Marine Protected Areas: Smart Investments in Ocean Health

Expanding ocean protection could return an increase in jobs, resources and services that far outweigh the costs, according to an analysis of new research commissioned by WWF on marine protected areas. The analysis comes months before governments make critical decisions that will direct the fate of the ocean for generations to come.The analysis shows that every dollar invested to create marine protected areas – commonly known as MPAs – is expected to be at least tripled in benefits returned through factors like employment, coastal protection, and fisheries.The new analysis is based on a WWF-commissioned study produced by Amsterdam's VU University, modelling MPA expansion at both the 10 per cent and 30 per cent target levels. The report found that increased protection of critical habitats could result in net benefits of between US$490 billion and US$920 billion accruing over the period 2015-2050. WWF recommends 30 per cent global coverage of MPAs by 2030 in order to secure the most complete benefits for people and the ocean

The European Commission’s public consultation on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain: a response by the European Copyright Society

No abstract available

Exploring prokaryotic diversity in the genomic era

Our understanding of prokaryote biology from study of pure cultures and genome sequencing has been limited by a pronounced sampling bias towards four bacterial phyla - Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes - out of 35 bacterial and 18 archaeal phylum-level lineages. This bias is beginning to be rectified by the use of phylogenetically directed isolation strategies and by directly accessing microbial genomes from environmental samples