"Pseudodiaptomus Marinus" Sato, 1913, a New Invasive Copepod in Lake Faro (Sicily): Observations on the Swimming Behaviour and the Sex-Dependent Responses to Food

Background: The calanoid copepod Pseudodiaptomus marinus Sato, 1913 is an estuarine-coastal species, living in shallow eutrophic inshore waters. It is native of the Indo-Pacific region, but in the last 50 years, it has successfully colonized new areas worldwide. P. marinus, first recorded in Lake Faro (Messina, Italy) in October 2008, is now a stable component of the zooplankton assemblage of the lake. By means of video recordings, for the first time, the swimming behaviour of males and non-ovigerous and ovigerous females of P. marinus has been studied. The individuals were filmed in the presence and absence of food to evaluate how the presence of prey might affect the swimming behaviour. Results: The swimming motion showed marked sex-dependent features and responses to the presence of food. Mechanisms through which behaviour might influence the outcome of a new colonization were analysed. The behaviour of P. marinus was then compared with that of the congeneric Pseudodiaptomus annandalei showing the typical behaviour displayed by the representatives of the genus Pseudodiaptomus of living in proximity of the bottom. Conclusions: Environmental and hydrological conditions in Lake Faro have likely provided the newly introduced P. marinus a suitable environment for settling, although normally the presence of an anoxic deep layer would be detrimental for a demersal species. In this case, the plasticity in the behaviour of P. marinus enhanced its capacity for colonising new environments. Switching from demersal to pelagic habitat or being fully planktonic allowed it to express its large individual variability in motion strategies and thus to successfully colonize the lake

Assessing the quality of biogeochemical coastal data: a step-wise procedure

Coastal areas host valuable but vulnerable marine ecosystems subjected to increasing anthropogenic pressure and climate change consequences. To assess the impact of these pressures, monitoring programs have proliferated in coastal areas, but most of them follow locally established procedures for quality control (QC). The well-established QC procedure of open ocean data cannot simply be extended to the highly variable coastal area, for which there is the need to develop ad hoc QC approaches. This is particularly crucial for long-term time series, where different instrumentation and analytical methods have been applied over time. This study, based on the biogeochemical dataset collected over 30 years at the LTER MareChiara station (LTER-MC, Gulf of Naples, Mediterranean Sea), addresses potential discrepancies in a long-term dataset, identifying criteria and methods that could also be applied to other coastal datasets. We developed a serial step-wise procedure to characterize the quality of ~ 84,000 data-points, merging statistical tests and expert knowledge. The procedure included nine tests, each addressing potential problems in data generation and management, some of which of general application and others tailored to specific subsets of data. Based on these test, quality flags were assigned to individual data. Critical tests applied to two other independent datasets, showed that the procedure is not dataset dependent. These results contribute to bridge the gap between the need of objective QC criteria and the intrinsic noise of coastal datasets, promoting the discussion on this topic, and improving a proper management and sharing of coastal data

Orbitally forced hyperstratification of the Oligocene South Atlantic Ocean

Pelagic sediments from the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean contain geographically extensive Oligocene ooze and chalk layers that consist almost entirely of the calcareous nannofossil Braarudosphaera. Poor recovery and the lack of precise dating of these horizons in previous studies has limited the understanding of the number of acmes, their timing and durations, and therefore their likely cause. Here we present a high‐resolution, astronomically tuned stratigraphy of Braarudosphaera oozes (29.5–27.9 Ma) from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1264 in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean. We identify seven episodes with highly abundant Braarudosphaera. Four of these acme events coincide with maxima and three with minima in the ~110‐ky and 405‐ky paced eccentricity cycles. The longest lasting acme event corresponds to a pronounced minimum in the ~2.4‐My eccentricity cycle. In the modern ocean, Braarudosphaera occurrences are limited to shallow marine and neritic settings, and the calcified tests of Braarudosphaera probably represent a resting stage in its life cycle. Therefore, we hypothesize that the Oligocene acmes point to extensive and episodic (hyper)stratified surface water conditions, i.e., a shallowly situated pycnocline that may have served as a virtual sea floor, which (partially) prevented the tests from sinking in the pelagic realm. We speculate that hyperstratification was either ocean‐basin‐wide, through the formation of relatively hyposaline surface waters, or eddy‐contained through strong isopycnals at the base of eddies. Astronomical forcing of atmospheric and/or oceanic circulation could have triggered these conditions through either sustained rainfall over the open ocean and adjacent land masses or increased Agulhas Leakage

Oligocene stable isotope record and calcareous nannofossils of IODP Site 208-1264

Pelagic sediments from the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean contain geographically extensive Oligocene ooze and chalk layers that consist almost entirely of the calcareous nannofossil Braarudosphaera. Poor recovery and the lack of precise dating of these horizons in previous studies has limited our understanding of the exact number of acmes, their timing and durations, and the causes of their recurrence. Here we present a high-resolution, astronomically tuned stratigraphy of Braarudosphaera oozes (29.5-27.9 Ma) from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1264 in the subtropical southeastern Atlantic Ocean. We identify seven acme events in the Braarudosphaera abundance record. The longest lasting acme event corresponds to a strong minimum in the ~2.4-My eccentricity cycle, and four acme events coincide with ~110-ky and 405-ky eccentricity maxima. We propose that eccentricity-modulated precession forcing of the freshwater budget of the South Atlantic Ocean resulted in the episodic formation of a shallow pycnocline and hyperstratification of the upper water column. We speculate that stratified surface water conditions may have served as a virtual sea floor, which facilitated the widespread Braarudosphaera acmes. This explanation reconciles the contrasting distribution patterns of Braarudosphaera in the modern ocean, limited largely to shallow water coastal settings, compared to their relatively brief and expanded oceanic distribution in the past

Orbitally Forced Hyperstratification of the Oligocene South Atlantic Ocean

Pelagic sediments from the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean contain geographically extensive Oligocene ooze and chalk layers that consist almost entirely of the calcareous nannofossil Braarudosphaera. Poor recovery and the lack of precise dating of these horizons in previous studies has limited the understanding of the number of acmes, their timing and durations, and therefore their likely cause. Here we present a high-resolution, astronomically tuned stratigraphy of Braarudosphaera oozes (29.5–27.9 Ma) from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1264 in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean. We identify seven episodes with highly abundant Braarudosphaera. Four of these acme events coincide with maxima and three with minima in the ~110 and 405-kyr paced eccentricity cycles. The longest lasting acme event corresponds to a pronounced minimum in the ~2.4-Myr eccentricity cycle. In the modern ocean, Braarudosphaera occurrences are limited to shallow marine and neritic settings, and the calcified coccospheres of Braarudosphaera are probably produced during a resting stage in the algal life cycle. Therefore, we hypothesize that the Oligocene acmes point to extensive and episodic (hyper) stratified surface water conditions, with a shallow pycnocline that may have served as a virtual seafloor and (partially/temporarily) prevented the coccospheres from sinking in the pelagic realm. We speculate that hyperstratification was either extended across large areas of the South Atlantic basin, through the formation of relatively hyposaline surface waters, or eddy contained through strong isopycnals at the base of eddies. Astronomical forcing of atmospheric and/or oceanic circulation could have triggered these conditions through either sustained rainfall over the open ocean and adjacent land masses or increased Agulhas Leakage

Prevalência de sobrepeso e obesidade em escolares da região de Parelheiros do município de São Paulo Prevalence of overweight and obesity in school children of Parelheiros region in São Paulo city, Brazil

OBJETIVO: Verificar, em uma amostra de escolares de uma região de baixo nível socioeconômico, a prevalência de sobrepeso e obesidade. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal com uma amostra de 218 crianças selecionadas de modo aleatório, a partir de um universo estimado de 1.500 crianças e adolescentes, com idade entre seis e 14 anos, provenientes de três escolas de ensino fundamental de Parelheiros, São Paulo, sem distinção de sexo ou etnia. Foram excluídas aquelas portadoras de qualquer doença metabólica ou endócrina diagnosticada ou em tratamento. Os indivíduos foram submetidos à avaliação antropométrica, com medida do peso corporal e altura para cálculo do índice de massa corpórea e relação peso/altura. Todas as crianças responderam a um questionário aplicado pelos pesquisadores sobre hábitos alimentares. RESULTADOS: A prevalência de obesos e de portadores de sobrepeso foi respectivamente 14,7 e 16,5%. Entre os alunos obesos e com sobrepeso, o baixo consumo de frutas (10,8 e 10,8%), de verduras e legumes (16,4 e 9,1%) e o alto consumo de doces (72,2 e 78,1%) foram associados ao excesso de peso. A prática esportiva esteve ausente ou escassa nos obesos (81,3%) e portadores de sobrepeso (77,8%). CONCLUSÕES: Os alunos avaliados, embora provenientes de uma região pobre de São Paulo, apresentaram um perfil de transição nutricional, com altas taxas de obesidade e sobrepeso.<br>OBJECTIVE: To establish the prevalence of overweight and obesity in school children from low socioeconomical status. METHODS: This cross sectional study randomly enrolled 218 eighteen students out of 1.500 students with six to 14 years old from three schools located in Parelheiros, São Paulo, Brazil. Children with a diagnosis and or treatment of metabolic or endocrine diseases were excluded. The studied children had an anthropometric evaluation of weight and height, and body mass index was calculated. All children answered a questionnaire about daily food consumption and physical activity. RESULTS: The prevalence of obesity and overweight were respectively 14.7 and 16.5%. Among these students, the low consumption of fruits (10.8 and 10.8%), vegetables (16.3 and 9.1%) and the high consumption of candies (72.2 and 78.1%) were associated with weight excess. Poor physical activities was common among obese (81.3%) and overweight (77.8%) students. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluated students, despite living in a poor region of São Paulo, showed a profile of nutritional transition, with high obesity and overweight rates