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  • Other Sources  (129)
  • Nature Publishing Group  (128)
  • American Institute of Physics (AIP)
  • 2010-2014  (129)
  • 1
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Reviews Microbiology, 12 (10). pp. 686-698.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-23
    Description: Marine phytoplankton blooms are annual spring events that sustain active and diverse bloom-associated bacterial populations. Blooms vary considerably in terms of eukaryotic species composition and environmental conditions, but a limited number of heterotrophic bacterial lineages — primarily members of the Flavobacteriia, Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria — dominate these communities. In this Review, we discuss the central role that these bacteria have in transforming phytoplankton-derived organic matter and thus in biogeochemical nutrient cycling. On the basis of selected field and laboratory-based studies of flavobacteria and roseobacters, distinct metabolic strategies are emerging for these archetypal phytoplankton-associated taxa, which provide insights into the underlying mechanisms that dictate their behaviours during blooms.
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2020-06-24
    Description: The synthetic production of monodisperse single magnetic domain nanoparticles at ambient temperature is challenging. In nature, magnetosomes--membrane-bound magnetic nanocrystals with unprecedented magnetic properties--can be biomineralized by magnetotactic bacteria. However, these microbes are difficult to handle. Expression of the underlying biosynthetic pathway from these fastidious microorganisms within other organisms could therefore greatly expand their nanotechnological and biomedical applications. So far, this has been hindered by the structural and genetic complexity of the magnetosome organelle and insufficient knowledge of the biosynthetic functions involved. Here, we show that the ability to biomineralize highly ordered magnetic nanostructures can be transferred to a foreign recipient. Expression of a minimal set of genes from the magnetotactic bacterium Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense resulted in magnetosome biosynthesis within the photosynthetic model organism Rhodospirillum rubrum. Our findings will enable the sustainable production of tailored magnetic nanostructures in biotechnologically relevant hosts and represent a step towards the endogenous magnetization of various organisms by synthetic biology.
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  • 3
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Reviews Microbiology, 12 (10). pp. 686-698.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-23
    Description: Marine phytoplankton blooms are annual spring events that sustain active and diverse bloom-associated bacterial populations. Blooms vary considerably in terms of eukaryotic species composition and environmental conditions, but a limited number of heterotrophic bacterial lineages — primarily members of the Flavobacteriia, Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria — dominate these communities. In this Review, we discuss the central role that these bacteria have in transforming phytoplankton-derived organic matter and thus in biogeochemical nutrient cycling. On the basis of selected field and laboratory-based studies of flavobacteria and roseobacters, distinct metabolic strategies are emerging for these archetypal phytoplankton-associated taxa, which provide insights into the underlying mechanisms that dictate their behaviours during blooms.
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2018-04-03
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2015-07-24
    Description: Collectively, marine sediments comprise the largest reservoir of methane on Earth. The flux of methane from the sea bed to the overlying water column is mitigated by the sulphate-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane by marine microbes within a discrete sedimentary horizon termed the sulphate–methane transition zone. According to conventional isotope systematics, the biological consumption of methane leaves a residue of methane enriched in 13C (refs 1, 2, 3). However, in many instances the methane within sulphate–methane transition zones is depleted in 13C, consistent with the production of methane, and interpreted as evidence for the intertwined anaerobic oxidation and production of methane4, 5, 6. Here, we report results from experiments in which we incubated cultures of microbial methane consumers with methane and low levels of sulphate, and monitored the stable isotope composition of the methane and dissolved inorganic carbon pools over time. Residual methane became progressively enriched in 13C at sulphate concentrations above 0.5 mM, and progressively depleted in 13C below this threshold. We attribute the shift to 13C depletion during the anaerobic oxidation of methane at low sulphate concentrations to the microbially mediated carbon isotope equilibration between methane and carbon dioxide. We suggest that this isotopic effect could help to explain the 13C-depletion of methane in subseafloor sulphate–methane transition zones.
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  • 6
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 15 (10). pp. 647-664.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-23
    Description: Mammalian organs are challenging to study as they are fairly inaccessible to experimental manipulation and optical observation. Recent advances in three-dimensional (3D) culture techniques, coupled with the ability to independently manipulate genetic and microenvironmental factors, have enabled the real-time study of mammalian tissues. These systems have been used to visualize the cellular basis of epithelial morphogenesis, to test the roles of specific genes in regulating cell behaviours within epithelial tissues and to elucidate the contribution of microenvironmental factors to normal and disease processes. Collectively, these novel models can be used to answer fundamental biological questions and generate replacement human tissues, and they enable testing of novel therapeutic approaches, often using patient-derived cells.
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  • 7
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Geoscience, 7 (3). pp. 160-161.
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Decadal climate variability has long received limited attention. With the slow-down in surface warming since the late 1990s, the decadal scale has rightly become a focus of attention: for assessing climate change and its impacts, it is of critical importance
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Changes in solar activity have previously been proposed to cause decadal- to millennial-scale fluctuations in both the modern and Holocene climates1. Direct observational records of solar activity, such as sunspot numbers, exist for only the past few hundred years, so solar variability for earlier periods is typically reconstructed from measurements of cosmogenic radionuclides such as 10Be and 14C from ice cores and tree rings2, 3. Here we present a high-resolution 10Be record from the ice core collected from central Greenland by the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP). The record spans from 22,500 to 10,000 years ago, and is based on new and compiled data4, 5, 6. Using 14C records7, 8 to control for climate-related influences on 10Be deposition, we reconstruct centennial changes in solar activity. We find that during the Last Glacial Maximum, solar minima correlate with more negative δ18O values of ice and are accompanied by increased snow accumulation and sea-salt input over central Greenland. We suggest that solar minima could have induced changes in the stratosphere that favour the development of high-pressure blocking systems located to the south of Greenland, as has been found in observations and model simulations for recent climate9, 10. We conclude that the mechanism behind solar forcing of regional climate change may have been similar under both modern and Last Glacial Maximum climate conditions.
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Although ocean warming and acidification are recognized as two major anthropogenic perturbations of today’s oceans we know very little about how marine phytoplankton may respond via evolutionary change. We tested for adaptation to ocean warming in combination with ocean acidification in the globally important phytoplankton species Emiliania huxleyi. Temperature adaptation occurred independently of ocean acidification levels. Growth rates were up to 16% higher in populations adapted for one year to warming when assayed at their upper thermal tolerance limit. Particulate inorganic (PIC) and organic (POC) carbon production was restored to values under present-day ocean conditions, owing to adaptive evolution, and were 101% and 55% higher under combined warming and acidification, respectively, than in non-adapted controls. Cells also evolved to a smaller size while they recovered their initial PIC:POC ratio even under elevated CO2. The observed changes in coccolithophore growth, calcite and biomass production, cell size and elemental composition demonstrate the importance of evolutionary processes for phytoplankton performance in a future ocean.
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2018-11-09
    Description: The origin of novel phenotypic characters is a key component in organismal diversification; yet, the mechanisms underlying the emergence of such evolutionary novelties are largely unknown. Here we examine the origin of egg-spots, an evolutionary innovation of the most species-rich group of cichlids, the haplochromines, where these conspicuous male fin colour markings are involved in mating. Applying a combination of RNAseq, comparative genomics and functional experiments, we identify two novel pigmentation genes, fhl2a and fhl2b, and show that especially the more rapidly evolving b-paralog is associated with egg-spot formation. We further find that egg-spot bearing haplochromines, but not other cichlids, feature a transposable element in the cis-regulatory region of fhl2b. Using transgenic zebrafish, we finally demonstrate that this region shows specific enhancer activities in iridophores, a type of pigment cells found in egg-spots, suggesting that a cis-regulatory change is causally linked to the gain of expression in egg-spot bearing haplochromines
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  • 11
    Publication Date: 2018-04-03
    Description: Between 1965 and 1990, the waters of the Nordic Seas and the subpolar basins of the North Atlantic Ocean freshened substantially1. The Arctic Ocean also became less saline over this time, as a consequence of increasing runoff1, 2, 3, 4, but it is not clear whether flow from the Arctic Ocean was the main source of the Nordic Seas salinity anomaly. As a region of deep-water formation, the Nordic Seas are central to the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, but this process is inhibited if the surface salinity is too low2. Here we use the instrumental record of Nordic Seas hydrography, along with a global ocean–sea-ice model hindcast simulation, to identify the sources and magnitude of freshwater that has accumulated in the Nordic Seas since 1950. We find that the freshwater anomalies within the Nordic Seas can mostly be explained by less salt entering the southern part of the basin with the relatively saline Atlantic inflow, with seemingly little contribution from the Arctic Ocean. We conclude that hydrographic changes in the Nordic Seas are primarily related to changes in the Atlantic Ocean. We infer that if the Atlantic inflow and Nordic Seas both freshen similarly, this would render the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation relatively insensitive to Nordic Seas freshwater content.
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  • 12
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Hydrothermal flow at oceanic spreading centres accounts for about ten per cent of all heat flux in the oceans and controls the thermal structure of young oceanic plates. It also influences ocean and crustal chemistry, provides a basis for chemosynthetic ecosystems, and has formed massive sulphide ore deposits throughout Earth’s history. Despite this, how and under what conditions heat is extracted, in particular from the lower crust, remains largely unclear. Here we present high-resolution, whole-crust, two- and three-dimensional simulations of hydrothermal flow beneath fast-spreading ridges that predict the existence of two interacting flow components, controlled by different physical mechanisms, that merge above the melt lens to feed ridge-centred vent sites. Shallow on-axis flow structures develop owing to the thermodynamic properties of water, whereas deeper off-axis flow is strongly shaped by crustal permeability, particularly the brittle–ductile transition. About 60 per cent of the discharging fluid mass is replenished on-axis by warm (up to 300 degrees Celsius) recharge flow surrounding the hot thermal plumes, and the remaining 40 per cent or so occurs as colder and broader recharge up to several kilometres away from the axis that feeds hot (500–700 degrees Celsius) deep-rooted off-axis flow towards the ridge. Despite its lower contribution to the total mass flux, this deep off-axis flow carries about 70 per cent of the thermal energy released at the ridge axis. This combination of two flow components explains the seismically determined thermal structure of the crust and reconciles previously incompatible models favouring either shallower on-axis or deeper off-axis hydrothermal circulation.
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  • 13
    Publication Date: 2017-03-09
    Description: Nitrogen fixation, the biological reduction of dinitrogen gas (N2) to ammonium (NH4+), is quantitatively the most important external source of new nitrogen (N) to the open ocean. Classically, the ecological niche of oceanic N2 fixers (diazotrophs) is ascribed to tropical oligotrophic surface waters, often depleted in fixed N, with a diazotrophic community dominated by cyanobacteria. Although this applies for large areas of the ocean, biogeochemical models and phylogenetic studies suggest that the oceanic diazotrophic niche may be much broader than previously considered, resulting in major implications for the global N-budget. Here, we report on the composition, distribution and abundance of nifH, the functional gene marker for N2 fixation. Our results show the presence of eight clades of diazotrophs in the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) off Peru. Although proteobacterial clades dominated overall, two clusters affiliated to spirochaeta and archaea were identified. N2 fixation was detected within OMZ waters and was stimulated by the addition of organic carbon sources supporting the view that non-phototrophic diazotrophs were actively fixing dinitrogen. The observed co-occurrence of key functional genes for N2 fixation, nitrification, anammox and denitrification suggests that a close spatial coupling of N-input and N-loss processes exists in the OMZ off Peru. The wide distribution of diazotrophs throughout the water column adds to the emerging view that the habitat of marine diazotrophs can be extended to low oxygen/high nitrate areas. Furthermore, our statistical analysis suggests that NO2− and PO43− are the major factors affecting diazotrophic distribution throughout the OMZ. In view of the predicted increase in ocean deoxygenation resulting from global warming, our findings indicate that the importance of OMZs as niches for N2 fixation may increase in the futur
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  • 14
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Communications, 5 (3304).
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: The realization that mitigation efforts to reduce CO2 emissions have, until now, been relatively ineffective has led to an increasing interest in climate engineering as a possible means of preventing potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change. While many studies have addressed the potential effectiveness of individual methods there have been few attempts to compare them. We use an Earth system model to compare the effectiveness and side effects of afforestation, artificial ocean upwelling, ocean iron fertilization, ocean alkalinization, and solar radiation management during a high CO2-emissions scenario. We find that even when applied continuously and at scales as large as currently deemed possible, all methods are, individually, either relatively ineffective with limited (〈8%) warming reductions, or they have severe side effects and cannot be stopped without causing rapid climate change. Our simulations suggest that the potential for these types of climate engineering to make up for failed mitigation may be very limited.
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  • 15
    Publication Date: 2015-07-24
    Description: Geophysical evidence suggests that fluids along fault planes have an important role in generating earthquakes; however, the nature of these fluids has not been well defined. The 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake ruptured the interface between the subducting Pacific plate and the overlying Okhotsk plate. Here we report a sharp increase in mantle-derived helium in bottom seawater near the rupture zone 1 month after the earthquake. The timing and location indicate that fluids were released from the mantle on the seafloor along the plate interface. The movement of the fluids was rapid, with a velocity of ~4 km per day and an uncertainty factor of four. This rate is much faster than what would be expected from pressure-gradient propagation, suggesting that over-pressurized fluid is discharged along the plate interface.
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  • 16
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: In the oceans’ high-nitrate–low-chlorophyll regions, such as the Peru/Humboldt Current system and the adjacent eastern equatorial Pacific1, primary productivity is limited by the micronutrient iron. Within the Peruvian upwelling area, bioavailable iron is released from the reducing continental margin sediments2. The magnitude of this seafloor source could change with fluctuations in the extension or intensity of the oxygen minimum zones3, 4. Here we show that measurements of molybdenum, uranium and iron concentrations can be used as a proxy for sedimentary iron release, and use this proxy to assess iron release from the sea floor beneath the Peru upwelling system during the past 140,000 years. We observe a coupling between levels of denitrification, as indicated by nitrogen isotopes, trace metal proxies for oxygenation, and sedimentary iron concentrations. Specifically, periods with poor upper ocean oxygenation are characterized by more efficient iron retention in the sediment and a diminished iron supply to the water column. We attribute efficient iron retention under more reducing conditions to widespread sulphidic conditions in the surface sediment and concomitant precipitation of iron sulphides. We argue that iron release from continental margin sediments is most effective in a narrow redox window where neither oxygen nor sulphide is present. We therefore suggest that future deoxygenation in the Peru upwelling area would be unlikely to result in increased iron availability, whereas in weaker oxygen minimum zones partial deoxygenation may enhance the iron supply.
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  • 17
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Animal burrowing and sediment-mixing (bioturbation) began during the run up to the Ediacaran/Cambrian boundary1, 2, 3, initiating a transition4, 5 between the stratified Precambrian6 and more well-mixed Phanerozoic7 sedimentary records, against the backdrop of a variable8, 9 global oxygen reservoir probably smaller in size than present10, 11. Phosphorus is the long-term12 limiting nutrient for oxygen production via burial of organic carbon13, and its retention (relative to carbon) within organic matter in marine sediments is enhanced by bioturbation14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Here we explore the biogeochemical implications of a bioturbation-induced organic phosphorus sink in a simple model. We show that increased bioturbation robustly triggers a net decrease in the size of the global oxygen reservoir—the magnitude of which is contingent upon the prescribed difference in carbon to phosphorus ratios between bioturbated and laminated sediments. Bioturbation also reduces steady-state marine phosphate levels, but this effect is offset by the decline in iron-adsorbed phosphate burial that results from a decrease in oxygen concentrations. The introduction of oxygen-sensitive bioturbation to dynamical model runs is sufficient to trigger a negative feedback loop: the intensity of bioturbation is limited by the oxygen decrease it initially causes. The onset of this feedback is consistent with redox variations observed during the early Cambrian rise of bioturbation, leading us to suggest that bioturbation helped to regulate early oxygen and phosphorus cycles.
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  • 18
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Assessments of climate sensitivity to projected greenhouse gas concentrations underpin environmental policy decisions, with such assessments often based on model simulations of climate during recent centuries and millennia1, 2, 3. These simulations depend critically on accurate records of past aerosol forcing from global-scale volcanic eruptions, reconstructed from measurements of sulphate deposition in ice cores4, 5, 6. Non-uniform transport and deposition of volcanic fallout mean that multiple records from a wide array of ice cores must be combined to create accurate reconstructions. Here we re-evaluated the record of volcanic sulphate deposition using a much more extensive array of Antarctic ice cores. In our new reconstruction, many additional records have been added and dating of previously published records corrected through precise synchronization to the annually dated West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core7, improving and extending the record throughout the Common Era. Whereas agreement with existing reconstructions is excellent after 1500, we found a substantially different history of volcanic aerosol deposition before 1500; for example, global aerosol forcing values from some of the largest eruptions (for example, 1257 and 1458) previously were overestimated by 20–30% and others underestimated by 20–50%.
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  • 19
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Geoscience, 7 . pp. 879-884.
    Publication Date: 2017-02-20
    Description: The exchange of water masses across the Antarctic continental shelf break regulates the export of dense shelf waters to depth as well as the transport of warm, mid-depth waters towards ice shelves and glacial grounding lines1. The penetration of the warmer mid-depth waters past the shelf break has been implicated in the pronounced loss of ice shelf mass over much of west Antarctica2, 3, 4. In high-resolution, regional circulation models, the Antarctic shelf break hosts an energetic mesoscale eddy field5, 6, but observations that capture this mesoscale variability have been limited. Here we show, using hydrographic data collected from ocean gliders, that eddy-induced transport is a primary contributor to mass and property fluxes across the slope. Measurements along ten cross-shelf hydrographic sections show a complex velocity structure and a stratification consistent with an onshore eddy mass flux. We show that the eddy transport and the surface wind-driven transport make comparable contributions to the total overturning circulation. Eddy-induced transport is concentrated in the warm, intermediate layers away from frictional boundaries. We conclude that understanding mesoscale dynamics will be critical for constraining circumpolar heat fluxes and future rates of retreat of Antarctic ice shelves.
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  • 20
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Stratospheric water vapour is a powerful greenhouse gas. The longest available record from balloon observations over Boulder, Colorado, USA shows increases in stratospheric water vapour concentrations that cannot be fully explained by observed changes in the main drivers, tropical tropopause temperatures and methane. Satellite observations could help resolve the issue, but constructing a reliable long-term data record from individual short satellite records is challenging. Here we present an approach to merge satellite data sets with the help of a chemistry-climate model nudged to observed meteorology. We use the models' water vapour as a transfer function between data sets that overcomes issues arising from instrument drift and short overlap periods. In the lower stratosphere, our water vapour record extends back to 1988 and water vapour concentrations largely follow tropical tropopause temperatures. Lower and mid-stratospheric long-term trends are negative, and the trends from Boulder are shown not to be globally representative. In the upper stratosphere, our record extends back to 1986 and shows positive long-term trends. The altitudinal differences in the trends are explained by methane oxidation together with a strengthened lower-stratospheric and a weakened upper-stratospheric circulation inferred by this analysis. Our results call into question previous estimates of surface radiative forcing based on presumed global long-term increases in water vapour concentrations in the lower stratosphere.
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  • 21
    Publication Date: 2015-07-24
    Description: Large earthquakes on mid-ocean ridge transform faults are commonly preceded by foreshocks1, 2, 3 and changes in the seismic properties of the fault zone3. These seismic precursors could be linked to fluid-related processes2, 3. Hydrothermal fluids within young, hot crust near the intersection of oceanic transform faults are probably in a supercritical condition4. At constant temperature, supercritical fluids become significantly more compressible with decreasing pressure, with potential impacts on fault behaviour. Here we use a theoretical model to show that oceanic transform faults can switch from dilatant and progressive deformation to rupture in response to fluid-related processes. We assume that the fault core material behaves according to a Cam-clay-type5 constitutive law, which is commonly used to account for the behaviour of clays. According to our model, we find that the fault is initially stable, with stresses gradually increasing over a timescale of years in response to tectonic loading. The fault evolves into a metastable phase, lasting a few days, during which the fault rocks dilate and pore pressures decrease, causing the compressibility of the supercritical fluids to increase. This in turn triggers fault-slip instability that creates foreshock swarms. In the final phase, the fault fails in the mainshock rupture. Our results imply that seismic precursors are caused by changes in fluid pressure which result in variations in fluid compressibility, in response to rock deformation just before rupture.
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  • 22
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: The Agulhas Current (AC) is the strongest western boundary current in the Southern Hemisphere and is key for weather and climate patterns, both regionally and globally. Its heat transfer into both the midlatitude South Indian Ocean and South Atlantic is of global significance. A new composite coral record (Ifaty and Tulear massive Porites corals), is linked to historical AC sea surface temperature (SST) instrumental data, showing robust correlations. The composite coral SST data start in 1660 and comprise 200 years more than the AC instrumental record. Numerical modelling exhibits that this new coral derived SST record is representative for the wider core region of the AC. AC SSTs variabilities show distinct cooling through the Little Ice Age and warming during the late 18th, 19th and 20th century, with significant decadal variability superimposed. Furthermore, the AC SSTs are teleconnected with the broad southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans, showing that the AC system is pivotal for inter-ocean heat exchange south of Africa.
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  • 23
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Large igneous province subduction is a rare process on Earth. A modern example is the subduction of the oceanic Hikurangi Plateau beneath the southern Kermadec arc, offshore New Zealand. This segment of the arc has the largest total lava volume erupted and the highest volcano density of the entire Kermadec arc. Here we show that Kermadec arc lavas south of B32°S have elevated Pb and Sr and low Nd isotope ratios, which argues, together with increasing seafloor depth, forearc retreat and crustal thinning, for initial Hikurangi Plateau—Kermadec arc collision B250 km north of its present position. The combined data set indicates that a much larger portion of the Hikurangi Plateau (the missing Ontong Java Nui piece) than previously believed has already been subducted. Oblique plate convergence caused southward migration of the thickened and buoyant oceanic plateau crust, creating a buoyant ‘Hikurangi’ me´lange beneath the Moho that interacts with ascending arc melts.
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  • 24
    Publication Date: 2019-03-05
    Description: Vitamin B 1 (thiamine pyrophosphate, TPP) is essential to all life but scarce in ocean surface waters. In many bacteria and a few eukaryotic groups thiamine biosynthesis genes are controlled by metabolite-sensing mRNA-based gene regulators known as riboswitches. Using available genome sequences and transcriptomes generated from ecologically important marine phytoplankton, we identified 31 new eukaryotic riboswitches. These were found in alveolate, cryptophyte, haptophyte and rhizarian phytoplankton as well as taxa from two lineages previously known to have riboswitches (green algae and stramenopiles). The predicted secondary structures bear hallmarks of TPP-sensing riboswitches. Surprisingly, most of the identified riboswitches are affiliated with genes of unknown function, rather than characterized thiamine biosynthesis genes. Using qPCR and growth experiments involving two prasinophyte algae, we show that expression of these genes increases significantly under vitamin B 1 -deplete conditions relative to controls. Pathway analyses show that several algae harboring the uncharacterized genes lack one or more enzymes in the known TPP biosynthesis pathway. We demonstrate that one such alga, the major primary producer Emiliania huxleyi, grows on 4-amino-5-hydroxymethyl-2-methylpyrimidine (a thiamine precursor moiety) alone, although long thought dependent on exogenous sources of thiamine. Thus, overall, we have identified riboswitches in major eukaryotic lineages not known to undergo this form of gene regulation. In these phytoplankton groups, riboswitches are often affiliated with widespread thiamine-responsive genes with as yet uncertain roles in TPP pathways. Further, taxa with 'incomplete' TPP biosynthesis pathways do not necessarily require exogenous vitamin B 1, making vitamin control of phytoplankton blooms more complex than the current paradigm suggests. © 2014 International Society for Microbial Ecology. All rights reserved.
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  • 25
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Scientific Reports, 4 (Article number: 6972).
    Publication Date: 2020-09-07
    Description: Rhodoliths are coralline red algal assemblages that commonly occur in marine habitats from the tropics to polar latitudes. They form rigid structures of high-magnesium calcite and have a good fossil record. Here I show that rhodoliths are ecosystem engineers in a high Arctic environment that increase local biodiversity by providing habitat. Gouged by boring mussels, originally solid rhodoliths become hollow ecospheres intensely colonised by benthic organisms. In the examined shelf areas, biodiversity in rhodolith-bearing habitats is significantly greater than in habitats without rhodoliths and hollow rhodoliths yield a greater biodiversity than solid ones. This biodiversity, however, is threatened because hollow rhodoliths take a long time to form and are susceptible to global change and anthropogenic impacts such as trawl net fisheries that can destroy hollow rhodoliths. Rhodoliths and other forms of coralline red algae play a key role in a plurality of environments and need improved management and protection plans.
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  • 26
    Publication Date: 2019-07-10
    Description: Submarine mud volcanoes are important sources of methane to the water column. However, the temporal variability of their mud and methane emissions is unknown. Methane emissions were previously proposed to result from a dynamic equilibrium between upward migration and consumption at the seabed by methane-consuming microbes. Here we show non-steady-state situations of vigorous mud movement that are revealed through variations in fluid flow, seabed temperature and seafloor bathymetry. Time series data for pressure, temperature, pH and seafloor photography were collected over 431 days using a benthic observatory at the active Hakon Mosby Mud Volcano. We documented 25 pulses of hot subsurface fluids, accompanied by eruptions that changed the landscape of the mud volcano. Four major events triggered rapid sediment uplift of more than a metre in height, substantial lateral flow of muds at average velocities of 0.4m per day, and significant emissions of methane and CO2 from the seafloor.
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  • 27
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Scientific Data, 1 (1). Art.Nr. 140048.
    Publication Date: 2020-05-13
    Description: Knowledge of concentrations and elemental ratios of suspended particles are important for understanding many biogeochemical processes in the ocean. These include patterns of phytoplankton nutrient limitation as well as linkages between the cycles of carbon and nitrogen or phosphorus. To further enable studies of ocean biogeochemistry, we here present a global dataset consisting of 100,605 total measurements of particulate organic carbon, nitrogen, or phosphorus analyzed as part of 70 cruises or time-series. The data are globally distributed and represent all major ocean regions as well as different depths in the water column. The global median C:P, N:P, and C:N ratios are 163, 22, and 6.6, respectively, but the data also includes extensive variation between samples from different regions. Thus, this compilation will hopefully assist in a wide range of future studies of ocean elemental ratios.
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  • 28
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    American Institute of Physics (AIP)
    In:  Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 6 (1). Art.-Nr.: 013116.
    Publication Date: 2021-06-23
    Description: Eutrophication combined with climate change has caused ephemeral filamentous macroalgae to increase and drifts of seaweed cover large areas of some Baltic Sea sites during summer. In ongoing projects, these mass occurrences of drifting filamentous macroalgae are being harvested to mitigate eutrophication, with preliminary results indicating considerable nutrient reduction potential. In the present study, an energy assessment was made of biogas production from the retrieved biomass for a Baltic Sea pilot case. Use of different indicators revealed a positive energy balance. The energy requirements corresponded to about 30%–40% of the energy content in the end products. The net energy gain was 530–800 MJ primary energy per ton wet weight of algae for small-scale and large-scale scenarios, where 6 000 and 13 000 tonnes dwt were harvested, respectively. However, the exergy efficiency differed from the energy efficiency, emphasising the importance of taking energy quality into consideration when evaluating energy systems. An uncertainty analysis indicated parametric uncertainty of about 25%–40%, which we consider to be acceptable given the generally high sensitivity of the indicators to changes in input data, allocation method, and system design. Overall, our evaluation indicated that biogas production may be a viable handling strategy for retrieved biomass, while harvesting other types of macroalgae than red filamentous species considered here may render a better energy balance due to higher methane yields.
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  • 29
    Publication Date: 2017-02-02
    Description: The ability of coral reefs to engineer complex three-dimensional habitats is central to their success and the rich biodiversity they support. In tropical reefs, encrusting coralline algae bind together substrates and dead coral framework to make continuous reef structures, but beyond the photic zone, the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa also forms large biogenic reefs, facilitated by skeletal fusion. Skeletal fusion in tropical corals can occur in closely related or juvenile individuals as a result of non-aggressive skeletal overgrowth or allogeneic tissue fusion, but contact reactions in many species result in mortality if there is no ‘self-recognition’ on a broad species level. This study reveals areas of ‘flawless’ skeletal fusion in Lophelia pertusa, potentially facilitated by allogeneic tissue fusion, are identified as having small aragonitic crystals or low levels of crystal organisation, and strong molecular bonding. Regardless of the mechanism, the recognition of ‘self’ between adjacent L. pertusa colonies leads to no observable mortality, facilitates ecosystem engineering and reduces aggression-related energetic expenditure in an environment where energy conservation is crucial. The potential for self-recognition at a species level, and subsequent skeletal fusion in framework-forming cold-water corals is an important first step in understanding their significance as ecological engineers in deep-seas worldwide.
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  • 30
    Publication Date: 2023-02-14
    Description: Cultivated bacteria such as actinomycetes are a highly useful source of biomedically important natural products. However, such ‘talented’ producers represent only a minute fraction of the entire, mostly uncultivated, prokaryotic diversity. The uncultured majority is generally perceived as a large, untapped resource of new drug candidates, but so far it is unknown whether taxa containing talented bacteria indeed exist. Here we report the single-cell- and metagenomics-based discovery of such producers. Two phylotypes of the candidate genus ‘Entotheonella’ with genomes of greater than 9 megabases and multiple, distinct biosynthetic gene clusters co-inhabit the chemically and microbially rich marine sponge Theonella swinhoei. Almost all bioactive polyketides and peptides known from this animal were attributed to a single phylotype. ‘Entotheonella’ spp. are widely distributed in sponges and belong to an environmental taxon proposed here as candidate phylum ‘Tectomicrobia’. The pronounced bioactivities and chemical uniqueness of ‘Entotheonella’ compounds provide significant opportunities for ecological studies and drug discovery.
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  • 31
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Geoscience, 6 (8). pp. 608-612.
    Publication Date: 2017-10-24
    Description: Owing to the turbulent nature of the ocean, mesoscale eddies are omnipresent. The impact of these transitory and approximately circular sea surface temperature fronts on the overlying atmosphere is not well known. Stationary fronts such as the Gulf Stream have been reported to lead to pronounced atmospheric changes1, 2. However, the impact of transient ocean eddies on the atmosphere has not been determined systematically, except on winds and to some extent clouds3, 4, 5, 6. Here, we examine the atmospheric conditions associated with over 600,000 individual eddies in the Southern Ocean, using satellite data. We show that ocean eddies locally affect near-surface wind, cloud properties and rainfall. The observed pattern of atmospheric change is consistent with a mechanism in which sea surface temperature anomalies associated with the oceanic eddies modify turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. In the case of cyclonic eddies, this modification triggers a slackening of near-surface winds, a decline in cloud fraction and water content, and a reduction in rainfall. We conclude that transient mesoscale ocean structures can significantly affect much larger atmospheric low-pressure systems that swiftly pass by at the latitudes investigated.
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  • 32
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Methods, 10 (9). pp. 881-884.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-24
    Description: The exponentially increasing number of sequenced genomes necessitates fast, accurate, universally applicable and automated approaches for the delineation of prokaryotic species. We developed specI (species identification tool; http://www.bork.embl.de/software/specI/), a method to group organisms into species clusters based on 40 universal, single-copy phylogenetic marker genes. Applied to 3,496 prokaryotic genomes, specI identified 1,753 species clusters. Of 314 discrepancies with a widely used taxonomic classification, 〉62% were resolved by literature support.
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  • 33
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Immunology, 14 (7). pp. 676-684.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-25
    Description: The mammalian gastrointestinal tract, the site of digestion and nutrient absorption, harbors trillions of beneficial commensal microbes from all three domains of life. Commensal bacteria, in particular, are key participants in the digestion of food, and are responsible for the extraction and synthesis of nutrients and other metabolites that are essential for the maintenance of mammalian health. Many of these nutrients and metabolites derived from commensal bacteria have been implicated in the development, homeostasis and function of the immune system, suggesting that commensal bacteria may influence host immunity via nutrient- and metabolite-dependent mechanisms. Here we review the current knowledge of how commensal bacteria regulate the production and bioavailability of immunomodulatory, diet-dependent nutrients and metabolites and discuss how these commensal bacteria–derived products may regulate the development and function of the mammalian immune system.
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  • 34
    Publication Date: 2020-06-25
    Description: In bacteria, foreign nucleic acids are silenced by clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)--CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems. Bacterial type II CRISPR systems have been adapted to create guide RNAs that direct site-specific DNA cleavage by the Cas9 endonuclease in cultured cells. Here we show that the CRISPR-Cas system functions in vivo to induce targeted genetic modifications in zebrafish embryos with efficiencies similar to those obtained using zinc finger nucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases.
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  • 35
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Reviews Genetics, 14 (6). pp. 368-369.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-23
    Description: Population genomics — in which genetic variation across the genome is studied in many individuals — has so far been limited to species for which reference genomes are available. A recent study shows how transcriptomics can be used to extend population genomics research across a far greater range of organisms. This advance promises important new insights int…
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  • 36
    Publication Date: 2020-05-11
    Description: Many marine sponges are hosts to dense and phylogenetically diverse microbial communities that are located in the extracellular matrix of the animal. The candidate phylum Poribacteria is a predominant member of the sponge microbiome and its representatives are nearly exclusively found in sponges. Here we used single-cell genomics to obtain comprehensive insights into the metabolic potential of individual poribacterial cells representing three distinct phylogenetic groups within Poribacteria. Genome sizes were up to 5.4 Mbp and genome coverage was as high as 98.5%. Common features of the poribacterial genomes indicated that heterotrophy is likely to be of importance for this bacterial candidate phylum. Carbohydrate-active enzyme database screening and further detailed analysis of carbohydrate metabolism suggested the ability to degrade diverse carbohydrate sources likely originating from seawater and from the host itself. The presence of uronic acid degradation pathways as well as several specific sulfatases provides strong support that Poribacteria degrade glycosaminoglycan chains of proteoglycans, which are important components of the sponge host matrix. Dominant glycoside hydrolase families further suggest degradation of other glycoproteins in the host matrix. We therefore propose that Poribacteria are well adapted to an existence in the sponge extracellular matrix. Poribacteria may be viewed as efficient scavengers and recyclers of a particular suite of carbon compounds that are unique to sponges as microbial ecosystems.
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  • 37
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Methods, 10 (10). pp. 996-998.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-24
    Description: Amplified marker-gene sequences can be used to understand microbial community structure, but they suffer from a high level of sequencing and amplification artifacts. The UPARSE pipeline reports operational taxonomic unit (OTU) sequences with ≤1% incorrect bases in artificial microbial community tests, compared with 〉3% incorrect bases commonly reported by other methods. The improved accuracy results in far fewer OTUs, consistently closer to the expected number of species in a community.
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  • 38
    Publication Date: 2017-02-23
    Description: The climatic changes of the glacial cycles are thought to have been a major driver of population declines and species extinctions. However, studies to date have focused on terrestrial fauna and there is little understanding of how marine species responded to past climate change. Here we show that a true Arctic species, the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), shifted its range and tracked its core suitable habitat northwards during the rapid climate change of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Late Pleistocene lineages survived into the Holocene and effective female population size increased rapidly, concurrent with a threefold increase in core suitable habitat. This study highlights that responses to climate change are likely to be species specific and difficult to predict. We estimate that the core suitable habitat of bowhead whales will be almost halved by the end of this century, potentially influencing future population dynamics.
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  • 39
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Geoscience, 6 (1). pp. 12-13.
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Ocean acidification, caused by the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide, is a significant stressor to marine life. Ulf Riebesell charts the rapid rise in ocean acidification research, from the discovery of its adverse effects to its entry into the political consciousness.
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  • 40
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Sediment-hosting hydrothermal systems in the Okinawa Trough maintain a large amount of liquid, supercritical and hydrate phases of CO2 in the seabed. The emission of CO2 may critically impact the geochemical, geophysical and ecological characteristics of the deep-sea sedimentary environment. So far it remains unclear whether microbial communities that have been detected in such high-CO2 and low-pH habitats are metabolically active, and if so, what the biogeochemical and ecological consequences for the environment are. In this study, RNA-based molecular approaches and radioactive tracer-based respiration rate assays were combined to study the density, diversity and metabolic activity of microbial communities in CO2-seep sediment at the Yonaguni Knoll IV hydrothermal field of the southern Okinawa Trough. In general, the number of microbes decreased sharply with increasing sediment depth and CO2 concentration. Phylogenetic analyses of community structure using reverse-transcribed 16S ribosomal RNA showed that the active microbial community became less diverse with increasing sediment depth and CO2 concentration, indicating that microbial activity and community structure are sensitive to CO2 venting. Analyses of RNA-based pyrosequences and catalyzed reporter deposition-fluorescence in situ hybridization data revealed that members of the SEEP-SRB2 group within the Deltaproteobacteria and anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME-2a and -2c) were confined to the top seafloor, and active archaea were not detected in deeper sediments (13–30 cm in depth) characterized by high CO2. Measurement of the potential sulfate reduction rate at pH conditions of 3–9 with and without methane in the headspace indicated that acidophilic sulfate reduction possibly occurs in the presence of methane, even at very low pH of 3. These results suggest that some members of the anaerobic methanotrophs and sulfate reducers can adapt to the CO2-seep sedimentary environment; however, CO2 and pH in the deep-sea sediment were found to severely impact the activity and structure of the microbial community.
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  • 41
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Oxygen minimum zones are expanding globally, and at present account for around 20–40% of oceanic nitrogen loss. Heterotrophic denitrification and anammox—anaerobic ammonium oxidation with nitrite—are responsible for most nitrogen loss in these low-oxygen waters. Anammox is particularly significant in the eastern tropical South Pacific, one of the largest oxygen minimum zones globally. However, the factors that regulate anammox-driven nitrogen loss have remained unclear. Here, we present a comprehensive nitrogen budget for the eastern tropical South Pacific oxygen minimum zone, using measurements of nutrient concentrations, experimentally determined rates of nitrogen transformation and a numerical model of export production. Anammox was the dominant mode of nitrogen loss at the time of sampling. Rates of anammox, and related nitrogen transformations, were greatest in the productive shelf waters, and tailed off with distance from the coast. Within the shelf region, anammox activity peaked in both upper and bottom waters. Overall, rates of nitrogen transformation, including anammox, were strongly correlated with the export of organic matter. We suggest that the sinking of organic matter, and thus the release of ammonium into the water column, together with benthic ammonium release, fuel nitrogen loss from oxygen minimum zones.
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  • 42
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Prokaryote communities were investigated on the seasonally stratified Alaska Beaufort Shelf (ABS). Water and sediment directly underlying water with origin in the Arctic, Pacific or Atlantic oceans were analyzed by pyrosequencing and length heterogeneity-PCR in conjunction with physicochemical and geographic distance data to determine what features structure ABS microbiomes. Distinct bacterial communities were evident in all water masses. Alphaproteobacteria explained similarity in Arctic surface water and Pacific derived water. Deltaproteobacteria were abundant in Atlantic origin water and drove similarity among samples. Most archaeal sequences in water were related to unclassified marine Euryarchaeota. Sediment communities influenced by Pacific and Atlantic water were distinct from each other and pelagic communities. Firmicutes and Chloroflexi were abundant in sediment, although their distribution varied in Atlantic and Pacific influenced sites. Thermoprotei dominated archaea in Pacific influenced sediments and Methanomicrobia dominated in methane-containing Atlantic influenced sediments. Length heterogeneity-PCR data from this study were analyzed with data from methane-containing sediments in other regions. Pacific influenced ABS sediments clustered with Pacific sites from New Zealand and Chilean coastal margins. Atlantic influenced ABS sediments formed another distinct cluster. Density and salinity were significant structuring features on pelagic communities. Porosity co-varied with benthic community structure across sites and methane did not. This study indicates that the origin of water overlying sediments shapes benthic communities locally and globally and that hydrography exerts greater influence on microbial community structure than the availability of methane.
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  • 43
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Larval stages are considered as the weakest link when a species is exposed to challenging environmental changes1, 2. Reduced rates of growth and development in larval stages of calcifying invertebrates in response to ocean acidification might be caused by energetic limitations3. So far no information exists on how ocean acidification affects digestive processes in marine larval stages. Here we reveal alkaline (~pH 9.5) conditions in the stomach of sea urchin larvae. Larvae exposed to decreased seawater pH suffer from a drop in gastric pH, which directly translates into decreased digestive efficiencies and triggers compensatory feeding. These results suggest that larval digestion represents a critical process in the context of ocean acidification, which has been overlooked so far.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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  • 44
    Publication Date: 2014-02-11
    Description: The concentration of sulphate in today’s oceans—approximately 28,000 μmol l−1—is maintained by a balance between removal by pyrite burial and evaporite deposition and supply by oxidative weathering and the erosion of sulphate minerals from evaporites1. Oceanic sulphate concentrations were much lower before the rise of atmospheric oxygen about 2.4 Gyr ago2. The limited spread of δ34S values in sedimentary sulphides from 3.85 to 2.5 Gyr ago suggests that microbial sulphate reduction, if it played an important role in the Archaean marine sulphur cycle, must have occurred at sulphate concentrations of 200 μmol l−1 or less3. Here we use sulphur isotope systematics of the 2.7 Gyr old volcanogenic massive sulphide ore deposits from Kidd Creek, Ontario, to provide constraints on seawater sulphate concentrations independent of biological considerations. By comparing these values with metal and sulphur budgets from modern hydrothermal settings, we estimate that seawater sulphate concentrations 2.7 Gyr ago were roughly 80 μmol l−1. At these levels, the residence time of sulphate was on the order of 200,000 years, sufficiently long to make sulphate a conservative compound in the open ocean, but still short enough to suggest that hydrothermal sulphur fluxes were accompanied by a globally significant sink associated with microbial sulphate reduction.
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  • 45
    Publication Date: 2014-03-11
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  • 46
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Scientific Reports, 3 . p. 2107.
    Publication Date: 2016-11-03
    Description: The Canary Island Seamount Province forms a scattered hotspot track on the Atlantic ocean floor ,1300 km long and,350 km wide, perpendicular to lithospheric fractures, and parallel to theNWAfrican continental margin. New 40Ar/39Ar datings show that seamount ages vary from 133 Ma to 0.2 Ma in the central archipelago, and from 142 Ma to 91 Ma in the southwest. Combining 40Ar/39Ar ages with plate tectonic reconstructions, I find that the temporal and spatial distribution of seamounts is irreconcilable with a deep fixed mantle plume origin, or derivation from passive mantle upwelling beneath a mid-ocean ridge. I conclude that shallow mantle upwelling beneath the Atlantic Ocean basin off the NW African continental lithosphere flanks produced recurrent melting anomalies and seamounts from the Late Jurassic to Recent, nominating the Canary Island Seamount Province as oldest hotspot track in the Atlantic Ocean, and most long-lived preserved on earth.
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  • 47
    Publication Date: 2014-03-12
    Description: Half of the microbial cells in the Earth’s oceans are found in sediments1. Many of these cells are members of the Archaea2, single-celled prokaryotes in a domain of life separate from Bacteria and Eukaryota. However, most of these archaea lack cultured representatives, leaving their physiologies and placement on the tree of life uncertain. Here we show that the uncultured miscellaneous crenarchaeotal group (MCG) and marine benthic group-D (MBG-D) are among the most numerous archaea in the marine sub-sea floor. Single-cell genomic sequencing of one cell of MCG and three cells of MBG-D indicated that they form new branches basal to the archaeal phyla Thaumarchaeota3 and Aigarchaeota4, for MCG, and the order Thermoplasmatales, for MBG-D. All four cells encoded extracellular protein-degrading enzymes such as gingipain and clostripain that are known to be effective in environments chemically similar to marine sediments. Furthermore, we found these two types of peptidase to be abundant and active in marine sediments, indicating that uncultured archaea may have a previously undiscovered role in protein remineralization in anoxic marine sediments.
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  • 48
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Most of the marine biotic crises that occurred during the hot Mesozoic era have been linked to episodes of extreme warmth(1,2). Others, however, may have occurred during cooler intervals that interrupted Cretaceous greenhouse warmth(3-5). There are some indications of cooling in the late Aptian(6-8) (116-114 Myr ago), but it has not been definitively linked to biotic crisis. Here we assess the timing and magnitude of late Aptian cooling and its association with biotic crises using a suite of geochemical and micropalaeontological assessments from a marine sediment core from the North Atlantic Ocean as well as global biogeochemical modelling. Sea surface temperatures derived from the TEX86 proxy suggest that surface waters cooled by about 5 degrees C during the two million years, coincident with a positive delta C-13 excursion of approximately 2 parts per thousand in carbonates and organic carbon. Surface productivity was enhanced during this period, but the abundance of planktonic foraminifera and nannoconid phytoplankton declined. Our simulations with a biogeochemical model indicate that the delta C-13 excursion associated with the cooling could be explained by the burial of about 812,000 gigatons of carbon over 2.5 million years. About 50% of the this carbon burial occurred in the Atlantic, Southern and Tethys ocean basins. We conclude that global cooling during greenhouse conditions can cause perturbations to marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles at scales comparable to those associated with global warming
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  • 49
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: A substantial amount of the atmospheric carbon taken up on land through photosynthesis and chemical weathering is transported laterally along the aquatic continuum from upland terrestrial ecosystems to the ocean. So far, global carbon budget estimates have implicitly assumed that the transformation and lateral transport of carbon along this aquatic continuum has remained unchanged since pre-industrial times. A synthesis of published work reveals the magnitude of present-day lateral carbon fluxes from land to ocean, and the extent to which human activities have altered these fluxes. We show that anthropogenic perturbation may have increased the flux of carbon to inland waters by as much as 1.0 Pg C yr−1 since pre-industrial times, mainly owing to enhanced carbon export from soils. Most of this additional carbon input to upstream rivers is either emitted back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (~0.4 Pg C yr−1) or sequestered in sediments (~0.5 Pg C yr−1) along the continuum of freshwater bodies, estuaries and coastal waters, leaving only a perturbation carbon input of ~0.1 Pg C yr−1 to the open ocean. According to our analysis, terrestrial ecosystems store ~0.9 Pg C yr−1 at present, which is in agreement with results from forest inventories but significantly differs from the figure of 1.5 Pg C yr−1 previously estimated when ignoring changes in lateral carbon fluxes. We suggest that carbon fluxes along the land–ocean aquatic continuum need to be included in global carbon dioxide budgets.
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  • 50
    Publication Date: 2017-02-20
    Description: Microbial activity is a fundamental component of oceanic nutrient cycles. Photosynthetic microbes, collectively termed phytoplankton, are responsible for the vast majority of primary production in marine waters. The availability of nutrients in the upper ocean frequently limits the activity and abundance of these organisms. Experimental data have revealed two broad regimes of phytoplankton nutrient limitation in the modern upper ocean. Nitrogen availability tends to limit productivity throughout much of the surface low-latitude ocean, where the supply of nutrients from the subsurface is relatively slow. In contrast, iron often limits productivity where subsurface nutrient supply is enhanced, including within the main oceanic upwelling regions of the Southern Ocean and the eastern equatorial Pacific. Phosphorus, vitamins and micronutrients other than iron may also (co-)limit marine phytoplankton. The spatial patterns and importance of co-limitation, however, remain unclear. Variability in the stoichiometries of nutrient supply and biological demand are key determinants of oceanic nutrient limitation. Deciphering the mechanisms that underpin this variability, and the consequences for marine microbes, will be a challenge. But such knowledge will be crucial for accurately predicting the consequences of ongoing anthropogenic perturbations to oceanic nutrient biogeochemistry.
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  • 51
    Publication Date: 2017-06-20
    Description: Latimeria chalumnae, a ‘living fossil,’ is of great scientific interest, as it is closely related to the aquatic ancestors of land-living tetrapods. Latimeria show internal fertilization and bear live young, but their reproductive behaviour is poorly known. Here we present for the first time a paternity analysis of the only available material from gravid females and their offspring. We genotype two L. chalumnae females and their unborn brood for 14 microsatellite loci. We find that the embryos are closely related to each other and never show more than three different alleles per locus, providing evidence for a single father siring all of the offspring. We reconstruct the father’s genotype but cannot identify it in the population. These data suggest that coelacanths have a monogamous mating system and that individual relatedness is not important for mate choice.
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  • 52
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Geoscience, 6 (1). pp. 22-24.
    Publication Date: 2014-03-11
    Description: Sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Atlantic Ocean are subject to year-to-year variations. Reanalysis data and model simulations suggest that advection of warm water from north of the Equator can drive some of the warm events
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  • 53
    Publication Date: 2017-10-24
    Description: Mass coral bleaching, resulting from the breakdown of coral-algal symbiosis has been identified as the most severe threat to coral reef survival on a global scale. Regionally, nutrient enrichment of reef waters is often associated with a significant loss of coral cover and diversity. Recently, increased dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations have been linked to a reduction of the temperature threshold of coral bleaching, a phenomenon for which no mechanistic explanation is available. Here we show that increased levels of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in combination with limited phosphate concentrations result in an increased susceptibility of corals to temperature-and light-induced bleaching. Mass spectrometric analyses of the algal lipidome revealed a marked accumulation of sulpholipids under these conditions. Together with increased phosphatase activities, this change indicates that the imbalanced supply of dissolved inorganic nitrogen results in phosphate starvation of the symbiotic algae. Based on these findings we introduce a conceptual model that links unfavourable ratios of dissolved inorganic nutrients in the water column with established mechanisms of coral bleaching. Notably, this model improves the understanding of the detrimental effects of coastal nutrient enrichment on coral reefs, which is urgently required to support knowledge-based management strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
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  • 54
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Over much of the ocean’s surface, productivity and growth are limited by a scarcity of bioavailable nitrogen. Sedimentary δ15N records spanning the last deglaciation suggest marked shifts in the nitrogen cycle during this time, but the quantification of these changes has been hindered by the complexity of nitrogen isotope cycling. Here we present a database of δ15N in sediments throughout the world’s oceans, including 2,329 modern seafloor samples, and 76 timeseries spanning the past 30,000 years. We show that the δ15N values of modern seafloor sediments are consistent with values predicted by our knowledge of nitrogen cycling in the water column. Despite many local deglacial changes, the globally averaged δ15N values of sinking organic matter were similar during the Last Glacial Maximum and Early Holocene. Considering the global isotopic mass balance, we explain these observations with the following deglacial history of nitrogen inventory processes. During the Last Glacial Maximum, the nitrogen cycle was near steady state. During the deglaciation, denitrification in the pelagic water column accelerated. The flooding of continental shelves subsequently increased denitrification at the seafloor, and denitrification reached near steady-state conditions again in the Early Holocene. We use a recent parameterization of seafloor denitrification to estimate a 30–120% increase in benthic denitrification between 15,000 and 8,000 years ago. Based on the similarity of globally averaged δ15N values during the Last Glacial Maximum and Early Holocene, we infer that pelagic denitrification must have increased by a similar amount between the two steady states.
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  • 55
    Publication Date: 2015-08-03
    Description: During the Pleistocene glaciations, Arctic ice sheets on western Eurasia, Greenland and North America terminated at their continental margins. In contrast, the exposed continental shelves in the Beringian region of Siberia are thought to have been covered by a tundra landscape. Evidence of grounded ice on seafloor ridges and plateaux off the coast of the Beringian margin, at depths of up to 1,000 m, have generally been attributed to ice shelves or giant icebergs that spread oceanwards during glacial maxima. Here we identify marine glaciogenic landforms visible in seismic profiles and detailed bathymetric maps along the East Siberian continental margin. We interpret these features, which occur in present water depths of up to 1,200 m, as traces from grounding events of ice sheets and ice shelves. We conclude that the Siberian Shelf edge and parts of the Arctic Ocean were covered by ice sheets of about 1 km in thickness during several Pleistocene glaciations before the most recent glacial period, which must have had a significant influence on albedo and oceanic and atmospheric circulation.
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  • 56
    Publication Date: 2019-03-05
    Description: Inteins are rare, translated genetic parasites mainly found in bacteria and archaea, while spliceosomal introns are distinctly eukaryotic features abundant in most nuclear genomes. Using targeted metagenomics, we discovered an intein in an Atlantic population of the photosynthetic eukaryote, Bathycoccus, harbored by the essential spliceosomal protein PRP8 (processing factor 8 protein). Although previously thought exclusive to fungi, we also identified PRP8 inteins in parasitic (Capsaspora) and predatory (Salpingoeca) protists. Most new PRP8 inteins were at novel insertion sites that, surprisingly, were not in the most conserved regions of the gene. Evolutionarily, Dikarya fungal inteins at PRP8 insertion site a appeared more related to the Bathycoccus intein at a unique insertion site, than to other fungal and opisthokont inteins. Strikingly, independent analyses of Pacific and Atlantic samples revealed an intron at the same codon as the Bathycoccus PRP8 intein. The two elements are mutually exclusive and neither was found in cultured Bathycoccus or other picoprasinophyte genomes. Thus, wild Bathycoccus contain one of few non-fungal eukaryotic inteins known and a rare polymorphic intron. Our data indicate at least two Bathycoccus ecotypes exist, associated respectively with oceanic or mesotrophic environments. We hypothesize that intein propagation is facilitated by marine viruses; and, while intron gain is still poorly understood, presence of a spliceosomal intron where a locus lacks an intein raises the possibility of new, intein-primed mechanisms for intron gain. The discovery of nucleus-encoded inteins and associated sequence polymorphisms in uncultivated marine eukaryotes highlights their diversity and reveals potential sexual boundaries between populations indistinguishable by common marker genes. © 2013 International Society for Microbial Ecology.
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  • 57
    Publication Date: 2019-03-05
    Description: Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies are providing longer nucleotide sequence reads that contain more information about phylogenetic relationships. We sought to use this information to understand the evolution and ecology of bacterioplankton at our long-term study site in the Western Sargasso Sea. A bioinformatics pipeline called PhyloAssigner was developed to align pyrosequencing reads to a reference multiple sequence alignment of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and assign them phylogenetic positions in a reference tree using a maximum likelihood algorithm. Here, we used this pipeline to investigate the ecologically important SAR11 clade of Alphaproteobacteria. A combined set of 2.7 million pyrosequencing reads from the 16S rRNA V1-V2 regions, representing 9 years at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site, was quality checked and parsed into a comprehensive bacterial tree, yielding 929 036 Alphaproteobacteria reads. Phylogenetic structure within the SAR11 clade was linked to seasonally recurring spatiotemporal patterns. This analysis resolved four new SAR11 ecotypes in addition to five others that had been described previously at BATS. The data support a conclusion reached previously that the SAR11 clade diversified by subdivision of niche space in the ocean water column, but the new data reveal a more complex pattern in which deep branches of the clade diversified repeatedly across depth strata and seasonal regimes. The new data also revealed the presence of an unrecognized clade of Alphaproteobacteria, here named SMA-1 (Sargasso Mesopelagic Alphaproteobacteria, group 1), in the upper mesopelagic zone. The high-resolution phylogenetic analyses performed herein highlight significant, previously unknown, patterns of evolutionary diversification, within perhaps the most widely distributed heterotrophic marine bacterial clade, and strongly links to ecosystem regimes. © 2013 International Society for Microbial Ecology All rights reserved.
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  • 58
    Publication Date: 2019-03-05
    Description: Coccolithophores have influenced the global climate for over 200 million years. These marine phytoplankton can account for 20 per cent of total carbon fixation in some systems. They form blooms that can occupy hundreds of thousands of square kilometres and are distinguished by their elegantly sculpted calcium carbonate exoskeletons (coccoliths), rendering them visible from space. Although coccolithophores export carbon in the form of organic matter and calcite to the sea floor, they also release CO 2 in the calcification process. Hence, they have a complex influence on the carbon cycle, driving either CO 2 production or uptake, sequestration and export to the deep ocean. Here we report the first haptophyte reference genome, from the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi strain CCMP1516, and sequences from 13 additional isolates. Our analyses reveal a pan genome (core genes plus genes distributed variably between strains) probably supported by an atypical complement of repetitive sequence in the genome. Comparisons across strains demonstrate that E. huxleyi, which has long been considered a single species, harbours extensive genome variability reflected in different metabolic repertoires. Genome variability within this species complex seems to underpin its capacity both to thrive in habitats ranging from the equator to the subarctic and to form large-scale episodic blooms under a wide variety of environmental conditions. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
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  • 59
    Publication Date: 2019-04-30
    Description: Subduction of intraplate seamounts beneath a geochemically depleted mantle wedge provides a seldom opportunity to trace element recycling and mantle flow in subduction zones. Here we present trace element and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic compositions of lavas from the central Tonga–Kermadec arc, west of the contemporary Louisville–Tonga trench intersection, to provide new insights into the effects of Louisville seamount subduction. Elevated 206Pb/204Pb, 208Pb/204Pb, 86Sr/87Sr in lavas from the central Tonga–Kermadec arc front are consistent with localized input of subducted alkaline Louisville material (lavas and volcaniclastics) into sub-arc partial melts. Furthermore, absolute Pacific Plate motion models indicate an anticlockwise rotation in the subducted Louisville seamount chain that, combined with estimates of the timing of fluid release from the subducting slab, suggests primarily trench-normal mantle flow beneath the central Tonga–Kermadec arc system.
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  • 60
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Nearly 50 years ago Bjerknes1 suggested that the character of large-scale air–sea interaction over the mid-latitude North Atlantic Ocean differs with timescales: the atmosphere was thought to drive directly most short-term—interannual—sea surface temperature (SST) variability, and the ocean to contribute significantly to long-term—multidecadal—SST and potentially atmospheric variability. Although the conjecture for short timescales is well accepted, understanding Atlantic multidecadal variability (AMV) of SST2, 3 remains a challenge as a result of limited ocean observations. AMV is nonetheless of major socio-economic importance because it is linked to important climate phenomena such as Atlantic hurricane activity and Sahel rainfall, and it hinders the detection of anthropogenic signals in the North Atlantic sector4, 5, 6. Direct evidence of the oceanic influence of AMV can only be provided by surface heat fluxes, the language of ocean–atmosphere communication. Here we provide observational evidence that in the mid-latitude North Atlantic and on timescales longer than 10 years, surface turbulent heat fluxes are indeed driven by the ocean and may force the atmosphere, whereas on shorter timescales the converse is true, thereby confirming the Bjerknes conjecture. This result, although strongest in boreal winter, is found in all seasons. Our findings suggest that the predictability of mid-latitude North Atlantic air–sea interaction could extend beyond the ocean to the climate of surrounding continents.
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  • 61
    Publication Date: 2023-01-31
    Description: During the past decades climate and freshwater dynamics in the northwestern North Atlantic have undergone major changes. Large-scale freshening episodes, related to polar freshwater pulses, have had a strong influence on ocean variability in this climatically important region. However, little is known about variability before 1950, mainly due to the lack of long-term high-resolution marine proxy archives. Here we present the first multidecadal-length records of annually resolved Ba/Ca variations from Northwest Atlantic coralline algae. We observe positive relationships between algal Ba/Ca ratios from two Newfoundland sites and salinity observations back to 1950. Both records capture episodical multi-year freshening events during the 20th century. Variability in algal Ba/Ca is sensitive to freshwater-induced changes in upper ocean stratification, which affect the transport of cold, Ba-enriched deep waters onto the shelf (highly stratified equals less Ba/Ca). Algal Ba/Ca ratios therefore may serve as a new resource for reconstructing past surface ocean freshwater changes.
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  • 62
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Reviews Immunology, 12 (2). pp. 89-100.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-23
    Description: Vertebrates have evolved a sophisticated adaptive immune system that relies on an almost infinite diversity of antigen receptors that are clonally expressed by specialized immune cells that roam the circulatory system. These immune cells provide vertebrates with extraordinary antigen-specific immune capacity and memory, while minimizing self-reactivity. Plants, however, lack specialized mobile immune cells. Instead, every plant cell is thought to be capable of launching an effective immune response. So how do plants achieve specific, self-tolerant immunity and establish immune memory? Recent developments point towards a multilayered plant innate immune system comprised of self-surveillance, systemic signalling and chromosomal changes that together establish effective immunity.
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  • 63
    Publication Date: 2017-07-18
    Description: To survey hepatitis B virus (HBV) integration in liver cancer genomes, we conducted massively parallel sequencing of 81 HBV-positive and 7 HBV-negative hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and adjacent normal tissues. We found that HBV integration is observed more frequently in the tumors (86.4%) than in adjacent liver tissues (30.7%). Copy-number variations (CNVs) were significantly increased at HBV breakpoint locations where chromosomal instability was likely induced. Approximately 40% of HBV breakpoints within the HBV genome were located within a 1,800-bp region where the viral enhancer, X gene and core gene are located. We also identified recurrent HBV integration events (in ≥4 HCCs) that were validated by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and Sanger sequencing at the known and putative cancer-related TERT, MLL4 and CCNE1 genes, which showed upregulated gene expression in tumor versus normal tissue. We also report evidence that suggests that the number of HBV integrations is associated with patient survival.
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  • 64
    Publication Date: 2020-06-25
    Description: To the Editor: Mass spectrometry–based proteomics has become an important component of biological research. Numerous proteomics methods have been developed to identify and quantify the proteins in biological and clinical samples1, identify pathways affected by endogenous and exogenous perturbations2 and characterize protein complexes3. Despite successes, the interpretation of vast proteomics data…
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  • 65
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  The ISME Journal, 6 (8). pp. 1526-1534.
    Publication Date: 2016-04-29
    Description: The microenvironmental dynamics of the microbial mat of black band disease (BBD) and its less virulent precursor, cyanobacterial patch (CP), were extensively profiled using microsensors under different light intensities with respect to O(2), pH and H(2)S. BBD mats exhibited vertical stratification into an upper phototrophic and lower anoxic and sulphidic zone. At the progression front of BBD lesions, high sulphide levels up to 4977 μM were measured in darkness along with lower than ambient levels of pH (7.43±0.20). At the base of the coral-BBD microbial mat, conditions were hypoxic or anoxic depending on light intensity exposure. In contrast, CP mats did not exhibit strong microchemical stratification with mostly supersaturated oxygen conditions throughout the mats at all light intensities and with levels of pH generally higher than in BBD. Two of three replicate CP mats were devoid of sulphide, while the third replicate showed only low levels of sulphide (up to 42 μM) present in darkness and at intermediate light levels. The level of oxygenation and sulphide correlated well with lesion migration rates, that is virulence of the mats, which were greater in BBD than in CP. The results suggest that biogeochemical microgradients of BBD shaped by the complex microbial community, rather than a defined pathogen, are the major trigger for high virulence and the associated derived coral mortality of this disease.
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  • 66
    Publication Date: 2016-05-25
    Description: Marine sponges are well known for their associations with highly diverse, yet very specific and often highly similar microbiota. The aim of this study was to identify potential bacterial sub-populations in relation to sponge phylogeny and sampling sites and to define the core bacterial community. 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing was applied to 32 sponge species from eight locations around the world's oceans, thereby generating 2567 operational taxonomic units (OTUs at the 97% sequence similarity level) in total and up to 364 different OTUs per sponge species. The taxonomic richness detected in this study comprised 25 bacterial phyla with Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi and Poribacteria being most diverse in sponges. Among these phyla were nine candidate phyla, six of them found for the first time in sponges. Similarity comparison of bacterial communities revealed no correlation with host phylogeny but a tropical sub-population in that tropical sponges have more similar bacterial communities to each other than to subtropical sponges. A minimal core bacterial community consisting of very few OTUs (97%, 95% and 90%) was found. These microbes have a global distribution and are probably acquired via environmental transmission. In contrast, a large species-specific bacterial community was detected, which is represented by OTUs present in only a single sponge species. The species-specific bacterial community is probably mainly vertically transmitted. It is proposed that different sponges contain different bacterial species, however, these bacteria are still closely related to each other explaining the observed similarity of bacterial communities in sponges in this and previous studies. This global analysis represents the most comprehensive study of bacterial symbionts in sponges to date and provides novel insights into the complex structure of these unique associations.
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  • 67
    Publication Date: 2015-09-28
    Description: Abyssal temperature and velocity observations performed within the framework of the Neutrino Mediterranean Observatory, a project devoted to constructing a km3-scale underwater telescope for the detection of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, demonstrate cross-fertilization between subnuclear physics and experimental oceanography. Here we use data collected south of Sicily in the Ionian abyssal plain of the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) basin to show for the first time that abyssal vortices exist in the EM, at depths exceeding 2,500 m. The eddies consist of chains of near-inertially pulsating mesoscale cyclones/anticyclones. They are embedded in an abyssal current flowing towards North-Northwest. The paucity of existing data does not allow for an unambiguous determination of the vortex origin. A local generation mechanism seems probable, but a remote genesis cannot be excluded a priori. The presence of such eddies adds further complexity to the discussion of structure and evolution of water masses in the EM.
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  • 68
    Publication Date: 2015-06-24
    Description: The Messina Strait, that separates peninsular Italy from Sicily, is one of the most seismically active areas of the Mediterranean. The structure and seismotectonic setting of the region are poorly understood, although the area is highly populated and important infrastructures are planned there. New seismic reflection data have identified a number of faults, as well as a crustal scale NE-trending anticline few km north of the strait. These features are interpreted as due to active right-lateral transpression along the north-eastern Sicilian offshore, coexisting with extensional and right-lateral transtensional tectonics in the southern Messina Strait. This complex tectonic network appears to be controlled by independent and overlapping tectonic settings, due to the presence of a diffuse transfer zone between the SE-ward retreating Calabria subduction zone relative to slab advance in the western Sicilian side.
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  • 69
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Reviews Microbiology, 10 (9). pp. 641-654.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-23
    Description: Marine sponges (phylum Porifera) often contain dense and diverse microbial communities, which can constitute up to 35% of the sponge biomass. The genome of one sponge, Amphimedon queenslandica, was recently sequenced, and this has provided new insights into the origins of animal evolution. Complementary efforts to sequence the genomes of uncultivated sponge symbionts have yielded the first glimpse of how these intimate partnerships are formed. The remarkable microbial and chemical diversity of the sponge–microorganism association, coupled with its postulated antiquity, makes sponges important model systems for the study of metazoan host–microorganism interactions, and their evolution, as well as for enabling access to biotechnologically important symbiont-derived natural products. In this Review, we discuss our current understanding of the interactions between marine sponges and their microbial symbiotic consortia, and highlight recent insights into these relationships from genomic studies.
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  • 70
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Fertilization of the ocean by adding iron compounds has induced diatom-dominated phytoplankton blooms accompanied by considerable carbon dioxide drawdown in the ocean surface layer. However, because the fate of bloom biomass could not be adequately resolved in these experiments, the timescales of carbon sequestration from the atmosphere are uncertain. Here we report the results of a five-week experiment carried out in the closed core of a vertically coherent, mesoscale eddy of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, during which we tracked sinking particles from the surface to the deep-sea floor. A large diatom bloom peaked in the fourth week after fertilization. This was followed by mass mortality of several diatom species that formed rapidly sinking, mucilaginous aggregates of entangled cells and chains. Taken together, multiple lines of evidence—although each with important uncertainties—lead us to conclude that at least half the bloom biomass sank far below a depth of 1,000 metres and that a substantial portion is likely to have reached the sea floor. Thus, iron-fertilized diatom blooms may sequester carbon for timescales of centuries in ocean bottom water and for longer in the sediments.
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  • 71
    Publication Date: 2017-02-20
    Description: Most of Earth’s volcanoes are under water. As a result of their relative inaccessibility, little is known of the structure and evolution of submarine volcanoes. Advances in navigation and sonar imaging techniques have made it possible to map submarine volcanoes in detail, and repeat surveys allow the identification of regions where the depth of the sea floor is actively changing. Here we report the results of a bathymetric survey of Monowai submarine volcano in the Tonga–Kermadec Arc, which we mapped twice within 14 days. We found marked differences in bathymetry between the two surveys, including an increase in seafloor depth up to 18.8 m and a decrease in depth up to 71.9 m. We attribute the depth increase to collapse of the volcano summit region and the decrease to growth of new lava cones and debris flows. Hydroacoustic T-wave data reveal a 5-day-long swarm of seismic events with unusually high amplitude between the surveys, which directly link the depth changes to explosive activity at the volcano. The collapse and growth rates implied by our data are extremely high, compared with measured long-term growth rates of the volcano, demonstrating the pulsating nature of submarine volcanism and highlighting the dynamic nature of the sea floor.
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  • 72
    Publication Date: 2017-02-20
    Description: Hotspots that form above upwelling plumes of hot material from the deep mantle typically leave narrow trails of volcanic seamounts as a tectonic plate moves over their location. These seamount trails are excellent recorders of Earth’s deep processes and allow us to untangle ancient mantle plume motions. During ascent it is likely that mantle plumes are pushed away from their vertical upwelling trajectories by mantle convection forces. It has been proposed that a large-scale lateral displacement, termed the mantle wind, existed in the Pacific between about 80 and 50 million years ago, and shifted the Hawaiian mantle plume southwards by about 15◦ of latitude. Here we use 40Ar/39Ar age dating and palaeomagnetic inclination data from four seamounts associated with the Louisville hotspot in the South Pacific Ocean to show that this hotspot has been relatively stable in terms of its location. Specifically, the Louisville hotspot—the southern hemisphere counterpart of Hawai’i—has remained within 3–5◦ of its present-day latitude of about 51◦ S between 70 and 50 million years ago. Although we cannot exclude a more significant southward motion before that time, we suggest that the Louisville and Hawaiian hotspots are moving independently, and not as part of a large-scale mantle wind in the Pacific.
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  • 73
    Publication Date: 2017-03-09
    Description: Biological dinitrogen fixation provides the largest input of nitrogen to the oceans, therefore exerting important control on the ocean’s nitrogen inventory and primary productivity. Nitrogen-isotope data fromocean sediments suggest that the marine-nitrogen inventory has been balanced for the past 3,000 years (ref. 4). Producing a balanced marine-nitrogenbudget based on direct measurements has proved difficult, however, with nitrogen loss exceeding the gain from dinitrogen fixation by approximately 200 TgNyr-1 (refs 5, 6). Here we present data from the Atlantic Ocean and show that the most widely used method of measuring oceanic N2-fixation rates underestimates the contribution of N2-fixing microorganisms (diazotrophs) relative to a newly developed method. Using molecular techniques to quantify the abundance of specific clades of diazotrophs in parallel with rates of 15N2 incorporation into particulate organic matter, we suggest that the difference between N2-fixation rates measured with the established method and those measured with the new method8 can be related to the composition of the diazotrophic community. Our data show that in areas dominated by Trichodesmium, the established method underestimatesN2-fixation rates by an averageof 62%. We also find that the newly developed method yields N2-fixation rates more than six times higher than those from the established method when unicellular, symbiotic cyanobacteria and c-proteobacteria dominate the diazotrophic community. On the basis of average areal rates measured over the Atlantic Ocean, we calculated basin-wide N2-fixation rates of 14+/-1TgNyr-1 and 24+/-1TgNyr-1 for the established and new methods, respectively. If our findings can be extrapolated to other ocean basins, this suggests that the global marine N2-fixation rate derived from direct measurements may increase from 103+/-8TgNyr-1 to 177+/-8TgNyr-1, and that the contribution of N2 fixers other than Trichodesmium is much more significant than was previously thought.
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  • 74
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Carbon dioxide and light are two major prerequisites of photosynthesis. Rising CO2 levels in oceanic surface waters in combination with ample light supply are therefore often considered stimulatory to marine primary production(1-3). Here we show that the combination of an increase in both CO2 and light exposure negatively impacts photosynthesis and growth of marine primary producers. When exposed to CO2 concentrations projected for the end of this century(4), natural phytoplankton assemblages of the South China Sea responded with decreased primary production and increased light stress at light intensities representative of the upper surface layer. The phytoplankton community shifted away from diatoms, the dominant phytoplankton group during our field campaigns. To examine the underlying mechanisms of the observed responses, we grew diatoms at different CO2 concentrations and under varying levels (5-100%) of solar radiation experienced by the phytoplankton at different depths of the euphotic zone. Above 22-36% of incident surface irradiance, growth rates in the high-CO2-grown cells were inversely related to light levels and exhibited reduced thresholds at which light becomes inhibitory. Future shoaling of upper-mixed-layer depths will expose phytoplankton to increased mean light intensities(5). In combination with rising CO2 levels, this may cause a widespread decline in marine primary production and a community shift away from diatoms, the main algal group that supports higher trophic levels and carbon export in the ocean.
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  • 75
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Climate Change, 2 (5). pp. 315-316.
    Publication Date: 2017-02-24
    Description: The twenty-first century was marked by a number of extreme weather events over northern continents. Amplified warming in the Arctic region and associated changes in atmospheric dynamics may provide a clue for understanding the origin of these recent extremes.
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  • 76
    Publication Date: 2017-03-01
    Description: Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and climate are regulated on geological timescales by the balance between carbon input from volcanic and metamorphic outgassing and its removal by weathering feedbacks; these feedbacks involve the erosion of silicate rocks and organic-carbon-bearing rocks. The integrated effect of these processes is reflected in the calcium carbonate compensation depth, which is the oceanic depth at which calcium carbonate is dissolved. Here we present a carbonate accumulation record that covers the past 53 million years from a depth transect in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The carbonate compensation depth tracks long-term ocean cooling, deepening from 3.0-3.5 kilometres during the early Cenozoic (approximately 55 million years ago) to 4.6 kilometres at present, consistent with an overall Cenozoic increase in weathering. We find large superimposed fluctuations in carbonate compensation depth during the middle and late Eocene. Using Earth system models, we identify changes in weathering and the mode of organic-carbon delivery as two key processes to explain these large-scale Eocene fluctuations of the carbonate compensation depth.
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  • 77
    Publication Date: 2017-02-23
    Description: The early last glacial termination was characterized by intense North Atlantic cooling and weak overturning circulation. This interval between ~18,000 and 14,600 years ago, known as Heinrich Stadial 1, was accompanied by a disruption of global climate and has been suggested as a key factor for the termination. However, the response of interannual climate variability in the tropical Pacific (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) to Heinrich Stadial 1 is poorly understood. Here we use Sr/Ca in a fossil Tahiti coral to reconstruct tropical South Pacific sea surface temperature around 15,000 years ago at monthly resolution. Unlike today, interannual South Pacific sea surface temperature variability at typical El Niño-Southern Oscillation periods was pronounced at Tahiti. Our results indicate that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation was active during Heinrich Stadial 1, consistent with climate model simulations of enhanced El Niño-Southern Oscillation variability at that time. Furthermore, a greater El Niño-Southern Oscillation influence in the South Pacific during Heinrich Stadial 1 is suggested, resulting from a southward expansion or shift of El Niño-Southern Oscillation sea surface temperature anomalies.
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  • 78
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Large changes in solar ultraviolet radiation can indirectly affect climate1 by inducing atmospheric changes. Specifically, it has been suggested that centennial-scale climate variability during the Holocene epoch was controlled by the Sun2, 3. However, the amplitude of solar forcing is small when compared with the climatic effects and, without reliable data sets, it is unclear which feedback mechanisms could have amplified the forcing. Here we analyse annually laminated sediments of Lake Meerfelder Maar, Germany, to derive variations in wind strength and the rate of 10Be accumulation, a proxy for solar activity, from 3,300 to 2,000 years before present. We find a sharp increase in windiness and cosmogenic 10Be deposition 2,759  ±  39 varve years before present and a reduction in both entities 199  ±  9 annual layers later. We infer that the atmospheric circulation reacted abruptly and in phase with the solar minimum. A shift in atmospheric circulation in response to changes in solar activity is broadly consistent with atmospheric circulation patterns in long-term climate model simulations, and in reanalysis data that assimilate observations from recent solar minima into a climate model. We conclude that changes in atmospheric circulation amplified the solar signal and caused abrupt climate change about 2,800 years ago, coincident with a grand solar minimum.
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  • 79
    Publication Date: 2017-05-23
    Description: In the Arctic Ocean, the cold and relatively fresh water beneath the sea ice is separated from the underlying warmer and saltier Atlantic Layer by a halocline. Ongoing sea ice loss and warming in the Arctic Ocean1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 have demonstrated the instability of the halocline, with implications for further sea ice loss. The stability of the halocline through past climate variations8, 9, 10 is unclear. Here we estimate intermediate water temperatures over the past 50,000 years from the Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca values of ostracods from 31 Arctic sediment cores. From about 50 to 11 kyr ago, the central Arctic Basin from 1,000 to 2,500 m was occupied by a water mass we call Glacial Arctic Intermediate Water. This water mass was 1–2 °C warmer than modern Arctic Intermediate Water, with temperatures peaking during or just before millennial-scale Heinrich cold events and the Younger Dryas cold interval. We use numerical modelling to show that the intermediate depth warming could result from the expected decrease in the flux of fresh water to the Arctic Ocean during glacial conditions, which would cause the halocline to deepen and push the warm Atlantic Layer into intermediate depths. Although not modelled, the reduced formation of cold, deep waters due to the exposure of the Arctic continental shelf could also contribute to the intermediate depth warming.
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  • 80
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Geoscience, 5 (5). pp. 342-345.
    Publication Date: 2017-02-20
    Description: No large tsunamigenic earthquake has occurred in north Chile since 1877 and the region has been largely recognized as a mature seismic gap1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. At the southern end of the seismic gap, the 2007 Mw 7.7 Tocopilla earthquake ruptured the deeper seismogenic interface, whereas the coupled upper interface remained unbroken4, 6, 7. Seismological studies onshore show a gently varying dip of 20° to 30° of the downgoing Nazca plate3, 6, which extends from the trench down to depths of 40–50 km. Here, we study the lithospheric structure of the subduction zone of north Chile at about 22° S, using wide-angle seismic refraction and reflection data from land and sea, complemented by hypocentre data recorded during the 2007 Tocopilla aftershocks7. Our data document an abrupt increase in the dip of the subducting plate, from less than 10° to about 22°, at a depth of approximately 20 km. The distribution of the 2007 aftershocks indicates that the change in dip acted as a barrier for the propagation of the 2007 earthquake towards the trench, which, in turn, indicates that the subduction megathrust is not only segmented along the trench, but also in the direction of the dip. We propose that large-magnitude tsunamigenic earthquakes must cross the barrier and rupture the entire seismogenic zone.
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  • 81
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Ocean acidification, caused by increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 (refs 1, 2, 3), is one of the most critical anthropogenicthreats to marine life. Changes in seawater carbonate chemistry have the potential to disturb calcification, acid–base regulation, blood circulation and respiration, as well as the nervous system of marine organisms, leading to long-term effects such as reduced growth rates and reproduction4, 5. In teleost fishes, early life-history stages are particularly vulnerable as they lack specialized internal pH regulatory mechanisms6, 7. So far, impacts of relevant CO2 concentrations on larval fish have been found in behaviour8, 9 and otolith size10, 11, mainly in tropical, non-commercial species. Here we show detrimental effects of ocean acidification on the development of a mass-spawning fish species of high commercial importance. We reared Atlantic cod larvae at three levels of CO2, (1) present day, (2) end of next century and (3) an extreme, coastal upwelling scenario, in a long-term ( months) mesocosm experiment. Exposure to CO2 resulted in severe to lethal tissue damage in many internal organs, with the degree of damage increasing with CO2 concentration. As larval survival is the bottleneck to recruitment, ocean acidification has the potential to act as an additional source of natural mortality, affecting populations of already exploited fish stocks.
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  • 82
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Subtropical western boundary currents are warm, fast-flowing currents that form on the western side of ocean basins. They carry warm tropical water to the mid-latitudes and vent large amounts of heat and moisture to the atmosphere along their paths, affecting atmospheric jet streams and mid-latitude storms, as well as ocean carbon uptake1, 2, 3, 4. The possibility that these highly energetic currents might change under greenhouse-gas forcing has raised significant concerns5, 6, 7, but detecting such changes is challenging owing to limited observations. Here, using reconstructed sea surface temperature datasets and century-long ocean and atmosphere reanalysis products, we find that the post-1900 surface ocean warming rate over the path of these currents is two to three times faster than the global mean surface ocean warming rate. The accelerated warming is associated with a synchronous poleward shift and/or intensification of global subtropical western boundary currents in conjunction with a systematic change in winds over both hemispheres. This enhanced warming may reduce the ability of the oceans to absorb anthropogenic carbon dioxide over these regions. However, uncertainties in detection and attribution of these warming trends remain, pointing to a need for a long-term monitoring network of the global western boundary currents and their extensions.
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  • 83
    Publication Date: 2014-01-13
    Description: The genes of the major histocompatibility complex are the most polymorphic genes in vertebrates, with more than 1,000 alleles described in human populations. How this polymorphism is maintained, however, remains an evolutionary puzzle. Major histocompatibility complex genes have a crucial function in the adaptive immune system by presenting parasite-derived antigens to T lymphocytes. Because of this function, varying parasite-mediated selection has been proposed as a major evolutionary force for maintaining major histocompatibility complex polymorphism. A necessary prerequisite of such a balancing selection process is rapid major histocompatibility complex allele frequency shifts resulting from emerging selection by a specific parasite. Here we show in six experimental populations of sticklebacks, each exposed to one of two different parasites, that only those major histocompatibility complex alleles providing resistance to the respective specific parasite increased in frequency in the next host generation. This result demonstrates experimentally that varying parasite selection causes rapid adaptive evolutionary changes, thus facilitating the maintenance of major histocompatibility complex polymorphism.
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  • 84
    Publication Date: 2019-08-28
    Description: The timing of onset of modern-style plate tectonics is debated. The apparent lack of blueschist metamorphism--a key indicator of modern plate subduction--in rocks aged more than about 1 billion years calls into question the existence of plate tectonics during the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic eras. Instead, plate tectonics and subduction could have either not occurred at that time, or could have proceeded differently owing to warmer conditions in the early Earth mantle. Here we use thermodynamic models to investigate the formation conditions of metamorphic minerals in the 2.2-2.0Gyr old West African metamorphic province. We find a record of blueschist metamorphism in these rocks. We show that minerals such as chlorite and phengite formed at high pressures of 10-12 kbar, low temperatures of 400-450°C and under a geothermal gradient of 10-12°Ckm-1. These conditions are typical of modern subduction zones. We therefore suggest that modern-style plate tectonics existed during the Palaeoproterozoic era. We conclude that ancient blueschist metamorphism may exist in other parts of the world, but the identification of these rocks has so far been hampered by methodological problems associated with deciphering their pressure and temperature evolution.
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  • 85
    Publication Date: 2019-03-05
    Description: Cryptophyte and chlorarachniophyte algae are transitional forms in the widespread secondary endosymbiotic acquisition of photosynthesis by engulfment of eukaryotic algae. Unlike most secondary plastid-bearing algae, miniaturized versions of the endosymbiont nuclei (nucleomorphs) persist in cryptophytes and chlorarachniophytes. To determine why, and to address other fundamental questions about eukaryote–eukaryote endosymbiosis, we sequenced the nuclear genomes of the cryptophyte Guillardia theta and the chlorarachniophyte Bigelowiella natans. Both genomes have 〈21, 000 protein genes and are intron rich, and B. natans exhibits unprecedented alternative splicing for a single-celled organism. Phylogenomic analyses and subcellular targeting predictions reveal extensive genetic and biochemical mosaicism, with both host- and endosymbiont-derived genes servicing the mitochondrion, the host cell cytosol, the plastid and the remnant endosymbiont cytosol of both algae. Mitochondrion-to-nucleus gene transfer still occurs in both organisms but plastid-to-nucleus and nucleomorph-to-nucleus transfers do not, which explains why a small residue of essential genes remains locked in each nucleomorph. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
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  • 86
    Publication Date: 2019-03-05
    Description: Phytoplankton species vary in their physiological properties, and are expected to respond differently to seasonal changes in water column conditions. To assess these varying distribution patterns, we used 412 samples collected monthly over 12 years (1991-2004) at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study site, located in the northwestern Sargasso Sea. We measured plastid 16S ribosomal RNA gene abundances with a terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism approach and identified distribution patterns for members of the Prymnesiophyceae, Pelagophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Cryptophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Prasinophyceae. The analysis revealed dynamic bloom patterns by these phytoplankton taxa that begin early in the year, when the mixed layer is deep. Previously, unreported open-ocean prasinophyte blooms dominated the plastid gene signal during convective mixing events. Quantitative PCR confirmed the blooms and transitions of Bathycoccus, Micromonas and Ostreococcus populations. In contrast, taxa belonging to the pelagophytes and chrysophytes, as well as cryptophytes, reached annual peaks during mixed layer shoaling, while Bacillariophyceae (diatoms) were observed only episodically in the 12-year record. Prymnesiophytes dominated the integrated plastid gene signal. They were abundant throughout the water column before mixing events, but persisted in the deep chlorophyll maximum during stratified conditions. Various models have been used to describe mechanisms that drive vernal phytoplankton blooms in temperate seas. The range of taxon-specific bloom patterns observed here indicates that different spring bloom models can aptly describe the behavior of different phytoplankton taxa at a single geographical location. These findings provide insight into the subdivision of niche space by phytoplankton and may lead to improved predictions of phytoplankton responses to changes in ocean conditions. © 2012 International Society for Microbial Ecology All rights reserved.
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  • 87
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Climate model predictions1, 2 and observations3, 4 reveal regional declines in oceanic dissolved oxygen, which are probably influenced by global warming5. Studies indicate ongoing dissolved oxygen depletion and vertical expansion of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) in the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean6, 7. OMZ shoaling may restrict the usable habitat of billfishes and tunas to a narrow surface layer8, 9. We report a decrease in the upper ocean layer exceeding 3.5 ml l−1 dissolved oxygen at a rate of ≤1 m yr−1 in the tropical northeast Atlantic (0–25° N, 12–30° W), amounting to an annual habitat loss of ~5.95×1013 m3, or 15% for the period 1960–2010. Habitat compression and associated potential habitat loss was validated using electronic tagging data from 47 blue marlin. This phenomenon increases vulnerability to surface fishing gear for billfishes and tunas8, 9, and may be associated with a 10–50% worldwide decline of pelagic predator diversity10. Further expansion of the Atlantic OMZ along with overfishing may threaten the sustainability of these valuable pelagic fisheries and marine ecosystems.
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  • 88
    Publication Date: 2023-11-08
    Description: Ocean acidification, the drop in seawater pH associated with the ongoing enrichment of marine waters with carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning, may seriously impair marine calcifying organisms. Our present understanding of the sensitivity of marine life to ocean acidification is based primarily on short-term experiments, in which organisms are exposed to increased concentrations of CO2. However, phytoplankton species with short generation times, in particular, may be able to respond to environmental alterations through adaptive evolution. Here, we examine the ability of the world’s single most important calcifying organism, the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi, to evolve in response to ocean acidification in two 500-generation selection experiments. Specifically, we exposed E. huxleyi populations founded by single or multiple clones to increased concentrations of CO2. Around 500 asexual generations later we assessed their fitness. Compared with populations kept at ambient CO2 partial pressure, those selected at increased partial pressure exhibited higher growth rates, in both the single- and multiclone experiment, when tested under ocean acidification conditions. Calcification was partly restored: rates were lower under increased CO2 conditions in all cultures, but were up to 50% higher in adapted compared with non-adapted cultures. We suggest that contemporary evolution could help to maintain the functionality of microbial processes at the base of marine food webs in the face of global change.
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  • 89
    Publication Date: 2017-03-27
    Description: An influence of solar irradiance variations on Earth’s surface climate has been repeatedly suggested, based on correlations between solar variability and meteorological variables1. Specifically, weaker westerly winds have been observed in winters with a less active sun, for example at the minimum phase of the 11-year sunspot cycle2, 3, 4. With some possible exceptions5, 6, it has proved difficult for climate models to consistently reproduce this signal7, 8. Spectral Irradiance Monitor satellite measurements indicate that variations in solar ultraviolet irradiance may be larger than previously thought9. Here we drive an ocean–atmosphere climate model with ultraviolet irradiance variations based on these observations. We find that the model responds to the solar minimum with patterns in surface pressure and temperature that resemble the negative phase of the North Atlantic or Arctic Oscillation, of similar magnitude to observations. In our model, the anomalies descend through the depth of the extratropical winter atmosphere. If the updated measurements of solar ultraviolet irradiance are correct, low solar activity, as observed during recent years, drives cold winters in northern Europe and the United States, and mild winters over southern Europe and Canada, with little direct change in globally averaged temperature. Given the quasiregularity of the 11-year solar cycle, our findings may help improve decadal climate predictions for highly populated extratropical regions
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  • 90
    Publication Date: 2017-06-20
    Description: The anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) with sulphate, an area currently generating great interest in microbiology, is accomplished by consortia of methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulphate-reducing bacteria1, 2. The enzyme activating methane in methanotrophic archaea has tentatively been identified as a homologue of methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) that catalyses the methane-forming step in methanogenic archaea3, 4. Here we report an X-ray structure of the 280 kDa heterohexameric ANME-1 MCR complex. It was crystallized uniquely from a protein ensemble purified from consortia of microorganisms collected with a submersible from a Black Sea mat catalysing AOM with sulphate4. Crystals grown from the heterogeneous sample diffract to 2.1 Å resolution and consist of a single ANME-1 MCR population, demonstrating the strong selective power of crystallization. The structure revealed ANME-1 MCR in complex with coenzyme M and coenzyme B, indicating the same substrates for MCR from methanotrophic and methanogenic archaea. Differences between the highly similar structures of ANME-1 MCR and methanogenic MCR include a F430 modification, a cysteine-rich patch and an altered post-translational amino acid modification pattern, which may tune the enzymes for their functions in different biological contexts.
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  • 91
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Reviews Microbiology, 9 (7). pp. 499-508.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-23
    Description: Biological N2 fixation is an important part of the marine nitrogen cycle as it provides a source of new nitrogen that can support biological carbon export and sequestration. Research in the past decade has focused on determining the patterns of distribution and abundance of diazotrophs, defining the environmental features leading to these patterns and characterizing the factors that constrain marine N2 fixation overall. In this Review, we describe how variations in the deposition of iron from dust to different ocean basins affects the limiting nutrient for N2 fixation and the distribution of different diazotrophic species. However, many questions remain about marine N2 fixation, including the role of temperature, fixed nitrogen species, CO2 and physical forcing in controlling N2 fixation, as well as the potential for heterotrophic N2 fixation.
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  • 92
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Geoscience, 4 (6). pp. 398-403.
    Publication Date: 2017-05-11
    Description: The Pacific sector of Antarctica, including both the Antarctic Peninsula and continental West Antarctica, has experienced substantial warming in the past 30 years. An increase in the circumpolar westerlies, owing in part to the decline in stratospheric ozone concentrations since the late 1970s, may account for warming trends in the peninsula region in austral summer and autumn. The more widespread warming in continental West Antarctica (Ellsworth Land and Marie Byrd Land) occurs primarily in austral winter and spring, and remains unexplained. Here we use observations of Antarctic surface temperature and global sea surface temperature, and atmospheric circulation data to show that recent warming in continental West Antarctica is linked to sea surface temperature changes in the tropical Pacific. Over the past 30 years, anomalous sea surface temperatures in the central tropical Pacific have generated an atmospheric Rossby wave response that influences atmospheric circulation over the Amundsen Sea, causing increased advection of warm air to the Antarctic continent. General circulation model experiments show that the central tropical Pacific is a critical region for producing the observed high latitude response. We conclude that, by affecting the atmospheric circulation at high southern latitudes, increasing tropical sea surface temperatures may account for West Antarctic warming through most of the twentieth century.
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  • 93
    Publication Date: 2017-06-16
    Description: Climate warming at the end of the last glaciation caused ice caps on Icelandic volcanoes to retreat. Removal of surface ice load is thought to have decreased pressures in the underlying mantle, triggering decompression melting, enhanced magma generation and increased volcanic activity1–3. Present-day climate change could have the same effect, although there may be a time lag of hundreds of years between magma generation and eruption4,5. However, in addition to increased magma generation, pressure changes associated with ice retreat should also alter the capacity for storing magma within the crust. Here we use a numerical model to evaluate the effect of the current decrease in ice load on magma storage in the crust at the Kverkfjöll volcanic system, located partially beneath Iceland’s largest ice cap. We compare the model results with radar and global positioning system measurements of surface displacement and changes in crustal stress between 2007 and 2008, during the intrusion of a deep dyke at Upptyppingar. We find that although the main component of stress recorded during dyke intrusion relates to plate extension, another component of stress is consistent with the stress field caused by the retreating ice cap. We conclude that the retreating ice cap led to enhanced capture of magma within the crust. We suggest that ice-cap retreat can promote magma storage, rather than eruption, at least in the short term.
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  • 94
    Publication Date: 2018-01-05
    Description: There have been decades, such as 2000–2009, when the observed globally averaged surface-temperature time series shows little increase or even a slightly negative trend1 (a hiatus period). However, the observed energy imbalance at the top-of-atmosphere for this recent decade indicates that a net energy flux into the climate system of about 1 W m−2 (refs 2, 3) should be producing warming somewhere in the system4,5. Here we analyse twenty-first-century climate-model simulations that maintain a consistent radiative imbalance at the top-of-atmosphere of about 1 W m−2 as observed for the past decade. Eight decades with a slightly negative global mean surface-temperature trend show that the ocean above 300 m takes up significantly less heat whereas the ocean below 300 m takes up significantly more, compared with non-hiatus decades. The model provides a plausible depiction of processes in the climate system causing the hiatus periods, and indicates that a hiatus period is a relatively common climate phenomenon and may be linked to La Niña-like conditions.
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  • 95
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature Immunology, 12 (1). pp. 5-9.
    Publication Date: 2020-06-25
    Description: The fields of immunology, microbiology, nutrition and metabolism are rapidly converging. Here we expand on a diet-microbiota model as the basis for the greater incidence of asthma and autoimmunity in developed countries.
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  • 96
    Publication Date: 2016-04-27
    Description: Hydrothermal vents emit sulphur and metals to the ocean1. Particular attention has been paid to hydrothermal fluxes of iron2–4, a limiting micronutrient of marine primary production5. Vent-derived ironwas previously thought to rapidly oxidize and precipitate around vents6. However, organic matter can bind to and stabilize dissolved and particulate iron in hydrothermal plumes7–9, facilitating its dispersion into the open ocean10. Here, we report measurements of the chemical speciation of sulphide and iron in high-temperature fluids emanating from vents in the East Pacific Rise and the Eastern Lau Spreading Center. We show that pyrite nanoparticles—composed of iron and sulphur—account for up to 10% of the filterable iron (less than 200nm in size) in these fluids. We suggest that these particles form before the discharge of the vent fluid. We estimate that pyrite nanoparticles sink more slowly than larger plume particles, and are more resistant to oxidation than dissolved Fe(II) and FeS.We suggest that the discharge of iron in the form of pyrite nanoparticles increases the probability that vent-derived iron will be transported over long distances in the deep ocean.
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  • 97
    Publication Date: 2015-07-03
    Description: In this study, we present a single-cell genomics approach for the functional characterization of the candidate phylum Poribacteria, members of which are nearly exclusively found in marine sponges. The microbial consortia of the Mediterranean sponge Aplysina aerophoba were singularized by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and individual microbial cells were subjected to phi29 polymerase-mediated 'whole-genome amplification'. Pyrosequencing of a single amplified genome (SAG) derived from a member of the Poribacteria resulted in nearly 1.6 Mb of genomic information distributed among 554 contigs analyzed in this study. Approximately two-third of the poribacterial genome was sequenced. Our findings shed light on the functional properties and lifestyle of a possibly ancient bacterial symbiont of marine sponges. The Poribacteria are mixotrophic bacteria with autotrophic CO(2)-fixation capacities through the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway. The cell wall is of Gram-negative origin. The Poribacteria produce at least two polyketide synthases (PKSs), one of which is the sponge-specific Sup-type PKS. Several putative symbiosis factors such as adhesins (bacterial Ig-like domains, lamininin G domain proteins), adhesin-related proteins (ankyrin, fibronectin type III) and tetratrico peptide repeat domain-encoding proteins were identified, which might be involved in mediating sponge-microbe interactions. The discovery of genes coding for 24-isopropyl steroids implies that certain fossil biomarkers used to date the origins of metazoan life on earth may possibly be of poribacterial origin. Single-cell genomic approaches, such as those shown herein, contribute to a better understanding of beneficial microbial consortia, of which most members are, because of the lack of cultivation, inaccessible by conventional techniques.
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  • 98
    Publication Date: 2016-05-25
    Description: Salinity is a major factor controlling the distribution of biota in aquatic systems, and most aquatic multicellular organisms are either adapted to life in saltwater or freshwater conditions. Consequently, the saltwater–freshwater mixing zones in coastal or estuarine areas are characterized by limited faunal and floral diversity. Although changes in diversity and decline in species richness in brackish waters is well documented in aquatic ecology, it is unknown to what extent this applies to bacterial communities. Here, we report a first detailed bacterial inventory from vertical profiles of 60 sampling stations distributed along the salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea, one of world's largest brackish water environments, generated using 454 pyrosequencing of partial (400 bp) 16S rRNA genes. Within the salinity gradient, bacterial community composition altered at broad and finer-scale phylogenetic levels. Analogous to faunal communities within brackish conditions, we identified a bacterial brackish water community comprising a diverse combination of freshwater and marine groups, along with populations unique to this environment. As water residence times in the Baltic Sea exceed 3 years, the observed bacterial community cannot be the result of mixing of fresh water and saltwater, but our study represents the first detailed description of an autochthonous brackish microbiome. In contrast to the decline in the diversity of multicellular organisms, reduced bacterial diversity at brackish conditions could not be established. It is possible that the rapid adaptation rate of bacteria has enabled a variety of lineages to fill what for higher organisms remains a challenging and relatively unoccupied ecological niche.
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  • 99
    Publication Date: 2015-09-23
    Description: The Denmark Strait overflow water is the largest dense water plume from the Nordic seas to feed the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Its primary source is commonly thought to be the East Greenland Current. However, the recent discovery of the North Icelandic Jet—a deep-reaching current that flows along the continental slope of Iceland—has called this view into question. Here we present high-resolution measurements of hydrography and velocity north of Iceland, taken during two shipboard surveys in October 2008 and August 2009. We find that the North Icelandic Jet advects overflow water into the Denmark Strait and constitutes a pathway that is distinct from the East Greenland Current. We estimate that the jet supplies about half of the total overflow transport, and infer that it is the primary source of the densest overflow water. Simulations with an ocean general circulation model suggest that the import of warm, salty water from the North Icelandic Irminger Current and water-mass transformation in the interior Iceland Sea are critical to the formation of the jet. We surmise that the timescale for the renewal of the deepest water in the meridional overturning cell, and its sensitivity to changes in climate, could be different than presently envisaged.
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  • 100
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    Nature Publishing Group
    In:  Nature, 470 (7332). pp. 31-33.
    Publication Date: 2016-10-28
    Description: Extracting minerals from sea-floor vents should not go ahead without a coherent conservation framework, argues Cindy Lee Van Dover.
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