Pesticides and pharmaceuticals data collected during two consecutive years in a Mediterranean micro-estuary.

The Alexander micro-estuary, located at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, is a typical example of small water bodies that suffer from a combination of urban and agricultural pollution, and overuse of its natural water sources. It is∼6.5 km long, with maximum depth of 3 m and maximum width of 45 m.

Invading bivalves replaced native Mediterranean bivalves, with little effect on the local benthic community.

Unlabelled: The construction of the Suez Canal connected the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, which allowed rapid marine bio-invasion. Over the last century, several bivalve species have invaded the Levantine basin, yet their distribution and impact on the benthic community have not been thoroughly studied. Large-scale benthic surveys along the rocky substrate of the Israeli Mediterranean coastline indicate that invading bivalves, such as , and , now dominate the rocky environment, with densities of tens to hundreds of individuals per m.

Hydrodynamics of sponge pumps and evolution of the sponge body plan.

Sponges are suspension feeders that filter vast amounts of water. Pumping is carried out by flagellated chambers that are connected to an inhalant and exhalant canal system. In 'leucon' sponges with relatively high-pressure resistance due to a complex and narrow canal system, pumping and filtering are only possible owing to the presence of a gasket-like structure (forming a canopy above the collar filters).

Environmental risk dynamics of pesticides toxicity in a Mediterranean micro-estuary.

Pesticides are potentially toxic to aquatic systems, even at low concentration, depending on their individual ecotoxicological properties and their mixture composition. Thus, to evaluate possible ecological stress due to pesticide load, a thorough assessment of the potential toxicity of pesticide mixtures is required. Here we report water discharge and quality data of an eastern Mediterranean micro-estuary (Alexander stream), targeting the temporal distribution of a pesticide mixture.

Size Is the Major Determinant of Pumping Rates in Marine Sponges.

Sponges play an important ecological function in many benthic habitats. They filter large volumes of water, retain suspended particles with high efficiency, and process dissolved compounds. Nevertheless, the factors that regulate sponge pumping rate and its relation to environmental factors have been rarely studied.

A long term physical and biogeochemical database of a hyper-eutrophicated Mediterranean micro-estuary.

Ruppin's Estuarine and Coastal Observatory (RECO) is a Long-Term Ecological Research station positioned on the East Mediterranean shoreline between Tel-Aviv and Haifa, Israel. We present a comprehensive online database and an accompanying website that provides direct access to the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the local coastal marine ecosystem and the Alexander micro estuary. It includes three databases that are updated continuously since 2014: a) In situ stationary sensors data (10 min intervals) of surface and bottom temperature, salinity, oxygen and water level measured at three stations along the estuary.

Author Correction: Surface properties of SAR11 bacteria facilitate grazing avoidance.

In the version of this Letter originally published, the authors incorrectly stated that primers 28F-519R were reported in ref. 54 to underestimate the abundance of SAR11 in the ocean. This statement has now been amended in all versions of the Letter.

Surface properties of SAR11 bacteria facilitate grazing avoidance.

Oceanic ecosystems are dominated by minute microorganisms that play a major role in food webs and biogeochemical cycles . Many microorganisms thrive in the dilute environment due to their capacity to locate, attach to, and use patches of nutrients and organic matter . We propose that some free-living planktonic bacteria have traded their ability to stick to nutrient-rich organic particles for a non-stick cell surface that helps them evade predation by mucous filter feeders.

VacuSIP, an Improved InEx Method for In Situ Measurement of Particulate and Dissolved Compounds Processed by Active Suspension Feeders.

Benthic suspension feeders play essential roles in the functioning of marine ecosystems. By filtering large volumes of water, removing plankton and detritus, and excreting particulate and dissolved compounds, they serve as important agents for benthic-pelagic coupling. Accurately measuring the compounds removed and excreted by suspension feeders (such as sponges, ascidians, polychaetes, bivalves) is crucial for the study of their physiology, metabolism, and feeding ecology, and is fundamental to determine the ecological relevance of the nutrient fluxes mediated by these organisms.

The sponge pump: the role of current induced flow in the design of the sponge body plan.

Sponges are suspension feeders that use flagellated collar-cells (choanocytes) to actively filter a volume of water equivalent to many times their body volume each hour. Flow through sponges is thought to be enhanced by ambient current, which induces a pressure gradient across the sponge wall, but the underlying mechanism is still unknown. Studies of sponge filtration have estimated the energetic cost of pumping to be <1% of its total metabolism implying there is little adaptive value to reducing the cost of pumping by using "passive" flow induced by the ambient current.