Individualistic patterns in the budding morphology of the Mediterranean demosponge Aplysina aerophoba

The external morphology of sponges is characterized by high plasticity, generally considered to be shaped by environmental factors and modulated through complex morphogenetic pathways. This work shows for the first time that explants of the Atlanto-Mediterranean demosponge Aplysina aerophoba reared in aquaria under different pH and temperature conditions produce reproductive buds with a phenotype determined by the donor individual. These results suggest, therefore, that genotype can be an important factor controlling different phenotypes in this species

A 1-Million-Year Record of Environmental Change in the Central Mediterranean Sea From Organic Molecular Proxies

The Mediterranean Sea is particularly sensitive to climate oscillations and represents a key location to study past climatic and oceanographic changes. One valuable source of paleoceanographic information is through molecular biomarkers in deep sea sediments. This approach has been applied in a number of studies in this basin, but only covering the most recent glacial/interglacial cycles. Here we present, for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, a molecular biomarker record from the Strait of Sicily that covers the last million years until the present, almost continuously. We present data on alkenone derived urn:x-wiley:25724517:media:palo21102:palo21102-math-0001 index sea surface temperatures (SST) and provide insights on the evolution of the phytoplankton community composition and terrestrial inputs through the analysis of the concentrations of alkenones, brassicasterol and long-chain alcohols. The urn:x-wiley:25724517:media:palo21102:palo21102-math-0002-SST record followed a climatic evolution modulated by glacial/interglacial cycles with a marked increase in the 100 kyr-amplitude of the glacial cycles at ∼430 ka, coincident with the Mid-Brunhes transition. In addition, SSTs were consistently higher compared with other records in the western Mediterranean, indicative of the progressive warming that surface waters experience along their transit from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Central Mediterranean. Regarding the concentrations of alkenones and brassicasterol, they displayed distinct alternate peaks, some of them coeval with the deposition of sapropels. This suggests that different environmental and oceanographic conditions characterized each sapropel which, together with changes in terrestrial inputs and the degree of oligotrophy, induced the alternate proliferation of coccolithophores and diatoms.Postprin

Assessing the expansion and success of a restored population of Gongolaria barbata (Stackhouse) Kuntze (Fucales, Phaeophyceae) using high-precision positioning tools and size distribution frequencies

Ongoing human pressures over recent decades have caused the loss and ensuing impoverishment of the complexity and diversity of Mediterranean habitats dominated by algal species of the order Fucales. Gongolaria barbata, a habitat-forming Fucales species that has disappeared in several places across the Mediterranean, was reintroduced in a cove (Cala Teulera, Maó Bay, Menorca) where it was known to have been locally extinct for more than 40 years. Reintroduction was performed in 2011 using innovative non-destructive techniques. Here we describe the expansion patterns of the population ten years after its reintroduction, and we look at the size-structure distribution of the restored population compared to one of the only natural populations known in Spain (Fornells Bay, Menorca). Newly settled individuals exhibit a progressive dispersal pattern from restoration sites, favouring rocky substrates at the shallowest level parallel to the shore. The area occupied by G. barbata has increased by almost three orders of magnitude in ten years, from approximately 3.6 m2 of the initially restored area to a current restored area of 2093 m2. Recruits and juveniles dominate the restored population but some individuals have reached large size classes, the overall size distribution resembling the reference population. The high-resolution cartography included in our study enables an accurate mid to long-term assessment of the expansion of G. barbata. Incorporating such tools in restored marine forests would facilitate the implementation of efficient management policies that will help reinforce their conservation.Funding was provided by IEO (“Mola-Menorca Dos Project”, financed by the Direcció General de Recerca del Govern de les Illes Balears through the European Regional Development Fund)

Evaluación del problema de la acidificación en el Mediterráneo mediante series temporals de pH y experimentos con corales

Ponencia presentada en: VI Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Española de Climatología celebrado en Tarragona del 8 al 11 de octubre de 2008.[ES]El incremento de los niveles de CO2 atmosférico y la elevada absorción de éste por los mares y océanos está provocando una acidificación progresiva de los mismos. Las predicciones apuntan hacia una acidificación entre 0.3 y 0.5 unidades de pH en el año 2100 y cerca de 0.8 unidades de pH en el año 2300, un escenario sin precedentes para los últimos cientos de millones de años. En el caso concreto del Mar Mediterráneo, aún no está claro cual es la velocidad de absorción del CO2 antropogénico y la consecuente reducción de pH, aunque, debido a su reducida extensión, es posible que esta acidificación sea más severa que en los océanos del planeta.[EN]The increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere and its high uptake by the oceans are lowering the pH of the oceans. Predictions point towards acidification of 0.3 to 0.5 pH units by year 2100 and of nearly 0.8 pH units by year 2300, a scenario for which there is no obvious precedent over the last hundreds of millions of years. In the specific case of the Mediterranean Sea, it is still not clear how rapidly it is absorbing anthropogenic CO2 and thus lowering its pH but, owing to its smaller size, there is the possibility that the lowering of pH may be more severe and abrupt than in the world oceans.Este trabajo forma parte del proyecto ROMIAT (CTM2006-01957/MAR), financiado por el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, y es una de las actividades del Grup de Recerca en Biogeoquímica Marina i Canvi Global (2005SGR00021), financiado por la Generalitat de Catalunya. Juancho Movilla está financiado mediante una beca FPI (BES-2007-16537) del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia

Role of suspension feeders in antarctic pelagic-benthic coupling: Trophic ecology and potential carbon sinks under climate change

Sea-ice and coastal glacier loss in the Western Antarctic Peninsula open new ice-free areas. They allowing primary production and providing new seabed for colonisation, both acting as a negative feedback of climate change. However, the injection of sediment-laden runoff from the melting of land-terminating glaciers may reduce this feedback. Changes in particulate matter will affect nutrition and excretion (faeces stoichiometry and properties) of suspension feeders, reshaping coastal carbon dynamics and pelagic-benthic coupling. Absorption efficiency and biodeposition of Euphausia superba and Cnemidocarpa verrucosa were quantified for different food treatments and varying sediment concentrations. Both species showed high overall absorption efficiency for free-sediment diets, but were negatively affected by sediment addition. High sediment conditions increased krill biodeposition, while it decreased in ascidians. Energy balance estimation indicated high carbon sink potential in ascidians, but it is modulated by food characteristics and negatively affected by sediment inputs in the water column.Fil: Alurralde, Roque Gastón. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Fuentes, Verónica Lorena. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar; EspañaFil: Maggioni, Tamara. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Movilla, Juancho. Instituto Español de Oceanografía; España. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar; EspañaFil: Olariaga, Alejandro. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar; EspañaFil: Orejas, Covadonga. Instituto Español de Oceanografía; EspañaFil: Schloss, Irene Ruth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego; ArgentinaFil: Tatián, Marcos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; Argentin

The quantitative role of microzooplankton grazing in dimethylsulfide (DMS) production in the NW Mediterranean

The ubiquitous, biogenic trace gas dimethylsulfide (DMS) represents the largest natural source of atmospheric sulfur. Given DMS involvement in cloud formation and climate, understanding and parameterizing the oceanic DMS source and cycling processes is a necessary challenge. We report DMS cycling rates from microzooplankton dilution grazing experiments conducted monthly during 1 year in coastal northwestern Mediterranean waters. Concentrations of DMS, its algal precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSPt) and chlorophyll a (Chla) ranged 0.9–11 nmol L−1, 10–71 nmol L−1, and 0.2–1.5 µg L−1, respectively. By comparing the growth and stock production rates of the DMSP-producing algae to those of total phytoplankton, we estimated that 3 ± 4% (range 0.4–12%) of the carbon primary production was invested in DMSP biosynthesis. Microzooplankton grazing rates on DMSP-producing phytoplankton (0.46–1.45 day−1) were generally higher than those on the bulk assemblage (0.08–0.99 day−1), except in midsummer months. This could have been due to the smaller size of most DMSP producers. There was no indication of micrograzer selection against DMSP-containing phytoplankton, since they were not grazed at lower rates than the bulk phytoplankton assemblage. A proportion of 6–20% of the grazed DMSP was converted into DMS, and this grazing-derived production accounted for 32–96% of dark gross DMS production by the total community. Bacteria consumed daily ≤ 14–100% of the gross DMS production, which resulted in biological DMS turnover times of 1 to ≥ 10 days. Throughout the year, grazing-mediated DMS production explained 73% of the variance in the DMS concentration, implying that microzooplankton grazing plays a major role in controlling DMS concentration in surface waters across a broad range of environmental and productivity conditions in the Mediterranean Sea. These findings should help improve the representation of herbivore grazing in prognostic models to predict the distribution and dynamics of the global DMS emission and its feedback response to changing climateThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministries of Science through the projects MICROROL (CTM2004-02575/MAR to A.C.), SUMMER (CTM2008-03309 to R.S.), BIOGAPS (CTM2016-81008-R to R.S.) and FERMI (CGL2014-59227-R to A.C. and E.S.), and PhD fellowships to V.S. and R.A.Peer Reviewe

Peeping through the deep: Insights to the reproductive strategies of cold water gorgonians in the Azores Archipelago

INTRODUCTION:The mean age at delivery has increased over the latest half of a century. Women of advanced maternal age have increased obstetrical risks and increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities and some other specified diagnoses in the offspring. The aim of this study was to assess the association between maternal age and overall child morbidity according to main diagnosis groups. MATERIAL AND METHODS:We conducted a national cohort study including 352 027 live firstborn singleton children. The children were born between Jan 1994 and Dec 2009 and followed to Dec 2012. Children were divided into groups according to maternal age: 15-24, 25-29, 30-34, and 35+ years. Poisson regression analyses calculated adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRR) of child morbidities according to main diagnoses groups A-Q of the International Classification of Disease 10 with adjustment for year of birth, body mass index, smoking, and mother's level of education. RESULTS:Average follow-up time was 11 years. Compared to children born to women 25-29 years, firstborn children to mothers aged 35+ had higher child morbidity in 8 of 19 main diagnosis groups and firstborn children to mothers 15-24 years had higher child morbidity in 12 of 19 main diagnosis groups. Thus, for a majority of diseases a U-shaped correlation was found, with lowest rates in women 25-29 years. CONCLUSION:Firstborn children to both older and younger mothers have higher overall morbidity as compared to children born by mothers 25-29 years

The pearl oyster Pinctada imbricata radiata (Leach, 1814) (Bivalvia: Pteriidae) reaches Minorca, Balearic Islands

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