High polychaete diversity in the Gulf of Guinea (West African continental margin): The influence of local and intermediate scale ecological factors on a background of regional patterns.

The Tropical East Atlantic is one of the least studied areas in the world's oceans, and thus a blank spot on the map of marine studies. Shaped by dynamic currents and shifting water masses, it is a key region in discussions about marine ecology, biodiversity, and zoogeography, while facing numerous, poorly understood, and unmonitored threats associated with climate change, acidification, and pollution. Polychaete diversity was assessed along four transects along the Ghana coast, from shallow to deep bottoms and distributed along the whole upwelling marine ecoregion.

Modelling of polychaete functional diversity: Large marine ecosystem response to multiple natural factors and human impacts on the West African continental margin.

Polychaetes are one of the most diverse groups of marine organisms, characterized by high species richness, diversity of feeding guilds, life styles, and mobility types. Marine annelids are useful indicators of ecosystem responses to changes in environmental conditions. The aim of our study was to assess the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on functional diversity of polychaete communities in the Gulf of Guinea, a large marine ecosystem (LME) located in West Africa.

Distribution and possible sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metals in marine surface sediments off northern Mozambique.

Liquid natural gas (LNG) exploration has started off the coast of northern Mozambique, in the Rovuma Basin, East Africa. In advance of gas production, we collected in 2018 over 100 samples of surface sediments from 40 locations in the pristine and exploration areas at water depths of 5-2000 m. We have determined the levels of hydrocarbons (total hydrocarbon contents (THC) and 49 individual PAHs), heavy metals, arsenic, grain size and total organic carbon.

First record of Tanaidacea (Crustacea) from a deep-sea coral reef in the Gulf of Guinea.

Four undescribed species of Tanaidacea were discovered during a baseline monitoring program conducted off the coast of Ghana. The specimens came from a deep-water reef largely composed of the ahermatypic coral, Lophelia pertusa. The tanaidacean material was collected during November 2012 onboard the RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen using a van Veen grab in depths of between 375 and 386 m.

Allosteric control in Limulus polyphemus hemocyanin: functional relevance of interactions between hexamers.

Hemocyanin of the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus is composed of 48 oxygen-binding subunits, which are arranged in eight hexameric building blocks. Allosteric interactions in this oligomeric protein have been examined by measurement of high-precision oxygen-equilibrium curves, using an automated Imai cell. Several models were compared in numerical analysis of the data.