fantastic cartoons that explain some of the changes happening to the environment in permafrost areas, how they affect people and wildlife, and what scientists are doing to better understand these changes to help people find innovative ways to adapt. We wish everyone plenty of fun reading this booklet and we would like to thank all those who supported this project.

Description: We present early Cretaceous to present paleobathymetric reconstructions and quantitative uncertainty estimates for the South Atlantic, offering a strong basis for studies of paleocirculation, paleoclimate and paleobiogeography. Circulation in an initially salty and anoxic ocean, restricted by the topography of the Falkland Plateau, Rio Grande Ridge and Walvis Rise, favoured deposition of thick evaporites in shallow water of the Brazilian-Angolan margins. This ceased as sea oor spreading propagated northwards, opening an equatorial gateway to shallow and intermediate circulation. This gateway, together with subsiding volcano-tectonic barriers would have played a key role in Late Cretaceous climate changes. Later deepening and widening of the South Atlantic, together with gateway opening at Drake Passage would lead, by mid-Miocene (∼15 Ma) to the establishment of modern-style thermohaline circulation.

Description: Currently there is a scarcity of paleo-records related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), particularly in East-Central Europe (ECE). Here we report δ15N analysis of guano from a cave in NW Romania with the intent of reconstructing past variation in ECE hydroclimate and examine NAO impacts on winter precipitation. We argue that the δ15N values of guano indicate that the nitrogen cycle is hydrologically controlled and the δ15N values likely reflect winter precipitation related to nitrogen mineralization prior to the growing season. Drier conditions indicated by δ15N values at AD 1848–1852 and AD 1880–1930 correspond to the positive phase of the NAO. The increased frequency of negative phases of the NAO between AD 1940–1975 is contemporaneous with higher δ15N values (wetter conditions). A 4‰ decrease in δ15N values at the end of the 1970’s corresponds to a strong reduction in precipitation associated with a shift from negative to positive phase of the NAO. Using the relationship between NAO index and δ15N values in guano for the instrumental period, we reconstructed NAO-like phases back to AD 1650. Our results advocate that δ15N values of guano offer a proxy of the NAO conditions in the more distant past, helping assess its predictability.

Description: Northward shift of the treeline is expected circum-Arctic and has been observed in a number of locations in response to Arctic warming. The transitional zone between forest and tundra is, therefore, a vulnerable region that requires systematic monitoring. Currently, radar remote sensing is hardly employed in the treeline zone. The unique constellation of the TanDEM-X satellites with its bistatic mode and unprecedented spatial resolution opens new opportunities for monitoring of the treeline zone. We focus on an area near the Trail Valley Creek research basin in the east of the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories, Canada. The area lies at the northern edge of the treeline zone. Erect vegetation there is characterised by deciduous shrubs up to 3 m in height and isolated patches of sparse coniferous forest. We evaluate the potential of TanDEM-X bistatic data to characterise the structural properties of the forest patches. The TanDEM-X data were acquired during the TanDEM-X Science Phase in 2015, when the effective baseline was large and constant (approximately 540 m). We employ interferometric coherence from multitemporal bistatic pairs and compare it with standard vegetation metrics obtained from airborne LiDAR data. The full-waveform airborne LiDAR data were captured in September 2016, covering an area of about 20 km x 6 km with a point density of approximately 5 points per square meter. LiDAR metrics include vegetation height percentiles and vegetation ratio. The preliminary analysis shows a high agreement between TanDEM-X bistatic coherence and LiDAR vegetation metrics. The relation between coherence and LiDAR metrics, averaged for each forest patch, yields in a strong inverse correlation, varying from -0.81 to -0.88 for different LiDAR metrics. On sub- atch scale, spatial patterns of coherence and LiDAR metrics also show high inverse correspondence. Thus, a pixel-by-pixel comparison gives a first-shot correlation between tree height 99 percentile and coherence from -0.45 to -0.63 for different forest patches. Taking into account the global coverage of multiple bistatic TanDEM-X data acquired for the global digital elevation model, our results provide a basis for the quantification of the treeline properties circum-Arctic.

Description: The Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarctica) is a critically important forage species with a circumpolar distribution and is unique among other notothenioid species for its wholly pelagic life cycle. Previous studies have provided mixed evidence of population structure over regional and circumpolar scales. The aim of the present study was to test the recent population hypothesis for Antarctic silverfish, which emphasizes the interplay between life history and hydrography in shaping connectivity. A total of 1067 individuals were collected over 25 years from different locations on a circumpolar scale. Samples were genotyped at fifteen microsatellites to assess population differentiation and genetic structuring using clustering methods, F-statistics, and hierarchical analysis of variance. A lack of differentiation was found between locations connected by the Antarctic Slope Front Current (ASF), indicative of high levels of gene flow. However, gene flow was significantly reduced at the South Orkney Islands and the western Antarctic Peninsula where the ASF is absent. This pattern of gene flow emphasized the relevance of large-scale circulation as a mechanism for circumpolar connectivity. Chaotic genetic patchiness characterized population structure over time, with varying patterns of differentiation observed between years, accompanied by heterogeneous standard length distributions. The present study supports a more nuanced version of the genetic panmixia hypothesis that reflects physical-biological interactions over the life history.

Description: With each cell division, phytoplankton create new space for primary colonization by marine bacteria. Although this surface microenvironment is available to all planktonic bacterial colonizers, we show the assembly of bacterial consortia on a cosmopolitan marine diatom to be highly specific and reproducible. While phytoplankton–bacteria interactions play fundamental roles in marine ecosystems, namely primary production and the carbon cycle, the ecological paradigm behind epiphytic microbiome assembly remains poorly understood. In a replicated and repeated primary colonization experiment, we exposed the axenic diatom Thalassiosira rotula to several complex and compositionally different bacterial inocula derived from phytoplankton species of varying degrees of relatedness to the axenic Thalassiosira host or natural seawater. This revealed a convergent assembly of diverse and compositionally different bacterial inocula, containing up to 2071 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), towards a stable and reproducible core community. Four of these OTUs already accounted for a cumulative abundance of 60%. This core community was dominated by Rhodobacteraceae (30.5%), Alteromonadaceae (27.7%), and Oceanospirillales (18.5%) which was qualitatively and quantitatively most similar to its conspecific original. These findings reject a lottery assembly model of bacterial colonization and suggest selective microhabitat filtering. This is likely due to diatom host traits such as surface properties and different levels of specialization resulting in reciprocal stable-state associations.

Description: Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are high latitude pelagic organisms which play a key ecological role in the ecosystem of the Southern Ocean. To synchronize their daily and seasonal life-traits with their highly rhythmic environment, krill rely on the implementation of rhythmic strategies which might be regulated by a circadian clock. A recent analysis of krill circadian transcriptome revealed that their clock might be characterized by an endogenous free-running period of about 12–15 h. Using krill exposed to simulated light/dark cycles (LD) and constant darkness (DD), we investigated the circadian regulation of krill diel vertical migration (DVM) and oxygen consumption, together with daily patterns of clock gene expression in brain and eyestalk tissue. In LD, we found clear 24 h rhythms of DVM and oxygen consumption, suggesting a synchronization with photoperiod. In DD, the DVM rhythm shifted to a 12 h period, while the peak of oxygen consumption displayed a temporal advance during the subjective light phase. This suggested that in free-running conditions the periodicity of these clock-regulated output functions might reflect the shortening of the endogenous period observed at the transcriptional level. Moreover, differences in the expression patterns of clock gene in brain and eyestalk, in LD and DD, suggested the presence in krill of a multiple oscillator system. Evidence of short periodicities in krill behavior and physiology further supports the hypothesis that a short endogenous period might represent a circadian adaption to cope with extreme seasonal photoperiodic variability at high latitude.

Description: High Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous livelihoods are tightly linked and exposed to climate change, yet assessing their sensitivity requires a long-term perspective. Here, we assess the vulnerability of the North Water polynya, a unique seaice ecosystem that sustains the world’s northernmost Inuit communities and several keystone Arctic species. We reconstruct mid-tolate Holocene changes in sea ice, marine primary production, and little auk colony dynamics through multi-proxy analysis of marine and lake sediment cores. Our results suggest a productive ecosystem by 4400–4200 cal yrs b2k coincident with the arrival of the first humans in Greenland. Climate forcing during the late Holocene, leading to periods of polynya instability and marine productivity decline, is strikingly coeval with the human abandonment of Greenland from c. 2200–1200 cal yrs b2k. Our long-term perspective highlights the future decline of the North Water ecosystem, due to climate warming and changing sea-ice conditions, as an important climate change risk.

Description: The evolution of past global ice sheets is highly uncertain. One example is the missing ice problem during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 26 000-19 000 years before present) – an apparent 8-28 m discrepancy between far-field sea level indicators and modelled sea level from ice sheet reconstructions. In the absence of ice sheet reconstructions, researchers often use marine δ 18 O proxy records to infer ice volume prior to the LGM. We present a global ice sheet reconstruction for the past 80 000 years, called PaleoMIST 1.0, constructed inde- pendently of far-field sea level and δ 18 O proxy records. Our reconstruction is compatible with LGM far-field sea-level records without requiring extra ice volume, thus solving the missing ice problem. However, for Marine Isotope Stage 3 (57 000-29 000 years before present) - a pre-LGM period - our reconstruction does not match proxy-based sea level reconstructions, indicating the relationship between marine δ 18 O and sea level may be more complex than assumed.

Description: Lake Baikal is inhabited by more than 300 endemic amphipod species, which are narrowly adapted to certain thermal niches due to the high interspecific competition. In contrast, the surrounding freshwater fauna is commonly represented by species with large‐scale distribution and high phenotypic thermal plasticity. Here, we investigated the thermal plasticity of the energy metabolism in two closely‐related endemic amphipod species from Lake Baikal (Eulimnogammarus verrucosus; stenothermal and Eulimnogammarus cyaneus; eurythermal) and the ubiquitous Holarctic amphipod Gammarus lacustris (eurythermal) by exposure to a summer warming scenario (6–23.6 °C; 0.8 °C d−1). In concert with routine metabolic rates, activities of key metabolic enzymes increased strongly with temperature up to 15 °C in E. verrucosus, whereupon they leveled off (except for lactate dehydrogenase). In contrast, exponential increases were seen in E. cyaneus and G. lacustris throughout the thermal trial (Q10‐values: 1.6–3.7). Cytochrome‐c‐oxidase, lactate dehydrogenase, and 3‐hydroxyacyl‐CoA dehydrogenase activities were found to be higher in G. lacustris than in E. cyaneus, especially at the highest experimental temperature (23.6 °C). Decreasing gene expression levels revealed some thermal compensation in E. cyaneus but not in G. lacustris. In all species, shifts in enzyme activities favored glycolytic energy generation in the warmth. The congruent temperature‐ dependencies of enzyme activities and routine metabolism in E. verrucosus indicate a strong feedback‐ regulation of enzymatic activities by whole organism responses. The species‐specific thermal reaction norms reflect the different ecological niches, including the spatial distribution, distinct thermal behavior such as temperature‐dependent migration, movement activity, and mating season.

Description: Background The proportion of conserved DNA sequences with no clear function is steadily growing in bioinformatics databases. Studies of sequence and structural homology have indicated that many uncharacterized protein domain sequences are variants of functionally described domains. If these variants promote an organism's ecological fitness, they are likely to be conserved in the genome of its progeny and the population at large. The genetic composition of microbial communities in their native ecosystems is accessible through metagenomics. We hypothesize the co-variation of protein domain sequences across metagenomes from similar ecosystems will provide insights into their potential roles and aid further investigation. Methodology/Principal findings We calculated the correlation of Pfam protein domain sequences across the Global Ocean Sampling metagenome collection, employing conservative detection and correlation thresholds to limit results to well-supported hits and associations. We then examined intercorrelations between domains of unknown function (DUFs) and domains involved in known metabolic pathways using network visualization and cluster-detection tools. We used a cautious “guilty-by-association” approach, referencing knowledge-level resources to identify and discuss associations that offer insight into DUF function. We observed numerous DUFs associated to photobiologically active domains and prevalent in the Cyanobacteria. Other clusters included DUFs associated with DNA maintenance and repair, inorganic nutrient metabolism, and sodium-translocating transport domains. We also observed a number of clusters reflecting known metabolic associations and cases that predicted functional reclassification of DUFs. Conclusion/Significance Critically examining domain covariation across metagenomic datasets can grant new perspectives on the roles and associations of DUFs in an ecological setting. Targeted attempts at DUF characterization in the laboratory or in silico may draw from these insights and opportunities to discover new associations and corroborate existing ones will arise as more large-scale metagenomic datasets emerge.

Description: Central Europe has experienced a severe drought almost every April for the last 14 years consecutively, driven by record high temperatures, low flows, high evapotranspiration, and high soil moisture deficit. The dynamic of this recent and recurrent mid-spring dryness is not yet understood. Here we show that the period 2007â€``2020 was characterized by a reduction of ~50% of the usual April rainfall amount over large areas in central Europe. The precipitation deficit and the record high temperatures were triggered by a multiyear recurrent high-pressure system centered over the North Sea and northern Germany and a decline in the temperature gradient between the Arctic region and the mid-latitudes, which diverted the Atlantic storm tracks northward. From a long-term perspective, the precipitation, temperature, and soil moisture anomalies observed over the last 14 years have reached the highest amplitudes over the observational record. Our study provides an in-depth analysis of the hydroclimate extremes in central Europe over the last 140 years and their atmospheric drivers, enabling us to increase our dynamical understating of long-term dry periods, which is vital to enhance forecasting and mitigation of such events.

Description: Floating ice shelves are the Achilles’ heel of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. They limit Antarctica’s contribution to global sea level rise, yet they can be rapidly melted from beneath by a warming ocean. At Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, a decline in sea ice formation may increase basal melt rates and accelerate marine ice sheet mass loss within this century. However, the understanding of this tipping-point behavior largely relies on numerical models. Our new multi-annual observations from five hot-water drilled boreholes through Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf show that since 2015 there has been an intensification of the density-driven ice shelf cavity-wide circulation in response to reinforced wind-driven sea ice formation in the Ronne polynya. Enhanced southerly winds over Ronne Ice Shelf coincide with westward displacements of the Amundsen Sea Low position, connecting the cavity circulation with changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns as a new aspect of the atmosphere-ocean-ice shelf system.

Description: The thecosome pteropods Limacina helicina and L. retroversa are important contributors to the zooplankton community in high-latitude environments but little is known about their distribution and life cycle under polar conditions. We collected the early life stages (〈 1 mm) of the thecosome population in 2012 and 2013 at a bi-weekly to monthly resolution in fjord highly influenced by Arctic waters as well as Atlantic inflows (Adventfjorden, Svalbard, 78°N), together with environmental parameters. L. retroversa only occurred episodically, in association with the inflow of Atlantic water, with low numbers and random size distributions. This suggests that this boreal species does not fulfill its life cycle in Adventfjorden. In contrast, young specimens of L. helicina were present during the entire study. Veligers hatched in late summer/autumn and measured 0.14 mm on average. They grew with rates of 0.0006 mm day− 1 over the 10–11 months of development. Only thereafter, growth accelerated by one order of magnitude and maximal rates were reached in autumn (0.0077 mm day− 1). Our results indicate that L. helicina reaches a size of 1 mm after approximately 1.5 years in Adventfjorden. We therefore suggest that L. helicina overwinters the first year as a small juvenile and that it needs at least 2 years to reach an adult size of 5 mm in Adventfjorden. This reveals an complex and delicate aspect of the life-cycle of L. helicina and further research is needed to determine if it makes the population especially vulnerable towards climate changes.

Description: Slope failure like in the Hinlopen/Yermak Megaslide is one of the major geohazards in a changing Arctic environment. We analysed hydroacoustic and 2D high-resolution seismic data from the apparently intact continental slope immediately north of the Hinlopen/Yermak Megaslide for signs of past and future instabilities. Our new bathymetry and seismic data show clear evidence for incipient slope instability. Minor slide deposits and an internally-deformed sedimentary layer near the base of the gas hydrate stability zone imply an incomplete failure event, most probably about 30000 years ago, contemporaneous to or shortly after the Hinlopen/Yermak Megaslide. An active gas reservoir at the base of the gas hydrate stability zone demonstrate that over-pressured fluids might have played a key role in the initiation of slope failure at the studied slope, but more importantly also for the giant HYM slope failure. To date, it is not clear, if the studied slope is fully preconditioned to fail completely in future or if it might be slowly deforming and creeping at present. We detected widespread methane seepage on the adjacent shallow shelf areas not sealed by gas hydrates.

Description: Vast parts of Arctic Siberia are underlain by ice-rich permafrost, which is exposed to different processes of degradation due to global warming. Thermal erosion as a key process for landscape degradation in these regions causes the recent reactivation and formation of new landforms like thermo-erosional valleys and gullies. However, a statistical assessment about the decisive factors and the locations most susceptible to this phenomenon is still missing. We investigated the influence of different environmental parameters on the occurrence of recently observed thermal erosion using a GIS-based approach and statistical modeling by logistic regression. The study site is located on an island within the Arctic Lena River Delta and is mainly composed of ice- and organic-rich deposits of the Yedomatype Ice Complex. Field surveys and mapping on the basis of high-resolution remotely sensed data revealed that thermal erosion occurs predominantly i) on very steep slopes along the margins of the island, ii) in the upper reaches of deeply incised valleys and iii) in gullies. In order to detect the regulation factors for those thermo-erosional landforms, we derived several environmental parameters using a high-resolution DEM and satellite imagery. We chose a stepwise logistic regression approach to reduce the full set of potential parameters. This approach allowed the selection of a parsimonious model, i.e. a best-fit model using as few parameters as possible. The parameters Contribution of warm open surface water, Relief ratio, Direct solar radiation and Snow accumulation turned out to be the decisive factors for thermal erosion. Uncertainties in the model due to sampling and model selection were valuated both statistically and spatially through the generation of 100 models. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROCs) were used to validate the spatial predictive capability of each model run. The consensus map as the median of all 100 susceptibility models represents the final susceptibility map. The agreement between mapped and predicted erosion turned out to be generally very high within the study site, confirmed by an Area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.957 for the consensus map. The variability of predicted erosion probabilities between the single models is about four percentage points per cell within the study site and thus, very low. We attributed the slight mismatches between observed and predicted erosion to the generation of the explanatory environmental parameters and the modeling approach. Model results seem promising for the spatial prediction of susceptible sites for thermal erosion and, thus, could be a tool to explain the geomorphic forming in this rapidly changing environment. As these results are based on a single case study, future investigation should focus on the transferability of the model by applying an external validation on other sites with comparable environmental conditions.

Description: The Arctic is affected by rapid climate change, which has substantial impact on permafrost regions and the world as a whole (Raynolds et al., 2014). In the last 30 years Arctic temperatures have risen 0.6 °C per decade, twice as fast as the global average (AMAP, 2011, Schuur et al., 2015). This in turn leads to the degradation of ice-rich permafrost (Grosse et al., 2011) and modifies drainage, increases mass movements and alters landscapes (Nelson et al., 2001; Anisimov et al., 2007, Romanovsky et al., 2010b). Although permafrost regions are not densely populated, their economic importance has increased substantially in recent decades. This is related to the abundance of natural resources in the polar region and improved methods of hydrocarbon extraction, transportation networks to population centers and engineering maintenance systems (Nelson et al., 2002; Mazhitova et al., 2004, AMAP, 2011). The Yamal Peninsula in North West Siberia is experiencing some of the most rapid land cover and land use changes in the Arctic due to a combination of climate change and gas development in one of the most extensive industrial complexes (Kumpula et al., 2006; Walker et al., 2011; Leibman et al., 2015). Specific geological conditions with nutrient-poor sands, massive tabular ground ice and extensive landslides intensify these impacts (Walker et al., 2011). The combination of high natural erosion potential and anthropogenic influence cause extremely intensive rates of erosion (Gubarkov et al., 2014). A considerable amount of recent work has focused on the effects of industrial development to ecological and social implications (Forbes, 1999; Kumpula et al., 2010; Walker et al., 2011). This study aims at exemplarily investigating a region that has been affected by natural and anthropogenic large-scale disturbances within a very short period. The construction of the world’s northernmost railway for the Bovanenkvo Gas Field was finished in 2010. In addition the region experienced an extremly warm and wet summer in 2012. The objectives of this study are • to map surface disturbances of central Yamal between 2010 and 2013/2015 based on highresolution satellite imagery and on the most recent SPOT5-TAKE-5 imagery in 2015, • to quantify natural and anthropogenic impacts in terms of permafrost degradation, • to use meteorological data from the nearest climate station (Marre Sale, Yamal) and from reanalyses climate data on air temperature and precipitation.

Description: In order to understand the influence of surrounding catchment characteristics on the CDOM concentration different types of surface waters in the Lena river delta region were investigated regarding their geochemical composition. The Lena River Delta consists of three geomorphological main terraces that differ in their relief, hydrological and cryolithological characteristics, which possibly influences the content of dissolved substances in their associated water bodies and in the neighboring river branches. During summer seasons of 2013-2014 water samples were collected from river branches as well as from lakes and melt-water streams on the first and the third main terraces and analyzed them for concentrations of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and main and trace elements (Na, K, Mg, Ca, HCO3, F, Cl, SO4, Fe, Si, Sr). This type of research was carried out for surface waters in the Lena delta region for the first time. Statistical analysis revealed several correlations between CDOM, DOC and mineral ions. For example, R-squared (the coefficient of determination) for CDOM and Cl and for CDOM and Na in Lena River branches were 0.52 and 0.51, respectively. Correlation between CDOM and F was also found for melt-water streams from the Ice Complex (third terrace) (R-squared = 0.5). Analysis of the relationship between CDOM and DOC showed strong correlation of these parameters for lakes (R-squared = 0.98) and lower correlation for river branches (R- squared = 0.48). In streams formed by the thawing of Ice Complex deposits on the third terrace was found the highest values of CDOM and DOC, but a correlation between them was not observed. A clear dependency was found out between CDOM and DOC correlation and the location of lakes on different terraces with specific permafrost conditions. A stronger correlation was observed for the lakes located on the third terrace (Ice Complex) compared to lakes located on the first terrace (Samoylov Island). Usually, lakes on the first terrace get flooded by river waters during spring, whereas lakes of the third terrace are not affected by river water inflow and have more stable conditions. The Lena delta branches are influenced by differing surrounding conditions, therefore CDOM and DOC concentrations change during summer season and did not show strong correlations.

Description: Preface The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the Eleventh International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP2016) is excited about the breadth and the quality of the abstracts submitted for this conference. It was the first time that ICOP topical sessions were not set by the organizing committee in a top-down manner. Instead, sessions were submitted from the bottom-up by groups of researchers and engineers from all over the world. This grassroots effort prompted the submission of many innovative topics covering the full range of modern permafrost research. It also facilitated not only the engagement of the core permafrost community, but also of science disciplines traditionally less involved in ICOPs. In total, 51 session proposals were received by the LOC. These were submitted by up to three conveners including at least one early career researcher from the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN). After the evaluation process by the International Scientific Committee (ISC) and the LOC, including the addition of strategic topics and the combination of sessions with thematic overlap, 40 topical sessions were eventually opened for abstract submission. There was yet another novelty compared to previous ICOPs: the submission of contributions was not divided into abstracts and papers, in favor of a quicker and uniform review process allowing for the submission deadline to be set closer to the conference. This opened the possibility for authors to present recent results in the rapidly evolving field of permafrost research. Abstracts of up to 3000 words were allowed, either plain or formatted with subheadings, and including one figure, table or equation. We received the extraordinary number of 980 abstracts. This number varied between 79 and 0 among sessions, which led to a further consolidation into the final set of 32 sessions presented in this abstract volume. Abstract evaluation was placed in the hands of the session conveners. The vast majority of abstracts (97 %) was deemed eligible to be accepted for presentation during the conference, either immediately or after revision by the authors. The reduced number of abstracts presented in this volume is mostly due to the inability of travelling to the conference for some authors. We are very delighted that the modified procedures for the compilation of the scientific conference program proved so successful and wish to extend our gratitude to the session conveners and ISC members for their tremendous efforts and great support in compiling such a high-quality program. We also wish to thank Hans-Wolfgang Hubberten, Lydia Polakowski, Matthias Fuchs, Ingmar Nitze, Samuel Stettner, Karina Schollaen, Hugues Lantuit, and Guido Grosse for their technical help in the final editing phase of this abstract volume. Frank Günther and Anne Morgenstern

Description: Nowadays due to climate change the interest to the hydrological processes in the permafrost affected regions is growing. Permafrost soil is important carbon pool and thawing can cause the increase of carbon outflow from Arctic river basins. During Russian-German expeditions Lena-2012 and 2013 some measurements were carried out on the catchment of the Fish Lake on Samoylovsky Island in the Lena River delta. Fish Lake is a thermokarstpolygonal lake, and the landscape of its catchment is typical for the Arctic polygonal tundra. These measurements were done in order to study the DOC income to the lake from an active layer of the catchment. Measurements of the DOC concentration in the pore water and the depth of seasonal thawing were made at 21 points in the 1,52 sq km catchment. The points were selected in different parts of the polygons to consider the heterogeneity of the landscape. Samples for DOC were analyzed in the field using a Spectro::lyser probe and in the lab with a Shimadzu TOC-L probe. In August the depth of the active layer was between 20 and 60 cm: 20-30 cm on the polygon rims, 30-60 cm in the polygon centers and near the lake. During the month when the measurements were made the depth increased by 10-15. For August the DOC concentration in the pore water of the active layer was 8-51 mg/l, for July – 5-30 mg/l, which correlates with the results of other researches in Arctic region. The changes in DOC concentration in pore water for the different thaw depth were examined. Maximum was observed on the depth 35-40 cm for July and 45-55 cm for August. So, for the same depth the variance in the concentration was the most significant. The DOC flux to the Fish Lake was calculated using the mean measured concentration and water runoff from the catchment (Ogorodnikova, 2011). The DOC daily flux to the lake is evaluated as about 0,8 kg per day and the flow rate is 0,5 kg/ km2*day, which is in ten time less than for the lake catchment of southern areas (Moore, 2003). Prolongation of field measurements is necessary for reasons clarifying and for better understanding of DOC flux formation processes under different conditions including thawing increase.

Description: Previous studies have shown that arctic river delta systems are areas of accumulation of geochemical substances at the sea-river mixing zone. In the Lena River Delta our previous work shows the tendencies of water runoff redistribution changes and heterogeneity of suspended supply distribution along the delta branches, accumulation and erosion zone in the different parts of the delta. Nevertheless, the processes of geochemical flow transformation in the subaerial deltas are so far underestimated. In order to close this gap, we sampled water, suspended and bottom sediments in the Lena River Delta in the summer seasons of 2010 and 2014. Most of the sampling points were tight to the profiles of hydrological measurements held in the delta and highlighted in Fedorova et al. [2015]. The results show that geochemical transformation of the Lena River runoff is taking place in the delta. The most active time for the transformation is the summer season due to the activity of sediment accumulation and biogeochemical processes. Hydrological conditions in the delta affect also its hydrogeochemical characteristics. Furcation of the delta branches affects the hydrodynamic conditions of different delta areas. The factors influencing the geochemical characteristics of the delta were identified on the base of geochemical indexes approach applied to sediments and statistical factor analysis. Based on geochemical indexes (Al/Na, Si/Al, Fe/Mn and Fe/Al ratios) similar conditions were determined for the main branch of the Lena, the upstream parts of Bykovskaya and Tumatskaya branches and in Olenekskaya branch near Chay-Tumus. Despite of high runoff the branches are characterized by element accumulation, which can be explained by decreasing of flow turbulence and specificity redox conditions in these areas. Bottom sediments are one of the most important indicators of geochemical transformation processes. The results of statistical factor analysis show three main factors for formation of the these geochemical conditions in the delta: 1. the general water flow of the Lena River, which is influenced by the lithogenous base of the river catchment, 2. the cryogenic condition of the Lena Delta (permafrost degradation processes and cryogenic weathering) and 3. biogeochemical transformation during redistribution of chemical water components , suspended matter and bottom sediments. Acknowledgements The research was supported by grant No. 14-05-00787 A of Russian Foundation for Basic Research References Fedorova, I.; Chetverova, A.; Bolshiyanov, D.; Makarov, A.; Boike, J.; Heim, B.; Morgenstern, A.; Overduin, P. P.; Wegner, C.; Kashina, V.; Eulenburg, A.; Dobrotina, E. and Sidorina, I. [2015]: Lena Delta hydrology and geochemistry: long-term hydrological data and recent field observations. Biogeosciences, 12(2):345–363, doi:10.5194/bg-12-345-2015.

Description: Little is known about the production of fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) in the anoxic oceanic sediments. In this study, sediment pore waters were sampled from four different sites in the Chukchi-East Siberian Seas area to examine the bulk dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and their optical properties. The production of FDOM, coupled with the increase of nutrients, was observed above the sulfate-methane-transition-zone (SMTZ). The presence of FDOM was concurrent with sulfate reduction and increased alkalinity (R2 〉 0.96, p 〈 0.0001), suggesting a link to organic matter degradation. This inference was supported by the positive correlation (R2 〉 0.95, p 〈 0.0001) between the net production of FDOM and the modeled degradation rates of particulate organic carbon sulfate reduction. The production of FDOM was more pronounced in a shallow shelf site S1 with a total net production ranging from 17.9 to 62.3 RU for different FDOM components above the SMTZ depth of ca. 4.1 mbsf, which presumably underwent more accumulation of particulate organic matter than the other three deeper sites. The sediments were generally found to be the sources of CDOM and FDOM to the overlying water column, unearthing a channel of generally bio-refractory and pre-aged DOM to the oceans.

Description: The Lena River delta is one of the hydrologically entertaining objects. Hundreds channels and thousands lakes as well as thawing ice complex and permafrost active layer dynamic allow to investigate spatial-temporal coherence of different scale hydrological processes. During 15 years Russian-German scientific collaboration on hydrological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological studies have been operated on different water objects for cause-effect relation of large and specific micro processes indication. Transient liquid-frozen water phase change is significant not only for active layer runoff forming but also for hydrochemical and biological specific. Thus, maximum of DOC is in the overlaying soil layer than permafrost border [Bobrova et al., 2013]. It could be used for modeling of runoff forming and biological activity estimation. Measured temperature of lacustrine bottom sediment of one thermokarst lake on Samoylov Island shows maximal volume 3,7 °C on 1,75 cm beneath water-sediment border [Skorospekhova, 2015]. It is also can be interpreted as biological processes activity, for example, organic material destruction with additional heating. It could be observed more detail and can be used for modeling of a lake thermic regime. Hydrobiological specificity shows similarity of species in the channels and lakes, poorness of biodiversity, especially in big channel; only stagnant in summer season Bulkurskaya channel has more zooplankton species in four times than the main river channel [Nigamatzyanova et al., 2015]. Decline of water turbidity from the delta top to channel edges is about 5-8 times [Charkin et al., 2009]. Considerable turbidity increase is formed according to permafrost thawing and can reach 500 g l-1 including high concentration of carbon and biogenic elements. Thermokarst lake degradation [Morgenstern et al., 2011] plays also an important role for permafrost hydrology in the delta. Outflow from an ice complex forms a high local suspended supply in adjacent river branches and influences on biological processes consequently [Dubinenkov et al., 2015]. Underestimated effect of water and sediment discharge increase in the middle part of river branches had been marked [Fedorova et al., 2015]. Head flux of the large Lena River forms taliks under channels with more sophisticated affect in the shoreline zone of the Laptev Sea due to aquifer dynamic and mixing of fresh and salt water. Talik effect on hydrology and sedimentation (and suspended material transformation) in the central part of the delta is currently carried out according to geophysical and hydrogeological methods. First field measurements are planned to be done in April 2016 and results will be presented in the ICOP 2016. The studies have been done with support of RFBR grant 14-05-00787 and 15-35-50949, in the framework of Russian-German projects “ CarboPerm” and “Scientific station “Samoylov Island”. The project for both SPBU and DFG funding had also applied for field and scientific investigation as well. References Bobrova, O.; Fedorova, I.; Chetverova, A.; Runkle, B. and Potapova, T. Input of Dissolved Organic Carbon for Typical Lakes in Tundra Based on Field Data of the Expedition Lena–2012. In Proceedings of the 19th International Northern Research Basins Symposium and Workshop, Southcentral Alaska, USA – August 11–17, 2013, 2013. Charkin, A.N.; Dudarev, O.V.; Semiletov, I.P.; Fedorova, I.; Chetverova, A.A.; J., Vonk; Sanchez- Garcia, L.; Gustafsson, ö. and Andersson, P. edimentation in the System of the Delta Lena River - the South Western Part of Buor-Haya Gulf (the Laptev Sea). In The 16th International Symposium on Polar Sciences. Incheon, Korea. 2009, 2009. Dubinenkov, I.; Flerus, R.; Schmitt-Kopplin, P.; Kattner, G. and Koch, B.P. [2015]: Origin-specific molecular signatures of dissolved organic matter in the Lena Delta. Biogeochemistry, 123(1):1–14, doi:10.1007/s10533-014-0049-0. Fedorova, I.; Chetverova, A.; Bolshiyanov, D.; Makarov, A.; Boike, J.; Heim, B.; Morgenstern, A.; Overduin, P. P.; Wegner, C.; Kashina, V.; Eulenburg, A.; Dobrotina, E. and Sidorina, I. [2015]: Lena delta hydrology and geochemistry: long-term hydrological data and recent field observations. Biogeosciences, 12(2):345–363, doi:10.5194/bg-12-345-2015. Morgenstern, A.; Grosse, G.; Günther, F.; Fedorova, I. and Schirrmeister, L. [2011]: Spatial analyses of thermokarst lakes and basins in Yedoma landscapes of the Lena Delta. The Cryosphere, 5(4):849–867, doi:10.5194/tc-5-849-2011. Nigamatzyanova, G.; Frolova, L.; Chetverova, A. and Fedorova, I. Hydrobiological investigation of branches of the Lena River edge zone. In Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta, Seriya Estestvennye Nauki. 2015. in Russian. Skorospekhova, T. Report of a spring campaign of the expedition “Lena 2015”. AARI’s library stock, 2015.

Description: Stable water isotope records from Antarctica are key for our understanding of Quaternary climate variations. However, the exact quantitative interpretation of these important climate proxy records in terms of surface temperature, ice sheet height and other climatic changes is still a matter of debate. Here we report results obtained with an atmospheric general circulation model equipped with water isotopes, run at a high-spatial horizontal resolution of one-by-one degree. Comparing different glacial maximum ice sheet reconstructions, a best model data match is achieved for the PMIP3 reconstruction. Reduced West Antarctic elevation changes between 400 and 800 m lead to further improved agreement with ice core data. Our modern and glacial climate simulations support the validity of the isotopic paleothermometer approach based on the use of present-day observations and reveal that a glacial ocean state as displayed in the GLAMAP reconstruction is suitable for capturing the observed glacial isotope changes in Antarctic ice cores.

Description: A dominant Antarctic ecological paradigm suggests that winter sea ice is generally the main feeding ground for krill larvae. Observations from our winter cruise to the southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean contradict this view and present the first evidence that the pack-ice zone is a food-poor habitat for larval development. In contrast, the more open marginal ice zone provides a more favourable food environment for high larval krill growth rates. We found that complex under-ice habitats are, however, vital for larval krill when water column productivity is limited by light, by providing structures that offer protec- tion from predators and to collect organic material released from the ice. The larvae feed on this sparse ice-associated food during the day. After sunset, they migrate into the water below the ice (upper 20 m) and drift away from the ice areas where they have previously fed. Model analyses indicate that this behaviour increases both food uptake in a patchy food environment and the likelihood of overwinter transport to areas where feeding conditions are more favourable in spring.

Description: There is a strong spatial correlation between submarine slope failures and the occurrence of gas hydrates. This has been attributed to the dynamic nature of gas hydrate systems and the potential reduction of slope stability due to bottom water warming or sea level drop. However, 30 years of research into this process found no solid supporting evidence. Here we present new reflection seismic data from the Arctic Ocean and numerical modelling results supporting a different link between hydrates and slope stability. Hydrates reduce sediment permeability and cause build-up of overpressure at the base of the gas hydrate stability zone. Resulting hydro-fracturing forms pipe structures as pathways for overpressured fluids to migrate upward. Where these pipe structures reach shallow permeable beds, this overpressure transfers laterally and destabilises the slope. This process reconciles the spatial correlation of submarine landslides and gas hydrate, and it is independent of environmental change and water depth.

Description: Arctic tundra landscapes are composed of a complex mosaic of patterned ground features, varying in soil moisture, vegetation composition, and surface hydrology over small spatial scales (10–100 m). The importance of microtopography and associated geomorphic landforms in influencing ecosystem structure and function is well founded, however, spatial data products describing local to regional scale distribution of patterned ground or polygonal tundra geomorphology are largely unavailable. Thus, our understanding of local impacts on regional scale processes (e.g., carbon dynamics) may be limited. We produced two key spatiotemporal datasets spanning the Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska (~60,000 km2) to evaluate climate-geomorphological controls on arctic tundra productivity change, using (1) a novel 30m classification of polygonal tundra geomorphology and (2) decadal-trends in surface greenness using the Landsat archive (1999–2014). These datasets can be easily integrated and adapted in an array of local to regional applications such as (1) upscaling plot-level measurements (e.g., carbon/energy fluxes), (2) mapping of soils, vegetation, or permafrost, and/or (3) initializing ecosystem biogeochemistry, hydrology, and/or habitat modeling.

Description: The field of Arctic sea ice prediction on “weather time scales” is still in its infancy with little existing understanding of the limits of predictability. This is especially true for sea ice deformation along so-called Linear Kinematic Features (LKFs) including leads that are relevant for marine operations. Here the potential predictability of the sea ice pack in the wintertime Arctic up to ten days ahead is determined, exploiting the fact that sea ice-ocean models start to show skill at representing sea ice deformation at high spatial resolutions. Results are based on ensemble simulations with a high-resolution sea ice-ocean model driven by atmospheric ensemble forecasts. The predictability of LKFs as measured by different metrics drops quickly, with predictability being almost completely lost after 4–8 days. In contrast, quantities such as sea ice concentration or the location of the ice edge retain high levels of predictability throughout the full 10-day forecast period. It is argued that the rapid error growth for LKFs is mainly due to the chaotic behaviour of the atmosphere associated with the low predictability of near surface wind divergence and vorticity; initial condition uncertainty for ice thickness is found to be of minor importance as long as LKFs are initialized at the right locations.

Description: Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a key species in Southern Ocean ecosystem where it plays a central role in the Antarctic food web. Available information supports the existence of an endogenous timing system in krill enabling it to synchronize metabolism and behavior with an environment characterized by extreme seasonal changes in terms of day length, food availability, and surface ice extent. A screening of our transcriptome database “KrillDB” allowed us to identify the putative orthologues of 20 circadian clock components. Mapping of conserved domains and phylogenetic analyses strongly supported annotations of the identi ed sequences. Luciferase assays and co-immunoprecipitation experiments allowed us to de ne the role of the main clock components. Our ndings provide an overall picture of the molecular mechanisms underlying the functioning of the endogenous circadian clock in the Antarctic krill and shed light on their evolution throughout crustaceans speciation. Interestingly, the core clock machinery shows both mammalian and insect features that presumably contribute to an evolutionary strategy to cope with polar environment’s challenges. Moreover, despite the extreme variability characterizing the Antarctic seasonal day length, the conserved light mediated degradation of the photoreceptor EsCRY1 suggests a persisting pivotal role of light as a Zeitgeber.

Description: Arctic tundra ecosystems have experienced unprecedented change associated with climate warming over recent decades. Across the Pan-Arctic, vegetation productivity and surface greenness have trended positively over the period of satellite observation. However, since 2011 these trends have slowed considerably, showing signs of browning in many regions. It is unclear what factors are driving this change and which regions/landforms will be most sensitive to future browning. Here we provide evidence linking decadal patterns in arctic greening and browning with regional climate change and local permafrost-driven landscape heterogeneity. We analyzed the spatial variability of decadal-scale trends in surface greenness across the Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska (~60,000 km²) using the Landsat archive (1999–2014), in combination with novel 30 m classifications of polygonal tundra and regional watersheds, finding landscape heterogeneity and regional climate change to be the most important factors controlling historical greenness trends. Browning was linked to increased temperature and precipitation, with the exception of young landforms (developed following lake drainage), which will likely continue to green. Spatiotemporal model forecasting suggests carbon uptake potential to be reduced in response to warmer and/or wetter climatic conditions, potentially increasing the net loss of carbon to the atmosphere, at a greater degree than previously expected.

Description: Thermo-erosional landforms (valleys, gullies) and their associated streams are the main connecting pathways between inland permafrost areas and rivers and coasts. Surface and ground waters are routed along these streams, which transport particulate and dissolved matter from the catchments to the rivers and coastal waters. Regions of ice-rich permafrost, such as the Yedoma-type Ice Complex, are not only characterized by a high abundance of thermo-erosional landforms, which formed during the Holocene, but are subject to extensive degradation under current arctic warming by processes such as thermal erosion, thermokarst, and active layer deepening. In the Siberian Lena River Delta Yedoma-type Ice Complex deposits occur on insular remnants of a Late-Pleistocene accumulation plain that has been dissected by Lena River branches and degraded by thermal erosion and thermokarst during the Holocene. This region serves as suitable exemplary study area for estimating the contribution of 1) different permafrost degradation landforms to the export of water and dissolved matter from Yedoma-type Ice Complex to the river and 2) active degradation of old permafrost versus seasonal runoff from the surface and active layer. In the summers of 2013 and 2014 we sampled surface and soil waters from streams and their watersheds in Yedomatype Ice Complex landscapes of the Lena River Delta and analyzed them for a range of hydrogeochemical parameters including electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and stable isotopic composition. The sampling sites were spread over an E-W-extent of about 150 km and are characterized by very diverse geomorphological and hydrological situations in terms of distance to the river branches, catchment size, discharge, degree of thermo-erosional activity, and connection to other permafrost degradation landforms (thermokarst lakes and basins). Three key sites were sampled three and four times from June to September 2013 and 2014, respectively, in order to analyze intra-seasonal changes. The results show large variances in EC (25 to 1205 μS/cm), DOC concentrations (2.9 to 119.0 mg/l), �18O (-29.8 to -14.6 ‰ vs. SMOW), and �D (-228.9 to -117.9‰ vs. SMOW) over the whole dataset, with distinct characteristics in the parameter combination for different degradation landform and water types. The temporal variability at the repeatedly sampled sites is low, which implies that there is not much change in the processes that determine the water composition throughout the summer season. By comparing differences in surface water chemistry between flow path systems that tap into varying amounts of source water (precipitation, surface and ground water, ground ice) and have differing residence times and extents, we explore the effect of future changes in thermokarst and thermo-erosional intensity and resulting changes in flow path hydrogeochemistry for thermoerosional features draining ice-rich permafrost.

Description: The effect of climate warming on the degradation of permafrost in Arctic coastal lowlands and associated hydrological and biogeochemical processes varies between different types of permafrost deposits. The Lena River Delta consists of three geomorphological main terraces that differ in their genesis and stratigraphic, cryological, geomorphological and hydrological characteristics. The third terrace was formed during the late Pleistocene and consists mainly of Yedoma-type Ice Complex deposits, whereas the first terrace has formed during the Holocene by deltaic processes. Permafrost degradation on both terraces releases dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to thermokarst lakes and via streams DOC gets transported to the Lena River channels and the Arctic Ocean. This presentation shows 1. differences in the surface water chemistry between the first terrace and the Yedoma Ice Complex and their landforms, 2. analyses of the temporal variability of DOC during the summer, and 3. an estimation of summer DOC flux for the considered catchment of about 6.45 km2. Between June and September 2013 and 2014, respectively summer surface water and soil water samples were collected in a small catchment in the south of Kurungnakh Island in the central Lena River Delta. This catchment covers the first terrace as well as the Yedoma Ice Complex and is characterized by thermokarst lakes and streams on both terraces. Two weirs were installed in the main stream along the drainage flow path to continuously measure discharge during summer 2013. We divided the study area into landscape units and compared pH, electrical conductivity, stable isotopic composition and DOC concentrations between units and between terraces. The considered landscape units are streams and thermokarst lakes on Yedoma Ice Complex and on the first terrace, Yedoma uplands, streams, which are fed by the Ice Complex, a relict lake on the first terrace and the Olenyokskaya Channel, a main branch of the Lena River. DOC concentrations in the landscape units on Yedoma Ice Complex ranged between 3.5 mg L-1 (streams) and 52.5 mg L−1 (soilwater of Yedoma uplands) and on the first terrace between 2.8 mg L−1 (streams) and 15.6 mg L−1 (relict lake). The electrical conductivity on Yedoma Ice Complex ranged between 35 μS cm-1 (soilwater of Yedoma uplands) and 151 μS cm−1 (streams) and on the first terrace between 54 μS cm−1 (streams and relict lake) and 140 μS cm−1 (streams). δ18O values on Yedoma Ice Complex and first terrace ranged between -22.4 ‰ (soilwater of Yedoma uplands) and -16.4 ‰ (streams) and between -20.4 ‰and -14.7 ‰ (streams), respectively. δD ranged between -165.6 ‰ (soilwater of Yedoma uplands) and 125.5 ‰ (streams, which are fed by the Ice Complex) and between -160.8 ‰ and -119.4 ‰ (streams). Source waters on the Yedoma Ice Complex had higher DOC concentrations and lower electrical conductivity than Yedoma Ice Complex thermokarst lakes and the drainage flow path. This suggests that more labile organic carbon, perhaps derived from permafrost degradation on the Yedoma Ice Complex, enriches the lake but is removed from the lake, for example, by mineralization in the water column. Along the drainage flow path no further decrease of DOC concentration was observed, despite increasing discharge from weir 1 at the beginning of the flow path to almost two and a half times at weir 2 at the end of the flow path, and despite decreasing discharge during the measuring period from 1814 m3 d−1 in the end of July to 199 m3 d−1 in the end of August for weir 1 and from 2819 m3 d−1 in the end of July to 567 m3 d−1 in the end of August for weir 2. The temporal variability of DOC concentration during the sampling periods was low. In 2013 one sample site of soil water collection fluctuated slightly in August between 10.5 mg L−1 and 13.3 mg L−1, whereas the remaining landscape units showed no temporal variability. In 2014 the DOC concentration of the relict lake on the first terrace decreased from July (13.5 mg L−1) to September (11.1 mg L−1). Otherwise there were no changes in DOC concentration in the remaining landscape units. DOC measurements of the Olenyokskaya Channel show a decrease in DOC concentration from 12.4 mg L−1 in June to 7.6 mg L−1 in September. Using discharge data of 2013 a summer DOC flux of about 220 kg in 29 days for the study site above weir 2 with an area of 6.45 km2 was calculated.

Description: Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba)—one of the most abundant animal species on Earth—exhibits a five to six year population cycle, with oscillations in biomass exceeding one order of magnitude. Previous studies have postulated that the krill cycle is induced by periodic climatological factors, but these postulated drivers neither show consistent agreement, nor are they supported by quantitative models. Here, using data analysis complemented with modelling of krill ontogeny and population dynamics, we identify intraspecific competition for food as the main driver of the krill cycle, while external climatological factors possibly modulate its phase and synchronization over large scales. Our model indicates that the cycle amplitude increases with reduction of krill loss rates. Thus, a decline of apex predators is likely to increase the oscillation amplitude, potentially destabilizing the marine food web, with drastic consequences for the entire Antarctic ecosystem.

Description: Background: Trace elements have been hypothesised to be involved in the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis and volcanic degassing is the major natural sources of trace elements. Both incidence of Multiple Sclerosis in Catania and volcanic activity of Mount Etna have been significantly increased during the last 30 years. Due to prevailing trade winds direction, volcanic gases from Etna summit craters are mostly blown towards the eastern and southern sectors of the volcano. Objective: To evaluate the possible association between Multiple Sclerosis and exposure to volcanogenic trace elements. Methods: We evaluated prevalence and incidence of Multiple Sclerosis in four communities (47,234 inhabitants) located in the eastern flank and in two communities (52,210 inhabitants) located in the western flank of Mount Etna, respectively the most and least exposed area to crater gas emissions. Results: A higher prevalence was found in the population of the eastern flank compared to the population of the western one (137.6/100,000 versus 94.3/100,000; p-value 0.04). We found a borderline significantly higher incidence risk during the incidence study period (1980–2009) in the population of the eastern flank 4.6/100,000 (95% CI 3.1–5.9), compared with the western population 3.2/100,000 (95% CI 2.4–4.2) with a RR of 1.41 (95% CI 0.97–2.05; p-value 0.06). Incidence risks have increased over the time in both populations reaching a peak of 6.4/100,000 in the eastern flank and of 4.4/100.000 in the western flank during 2000–2009. Conclusion: We found a higher prevalence and incidence of Multiple Sclerosis among populations living in the eastern flank of Mount Etna. According to our data a possible role of TE cannot be ruled out as possible co-factor in the MS pathogenesis. However larger epidemiological study are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Description: Published

Description: e74259

Description: 6A. Monitoraggio ambientale, sicurezza e territorio

Description: JCR Journal

Description: open

Description: In the following we present a new non-invasive methodology aimed at the diagnosis of stone building materials used in historical buildings and architectural elements. This methodology consists of the integrated sequential application of in situ proximal sensing methodologies such as the 3D Terrestrial Laser Scanner for the 3D modelling of investigated objects together with laboratory and in situ non-invasive multi-techniques acoustic data, preceded by an accurate petrographical study of the investigated stone materials by optical and scanning electron microscopy. The increasing necessity to integrate different types of techniques in the safeguard of the Cultural Heritage is the result of the following two interdependent factors: 1) The diagnostic process on the building stone materials of monuments is increasingly focused on difficult targets in critical situations. In these cases, the diagnosis using only one type of non-invasive technique may not be sufficient to investigate the conservation status of the stone materials of the superficial and inner parts of the studied structures 2) Recent technological and scientific developments in the field of non-invasive diagnostic techniques for different types of materials favors and supports the acquisition, processing and interpretation of huge multidisciplinary datasets.

Description: Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (RAS) (Sardinian Autonomous Region), Regional Law 7th August 2007, no. 7, Promotion of scientific research and technological innovation in Sardinia (Italy).

Description: Published

Description: 4334

Description: 5T. Sismologia, geofisica e geologia per l'ingegneria sismica

Description: JCR Journal

Description: In recent years, an increasing number of surveys have definitively confirmed the seasonal presence of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in highly productive regions of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite this, very little is yet known about the routes that the species seasonally follows within the Mediterranean basin and, particularly, in the Ionian area. The present study assesses for the first time fin whale acoustic presence offshore Eastern Sicily (Ionian Sea), throughout the processing of about 10 months of continuous acoustic monitoring. The recording of fin whale vocalizations was made possible by the cabled deep-sea multidisciplinary observatory, “NEMO-SN1”, deployed 25 km off the Catania harbor at a depth of about 2,100 meters. NEMO-SN1 is an operational node of the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory (EMSO) Research Infrastructure. The observatory was equipped with a low-frequency hydrophone (bandwidth: 0.05 Hz–1 kHz, sampling rate: 2 kHz) which continuously acquired data from July 2012 to May 2013. About 7,200 hours of acoustic data were analyzed by means of spectrogram display. Calls with the typical structure and patterns associated to the Mediterranean fin whale population were identified and monitored in the area for the first time. Furthermore, a background noise analysis within the fin whale communication frequency band (17.9–22.5 Hz) was conducted to investigate possible detection-masking effects. The study confirms the hypothesis that fin whales are present in the Ionian Sea throughout all seasons, with peaks in call detection rate during spring and summer months. The analysis also demonstrates that calls were more frequently detected in low background noise conditions. Further analysis will be performed to understand whether observed levels of noise limit the acoustic detection of the fin whales vocalizations, or whether the animals vocalize less in the presence of high background noise.

Description: Published

Description: e0141838

Description: 3A. Ambiente Marino

Description: JCR Journal

Description: open

Description: Hule and Rı´o Cuarto are maar lakes located 11 and 18 km N of Poa´s volcano along a 27 km long fracture zone, in the Central Volcanic Range of Costa Rica. Both lakes are characterized by a stable thermic and chemical stratification and recently they were affected by fish killing events likely related to the uprising of deep anoxic waters to the surface caused by rollover phenomena. The vertical profiles of temperature, pH, redox potential, chemical and isotopic compositions of water and dissolved gases, as well as prokaryotic diversity estimated by DNA fingerprinting and massive 16S rRNA pyrosequencing along the water column of the two lakes, have highlighted that different bio-geochemical processes occur in these meromictic lakes. Although the two lakes host different bacterial and archaeal phylogenetic groups, water and gas chemistry in both lakes is controlled by the same prokaryotic functions, especially regarding the CO2-CH4 cycle. Addition of hydrothermal CO2 through the bottom of the lakes plays a fundamental priming role in developing a stable water stratification and fuelling anoxic bacterial and archaeal populations. Methanogens and methane oxidizers as well as autotrophic and heterotrophic aerobic bacteria responsible of organic carbon recycling resulted to be stratified with depth and strictly related to the chemical-physical conditions and availability of free oxygen, affecting both the CO2 and CH4 chemical concentrations and their isotopic compositions along the water column. Hule and Rı´o Cuarto lakes were demonstrated to contain a CO2 (CH4, N2)-rich gas reservoir mainly controlled by the interactions occurring between geosphere and biosphere. Thus, we introduced the term of bio-activity volcanic lakes to distinguish these lakes, which have analogues worldwide (e.g. Kivu: D.R.C.-Rwanda; Albano, Monticchio and Averno: Italy; Pavin: France) from volcanic lakes only characterized by geogenic CO2 reservoir such as Nyos and Monoun (Cameroon).

Description: Published

Description: e102456

Description: 4V. Vulcani e ambiente

Description: JCR Journal

Description: open

Description: For a comprehensive understanding of fish responses to increasing thermal stress in marine environments, we investigated tissue energetics, antioxidant levels, inflammatory and cell death responses in Sparus aurata (gilthead seabream) red muscle during exposure to elevated temperatures (24 °C, 26 °C, 30 °C) compared to the control temperature of 18 °C. Energetic aspects were assessed by determining lactate, glucose and lipids levels in blood plasma, ATP, ADP and AMP levels, and AMPK phosphorylation as an indicator of regulatory changes in energy metabolism, in tissue extracts. Oxidative defence was assessed by determining superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione reductase maximum activities. Moreover, xanthine levels were determined as an indicator of purine conversion to xanthine and associated ROS production. In the context of inflammatory response and cell death due to oxidative stress, pro-inflammatory cytokines (IkBα phosphorylation, IL-6 and TNFα) levels, and LC3 II/I ratio and SQSTM1/p62 as indicators of autophagic-lysosomal pathway were also determined. A recovery in the efficacy of ATP production after a marked decrease during the 1st day of exposure to 24 °C is observed. This biphasic pattern is paralleled by antioxidant enzymes’ activities and inflammatory and autophagy responses, indicating a close correlation between ATP turnover and stress responses, which may benefit tissue function and survival. However, exposure beyond 24 °C caused tissue’s antioxidant capacity loss, triggering the inflammatory and cell death response, lead-ing to increased fish mortality. The results of the present study set the thermal limits of the gilthead seabream at 22–24 °C and establish the used cellular and metabolic indicators as tools for the definition of the extreme thermal limits in marine organisms.

Description: The deglacial history of CO2 release from the deep North Pacific remains unresolved. This is due to conflicting indications about subarctic Pacific ventilation changes based on various marine proxies, especially for Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS-1) when a rapid atmospheric CO2 rise occurs. Here, we use a complex Earth System Model to investigate the deglacial North Pacific overturning and its control on ocean stratification. Our results show an enhanced intermediate-to-deep ocean stratification coeval with intensified North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) formation during HS-1, compared to the Last Glacial Maximum. The stronger NPIW formation causes lower salinities and higher temperatures at intermediate depths. By lowering NPIW densities, this enlarges vertical density gradient and thus enhances intermediate-to-deep ocean stratification during HS-1. Physically, this process prevents the North Pacific deep waters from a better communication with the upper oceans, thus prolongs the existing isolation of glacial Pacific abyssal carbons during HS-1.

Description: An approach is presented for high-field MRI studies of the cardiovascular system (CVS) of a marine crustacean, the edible crab Cancer pagurus, submerged in highly conductive seawater. Structure and function of the CVS were investigated at 9.4 T. Cardiac motion was studied using self-gated CINE MRI. Imaging protocols and radio-frequency coil arrangements were tested for anatomical imaging. Haemolymph flow was quantified using phase-contrast angiography. Signal-to-noise-ratios and flow velocities in afferent and efferent branchial veins were compared with Student’s t test (n = 5). Seawater induced signal losses were dependent on imaging protocols and RF coil setup. Internal cardiac structures could be visualized with high spatial resolution within 8 min using a gradient-echo technique. Variations in haemolymph flow in different vessels could be determined over time. Maximum flow was similar within individual vessels and corresponded to literature values from Doppler measurements. Heart contractions were more pronounced in lateral and dorso-ventral directions than in the anterior–posterior direction. Choosing adequate imaging protocols in combination with a specific RF coil arrangement allows to monitor various parts of the crustacean CVS with exceptionally high spatial resolution despite the adverse effects of seawater at 9.4 T.

Description: At mid-ocean ridges volcanism generally decreases with spreading rate but surprisingly massive volcanic centres occur at the slowest spreading ridges. These volcanoes can host unexpectedly strong earthquakes and vigorous, explosive submarine eruptions. Our understanding of the geodynamic processes forming these volcanic centres is still incomplete due to a lack of geophysical data and the difficulty to capture their rare phases of magmatic activity. We present a local earthquake tomographic image of the magma plumbing system beneath the Segment 8 volcano at the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge. The tomography shows a confined domain of partial melt under the volcano. We infer that from there melt is horizontally transported to a neighbouring ridge segment at 35 km distance where microearthquake swarms and intrusion tremor occur that suggest ongoing magmatic activity. Teleseismic earthquakes around the Segment 8 volcano, prior to our study, indicate that the current magmatic spreading episode may already have lasted over a decade and hence its temporal extent greatly exceeds the frequent short-lived spreading episodes at faster opening mid-ocean ridges.

Description: Subglacial lakes are widespread beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet but their control on ice-sheet dynamics and their ability to harbour life remain poorly characterized. Here we present evidence for a palaeo-subglacial lake on the Antarctic continental shelf. A distinct sediment facies recovered from a bedrock basin in Pine Island Bay indicates deposition within a low-energy lake environment. Diffusive-advection modelling demonstrates that low chloride concentrations in the pore water of the corresponding sediments can only be explained by initial deposition of this facies in a freshwater setting. These observations indicate that an active subglacial meltwater network, similar to that observed beneath the extant ice sheet, was also active during the last glacial period. It also provides a new framework for refining the exploration of these unique environments.

Description: Glaciological and oceanographic observations coupled with numerical models show that warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) incursions onto the West Antarctic continental shelf cause melting of the undersides of floating ice shelves. Because these ice shelves buttress glaciers feeding into them, their ocean-induced thinning is driving Antarctic ice-sheet retreat today. Here we present a multi-proxy data based reconstruction of variability in CDW inflow to the Amundsen Sea sector, the most vulnerable part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, during the Holocene epoch (from 11.7 thousand years ago to the present). The chemical compositions of foraminifer shells and benthic foraminifer assemblages in marine sediments indicate that enhanced CDW upwelling, controlled by the latitudinal position of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds, forced deglaciation of this sector from at least 10,400 years ago until 7,500 years ago—when an ice-shelf collapse may have caused rapid ice-sheet thinning further upstream—and since the 1940s. These results increase confidence in the predictive capability of current ice-sheet models.

Description: Sustainable Development Goal 14 of the United Nations aims to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. Achieving this goal will require rebuilding the marine life-support systems that deliver the many benefits that society receives from a healthy ocean. Here we document the recovery of marine populations, habitats and ecosystems following past conservation interventions. Recovery rates across studies suggest that substantial recovery of the abundance, structure and function of marine life could be achieved by 2050, if major pressures—including climate change—are mitigated. Rebuilding marine life represents a doable Grand Challenge for humanity, an ethical obligation and a smart economic objective to achieve a sustainable future.

Description: The intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciations at the end of the Pliocene epoch marks one of the most substantial climatic shifts of the Cenozoic. Despite global cooling, sea surface temperatures in the high latitude North Atlantic Ocean rose between 2.9–2.7 million years ago. Here we present sedimentary geochemical proxy data from the Gulf of Cadiz to reconstruct the variability of Mediterranean Outflow Water, an important heat source to the North Atlantic. We find evidence for enhanced production of Mediterranean Outflow from the mid-Pliocene to the late Pliocene which we infer could have driven a sub-surface heat channel into the high-latitude North Atlantic. We then use Earth System Models to constrain the impact of enhanced Mediterranean Outflow production on the northward heat transport in the North Atlantic. In accord with the proxy data, the numerical model results support the formation of a sub-surface channel that pumped heat from the subtropics into the high latitude North Atlantic. We further suggest that this mechanism could have delayed ice sheet growth at the end of the Pliocene.

Description: In permafrost areas, seasonal freeze-thaw cycles of active layer result in upward and downward movements of the ground. Additionally, relatively uniform thawing of the ice-rich layer at the permafrost table, contributing to net long-term surface lowering, was reported for some Arctic locations. We use a simple method to quantify surface lowering (subsidence) and uplift in a yedoma area of the Lena River Delta, Siberian Arctic, using reference rods installed deeply in permafrost. The seasonal subsidence was 1.7 ±1.5 cm in the cold summer of 2013 and 4.8 ± 2 cm in the warm summer of 2014. Furthermore, we measured a pronounced multi-year net subsidence of 9.3 ± 5.7 cm from spring 2013 to the end of summer 2017. Additionally, we observed a high spatial variability of subsidence of up to 6 cm across a sub-meter horizontal scale. This variability limits the usage of a pointwise measurement for a validation of spatially extensive remote sensing products. In summer 2013, we accompanied our field measurements with Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) on repeat-pass TerraSAR-X (TSX) data over the same study area. Interferometry was strongly affected by a fast phase coherence loss, atmospheric artifacts, and possibly the choice of reference point. A cumulative ground displacement map, built from a continuous interferogram stack, did not reveal a meaningful signal on the upland but showed a distinct subsidence of up to 2 cm in most of the thermokarst basins. There, the spatial pattern of displacement corresponded well with relative surface wetness identified with the near infra-red band of a high-resolution optical image. Our study suggests that (i) although X-band SAR has serious limitations for ground movement monitoring in permafrost landscapes, it can provide valuable information for specific environments like thermokarst basins, and (ii) due to the high sub-pixel spatial variability of ground movements, a validation scheme needs to be developed and implemented for future DInSAR studies in permafrost environments.

Description: © The Authors, 2010. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 5 (2010): e10741, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010741.

Description: Bisphenol A (BPA), used in the manufacture of plastics, is ubiquitously distributed in the aquatic environment. However, the effect of maternal transfer of these xenobiotics on embryonic development and growth is poorly understood in fish. We tested the hypothesis that BPA in eggs, mimicking maternal transfer, impact development, growth and stress performance in juveniles of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Trout oocytes were exposed to 0, 30 and 100 µg.mL−1 BPA for 3 h in ovarian fluid, followed by fertilization. The embryos were maintained in clean water and sampled temporally over 156-days post-fertilization (dpf), and juveniles were sampled at 400-dpf. The egg BPA levels declined steadily after exposure and were undetectable after 21- dpf. Oocyte exposure to BPA led to a delay in hatching and yolk absorption and a consistently lower body mass over 152-dpf. The growth impairment, especially in the high BPA group, correlated with higher growth hormone (GH) content and lower GH receptors gene expression. Also, mRNA abundances of insulin-like growth factors (IGF-1 and IGF-2) and their receptors were suppressed in the BPA treated groups. The juvenile fish grown from the BPA-enriched eggs had lower body mass and showed perturbations in plasma cortisol and glucose response to an acute stressor. BPA accumulation in eggs, prior to fertilization, leads to hatching delays, growth suppression and altered stress response in juvenile trout. The somatotropic axis appears to be a key target for BPA impact during early embryogenesis, leading to long term growth and stress performance defects in fish.

Description: This work was supported by funds from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Discovery grant and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Description: © The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e23259, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023259.

Description: The ChEss project of the Census of Marine Life (2002–2010) helped foster internationally-coordinated studies worldwide focusing on exploration for, and characterization of new deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystem sites. This work has advanced our understanding of the nature and factors controlling the biogeography and biodiversity of these ecosystems in four geographic locations: the Atlantic Equatorial Belt (AEB), the New Zealand region, the Arctic and Antarctic and the SE Pacific off Chile. In the AEB, major discoveries include hydrothermal seeps on the Costa Rica margin, deepest vents found on the Mid-Cayman Rise and the hottest vents found on the Southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It was also shown that the major fracture zones on the MAR do not create barriers for the dispersal but may act as trans-Atlantic conduits for larvae. In New Zealand, investigations of a newly found large cold-seep area suggest that this region may be a new biogeographic province. In the Arctic, the newly discovered sites on the Mohns Ridge (71°N) showed extensive mats of sulfur-oxidisng bacteria, but only one gastropod potentially bears chemosynthetic symbionts, while cold seeps on the Haakon Mossby Mud Volcano (72°N) are dominated by siboglinid worms. In the Antarctic region, the first hydrothermal vents south of the Polar Front were located and biological results indicate that they may represent a new biogeographic province. The recent exploration of the South Pacific region has provided evidence for a sediment hosted hydrothermal source near a methane-rich cold-seep area. Based on our 8 years of investigations of deep-water chemosynthetic ecosystems worldwide, we suggest highest priorities for future research: (i) continued exploration of the deep-ocean ridge-crest; (ii) increased focus on anthropogenic impacts; (iii) concerted effort to coordinate a major investigation of the deep South Pacific Ocean – the largest contiguous habitat for life within Earth's biosphere, but also the world's least investigated deep-ocean basin.

Description: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the ChEss-Census of Marine Life programme (2002–2010) and the SYNDEEP synthesis project (2009–2010) (www.coml.org). Fondation Total for the ChEss synthesis phase and SYNDEEP synthesis project (2007–2010) (http://fondation.total.com/). Petersen Fellowship in IFM-GEOMAR to CRG.

Description: © The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e22913, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022913.

Description: The barnacle Balanus amphitrite is a globally distributed biofouler and a model species in intertidal ecology and larval settlement studies. However, a lack of genomic information has hindered the comprehensive elucidation of the molecular mechanisms coordinating its larval settlement. The pyrosequencing-based transcriptomic approach is thought to be useful to identify key molecular changes during larval settlement. Using 454 pyrosequencing, we collected totally 630,845 reads including 215,308 from the larval stages and 415,537 from the adults; 23,451 contigs were generated while 77,785 remained as singletons. We annotated 31,720 of the 92,322 predicted open reading frames, which matched hits in the NCBI NR database, and identified 7,954 putative genes that were differentially expressed between the larval and adult stages. Of these, several genes were further characterized with quantitative real-time PCR and in situ hybridization, revealing some key findings: 1) vitellogenin was uniquely expressed in late nauplius stage, suggesting it may be an energy source for the subsequent non-feeding cyprid stage; 2) the locations of mannose receptors suggested they may be involved in the sensory system of cyprids; 3) 20 kDa-cement protein homologues were expressed in the cyprid cement gland and probably function during attachment; and 4) receptor tyrosine kinases were expressed higher in cyprid stage and may be involved in signal perception during larval settlement. Our results provide not only the basis of several new hypotheses about gene functions during larval settlement, but also the availability of this large transcriptome dataset in B. amphitrite for further exploration of larval settlement and developmental pathways in this important marine species.

Description: This work was supported by grants (N-HKUST602/09 and AoE/P-04/04-II) from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and an award (SA-C0040/UK-C0016) made by KAUST to P-Y Qian.

Description: © The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e27205, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027205.

Description: Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) is a molecular chaperone providing tolerance to heat and other challenges at the cellular and organismal levels. We sequenced a genomic cluster containing three hsp70 family genes linked with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class III region from an extremely heat tolerant animal, camel (Camelus dromedarius). Two hsp70 family genes comprising the cluster contain heat shock elements (HSEs), while the third gene lacks HSEs and should not be induced by heat shock. Comparison of the camel hsp70 cluster with the corresponding regions from several mammalian species revealed similar organization of genes forming the cluster. Specifically, the two heat inducible hsp70 genes are arranged in tandem, while the third constitutively expressed hsp70 family member is present in inverted orientation. Comparison of regulatory regions of hsp70 genes from camel and other mammals demonstrates that transcription factor matches with highest significance are located in the highly conserved 250-bp upstream region and correspond to HSEs followed by NF-Y and Sp1 binding sites. The high degree of sequence conservation leaves little room for putative camel-specific regulatory elements. Surprisingly, RT-PCR and 5′/3′-RACE analysis demonstrated that all three hsp70 genes are expressed in camel's muscle and blood cells not only after heat shock, but under normal physiological conditions as well, and may account for tolerance of camel cells to extreme environmental conditions. A high degree of evolutionary conservation observed for the hsp70 cluster always linked with MHC locus in mammals suggests an important role of such organization for coordinated functioning of these vital genes.

Description: This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project 09-04-00643 and 09-04-00660, project from ‘‘Genofond dynamics’’ program, and Grant of the Program of Molecular and Cellular Biology RAN to Dr. Evgen’ev; and by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation (State contract 14.740.11.0757 and Russia President Grant to young scientists MK-1418.2010.4. The research was supported by State Contract N16.552.11.7034 of Ministry of Education and Science.

Description: © The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 7 (2012): e38249, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038249.

Description: Arsenic (As) exposure is a significant worldwide environmental health concern. Chronic exposure via contaminated drinking water has been associated with an increased incidence of a number of diseases, including reproductive and developmental effects. The goal of this study was to identify adverse outcomes in a mouse model of early life exposure to low-dose drinking water As (10 ppb, current U.S. EPA Maximum Contaminant Level). C57B6/J pups were exposed to 10 ppb As, via the dam in her drinking water, either in utero and/or during the postnatal period. Birth outcomes, the growth of the F1 offspring, and health of the dams were assessed by a variety of measurements. Birth outcomes including litter weight, number of pups, and gestational length were unaffected. However, exposure during the in utero and postnatal period resulted in significant growth deficits in the offspring after birth, which was principally a result of decreased nutrients in the dam's breast milk. Cross-fostering of the pups reversed the growth deficit. Arsenic exposed dams displayed altered liver and breast milk triglyceride levels and serum profiles during pregnancy and lactation. The growth deficits in the F1 offspring resolved following separation from the dam and cessation of exposure in male mice, but did not resolve in female mice up to six weeks of age. Exposure to As at the current U.S. drinking water standard during critical windows of development induces a number of adverse health outcomes for both the dam and offspring. Such effects may contribute to the increased disease risks observed in human populations.

Description: This work was supported by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health grants 1F32 ES019070 (CDK-H) and P42 ES007373 (BPJ, JWH, RIE and CDK-H, Dartmouth Superfund Research Program Project Grant, Project 2 and Pilot Project).

Description: © The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 7 (2012): e42535, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042535.

Description: Some beaked whale species are susceptible to the detrimental effects of anthropogenic noise. Most studies have concentrated on the effects of military sonar, but other forms of acoustic disturbance (e.g. shipping noise) may disrupt behavior. An experiment involving the exposure of target whale groups to intense vessel-generated noise tested how these exposures influenced the foraging behavior of Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) in the Tongue of the Ocean (Bahamas). A military array of bottom-mounted hydrophones was used to measure the response based upon changes in the spatial and temporal pattern of vocalizations. The archived acoustic data were used to compute metrics of the echolocation-based foraging behavior for 16 targeted groups, 10 groups further away on the range, and 26 nonexposed groups. The duration of foraging bouts was not significantly affected by the exposure. Changes in the hydrophone over which the group was most frequently detected occurred as the animals moved around within a foraging bout, and their number was significantly less the closer the whales were to the sound source. Non-exposed groups also had significantly more changes in the primary hydrophone than exposed groups irrespective of distance. Our results suggested that broadband ship noise caused a significant change in beaked whale behavior up to at least 5.2 kilometers away from the vessel. The observed change could potentially correspond to a restriction in the movement of groups, a period of more directional travel, a reduction in the number of individuals clicking within the group, or a response to changes in prey movement.

Description: The research reported here was financially supported by the United States (U.S.) Office of Naval Research (www.onr.navy.mil) grants N00014-07-10988, N00014-07-11023, N00014-08-10990; the U.S. Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (www.serdp.org) grant SI-1539, the Environmental Readiness Division of the U.S. Navy (http://www.navy.mil/local/n45/), the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Submarine Warfare Division (Undersea Surveillance), the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology) (http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/), U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Acoustics Program (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/acoustics/), and the Joint Industry Program on Sound and Marine Life of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (www.soundandmarinelife.org).

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e56393, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056393.

Description: Evolutionary constraints which limit the forces produced during bell contractions of medusae affect the overall medusan morphospace such that jet propulsion is limited to only small medusae. Cubomedusae, which often possess large prolate bells and are thought to swim via jet propulsion, appear to violate the theoretical constraints which determine the medusan morphospace. To examine propulsion by cubomedusae, we quantified size related changes in wake dynamics, bell shape, swimming and turning kinematics of two species of cubomedusae, Chironex fleckeri and Chiropsella bronzie. During growth, these cubomedusae transitioned from using jet propulsion at smaller sizes to a rowing-jetting hybrid mode of propulsion at larger sizes. Simple modifications in the flexibility and kinematics of their velarium appeared to be sufficient to alter their propulsive mode. Turning occurs during both bell contraction and expansion and is achieved by generating asymmetric vortex structures during both stages of the swimming cycle. Swimming characteristics were considered in conjunction with the unique foraging strategy used by cubomedusae.

Description: This work was supported by an ONR MURI award (N000140810654) and National Science Foundation grant OCE 0623508 to JHC, SPC, JOD. And the work was supported by the Roger Williams University Foundation to Promote Scholarship.

Description: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e55273, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055273.

Description: Georges Bank is a large, shallow feature separating the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean. Previous studies demonstrated a strong tidal-mixing front during the warm season on the northern bank margin between thermally stratified water in the Gulf of Maine and mixed water on the bank. Tides transport warm water off the bank during flood tide and cool gulf water onto the bank during ebb tide. During 10 days in August 2009, we mapped frontal temperatures in five study areas along ~100 km of the bank margin. The seabed “frontal zone”, where temperature changed with frontal movment, experienced semidiurnal temperature maxima and minima. The tidal excursion of the frontal boundary between stratified and mixed water ranged 6 to 10 km. This “frontal boundary zone” was narrower than the frontal zone. Along transects perpendicular to the bank margin, seabed temperature change at individual sites ranged from 7.0°C in the frontal zone to 0.0°C in mixed bank water. At time series in frontal zone stations, changes during tidal cycles ranged from 1.2 to 6.1°C. The greatest rate of change (−2.48°C hr−1) occurred at mid-ebb. Geographic plots of seabed temperature change allowed the mapping of up to 8 subareas in each study area. The magnitude of temperature change in a subarea depended on its location in the frontal zone. Frontal movement had the greatest effect on seabed temperature in the 40 to 80 m depth interval. Subareas experiencing maximum temperature change in the frontal zone were not in the frontal boundary zone, but rather several km gulfward (off-bank) of the frontal boundary zone. These results provide a new ecological framework for examining the effect of tidally-driven temperature variability on the distribution, food resources, and reproductive success of benthic invertebrate and demersal fish species living in tidal front habitats.

Description: This study was supported by salary funds from the regular annual salary budget from Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and United States Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS WH C&MSC), respectively; ship time funds from the NEFSC annual budget for days-at-sea ship operations; equipment from the NEFSC and USGS WH C&MSC annual equipment budgets.

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e54443, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054443.

Description: Species-range expansions are a predicted and realized consequence of global climate change. Climate warming and the poleward widening of the tropical belt have induced range shifts in a variety of marine and terrestrial species. Range expansions may have broad implications on native biota and ecosystem functioning as shifting species may perturb recipient communities. Larger symbiont-bearing foraminifera constitute ubiquitous and prominent components of shallow water ecosystems, and range shifts of these important protists are likely to trigger changes in ecosystem functioning. We have used historical and newly acquired occurrence records to compute current range shifts of Amphistegina spp., a larger symbiont-bearing foraminifera, along the eastern coastline of Africa and compare them to analogous range shifts currently observed in the Mediterranean Sea. The study provides new evidence that amphisteginid foraminifera are rapidly progressing southwestward, closely approaching Port Edward (South Africa) at 31°S. To project future species distributions, we applied a species distribution model (SDM) based on ecological niche constraints of current distribution ranges. Our model indicates that further warming is likely to cause a continued range extension, and predicts dispersal along nearly the entire southeastern coast of Africa. The average rates of amphisteginid range shift were computed between 8 and 2.7 km year−1, and are projected to lead to a total southward range expansion of 267 km, or 2.4° latitude, in the year 2100. Our results corroborate findings from the fossil record that some larger symbiont-bearing foraminifera cope well with rising water temperatures and are beneficiaries of global climate change.

Description: This work was supported by grants from the German Science Foundation (DFG; www.dfg.de) to ML and SL (LA 884/10-1, LA 884/5-1).

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e56993, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056993.

Description: The mxaF gene, coding for the large (α) subunit of methanol dehydrogenase, is highly conserved among distantly related methylotrophic species in the Alpha-, Beta- and Gammaproteobacteria. It is ubiquitous in methanotrophs, in contrast to other methanotroph-specific genes such as the pmoA and mmoX genes, which are absent in some methanotrophic proteobacterial genera. This study examined the potential for using the mxaF gene as a functional and phylogenetic marker for methanotrophs. mxaF and 16S rRNA gene phylogenies were constructed based on over 100 database sequences of known proteobacterial methanotrophs and other methylotrophs to assess their evolutionary histories. Topology tests revealed that mxaF and 16S rDNA genes of methanotrophs do not show congruent evolutionary histories, with incongruencies in methanotrophic taxa in the Methylococcaceae, Methylocystaceae, and Beijerinckiacea. However, known methanotrophs generally formed coherent clades based on mxaF gene sequences, allowing for phylogenetic discrimination of major taxa. This feature highlights the mxaF gene’s usefulness as a biomarker in studying the molecular diversity of proteobacterial methanotrophs in nature. To verify this, PCR-directed assays targeting this gene were used to detect novel methanotrophs from diverse environments including soil, peatland, hydrothermal vent mussel tissues, and methanotroph isolates. The placement of the majority of environmental mxaF gene sequences in distinct methanotroph-specific clades (Methylocystaceae and Methylococcaceae) detected in this study supports the use of mxaF as a biomarker for methanotrophic proteobacteria.

Description: This work was supported in part by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation Ecosystems Studies program (awards # DEB9708092 and DEB0089738).

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e61065, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061065.

Description: Ocean acidification, characterized by elevated pCO2 and the associated decreases in seawater pH and calcium carbonate saturation state (Ω), has a variable impact on the growth and survival of marine invertebrates. Larval stages are thought to be particularly vulnerable to environmental stressors, and negative impacts of ocean acidification have been seen on fertilization as well as on embryonic, larval, and juvenile development and growth of bivalve molluscs. We investigated the effects of high CO2 exposure (resulting in pH = 7.39, Ωar = 0.74) on the larvae of the bay scallop Argopecten irradians from 12 h to 7 d old, including a switch from high CO2 to ambient CO2 conditions (pH = 7.93, Ωar = 2.26) after 3 d, to assess the possibility of persistent effects of early exposure. The survival of larvae in the high CO2 treatment was consistently lower than the survival of larvae in ambient conditions, and was already significantly lower at 1 d. Likewise, the shell length of larvae in the high CO2 treatment was significantly smaller than larvae in the ambient conditions throughout the experiment and by 7 d, was reduced by 11.5%. This study also demonstrates that the size effects of short-term exposure to high CO2 are still detectable after 7 d of larval development; the shells of larvae exposed to high CO2 for the first 3 d of development and subsequently exposed to ambient CO2 were not significantly different in size at 3 and 7 d than the shells of larvae exposed to high CO2 throughout the experiment.

Description: This work was funded by a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Interdisciplinary Award to Mullineaux & McCorkle; and awards to Mullineaux & White, to McCorkle, and to Cohen & McCorkle through NOAA (National Oceanic and Admosphereic Administration) Sea Grant #NA10OAR4170083. White was funded through a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship through the American Society for Engineering Education.

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e76096, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0076096.

Description: DNA samples derived from vertebrate skin, bodily cavities and body fluids contain both host and microbial DNA; the latter often present as a minor component. Consequently, DNA sequencing of a microbiome sample frequently yields reads originating from the microbe(s) of interest, but with a vast excess of host genome-derived reads. In this study, we used a methyl-CpG binding domain (MBD) to separate methylated host DNA from microbial DNA based on differences in CpG methylation density. MBD fused to the Fc region of a human antibody (MBD-Fc) binds strongly to protein A paramagnetic beads, forming an effective one-step enrichment complex that was used to remove human or fish host DNA from bacterial and protistan DNA for subsequent sequencing and analysis. We report enrichment of DNA samples from human saliva, human blood, a mock malaria-infected blood sample and a black molly fish. When reads were mapped to reference genomes, sequence reads aligning to host genomes decreased 50-fold, while bacterial and Plasmodium DNA sequences reads increased 8–11.5-fold. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index was calculated for 149 bacterial species in saliva before and after enrichment. Unenriched saliva had an index of 4.72, while the enriched sample had an index of 4.80. The similarity of these indices demonstrates that bacterial species diversity and relative phylotype abundance remain conserved in enriched samples. Enrichment using the MBD-Fc method holds promise for targeted microbiome sequence analysis across a broad range of sample types.

Description: LAZ and VS were funded by a Brown University Office of the Vice President of Research SEED grant (LAZ) entitled “Tracking disease spread through the wildlife trade: New techniques to identify infectious microbes in aquarium fishes.” SOO and MQ were funded by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute grant numbers 098051 and 079355/Z/06/Z.

Description: This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 8 (2013): e83994, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083994.

Description: Gas bubbles in marine mammals entangled and drowned in gillnets have been previously described by computed tomography, gross examination and histopathology. The absence of bacteria or autolytic changes in the tissues of those animals suggested that the gas was produced peri- or post-mortem by a fast decompression, probably by quickly hauling animals entangled in the net at depth to the surface. Gas composition analysis and gas scoring are two new diagnostic tools available to distinguish gas embolisms from putrefaction gases. With this goal, these methods have been successfully applied to pathological studies of marine mammals. In this study, we characterized the flux and composition of the gas bubbles from bycaught marine mammals in anchored sink gillnets and bottom otter trawls. We compared these data with marine mammals stranded on Cape Cod, MA, USA. Fresh animals or with moderate decomposition (decomposition scores of 2 and 3) were prioritized. Results showed that bycaught animals presented with significantly higher gas scores than stranded animals. Gas composition analyses indicate that gas was formed by decompression, confirming the decompression hypothesis.

Description: This study was funded by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Marine Mammal Center, and Wick and Sloan Simmons.

Description: This article is distributed under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 9 (2014): e87720, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0087720.

Description: The abundance of the subarctic copepod, Calanus finmarchicus, and temperate, shelf copepod, Centropages typicus, was estimated from samples collected bi-monthly over the Northeast U.S. continental shelf (NEUS) from 1977–2010. Latitudinal variation in long term trends and seasonal patterns for the two copepod species were examined for four sub-regions: the Gulf of Maine (GOM), Georges Bank (GB), Southern New England (SNE), and Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB). Results suggested that there was significant difference in long term variation between northern region (GOM and GB), and the MAB for both species. C. finmarchicus generally peaked in May – June throughout the entire study region and Cen. typicus had a more complex seasonal pattern. Time series analysis revealed that the peak time for Cen. typicus switched from November – December to January - March after 1985 in the MAB. The long term abundance of C. finmarchicus showed more fluctuation in the MAB than the GOM and GB, whereas the long term abundance of Cen. typicus was more variable in the GB than other sub-regions. Alongshore transport was significantly correlated with the abundance of C. finmarchicus, i.e., more water from north, higher abundance for C. finmarchicus. The abundance of Cen. typicus showed positive relationship with the Gulf Stream north wall index (GSNWI) in the GOM and GB, but the GSNWI only explained 12–15% of variation in Cen. typicus abundance. In general, the alongshore current was negatively correlated with the GSNWI, suggesting that Cen. typicus is more abundant when advection from the north is less. However, the relationship between Cen. typicus and alongshore transport was not significant. The present study highlights the importance of spatial scales in the study of marine populations: observed long term changes in the northern region were different from the south for both species.

Description: © The Author(s), 2014. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 9 (2014): e112134, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0112134.

Description: Annual Emiliania huxleyi blooms (along with other coccolithophorid species) play important roles in the global carbon and sulfur cycles. E. huxleyi blooms are routinely terminated by large, host-specific dsDNA viruses, (Emiliania huxleyi Viruses; EhVs), making these host-virus interactions a driving force behind their potential impact on global biogeochemical cycles. Given projected increases in sea surface temperature due to climate change, it is imperative to understand the effects of temperature on E. huxleyi’s susceptibility to viral infection and its production of climatically active dimethylated sulfur species (DSS). Here we demonstrate that a 3°C increase in temperature induces EhV-resistant phenotypes in three E. huxleyi strains and that successful virus infection impacts DSS pool sizes. We also examined cellular polar lipids, given their documented roles in regulating host-virus interactions in this system, and propose that alterations to membrane-bound surface receptors are responsible for the observed temperature-induced resistance. Our findings have potential implications for global biogeochemical cycles in a warming climate and for deciphering the particular mechanism(s) by which some E. huxleyi strains exhibit viral resistance.

Description: This study was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (OCE-1061883 to KDB, BVM, and OCE-1061876 to GRD) and in part by grants from The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (to BVM and KDB).

Description: © The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 10 (2015): e0124505, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124505.

Description: Oceanic protist grazing at mesopelagic and bathypelagic depths, and their subsequent effects on trophic links between eukaryotes and prokaryotes, are not well constrained. Recent studies show evidence of higher than expected grazing activity by protists down to mesopelagic depths. This study provides the first exploration of protist grazing in the bathypelagic North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Grazing was measured throughout the water column at three stations in the South Atlantic using fluorescently-labeled prey analogues. Grazing in the deep Antarctic Intermediate water (AAIW) and NADW at all three stations removed 3.79% ± 1.72% to 31.14% ± 8.24% of the standing prokaryote stock. These results imply that protist grazing may be a significant source of labile organic carbon at certain meso- and bathypelagic depths.

Description: Funding for the cruise was provided by the National Science Foundation (OCE-1154320) to EBK. Funding for the laboratory work was provided by contributions from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Director of Research, Ocean Life Institute, and Deep Ocean Exploration Institute to VE.

Description: This is an open access article, free of all copyright. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 10 (2015): e0139904, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139904.

Description: The continental margin off the northeastern United States (NEUS) contains numerous, topographically complex features that increase habitat heterogeneity across the region. However, the majority of these rugged features have never been surveyed, particularly using direct observations. During summer 2013, 31 Remotely-Operated Vehicle (ROV) dives were conducted from 494 to 3271 m depth across a variety of seafloor features to document communities and to infer geological processes that produced such features. The ROV surveyed six broad-scale habitat features, consisting of shelf-breaching canyons, slope-sourced canyons, inter-canyon areas, open-slope/landslide-scar areas, hydrocarbon seeps, and Mytilus Seamount. Four previously unknown chemosynthetic communities dominated by Bathymodiolus mussels were documented. Seafloor methane hydrate was observed at two seep sites. Multivariate analyses indicated that depth and broad-scale habitat significantly influenced megafaunal coral (58 taxa), demersal fish (69 taxa), and decapod crustacean (34 taxa) assemblages. Species richness of fishes and crustaceans significantly declined with depth, while there was no relationship between coral richness and depth. Turnover in assemblage structure occurred on the middle to lower slope at the approximate boundaries of water masses found previously in the region. Coral species richness was also an important variable explaining variation in fish and crustacean assemblages. Coral diversity may serve as an indicator of habitat suitability and variation in available niche diversity for these taxonomic groups. Our surveys added 24 putative coral species and three fishes to the known regional fauna, including the black coral Telopathes magna, the octocoral Metallogorgia melanotrichos and the fishes Gaidropsarus argentatus, Guttigadus latifrons, and Lepidion guentheri. Marine litter was observed on 81% of the dives, with at least 12 coral colonies entangled in debris. While initial exploration revealed the NEUS region to be both geologically dynamic and biologically diverse, further research into the abiotic conditions and the biotic interactions that influence species abundance and distribution is needed.

Description: Funding for the ship and ROV time was provided by NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research with support from NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program, Northeast Initiative.

Description: © The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 11 (2016): e0147808, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147808.

Description: The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a causal agent in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and is a transmembrane protein that associates with membrane-limited organelles. APP has been shown to co-purify through immunoprecipitation with a kinesin light chain suggesting that APP may act as a trailer hitch linking kinesin to its intercellular cargo, however this hypothesis has been challenged. Previously, we identified an mRNA transcript that encodes a squid homolog of human APP770. The human and squid isoforms share 60% sequence identity and 76% sequence similarity within the cytoplasmic domain and share 15 of the final 19 amino acids at the C-terminus establishing this highly conserved domain as a functionally import segment of the APP molecule. Here, we study the distribution of squid APP in extruded axoplasm as well as in a well-characterized reconstituted organelle/microtubule preparation from the squid giant axon in which organelles bind microtubules and move towards the microtubule plus-ends. We find that APP associates with microtubules by confocal microscopy and co-purifies with KI-washed axoplasmic organelles by sucrose density gradient fractionation. By electron microscopy, APP clusters at a single focal point on the surfaces of organelles and localizes to the organelle/microtubule interface. In addition, the association of APP-organelles with microtubules is an ATP dependent process suggesting that the APP-organelles contain a microtubule-based motor protein. Although a direct kinesin/APP association remains controversial, the distribution of APP at the organelle/microtubule interface strongly suggests that APP-organelles have an orientation and that APP like the Alzheimer’s protein tau has a microtubule-based function.

Description: Research reported in this publication was supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P20GM103430.

Description: © The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 11 (2016): e0153197, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0153197.

Description: Benthic dinoflagellates in the genus Gambierdiscus produce the ciguatoxin precursors responsible for the occurrence of ciguatera toxicity. The prevalence of ciguatera toxins in fish has been linked to the presence and distribution of toxin-producing species in coral reef ecosystems, which is largely determined by the presence of suitable benthic habitat and environmental conditions favorable for growth. Here using single factor experiments, we examined the effects of salinity, irradiance, and temperature on growth of 17 strains of Gambierdiscus representing eight species/phylotypes (G. belizeanus, G. caribaeus, G. carolinianus, G. carpenteri, G. pacificus, G. silvae, Gambierdiscus sp. type 4–5), most of which were established from either Marakei Island, Republic of Kiribati, or St. Thomas, United States Virgin Island (USVI). Comparable to prior studies, growth rates fell within the range of 0–0.48 divisions day-1. In the salinity and temperature studies, Gambierdiscus responded in a near Gaussian, non-linear manner typical for such studies, with optimal and suboptimal growth occurring in the range of salinities of 25 and 45 and 21.0 and 32.5°C. In the irradiance experiment, no mortality was observed; however, growth rates at 55μmol photons · m-2 · s-1 were lower than those at 110–400μmol photons · m-2 · s-1. At the extremes of the environmental conditions tested, growth rates were highly variable, evidenced by large coefficients of variability. However, significant differences in intraspecific growth rates were typically found only at optimal or near-optimal growth conditions. Polynomial regression analyses showed that maximum growth occurred at salinity and temperature levels of 30.1–38.5 and 23.8–29.2°C, respectively. Gambierdiscus growth patterns varied among species, and within individual species: G. belizeanus, G. caribaeus, G. carpenteri, and G. pacificus generally exhibited a wider range of tolerance to environmental conditions, which may explain their broad geographic distribution. In contrast, G. silvae and Gambierdiscus sp. types 4–5 all displayed a comparatively narrow range of tolerance to temperature, salinity, and irradiance.

Description: This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41506137); Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2015GXNSFCA139003), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U01 EH000421); USFDA (F223201000060C); NOAA NOS through the CiguaHAB program (Cooperative Agreement NA11NOS4780060, NA11NOS4780028); the Lana Vento Trust and VI-EPSCoR Program (NSF award # 346483 & 081441); and a System Fund from Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education (2014BGERLXT01). Support was also provided by the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health through National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant OCE-1314642, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Grant 1-P01-ES021923-014, as well as the China Scholarship Council.

Description: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.

Description: Fungal secretomes contain a wide range of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes, including cellulases, hemicellulases, pectinases, and lignin-degrading accessory enzymes, that synergistically drive litter decomposition in the environment. While secretome studies of model organisms such as Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Aspergillus species have greatly expanded our knowledge of these enzymes, few have extended secretome characterization to environmental isolates or conducted side-by-side comparisons of diverse species. Thus, the mechanisms of carbon degradation by many ubiquitous soil fungi remain poorly understood. Here we use a combination of LC-MS/MS, genomic, and bioinformatic analyses to characterize and compare the protein composition of the secretomes of four recently isolated, cosmopolitan, Mn(II)-oxidizing Ascomycetes (Alternaria alternata SRC1lrK2f, Stagonospora sp. SRC1lsM3a, Pyrenochaeta sp. DS3sAY3a, and Paraconiothyrium sporulosum AP3s5-JAC2a). We demonstrate that the organisms produce a rich yet functionally similar suite of extracellular enzymes, with species-specific differences in secretome composition arising from unique amino acid sequences rather than overall protein function. Furthermore, we identify not only a wide range of carbohydrate-active enzymes that can directly oxidize recalcitrant carbon, but also an impressive suite of redox-active accessory enzymes that suggests a role for Fenton-based hydroxyl radical formation in indirect, non-specific lignocellulose attack. Our findings highlight the diverse oxidative capacity of these environmental isolates and enhance our understanding of the role of filamentous Ascomycetes in carbon turnover in the environment.

Description: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov), grant numbers EAR-1249489 and CBET-1336496, both awarded to CMH. Personal support for CAZ was also provided by Harvard University (www.harvard.edu) and by a Ford Foundation (www.fordfoundation.org) Predoctoral Fellowship administered by the National Academies.

Description: © The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 11 (2016): e0160830, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0160830 .

Description: Advances in offshore wind farm (OWF) technology have recently led to their construction in coastal waters that are deep enough to be seasonally stratified. As tidal currents move past the OWF foundation structures they generate a turbulent wake that will contribute to a mixing of the stratified water column. In this study we show that the mixing generated in this way may have a significant impact on the large-scale stratification of the German Bight region of the North Sea. This region is chosen as the focus of this study since the planning of OWFs is particularly widespread. Using a combination of idealised modelling and in situ measurements, we provide order-of-magnitude estimates of two important time scales that are key to understanding the impacts of OWFs: (i) a mixing time scale, describing how long a complete mixing of the stratification takes, and (ii) an advective time scale, quantifying for how long a water parcel is expected to undergo enhanced wind farm mixing. The results are especially sensitive to both the drag coefficient and type of foundation structure, as well as the evolution of the pycnocline under enhanced mixing conditions—both of which are not well known. With these limitations in mind, the results show that OWFs could impact the large-scale stratification, but only when they occupy extensive shelf regions. They are expected to have very little impact on large-scale stratification at the current capacity in the North Sea, but the impact could be significant in future large-scale development scenarios.

Description: Funding was provided by the Helmholtz Foundation through the Polar Regions and Coasts in the Changing Earth System II (PACES II) program.

Description: © The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 11 (2016): e0164107, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0164107.

Description: Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) are responsible for the large majority of interactions with the pole-and-line tuna fishery in the Azores but the underlying drivers remain poorly understood. In this study we investigate the influence of various environmental and fisheries-related factors in promoting the interaction of common dolphins with this fishery and estimate the resultant catch losses. We analysed 15 years of fishery and cetacean interaction data (1998–2012) collected by observers placed aboard tuna fishing vessels. Dolphins interacted in less than 3% of the fishing events observed during the study period. The probability of dolphin interaction varied significantly between years with no evident trend over time. Generalized additive modeling results suggest that fishing duration, sea surface temperature and prey abundance in the region were the most important factors explaining common dolphin interaction. Dolphin interaction had no impact on the catches of albacore, skipjack and yellowfin tuna but resulted in significantly lower catches of bigeye tuna, with a predicted median annual loss of 13.5% in the number of fish captured. However, impact on bigeye catches varied considerably both by year and fishing area. Our work shows that rates of common dolphin interaction with the pole-and-line tuna fishery in the Azores are low and showed no signs of increase over the study period. Although overall economic impact was low, the interaction may lead to significant losses in some years. These findings emphasize the need for continued monitoring and for further research into the consequences and economic viability of potential mitigation measures.

Description: This work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and DRCT/SRCTE, though FEDER, the Competitiveness Factors Operational (COMPETE), QREN European Social Fund, the Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education, under research projects TRACE (PTDC/MAR/74071/2006), FCT Exploratory Project (IF/00943/2013/CP1199/CT0001), and MAPCET (M2.1.2/F/012/2011). We acknowledge the support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013 granted to MARE. We thank the Azorean Regional Government for funding POPA, the Ship-owners Association and the Association of the Tuna Canning Industries for their support to the program. MJC was supported by a DRCT doctoral grant (M3.1.2/F/008/2009). MAS was supported by POPH, QREN, European Social Fund and Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education, through an FCT Investigator grant (IF/00943/2013).

Description: © The Author(s), 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 13 (2018): e0205015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0205015.

Description: Channelopsins and photo-regulated ion channels make it possible to use light to control electrical activity of cells. This powerful approach has lead to a veritable explosion of applications, though it is limited to changing membrane voltage of the target cells. An enormous potential could be tapped if similar opto-genetic techniques could be extended to the control of chemical signaling pathways. Photopigments from invertebrate photoreceptors are an obvious choice—as they do not bleach upon illumination -however, their functional expression has been problematic. We exploited an unusual opsin, pScop2, recently identified in ciliary photoreceptors of scallop. Phylogenetically, it is closer to vertebrate opsins, and offers the advantage of being a bi-stable photopigment. We inserted its coding sequence and a fluorescent protein reporter into plasmid vectors and demonstrated heterologous expression in various mammalian cell lines. HEK 293 cells were selected as a heterologous system for functional analysis, because wild type cells displayed the largest currents in response to the G-protein activator, GTP-γ-S. A line of HEK cells stably transfected with pScop2 was generated; after reconstitution of the photopigment with retinal, light responses were obtained in some cells, albeit of modest amplitude. In native photoreceptors pScop2 couples to Go; HEK cells express poorly this G-protein, but have a prominent Gq/PLC pathway linked to internal Ca mobilization. To enhance pScop2 competence to tap into this pathway, we swapped its third intracellular loop—important to confer specificity of interaction between 7TMDRs and G-proteins—with that of a Gq-linked opsin which we cloned from microvillar photoreceptors present in the same retina. The chimeric construct was evaluated by a Ca fluorescence assay, and was shown to mediate a robust mobilization of internal calcium in response to illumination. The results project pScop2 as a potentially powerful optogenetic tool to control signaling pathways.

Description: This work was funded by Colciencias grant FP44842-010-2015 and Connecticut Fund for Science.

Description: © The Authors, 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Rogers, K. L., Bosman, S. H., Lardie-Gaylord, M., McNichol, A., Rosenheim, B. E., Montoya, J. P., & Chanton, J. P. (2019). Petrocarbon evolution: Ramped pyrolysis/oxidation and isotopic studies of contaminated oil sediments from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. PLoS One, 14(2), (2019):e0212433, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0212433.

Description: Hydrocarbons released during the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill weathered due to exposure to oxygen, light, and microbes. During weathering, the hydrocarbons’ reactivity and lability was altered, but it remained identifiable as “petrocarbon” due to its retention of the distinctive isotope signatures (14C and 13C) of petroleum. Relative to the initial estimates of the quantity of oil-residue deposited in Gulf sediments based on 2010–2011 data, the overall coverage and quantity of the fossil carbon on the seafloor has been attenuated. To analyze recovery of oil contaminated deep-sea sediments in the northern Gulf of Mexico we tracked the carbon isotopic composition (13C and 14C, radiocarbon) of bulk sedimentary organic carbon through time at 4 sites. Using ramped pyrolysis/oxidation, we determined the thermochemical stability of sediment organic matter at 5 sites, two of these in time series. There were clear differences between crude oil (which decomposed at a lower temperature during ramped oxidation), natural hydrocarbon seep sediment (decomposing at a higher temperature; Δ14C = -912‰) and our control site (decomposing at a moderate temperature; Δ14C = -189‰), in both the stability (ability to withstand ramped temperatures in oxic conditions) and carbon isotope signatures. We observed recovery toward our control site bulk Δ14C composition at sites further from the wellhead in ~4 years, whereas sites in closer proximity had longer recovery times. The thermographs also indicated temporal changes in the composition of contaminated sediment, with shifts towards higher temperature CO2 evolution over time at a site near the wellhead, and loss of higher temperature CO2 peaks at a more distant site.

Description: This research was made possible by grants from The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative through its consortiums: Ecosystem Impacts of Oil & Gas Inputs to the Gulf (ECOGIG), The Center for the Integrated Modeling and Analysis of the Gulf Ecosystem (C-Image), and Deep Sea to Coast Connectivity in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (Deep-C) and the Resuspension, Redistribution and Deposition of DWH Recalcitrant Material (Re-Direct) project. This is ECOGIG Contribution # 521. Funding was also provided by the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility (NOSAMS) Graduate Student Internship Program (NSF OCE-1239667). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Description: © 2008 Huse et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS Genetics 4 (2008): e1000255, doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000255.

Description: Massively parallel pyrosequencing of hypervariable regions from small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) genes can sample a microbial community two or three orders of magnitude more deeply per dollar and per hour than capillary sequencing of full-length SSU rRNA. As with full-length rRNA surveys, each sequence read is a tag surrogate for a single microbe. However, rather than assigning taxonomy by creating gene trees de novo that include all experimental sequences and certain reference taxa, we compare the hypervariable region tags to an extensive database of rRNA sequences and assign taxonomy based on the best match in a Global Alignment for Sequence Taxonomy (GAST) process. The resulting taxonomic census provides information on both composition and diversity of the microbial community. To determine the effectiveness of using only hypervariable region tags for assessing microbial community membership, we compared the taxonomy assigned to the V3 and V6 hypervariable regions with the taxonomy assigned to full-length SSU rRNA sequences isolated from both the human gut and a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. The hypervariable region tags and full-length rRNA sequences provided equivalent taxonomy and measures of relative abundance of microbial communities, even for tags up to 15% divergent from their nearest reference match. The greater sampling depth per dollar afforded by massively parallel pyrosequencing reveals many more members of the “rare biosphere” than does capillary sequencing of the full-length gene. In addition, tag sequencing eliminates cloning bias and the sequences are short enough to be completely sequenced in a single read, maximizing the number of organisms sampled in a run while minimizing chimera formation. This technique allows the cost-effective exploration of changes in microbial community structure, including the rare biosphere, over space and time and can be applied immediately to initiatives, such as the Human Microbiome Project.

Description: Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation (NIH/NIEHS 1 P50 ES012742-01 and NSF/OCE 0430724-J Stegeman PI to MLS). NIH Director's Pioneer Award and Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award to DAR.

Description: © The Authors, 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e16018, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016018.

Description: The shrimp Rimicaris exoculata dominates the faunal biomass at many deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In its enlarged gill chamber it harbors a specialized epibiotic bacterial community for which a nutritional role has been proposed. We analyzed specimens from the Snake Pit hydrothermal vent field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge by complementing a 16S rRNA gene survey with the analysis of genes involved in carbon, sulfur and hydrogen metabolism. In addition to Epsilon- and Gammaproteobacteria, the epibiotic community unexpectedly also consists of Deltaproteobacteria of a single phylotype, closely related to the genus Desulfocapsa. The association of these phylogenetic groups with the shrimp was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Based on functional gene analyses, we hypothesize that the Gamma- and Epsilonproteobacteria are capable of autotrophic growth by oxidizing reduced sulfur compounds, and that the Deltaproteobacteria are also involved in sulfur metabolism. In addition, the detection of proteobacterial hydrogenases indicates the potential for hydrogen oxidation in these communities. Interestingly, the frequency of these phylotypes in 16S rRNA gene clone libraries from the mouthparts differ from that of the inner lining of the gill chamber, indicating potential functional compartmentalization. Our data show the specific association of autotrophic bacteria with Rimicaris exoculata from the Snake Pit hydrothermal vent field, and suggest that autotrophic carbon fixation is contributing to the productivity of the epibiotic community with the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle as one important carbon fixation pathway. This has not been considered in previous studies of carbon fixation and stable carbon isotope composition of the shrimp and its epibionts. Furthermore, the co-occurrence of sulfur-oxidizing and sulfur-reducing epibionts raises the possibility that both may be involved in the syntrophic exchange of sulfur compounds, which could increase the overall efficiency of this epibiotic community.

Description: Funding was provided through NSF grant OCE-0452333 and the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald, Germany (SMS), the Max Planck Society, the German Research Foundation (DFG) Cluster of Excellence at Marum, and MOMARnet (ND, JMP), and IFM-GEOMAR (MH, JFI).

Description: © The Authors, 2010. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e16994, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016994.

Description: Chemical communication plays a critical role in sexual selection and speciation in fishes; however, it is generally assumed that most fish pheromones are passively released since most fishes lack specialized scent glands or scent-marking behavior. Swordtails (genus Xiphophorus) are widely used in studies of female mate choice, and female response to male chemical cues is important to sexual selection, reproductive isolation, and hybridization. However, it is unclear whether females are attending to passively produced cues, or to pheromones produced in the context of communication. We used fluorescein dye injections to visualize pulsed urine release in male sheepshead swordtails, Xiphophorus birchmanni. Simultaneous-choice assays of mating preference showed that females attend to species- and sex-specific chemical cues emitted in male urine. Males urinated more frequently in the presence and proximity of an audience (conspecific females). In the wild, males preferentially courted upstream of females, facilitating transmission of pheromone cues. Males in a teleost fish have evolved sophisticated temporal and spatial control of pheromone release, comparable to that found in terrestrial animals. Pheromones are released specifically in a communicative context, and the timing and positioning of release favors efficient signal transmission.

Description: This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov), IOB-0447665.

Description: © The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e20809, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020809.

Description: The net reproductive rate measures the expected lifetime reproductive output of an individual, and plays an important role in demography, ecology, evolution, and epidemiology. Well-established methods exist to calculate it from age- or stage-classified demographic data. As an expectation, provides no information on variability; empirical measurements of lifetime reproduction universally show high levels of variability, and often positive skewness among individuals. This is often interpreted as evidence of heterogeneity, and thus of an opportunity for natural selection. However, variability provides evidence of heterogeneity only if it exceeds the level of variability to be expected in a cohort of identical individuals all experiencing the same vital rates. Such comparisons require a way to calculate the statistics of lifetime reproduction from demographic data. Here, a new approach is presented, using the theory of Markov chains with rewards, obtaining all the moments of the distribution of lifetime reproduction. The approach applies to age- or stage-classified models, to constant, periodic, or stochastic environments, and to any kind of reproductive schedule. As examples, I analyze data from six empirical studies, of a variety of animal and plant taxa (nematodes, polychaetes, humans, and several species of perennial plants).

Description: Supported by National Science Foundation Grant DEB-0816514 and by a Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Description: © The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 6 (2011): e25386, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025386.

Description: Mariprofundus ferrooxydans PV-1 has provided the first genome of the recently discovered Zetaproteobacteria subdivision. Genome analysis reveals a complete TCA cycle, the ability to fix CO2, carbon-storage proteins and a sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS). The latter could facilitate the transport of carbohydrates across the cell membrane and possibly aid in stalk formation, a matrix composed of exopolymers and/or exopolysaccharides, which is used to store oxidized iron minerals outside the cell. Two-component signal transduction system genes, including histidine kinases, GGDEF domain genes, and response regulators containing CheY-like receivers, are abundant and widely distributed across the genome. Most of these are located in close proximity to genes required for cell division, phosphate uptake and transport, exopolymer and heavy metal secretion, flagellar biosynthesis and pilus assembly suggesting that these functions are highly regulated. Similar to many other motile, microaerophilic bacteria, genes encoding aerotaxis as well as antioxidant functionality (e.g., superoxide dismutases and peroxidases) are predicted to sense and respond to oxygen gradients, as would be required to maintain cellular redox balance in the specialized habitat where M. ferrooxydans resides. Comparative genomics with other Fe(II) oxidizing bacteria residing in freshwater and marine environments revealed similar content, synteny, and amino acid similarity of coding sequences potentially involved in Fe(II) oxidation, signal transduction and response regulation, oxygen sensation and detoxification, and heavy metal resistance. This study has provided novel insights into the molecular nature of Zetaproteobacteria.

Description: Funding has been provided by the NSF Microbial Observatories Program (KJE, DE), NSF’s Science and Technology Program, by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (KJE), the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at the University of Southern California (KJE), and by the NASA Astrobiology Institute (KJE, DE). Advanced Light Source analyses at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab are supported by the Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science of the United States Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231).

Description: © The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS Biology 10 (2012): e1001234, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001234.

Description: Since the first discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents along the Galápagos Rift in 1977, numerous vent sites and endemic faunal assemblages have been found along mid-ocean ridges and back-arc basins at low to mid latitudes. These discoveries have suggested the existence of separate biogeographic provinces in the Atlantic and the North West Pacific, the existence of a province including the South West Pacific and Indian Ocean, and a separation of the North East Pacific, North East Pacific Rise, and South East Pacific Rise. The Southern Ocean is known to be a region of high deep-sea species diversity and centre of origin for the global deep-sea fauna. It has also been proposed as a gateway connecting hydrothermal vents in different oceans but is little explored because of extreme conditions. Since 2009 we have explored two segments of the East Scotia Ridge (ESR) in the Southern Ocean using a remotely operated vehicle. In each segment we located deep-sea hydrothermal vents hosting high-temperature black smokers up to 382.8°C and diffuse venting. The chemosynthetic ecosystems hosted by these vents are dominated by a new yeti crab (Kiwa n. sp.), stalked barnacles, limpets, peltospiroid gastropods, anemones, and a predatory sea star. Taxa abundant in vent ecosystems in other oceans, including polychaete worms (Siboglinidae), bathymodiolid mussels, and alvinocaridid shrimps, are absent from the ESR vents. These groups, except the Siboglinidae, possess planktotrophic larvae, rare in Antarctic marine invertebrates, suggesting that the environmental conditions of the Southern Ocean may act as a dispersal filter for vent taxa. Evidence from the distinctive fauna, the unique community structure, and multivariate analyses suggest that the Antarctic vent ecosystems represent a new vent biogeographic province. However, multivariate analyses of species present at the ESR and at other deep-sea hydrothermal vents globally indicate that vent biogeography is more complex than previously recognised.

Description: The ChEsSo research programme was funded by a NERC Consortium Grant (NE/DO1249X/1) and supported by the Census of Marine Life and the Sloan Foundation, and the Total Foundation for Biodiversity (Abyss 2100)(SVTH) all of which are gratefully acknowledged. We also acknowledge NSF grant ANT-0739675 (CG and TS), NERC PhD studentships NE/D01429X/1(LH, LM, CNR), NE/H524922/1(JH) and NE/F010664/1 (WDKR), a Cusanuswerk doctoral fellowship, and a Lesley & Charles Hilton-Brown Scholarship, University of St. Andrews (PHBS).

Description: © The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 7 (2012): e44015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044015.

Description: Taxonomists have been tasked with cataloguing and quantifying the Earth’s biodiversity. Their progress is measured in code-compliant species descriptions that include text, images, type material and molecular sequences. It is from this material that other researchers are to identify individuals of the same species in future observations. It has been estimated that 13% to 22% (depending on taxonomic group) of described species have only ever been observed once. Species that have only been observed at the time and place of their original description are referred to as oncers. Oncers are important to our current understanding of biodiversity. They may be validly described species that are members of a rare biosphere, or they may indicate endemism, or that these species are limited to very constrained niches. Alternatively, they may reflect that taxonomic practices are too poor to allow the organism to be re-identified or that the descriptions are unknown to other researchers. If the latter are true, our current tally of species will not be an accurate indication of what we know. In order to investigate this phenomenon and its potential causes, we examined the microbial eukaryote genus Gymnodinium. This genus contains 268 extant species, 103 (38%) of which have not been observed since their original description. We report traits of the original descriptions and interpret them in respect to the status of the species. We conclude that the majority of oncers were poorly described and their identity is ambiguous. As a result, we argue that the genus Gymnodinium contains only 234 identifiable species. Species that have been observed multiple times tend to have longer descriptions, written in English. The styles of individual authors have a major effect, with a few authors describing a disproportionate number of oncers. The information about the taxonomy of Gymnodinium that is available via the internet is incomplete, and reliance on it will not give access to all necessary knowledge. Six new names are presented – Gymnodinium campbelli for the homonymous name Gymnodinium translucens Campbell 1973, Gymnodinium antarcticum for the homonymous name Gymnodinium frigidum Balech 1965, Gymnodinium manchuriensis for the homonymous name Gymnodinium autumnale Skvortzov 1968, Gymnodinium christenum for the homonymous name Gymnodinium irregulare Christen 1959, Gymnodinium conkufferi for the homonymous name Gymnodinium irregulare Conrad & Kufferath 1954 and Gymnodinium chinensis for the homonymous name Gymnodinium frigidum Skvortzov 1968.

Description: This work was funded by grants from the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation to the Encyclopedia of Life and the National Science Foundation Data Net Program 0830976 and Global Names Project DBI-1062387.

Description: © The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 7 (2012): e42872, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042872.

Description: The seafloor is a unique environment, which allows insights into how geochemical processes affect the diversity of biological life. Among its diverse ecosystems are deep-sea brine pools - water bodies characterized by a unique combination of extreme conditions. The ‘polyextremophiles’ that constitute the microbial assemblage of these deep hot brines have not been comprehensively studied. We report a comparative taxonomic analysis of the prokaryotic communities of the sediments directly below the Red Sea brine pools, namely, Atlantis II, Discovery, Chain Deep, and an adjacent brine-influenced site. Analyses of sediment samples and high-throughput pyrosequencing of PCR-amplified environmental 16S ribosomal RNA genes (16S rDNA) revealed that one sulfur (S)-rich Atlantis II and one nitrogen (N)-rich Discovery Deep section contained distinct microbial populations that differed from those found in the other sediment samples examined. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Deferribacteres, and Euryarchaeota were the most abundant bacterial and archaeal phyla in both the S- and N-rich sections. Relative abundance-based hierarchical clustering of the 16S rDNA pyrotags assigned to major taxonomic groups allowed us to categorize the archaeal and bacterial communities into three major and distinct groups; group I was unique to the S-rich Atlantis II section (ATII-1), group II was characteristic for the N-rich Discovery sample (DD-1), and group III reflected the composition of the remaining sediments. Many of the groups detected in the S-rich Atlantis II section are likely to play a dominant role in the cycling of methane and sulfur due to their phylogenetic affiliations with bacteria and archaea involved in anaerobic methane oxidation and sulfate reduction.

Description: This work was supported by King Abdullah University for Science and Technology Global Collaborative Partners (GCR) program.

Description: © The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 7 (2012): e50215, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050215.

Description: The cosmopolitan solitary deep-water scleractinian coral Desmophyllum dianthus (Esper, 1794) was selected as a representative model species of the polyphyletic Caryophylliidae family to (1) examine phylogenetic relationships with respect to the principal Scleractinia taxa, (2) check population structure, (3) test the widespread connectivity hypothesis and (4) assess the utility of different nuclear and mitochondrial markers currently in use. To carry out these goals, DNA sequence data from nuclear (ITS and 28S) and mitochondrial (16S and COI) markers were analyzed for several coral species and for Mediterranean populations of D. dianthus. Three phylogenetic methodologies (ML, MP and BI), based on data from the four molecular markers, all supported D. dianthus as clearly belonging to the “robust” clade, in which the species Lophelia pertusa and D. dianthus not only grouped together, but also shared haplotypes for some DNA markers. Molecular results also showed shared haplotypes among D. dianthus populations distributed in regions separated by several thousands of kilometers and by clear geographic barriers. These results could reflect limited molecular and morphological taxonomic resolution rather than real widespread connectivity. Additional studies are needed in order to find molecular markers and morphological features able to disentangle the complex phylogenetic relationship in the Order Scleractinia and to differentiate isolated populations, thus avoiding the homoplasy found in some morphological characters that are still considered in the literature.

Description: This study was funded by CTM2009-00496 and CGL2011-23306 projects of the “Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación” (Spain). Research at sea was partly supported by the European Commission F. P.VI Project HERMES Contract No. GOCE-CT-2005-511234-1) and the EU F.P. VII Project HERMIONE(contract number no. 226354).

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e53889, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053889.

Description: Thecosome pteropods (Mollusca, Gastropoda) are an ecologically important, diverse, and ubiquitous group of holoplanktonic animals that are the focus of intense research interest due to their external aragonite shell and vulnerability to ocean acidification. Characterizing the response of these animals to low pH and other environmental stressors has been hampered by continued uncertainty in their taxonomic identification. An example of this confusion in species assignment is found in the genus Diacavolinia. All members of this genus were originally indentified as a single species, Cavolinia longirostris, but over the past fifty years the taxonomy has been revisited multiple times; currently the genus comprises 22 different species. This study examines five species of Diacavolinia, including four sampled in the Northeast Atlantic (78 individuals) and one from the Eastern tropical North Pacific (15 individuals). Diacavolina were identified to species based on morphological characteristics according to the current taxonomy, photographed, and then used to determine the sequence of the “DNA barcoding” region of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI). Specimens from the Atlantic, despite distinct differences in shell morphology, showed polyphyly and a genetic divergence of 〈3% (K2P distance) whereas the Pacific and Atlantic samples were more distant (~19%). Comparisons of Diacavolinia spp. with other Cavolinia spp. reveal larger distances (~24%). These results indicate that specimens from the Atlantic comprise a single monophyletic species and suggest possible species-level divergence between Atlantic and Pacific populations. The findings support the maintenance of Diacavolinia as a separate genus, yet emphasize the inadequacy of our current taxonomic understanding of pteropods. They highlight the need for accurate species identifications to support estimates of biodiversity, range extent and natural exposure of these planktonic calcifiers to environmental variability; furthermore, the apparent variation of the pteropods shell may have implications for our understanding of the species’ sensitivity to ocean acidification.

Description: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number OCE-0928801. AEM was funded through the WHOI Postdoctoral Scholarship. Support to LBB was provided by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Connecticut; and by the Census of Marine Life/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e63714, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063714.

Description: Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) is being absorbed into the ocean, altering seawater chemistry, with potentially negative impacts on a wide range of marine organisms. The early life stages of invertebrates with internal and external aragonite structures may be particularly vulnerable to this ocean acidification. Impacts to cephalopods, which form aragonite cuttlebones and statoliths, are of concern because of the central role they play in many ocean ecosystems and because of their importance to global fisheries. Atlantic longfin squid (Doryteuthis pealeii), an ecologically and economically valuable taxon, were reared from eggs to hatchlings (paralarvae) under ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations in replicated experimental trials. Animals raised under elevated pCO2 demonstrated significant developmental changes including increased time to hatching and shorter mantle lengths, although differences were small. Aragonite statoliths, critical for balance and detecting movement, had significantly reduced surface area and were abnormally shaped with increased porosity and altered crystal structure in elevated pCO2-reared paralarvae. These developmental and physiological effects could alter squid paralarvae behavior and survival in the wild, directly and indirectly impacting marine food webs and commercial fisheries.

Description: This study was supported by a WHOI Student Summer Fellowship and WHOI-MIT Joint Program, the Penzance Endowed Fund, the John E. and Anne W. Sawyer Endowed Fund and NSF Research Grant No. EF-1220034. Additional support came from NSF OCE 1041106 to ALC and DCM, and NOAA Sea Grant award #NA10OAR4170083 to ALC and DCM.

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e79574, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079574.

Description: Transcription factors in the CNC-bZIP family (NFE2, NRF1, NRF2 and NRF3) regulate genes with a wide range of functions in response to both physiological and exogenous signals, including those indicating changes in cellular redox status. Given their role in helping to maintain cellular homeostasis, it is imperative to understand the expression, regulation, and function of CNC-bZIP genes during embryonic development. We explored the expression and function of six nrf genes (nfe2, nrf1a, nrf1b, nrf2a, nrf2b, and nrf3) using zebrafish embryos as a model system. Analysis by microarray and quantitative RT-PCR showed that genes in the nrf family were expressed throughout development from oocytes to larvae. The spatial expression of nrf3 suggested a role in regulating the development of the brain, brachia and pectoral fins. Knock-down by morpholino anti-sense oligonucleotides suggested that none of the genes were necessary for embryonic viability, but nfe2 was required for proper cellular organization in the pneumatic duct and subsequent swim bladder function, as well as for proper formation of the otic vesicles. nrf genes were induced by the oxidant tert-butylhydroperoxide, and some of this response was regulated through family members Nrf2a and Nrf2b. Our results provide a foundation for understanding the role of nrf genes in normal development and in regulating the response to oxidative stress in vertebrate embryos.

Description: This work was supported, in whole or in part, by National Institutes of Health grants F32ES019832 (to L.M.W.), F32ES017585 (to A.R.T.-L.), R01ES015912 (to J.J.S.), and R01ES016366 (to M.E.H.). This work was also supported by Walter A. and Hope Noyes Smith and the J. Seward Johnson Fund.

Description: © The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 8 (2013): e81150, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081150.

Description: Parasitic dinoflagellates of the genus Amoebophrya infect free-living dinoflagellates, some of which can cause harmful algal blooms (HABs). High prevalence of Amoebophrya spp. has been linked to the decline of some HABs in marine systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of Amoebophrya spp. on the dynamics of dinoflagellate blooms in Salt Pond (MA, USA), particularly the harmful species Alexandrium fundyense. The abundance of Amoebophrya life stages was estimated 3–7 days per week through the full duration of an annual A. fundyense bloom using fluorescence in situ hybridization coupled with tyramide signal amplification (FISH- TSA). More than 20 potential hosts were recorded including Dinophysis spp., Protoperidinium spp. and Gonyaulax spp., but the only dinoflagellate cells infected by Amoebophrya spp. during the sampling period were A. fundyense. Maximum A. fundyense concentration co-occurred with an increase of infected hosts, followed by a massive release of Amoebophrya dinospores in the water column. On average, Amoebophrya spp. infected and killed ~30% of the A. fundyense population per day in the end phase of the bloom. The decline of the host A. fundyense population coincided with a dramatic life-cycle transition from vegetative division to sexual fusion. This transition occurred after maximum infected host concentrations and before peak infection percentages were observed, suggesting that most A. fundyense escaped parasite infection through sexual fusion. The results of this work highlight the importance of high frequency sampling of both parasite and host populations to accurately assess the impact of parasites on natural plankton assemblages.

Description: L. Velo-Sua´rez was supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship (IOF; grant agreement: MOHAB PIOF-GA-252260). This work was supported in part by NSF grants OCE-0430724 and OCE-0911031 and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grants 1P50-ES01274201 and 1P01ES021923-01 to D.M. Anderson and D.J. McGillicuddy through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, National Park Service Cooperative Agreement H238015504 to D.M. Anderson.