Marine probiotics: increasing coral resistance to bleaching through microbiome manipulation

Although the early coral reef-bleaching warning system (NOAA/USA) is established, there is no feasible treatment that can minimize temperature bleaching and/or disease impacts on corals in the field. Here, we present the first attempts to extrapolate the widespread and well-established use of bacterial consortia to protect or improve health in other organisms (e.g., humans and plants) to corals. Manipulation of the coral-associated microbiome was facilitated through addition of a consortium of native (isolated from Pocillopora damicornis and surrounding seawater) putatively beneficial microorganisms for corals (pBMCs), including five Pseudoalteromonas sp., a Halomonas taeanensis and a Cobetia marina-related species strains. The results from a controlled aquarium experiment in two temperature regimes (26 °C and 30 °C) and four treatments (pBMC; pBMC with pathogen challenge – Vibrio coralliilyticus, VC; pathogen challenge, VC; and control) revealed the ability of the pBMC consortium to partially mitigate coral bleaching. Significantly reduced coral-bleaching metrics were observed in pBMC-inoculated corals, in contrast to controls without pBMC addition, especially challenged corals, which displayed strong bleaching signs as indicated by significantly lower photopigment contents and Fv/Fm ratios. The structure of the coral microbiome community also differed between treatments and specific bioindicators were correlated with corals inoculated with pBMC (e.g., Cobetia sp.) or VC (e.g., Ruegeria sp.). Our results indicate that the microbiome in corals can be manipulated to lessen the effect of bleaching, thus helping to alleviate pathogen and temperature stresses, with the addition of BMCs representing a promising novel approach for minimizing coral mortality in the face of increasing environmental impacts

Tectono-Stratigraphic Evolution of the Atuel Depocenter During the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Rift Stage, Neuquén Basin, West-Central Argentina

The Neuquén basin presents an almost continuous record from the Late Triassic until the Paleocene,making it an excellent case study of the most relevant tectonic stages of southern South America during the Mesozoic. It was initiated in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic times as a continental rift basin in the context of a widespread extensional stage that affected western Gondwana andculminated with the break-up of the supercontinent.The Atuel depocenter is located in the northern sector of the Neuquén basin. Synrift and sag units are represented by Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic siliciclastic marine and continental sedimentary rocks including the oldest marine deposits of the basin, of Late Triassic age. The depocenter infill hasbeen deformed and exhumed during the Andean orogeny, being presently exposed in the northern sector of the Malargüe fold and thrust belt. In this review, we have integrated a large set of stratigraphic, sedimentologic, geochronologic and structural data in order to unravel the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Atuel depocenter, and to evaluate the main controlling factors of thesynrift stage. We analyzed data from the synrift units, such as facies and thickness distribution, sandstone provenance, detrital zircon geochronology data, kinematic data from outcrop scale normal faults, angular and progressive unconformities and subsurface information. Reactivation of preexisting NNW-striking anisotropies under a regional NNE extension resulted in anoblique rift setting, which generated a bimodal distribution of NNW- and WNW-striking major normal faults. Strain and stress tensors obtained from the kinematic and dynamic analysis of structural data show a complex heterogeneity that we interpreted as a result of local stress permutations due to both activity of the larger faults, and to strain partitioning inside the Atueldepocenter.Sedimentologic and petrographic data revealed a complex evolution with strong lateral variations of the depositional environments during the synrift phase, which lasted from Rhaetian to Pliensbachian times. We identified several stages that were controlled by processes of initiation, propagation, growth, linkage and deactivation of new and reactivated faults along the depocenter evolution, in combination with sea level changes related to global eustatic variations. Sandstone provenance data suggest that an important basin reorganization by the Toarcian, probably related to the initiation of the sag stage in this depocenter.Fil: Bechis, Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Diversidad Cultural y Procesos de Cambio. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Diversidad Cultural y Procesos de Cambio; ArgentinaFil: Giambiagi, Laura Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla | Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla | Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla; ArgentinaFil: Tunik, Maisa Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaFil: Suriano, Julieta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla | Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla | Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla; ArgentinaFil: Lanés, Silvia. Cape Town; SudáfricaFil: Mescua, Jose Francisco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla | Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla | Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentin

Environmental controls and facies architecture of a jurassic carbonate episode La Manga Formation), Mendoza Province, Neuquén Basin

La Manga Formation is a vast carbonate system developed in the Neuquén Basin. The age is based in ammonite faunas, ranging from Early Callovian (Bodenbenderi-Proximum Zone) to Middle Oxfordian (Cordatum Standard Zone to Transversarium Standard Zone, and probably to the lower part of the Bifurcatus Standard Zone). A stratigraphical and sedimentological analysis, in the outcrops exposed in the south of Mendoza province, enabled the recognition of five facies associations of a carbonate ramp corresponding to (1) distal outer ramp, (2) proximal outer to distal middle ramp, (3) proximal middle ramp, (4) inner ramp deposits (shoreface, shoal, patch reef, shallow subtidal lagoon and tidal flat) and (5) paleokarstic facies. These facies correspond to homoclinal to distally steepened carbonate ramp. The facies associations are included into three third-order depositional sequences (DS-1, DS-2, DS-3) represented by transgressive and highstand systems tracts with sequence boundaries of regional character. Different controlling factors can be recognised in the deposition of this unit. The abrupt changes of facies, as well as paleokarst and epikarst discontinuity surfaces in the successions provide important evidence in terms of depositional environment and vertical evolution of the carbonate ramp. Facies patterns are variable across the outcrop area and vertically through time because of a combination of ramp morphology, siliciclastic supply, sea level changes and tectonic effects. In the southern sections, siliciclastic influx influenced the deposition of proximal middle ramp facies later overlain by scleractinian patch reefs which grew up throughout progressive stages from aggradational to progradational facies in response to climate controls and nutrient levels influence. In northern outcrops, tectonic controls affected the ramp topography and influenced the development of distal deep marine facies. Shallow subtidal and peritidal cycles indicate a combination of allocyclic and autocyclic processes controlling accommodation space and sediment accumulation.Fil: Palma, Ricardo Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Bressan, Graciela Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Riccardi, Alberto Carlos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: López Gómez, José. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; España. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; EspañaFil: Martín Chivelet, Javier. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Españ