Delayed onset of ocean acidification in the Gulf of Maine.

The Gulf of Maine holds significant ecological and economic value for fisheries and communities in north-eastern North America. However, there is apprehension regarding its vulnerability to the effects of increasing atmospheric CO. Substantial recent warming and the inflow of low alkalinity waters into the Gulf of Maine have raised concerns about the impact of ocean acidification on resident marine calcifiers (e.

High Magnesium Calcite and Dolomite composition carbonate in Amphiroa (Lithophyllaceae, Corallinales, Rhodophyta): further documentation of elevated Mg in Corallinales with climate change implications.

Species of the calcified, articulate coralline Amphiroa are key components of many shallow marine ecosystems. Understanding their mineral composition is important as their susceptibility to dissolution, due to ocean acidification, may vary with mineral composition. We studied the distribution of Mg-calcite, very high magnesium calcite (VHMC), and dolomite within Amphiroa species to elucidate their mineral properties and susceptibility to dissolution.

Coralline algal calcification: A morphological and process-based understanding.

Research Purpose And Findings: Coralline algae are key biological substrates of many carbonate systems globally. Their capacity to build enduring crusts that underpin the formation of tropical reefs, rhodolith beds and other benthic substrate is dependent on the formation of a calcified thallus. However, this important process of skeletal carbonate formation is not well understood.

The role of chitin-rich skeletal organic matrix on the crystallization of calcium carbonate in the crustose coralline alga Leptophytum foecundum.

The organic matrix (OM) contained in marine calcifiers has a key role in the regulation of crystal deposition, such as crystalline structure, initiation of mineralization, inhibition, and biological/environmental control. However, the functional properties of the chitin-rich skeletal organic matrix on the biological aspect of crystallization in crustose coralline algae have not yet been investigated. Hence, the characterization of organic matrices in the biomineralization process of this species was studied to understand the functions of these key components for structural formation and mineralization of calcium carbonate crystals.

Expanded algal cultivation can reverse key planetary boundary transgressions.

Humanity is degrading multiple ecosystem services, potentially irreversibly. Two of the most important human impacts are excess agricultural nutrient loading in our fresh and estuarine waters and excess carbon dioxide in our oceans and atmosphere. Large-scale global intervention is required to slow, halt, and eventually reverse these stresses.

Multiple phases of mg-calcite in crustose coralline algae suggest caution for temperature proxy and ocean acidification assessment: lessons from the ultrastructure and biomineralization in Phymatolithon (Rhodophyta, Corallinales).

Magnesium content, strongly correlated with temperature, has been developed as a climate archive for the late Holocene without considering anatomical controls on Mg content. In this paper, we explore the ultrastructure and cellular scale Mg-content variations within four species of North Atlantic crust-forming Phymatolithon. The cell wall has radial grains of Mg-calcite, whereas the interfilament (middle lamella) has grains aligned parallel to the filament axis.

Multicentennial record of Labrador Sea primary productivity and sea-ice variability archived in coralline algal barium.

Accelerated warming and melting of Arctic sea-ice has been associated with significant increases in phytoplankton productivity in recent years. Here, utilizing a multiproxy approach, we reconstruct an annually resolved record of Labrador Sea productivity related to sea-ice variability in Labrador, Canada that extends well into the Little Ice Age (LIA; 1646 AD). Barium-to-calcium ratios (Ba/Ca) and carbon isotopes (δC) measured in long-lived coralline algae demonstrate significant correlations to both observational and proxy records of sea-ice variability, and show persistent patterns of co-variability broadly consistent with the timing and phasing of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO).

Amplification of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation associated with the onset of the industrial-era warming.

North Atlantic sea surface temperatures experience variability with a periodicity of 60-80 years that is known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). It has a profound imprint on the global climate system that results in a number of high value societal impacts. However the industrial period, i.

Sequencing type material resolves the identity and distribution of the generitype Lithophyllum incrustans, and related European species L. hibernicum and L. bathyporum (Corallinales, Rhodophyta).

DNA sequences from type material in the nongeniculate coralline genus Lithophyllum were used to unambiguously link some European species names to field-collected specimens, thus providing a great advance over morpho-anatomical identifi-cation. In particular, sequence comparisons of rbcL, COI and psbA genes from field-collected specimens allowed the following conclusion: the generitype species, L. incrustans, occurs mostly as subtidal rhodoliths and crusts on both Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, and not as the common, NE Atlantic, epilithic, intertidal crust reported in the literature.

DNA sequencing, anatomy, and calcification patterns support a monophyletic, subarctic, carbonate reef-forming Clathromorphum (Hapalidiaceae, Corallinales, Rhodophyta).

For the first time, morpho-anatomical characters that were congruent with DNA sequence data were used to characterize several genera in Hapalidiaceae-the major eco-engineers of Subarctic carbonate ecosystems. DNA sequencing of three genes (SSU, rbcL, ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit gene and psbA, photosystem II D1 protein gene), along with patterns of cell division, cell elongation, and calcification supported a monophyletic Clathromorphum. Two characters were diagnostic for this genus: (i) cell division, elongation, and primary calcification occurred only in intercalary meristematic cells and in a narrow vertical band (1-2 μm wide) resulting in a "meristem split" and (ii) a secondary calcification of interfilament crystals was also produced.

Evolution of the Northern Rockweed, Fucus distichus, in a Regime of Glacial Cycling: Implications for Benthic Algal Phylogenetics.

Northern hemisphere rockweeds (Fucus) are thought to have evolved in the North Pacific and then spread to the North Atlantic following the opening of the Bering Strait. They have dispersed and widely speciated in the North Atlantic and its tributary seas. Fucus distichus is likely near the ancestral member of this genus, and studies have shown that there are several species/subspecies in this complex (i.

Arctic sea-ice decline archived by multicentury annual-resolution record from crustose coralline algal proxy.

Northern Hemisphere sea ice has been declining sharply over the past decades and 2012 exhibited the lowest Arctic summer sea-ice cover in historic times. Whereas ongoing changes are closely monitored through satellite observations, we have only limited data of past Arctic sea-ice cover derived from short historical records, indirect terrestrial proxies, and low-resolution marine sediment cores. A multicentury time series from extremely long-lived annual increment-forming crustose coralline algal buildups now provides the first high-resolution in situ marine proxy for sea-ice cover.

Algal turf scrubber (ATS) floways on the Great Wicomico River, Chesapeake Bay: productivity, algal community structure, substrate and chemistry(1).

Two Algal Turf Scrubber (ATS) units were deployed on the Great Wicomico River (GWR) for 22 months to examine the role of substrate in increasing algal productivity and nutrient removal. The yearly mean productivity of flat ATS screens was 15.4 g · m(-2)  · d(-1) .

Coralline algal barium as indicator for 20th century northwestern North Atlantic surface ocean freshwater variability.

During the past decades climate and freshwater dynamics in the northwestern North Atlantic have undergone major changes. Large-scale freshening episodes, related to polar freshwater pulses, have had a strong influence on ocean variability in this climatically important region. However, little is known about variability before 1950, mainly due to the lack of long-term high-resolution marine proxy archives.

MESOPHYLLUM SPHAERICUM SP. NOV. (CORALLINALES, RHODOPHYTA): A NEW MAËRL-FORMING SPECIES FROM THE NORTHEAST ATLANTIC(1).

Mesophyllum sphaericum sp. nov. is described based on spherical maërl individuals (up to 10 cm) collected in a shallow subtidal maërl bed in Galicia (NW Spain).

THE BIOGEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN OF ARCTIC ENDEMIC SEAWEEDS: A THERMOGEOGRAPHIC VIEW(1).

The Arctic is geologically and biogeographically young, and the origin of its seaweed flora has been widely debated. The Arctic littoral biogeographic region dates from the latest Tertiary and Pleistocene. Following the opening of Bering Strait, about 3.

Effect of immobilization and concurrent exposure to a pulse-modulated microwave field on core body temperature, plasma ACTH and corticosteroid, and brain ornithine decarboxylase, Fos and Jun mRNA.

Exposure of humans and rodents to radiofrequency (RF) cell phone fields has been reported to alter a number of stress- related parameters. To study this potential relationship in more detail, tube-restrained immobilized Fischer 344 rats were exposed in the near field in a dose-dependent manner to pulse-modulated (11 packets/s) digital cell phone microwave fields at 1.6 GHz in accordance with the Iridium protocol.

Spontaneous and nitrosourea-induced primary tumors of the central nervous system in Fischer 344 rats exposed to frequency-modulated microwave fields.

In a 2-year bioassay, we exposed Fischer 344 rats to a frequency-modulated (FM) signal (836.55 MHz +/- 12.5 KHz deviation) simulating radiofrequency exposures in the head of users of hand-held mobile phones.

Spontaneous and nitrosourea-induced primary tumors of the central nervous system in Fischer 344 rats chronically exposed to 836 MHz modulated microwaves.

We have tested an 836.55 MHz field with North American Digital Cellular (NADC) modulation in a 2-year animal bioassay that included fetal exposure. In offspring of pregnant Fischer 344 rats, we tested both spontaneous tumorigenicity and the incidence of induced central nervous system (CNS) tumors after a single dose of the carcinogen ethylnitrosourea (ENU) in utero, followed by intermittent digital-phone field exposure for 24 months.

Focus formation of C3H/10T1/2 cells and exposure to a 836.55 MHz modulated radiofrequency field.

Disruption of communication between transformed cells and normal cells is involved in tumor promotion. We have tested the hypothesis that exposures to radiofrequency (RF) fields using a form of digital modulation (TDMA) and a chemical tumor promoter, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), are copromoters that enhance focus formation of transformed cells in coculture with parental C3H/10T1/2 murine fibroblasts. RF field exposures did not influence TPA's dose-dependent promotion of focus formation in coculture.

DNA synthesis and cell proliferation in C6 glioma and primary glial cells exposed to a 836.55 MHz modulated radiofrequency field.

We have tested the hypothesis that modulated radiofrequency (RF) fields may act as a tumor-promoting agent by altering DNA synthesis, leading to increased cell proliferation. In vitro tissue cultures of transformed and normal rat glial cells were exposed to an 836.55 MHz, packet-modulated RF field at three power densities: 0.

Exposure of nerve growth factor-treated PC12 rat pheochromocytoma cells to a modulated radiofrequency field at 836.55 MHz: effects on c-jun and c-fos expression.

Rat PC12 pheochromocytoma cells have been treated with nerve growth factor and then exposed to athermal levels of a packet-modulated radiofrequency field at 836.55 MHz. This signal was produced by a prototype time-domain multiple-access (TDMA) transmitter that conforms to the North American digital cellular telephone standard.

Mechanical vibration in "double-wound" magnetic field exposure coils.

It has been suggested that "double-wound" (bifilar) exposure coils are capable of producing a sham environment in which hum and vibration will be "similar" to the field-exposed condition. We found by direct measurements in a bifilar coil system that vibration amplitude in sham and exposed conditions differed by a factor of 50 when our test system was driven at B = 10 mT. We also found that the normal laboratory environment can include vibrations of an intensity similar to that produced by the exposure system, although not necessarily of similar spectral distribution.

Extremely-low-frequency magnetic fields disrupt rhythmic slow activity in rat hippocampal slices.

Several studies have indicated that weak, extremely-low-frequency (ELF; 1-100 Hz) magnetic fields affect brain electrical activity and memory processes in man and laboratory animals. Our studies sought to determine whether ELF magnetic fields could couple directly with brain tissue and affect neuronal activity in vitro. We used rat hippocampal slices to study field effects on a specific brain activity known as rhythmic slow activity (RSA), or theta rhythm, which occurs in 7-15 s bursts in the hippocampus during memory functions.