Finding Plastic Patches in Coastal Waters using Optical Satellite Data

Satellites collecting optical data offer a unique perspective from which to observe the problem of plastic litter in the marine environment, but few studies have successfully demonstrated their use for this purpose. For the first time, we show that patches of floating macroplastics are detectable in optical data acquired by the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-2 satellites and, furthermore, are distinguishable from naturally occurring materials such as seaweed. We present case studies from four countries where suspected macroplastics were detected in Sentinel-2 Earth Observation data. Patches of materials on the ocean surface were highlighted using a novel Floating Debris Index (FDI) developed for the Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI). In all cases, floating aggregations were detectable on sub-pixel scales, and appeared to be composed of a mix of seaweed, sea foam, and macroplastics. Building first steps toward a future monitoring system, we leveraged spectral shape to identify macroplastics, and a Naïve Bayes algorithm to classify mixed materials. Suspected plastics were successfully classified as plastics with an accuracy of 86

Fungal assemblage and diversity on periodically sampled intertidal woody litter

329-333 Fungal assemblage, richness and diversity were assessed on 1,800 woody litter sampled periodically from three intertidal habitats of southwest coast of India for two successive years. Among 41 fungi encountered, 30 were ascomycetes, two were basidiomycetes and nine were deuteromycetes. Number of fungal occurrences (p=0.0276) and seawater temperature (p=4.12×10-7) in different periods were significantly different. Percent wood colonized (85 vs. 65.8-71.9 %), mean number of fungi per wood (1.6 vs.1.2-1.3) and mean number of fungi per sampling (12.7 vs. 10.5-10.7) were highest during August (monsoon) which coincided with low seawater temperature (25.2 vs. 27.8-31.7°C). A highest number of species (30) was recovered in August (in April, 25; in December, 24). Seventeen species showed the highest frequency of occurrence during August, while it was 14 in April and 10 in December. The relative abundance of Clavatospora bulbosa was highest (17 %) followed by Antennospora quadricornuta (13.6 %) and Periconia prolifica (13.2 %). Antennospora quadricornuta was most frequent (22.8 %) in August followed by Clavatospora bulbosa (20.6 %), Periconia prolifica (20.5 %), Zalerion varium (12.3 %), Torpedospora radiata (10.9 %) and Crinigera sp. (10.7 %). Species richness and diversity of fungi were highest during August. This study indicates that the assemblage, richness and diversity of marine fungi on intertidal woody litter dependent on the sampling period, which is highest during monsoon samples of the southwest coast of India. </smarttagtype

Effect of incubation period of driftwood on the occurrence of marine fungi

380-382Driftwood samples collected in 1992 and 1993 were incubated in the laboratory for up to 18 months and examined periodically for colonization of marine fungi. A total of 24 species were encountered of which were 16 Ascomycetes, two Basidiomycetes and six Deuteromycetes. Crinigera maritima was the most common fungus, whereas Aniptodera chesapeakensis, Caryosporella rhizophorae, Corollospora colossa. Dictyosporium pelagicum and Verruculina enalia were recorded frequently. Calathella mangrovei, Corollospora angusta, Corollospora colossa and Cringera maritima were new records to the west coast of India. The kind of mycota and their frequency of occurrence varied between two years. The percent frequency of occurrence of fungi also varied at different incubation periods. Six months incubation of driftwood yielded about 70% of the total marine fungi encountered

Occurrence of higher marine fungi on marine animal substrates of some beaches along the west coast of India

233-236Mycological examination of calcareous shells of three species (balanids, bivalves and Turritella), cuttle fish 'bone', exoskeleton of crabs and feathers accumulated on the sandy beaches yielded six ascomycetes, one basidiomycete and three deuteromycetes. Cuttle fish 'bone' harboured maximum species (8) followed by shells of bivalves (4). Among the ascomycetes, arenicolous fungi were dominant (5) and at least one species was recorded on each substrate. Except for feathers Corollospora maritima was most prevalent. Mean ascocarp densities (no/cm2) of substrate collected from Mangalore coast were highest on exoskeleton of crabs (225) but it was least on feathers (<1). Months of incubation required for fruit body production by ascomycetes was highest for feathers (23), whereas it was least for exoskeleton of crabs (7). The extent of growth and sporulation of filamentous marine fungi on dead marine animal substrates suggests that they are capable of exploiting the organic materials of animal substrates