Narrative role playing - a science multiplication tool- at the AWI school lab OPENSEA on Helgoland

Over the last decades there has been an increasing awareness within the scientific community of the importance of communicating science. A growing number of multiple citizen science programs aimed at facilitating the sharing of scientific knowledge with the public. One such approach adopts narrative role plays, involving interactive games which simulate real life situations in a safe environment. During these simulations, participants adopt different roles (scientist, politician) and are posed with a specific research question relevant to e.g. environmental protection. With the AWI school lab OPENSEA we developed a narrative role play on marine litter. In this narrative role playing provides an opportunity at hands-on research and discovery from four different perspectives of plastic pollution. High School students learn about the different perspectives of plastic pollution in the course of different phases through hands-on research and discovery. We apply recent scientific findings and literature as well as, interactive modules designed to take place both on-field and in the lab. The modules are designed to be also applicable for classroom setting which are implemented to the education for sustainable development

Spatiotemporal variation of the bacterioplankton community in the German Bight: from estuarine to offshore regions

Marine microbial biogeography has been studied intensively; however few studies address community variation across temporal and spatial scales simultaneously so far. Here we present a yearlong study investigating the dynamics of the free-living and particle-attached bacterioplankton community across a 100 km transect in the German Bight reaching from the Elbe estuary towards the open North Sea. Community composition was assessed using automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis and linked to environmental parameters applying multivariate statistical techniques. Results suggest that the spatial variation of the bacterioplankton community is defined by hydrographic current conditions, which separate the inner German Bight from the open North Sea and lead to pronounced differences in the coastal and offshore bacterioplankton community. However this spatial variation is overwhelmed by a strong temporal variation which is triggered by temperature as the main driving force throughout the whole transect. Variation in the free-living community was predominantly driven by temperature, whereas the particle-attached community exhibited stronger spatial variation patterns

Six Pseudoalteromonas Strains Isolated from Surface Waters of Kabeltonne, Offshore Helgoland, North Sea

Draft genomes are presented for 6 Pseudoalteromonas sp. strains isolated from surface waters at Kabeltonne, Helgoland, a long-term ecological research station in the North Sea. These strains contribute knowledge of the genomic underpinnings of a developing model system to study phage-host dynamics of a particle-associated ocean copiotroph

Müll im Meer- Schülerinnen und Schüler forschen zu Ursachen und Vorkommen von Plastikmüll im Meer

Das Projekt „Müll im Meer“ bereitet Expertenwissen zu Strategien der Probennahme, Analytik und Quantifizierung von Mikroplastik im Meer didaktisch mit vier Kooperationspartnern auf. Ziel ist es, fundierte und praxisorientierte Lernmodule für Schulen und außerschulische Lernorte zu entwickeln. Schülerinnen und Schüler der Sekundarstufe II führen diese in vier bis fünf Tagen durch. Die Lernmodule werden thematisch in naturwissenschaftliche Fächer integriert und sind im Zusammenhang mit Umweltschutz und nachhaltiger Nutzung von Ressourcen zu behandeln

Shell Disease Syndrome Is Associated with Reduced and Shifted Epibacterial Diversity on the Carapace of the Crustacean Cancer pagurus

Crustaceans increasingly suffer from the black spot shell disease syndrome, which principally results from bacterial breakdown of their chitinous exoskeleton. Since Cancer pagurus is highly susceptible to this disease, we compared the bacterial communities of black spot affected and non-affected areas of the carapace by amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and 16S rRNA. Within each spot, bacterial communities of affected areas were less diverse compared to communities from non-affected areas. Communities of different affected spots were, however, more divergent from each other, compared to those of different nonaffected areas. This indicates a reduced and shifted microbial community composition caused by the black spot disease. Different communities found in black spots likely indicate different stages of the disease. In affected areas, Flavobacteriaceae rose up to one of the most abundant and active families, due to massive increase of Aquimarina spp., suggesting a significant role in shell disease syndrome. We isolated 75 bacterial strains from diseased and healthy areas, which primarily affiliated with Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, thus reflecting the dominant phyla detected by amplicon sequencing. The ability to degrade chitin was mainly found for Gammaproteobacteria and Aquimarina spp. within the Flavobacteriia, while the ability to use N-acetylglucosamine, the monomer of the polysaccharide chitin, was observed for most isolates, including many Alphaproteobacteria. Furthermore, one third of the isolates showed antagonistic properties. The combination of bacterial community analysis and the physiological properties of the isolates provides insights into a functional complex epibacterial community on the carapace of C. pagurus. Importance In recent years, the shell disease syndrome was detected for several ecologically and economically important crustacean species. Large proportions of populations are affected, e.g., >60% of the widely distributed species Cancer pagurus in different North Sea areas. Bacteria play a significant role in the development of different forms of shell disease, all characterized by microbial chitinolytic degradation of the outer shell. By comparing the bacterial communities of healthy and diseased areas of the shell of C. pagurus we could demonstrate that the disease causes a reduced bacterial diversity within affected areas, a phenomenon co-occurring also with many other diseases. Furthermore, the community composition dramatically changed, with some taxa rising to high relative abundances and showing increased activity, indicating a strong participation in shell disease. Characterization of bacterial isolates obtained from affected and non-affected spots provided deeper insights in their physiological properties and thus the possible role within the microbiome

Impacts of a reduction of seawater pH mimicking ocean acidification impacts on assemblage, structure and diversity of marine fungal communities

Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) change ocean chemistry, as dissolved CO2 leads to a reduction in the seawater pH. Many marine taxa have been shown to be affected by ocean acidification, while information on marine fungi is lacking. Here, we analyze the effect of pH on mycoplankton communities. The pH of microcosms was adjusted to a value mimicking the predicted ocean acidification in the near future. Fungal communities were analyzed using a double-marker gene approach, allowing a more detailed analysis of their response using 454 pyrosequencing. Mycoplankton communities in microcosms with in situ and adjusted water pH values differed significantly in terms of structure and diversity. The differences were mainly based on abundance shifts among the dominant taxa rather than the exclusion of fungal groups. A sensitivity to lower pH values was reported for several groups across the fungal kingdom and was not phylogenetically conserved. Some of the fungal species that dominated the communities of microcosms with a lower pH were known pathogenic fungi. With the increasing awareness of the significant role fungi play in marine systems, including performing a diverse range of symbiotic activities, our results highlight the importance of including fungi in further research projects studying and modeling biotic responses to the predicted ocean acidification

Schoolchildren discover hotspots of floating plastic litter in rivers using a large-scale collaborative approach

Rivers are an important transport route of anthropogenic litter from inland sources toward the sea. A collaborative (i.e. citizen science) approach was used to evaluate the litter pollution of rivers in Germany: schoolchildren within the project “Plastic Pirates” investigated rivers across the entire country during the years 2016 and 2017 by surveying floating macrolitter at 282 sites and taking 164 meso−/microplastic samples (i.e. particles 24.99–5 mm, and 4.99–1 mm, respectively). Floating macrolitter was sighted at 54% of sampling sites and floating macrolitter quantities ranged from 0 to 8.25 items m−1 h−1 (average of 0.34 ± 0.89 litter items m−1 h−1). Floating meso−/microplastics were present at 57% of the sampling sites, and floating meso−/microplastic quantities ranged from 0 to 220 particles h−1 (average of 6.86 ± 24.11 items h−1). As only particles >1 mm were sampled and analyzed, the pollution of rivers in Germany by microplastics could be a much more prevalent problem, regardless of the size of the river. We identified six plastic pollution hotspots where 60% of all meso−/microplastics collected in the present study were found. These hotspots were located close to a plastic-producing industry site, a wastewater treatment plant, at and below weirs, or in residential areas. The composition of the particles at these hotspots indicates plastic producers and possibly the construction industry and wastewater treatment plants as point sources. An identification of litter hotspots would enable specific mitigation measures, adjusted to the respective source, and thereby could prevent the release of large quantities of small plastic particles in rivers. The adopted large-scale citizen science approach was especially suitable to detect pollution hotspots by sampling a variety of rivers, large and small, and enabled a national overview of litter pollution in German rivers

Combined Carbohydrates Support Rich Communities of Particle-Associated Marine Bacterioplankton

Carbohydrates represent an important fraction of labile and semi-labile marine organic matter that is mainly comprised of exopolymeric substances derived from phytoplankton exudation and decay. This study investigates the composition of total combined carbohydrates (tCCHO; >1 kDa) and the community development of free-living (0.2–3 μm) and particle-associated (PA) (3–10 μm) bacterioplankton during a spring phytoplankton bloom in the southern North Sea. Furthermore, rates were determined for the extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis that catalyzes the initial step in bacterial organic matter remineralization. Concentrations of tCCHO greatly increased during bloom development, while the composition showed only minor changes over time. The combined concentration of glucose, galactose, fucose, rhamnose, galactosamine, glucosamine, and glucuronic acid in tCCHO was a significant factor shaping the community composition of the PA bacteria. The richness of PA bacteria greatly increased in the post-bloom phase. At the same time, the increase in extracellular β-glucosidase activity was sufficient to explain the observed decrease in tCCHO, indicating the efficient utilization of carbohydrates by the bacterioplankton community during the post-bloom phase. Our results suggest that carbohydrate concentration and composition are important factors in the multifactorial environmental control of bacterioplankton succession and the enzymatic hydrolysis of organic matter during phytoplankton blooms

The ocean sampling day consortium.

Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world's oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits