Constitutive Extracellular Polysaccharide (EPS) Production by Specific Isolates of Crocosphaera watsonii

Unicellular dinitrogen (N2) fixing cyanobacteria have only recently been identified in the ocean and recognized as important contributors to global N2 fixation. The only cultivated representatives of the open ocean unicellular diazotrophs are multiple isolates of Crocosphaera watsonii. Although constituents of the genus are nearly genetically identical, isolates have been described in two size classes, large ∼5 μm and small ∼3 μm cell diameters. We show here that the large size class constitutively produces substantial amounts of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) during exponential growth, up to 10 times more than is seen in the small size class, and does so under both N2 fixing and non-N2 fixing conditions. The EPS production exceeds the amount produced by larger phytoplankton such as diatoms and coccolithophores by one to two orders of magnitude, is ∼22% of the total particulate organic C in the culture, and is depleted in N compared to cellular material. The large difference in observed EPS production may be accounted for by consistently higher photochemical efficiency of photosystem II in the large (0.5) vs. small (∼0.35) strains. While it is known that Crocosphaera plays an important role in driving the biological carbon (C) pump through the input of new nitrogen (N) to the open ocean, we hypothesize that this species may also contribute directly to the C cycle through the constitutive production of EPS. Indeed, at two stations in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, ∼70% of large Crocosphaera cells observed were embedded in EPS. The evolutionary advantage of releasing such large amounts of fixed C is still unknown, but in regions where Crocosphaera can be abundant (i.e., the warm oligotrophic ocean) this material will likely have important biogeochemical consequences

Magnitude effects for experienced rewards at short delays in the escalating interest task

A first-person shooter video game was adapted for the study of choice between smaller sooner and larger later rewards. Participants chose when to fire a weapon that increased in damage potential over a short interval. When the delay to maximum damage was shorter (5 – 8 s), people showed greater sensitivity to the consequences of their choices than when the delay was longer (17 – 20 s). Participants also evidenced a magnitude effect by waiting proportionally longer when the damage magnitudes were doubled for all rewards. The experiment replicated the standard magnitude effect with this new video game preparation over time scales similar to those typically used in nonhuman animal studies and without complications due to satiation or cost

Improvement of a Low-cost DIY Wave Gauge

The impacts of waves on shorelines and nearshore ecosystems has highlighted the need for extension and other environmental professionals to have access to accurate and affordable wave measurements. The development of a low-cost DIY wave gauge improved the accessibility of these measurements; however, the original design was limited in battery life. Here, an improved version of the low-cost DIY wave gauge, the DIY Feather Wave Gauge, is presented with the same performance, longer battery life, smaller design, and cheaper cost along with tutorials, parts lists, and other resources. This new gauge has been used to improve shoreline management recommendations

Comment on “The complex effects of ocean acidification on the prominent N2-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium”

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science 357 (2017): eaao0067, doi:10.1126/science.aao0067.Hong et al. (Reports, 5 May 2017, p. 527) suggested that previous studies of the biogeochemically significant marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium showing increased growth and nitrogen fixation at projected future high CO2 levels suffered from ammonia or copper toxicity. They reported that these rates instead decrease at high CO2 when contamination is alleviated. We present and discuss results of multiple published studies refuting this toxicity hypothesis

Cross-Basin Comparison of Phosphorus Stress and Nitrogen Fixation in Trichodesmium

We investigated the phosphorus (P) status and N2 fixation rates of Trichodesmium populations from the North Pacific, western South Pacific, and western North Atlantic. Colonies of Trichodesmium were collected and analyzed for endogenous alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity using enzyme-labeled fluorescence ( ELF) and for nitrogenase activity using acetylene reduction. AP hydrolyzes dissolved inorganic phosphate (DIP) from dissolved organic phosphorus and is active in Trichodesmium colonies experiencing P stress. Across multiple stations in the subtropical North and South Pacific, there was low to moderate ELF labeling in Trichodesmium, although labeling was present in other taxa. In contrast, Trichodesmium ELF labeling in the North Atlantic ranged from low to high. Low ELF labeling corresponded with high DIP concentrations while high ELF labeling occurred only at North Atlantic stations with DIP concentrations \u3c = 40 nmol L-1, indicating that Trichodesmium was not experiencing dramatic P stress in the Pacific Ocean while P stress was evident in the western North Atlantic. However, nitrogenase activity was significantly higher in the P-stressed western North Atlantic than in the Pacific Ocean (0.40-1.30 compared to 0.01-0.46 nmol C2H4 h-1 colony-1. These data underscore the differential basin-level importance of P availability to Trichodesmium and suggest that factors other than P are constraining their N2 fixation rates in the Pacific

Irreversibly increased nitrogen fixation in Trichodesmium experimentally adapted to elevated carbon dioxide

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Nature Communications 6 (2015): 8155, doi:10.1038/ncomms9155.Nitrogen fixation rates of the globally distributed, biogeochemically important marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium increase under high carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in short-term studies due to physiological plasticity. However, its long-term adaptive responses to ongoing anthropogenic CO2 increases are unknown. Here we show that experimental evolution under extended selection at projected future elevated CO2 levels results in irreversible, large increases in nitrogen fixation and growth rates, even after being moved back to lower present day CO2 levels for hundreds of generations. This represents an unprecedented microbial evolutionary response, as reproductive fitness increases acquired in the selection environment are maintained after returning to the ancestral environment. Constitutive rate increases are accompanied by irreversible shifts in diel nitrogen fixation patterns, and increased activity of a potentially regulatory DNA methyltransferase enzyme. High CO2-selected cell lines also exhibit increased phosphorus-limited growth rates, suggesting a potential advantage for this keystone organism in a more nutrient-limited, acidified future ocean.Grant support was provided by U.S. National Science Foundation OCE 1260490 and OCE 1143760 to D.A.H., E.A.W., and F.-X.F, and OCE 1260233, OCE OA 1220484, and G.B. Moore Foundation 3782 and 3934 to M.A.S.© The Author(s), [year]

Mechanisms of increased Trichodesmium fitness under iron and phosphorus co-limitation in the present and future ocean

© The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Nature Communications 7 (2016): 12081, doi:10.1038/ncomms12081.Nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria supplies critical bioavailable nitrogen to marine ecosystems worldwide; however, field and lab data have demonstrated it to be limited by iron, phosphorus and/or CO2. To address unknown future interactions among these factors, we grew the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium for 1 year under Fe/P co-limitation following 7 years of both low and high CO2 selection. Fe/P co-limited cell lines demonstrated a complex cellular response including increased growth rates, broad proteome restructuring and cell size reductions relative to steady-state growth limited by either Fe or P alone. Fe/P co-limitation increased abundance of a protein containing a conserved domain previously implicated in cell size regulation, suggesting a similar role in Trichodesmium. Increased CO2 further induced nutrient-limited proteome shifts in widespread core metabolisms. Our results thus suggest that N2-fixing microbes may be significantly impacted by interactions between elevated CO2 and nutrient limitation, with broad implications for global biogeochemical cycles in the future ocean.Grant support was provided by U.S. National Science Foundation OCE 1260490 to D.A.H., E.A.W. and F.-X.F., and OCE OA 1220484 and G.B. Moore Foundation 3782 and 3934 to M.A.S

ECHA J0843.3-7905: Discovery of an 'old' classical T Tauri star in the eta Chamaeleontis cluster

A limited-area survey of the eta Chamaeleontis cluster has identified 2 new late-type members. The more significant of these is ECHA J0843.3-7905 (= IRAS F08450-7854), a slowly-rotating (P = 12 d) M2 classical T Tauri (CTT) star with a spectrum dominated by Balmer emission. At a distance of 97 pc and cluster age of approx 9 Myr, the star is a nearby rare example of an 'old' CTT star and promises to be a rewarding laboratory for the study of disk structure and evolution in pre-main sequence (PMS) stars. The other new member is the M4 weak-lined T Tauri (WTT) star ECHA J0841.5-7853, which is the lowest mass (M = 0.2 M_sun) primary known in the cluster.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted for MNRAS. High quality copy available at http://www.ph.adfa.edu.au/w-lawson/press/CTT2001.pd