Publications by authors named "J D CRAGGS"

Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent, widespread and severe, causing mass coral bleaching and mortality. Natural adaptation may be insufficient to keep pace with climate warming, leading to calls for selective breeding interventions to enhance the ability of corals to survive such heatwaves, i.e.

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Among non-bilaterian animals, a larval apical sensory organ with integrated neurons is only found in cnidarians. Within cnidarians, an apical organ with a ciliary tuft is mainly found in Actiniaria. Whether this apical tuft has evolved independently in Actiniaria or alternatively originated in the common ancestor of Cnidaria and Bilateria and was lost in specific groups is uncertain.

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Study Objectives: Brain regions involved in insomnia and chronic pain are overlapping and diffuse. The interactive role of physiological arousal in associations between insomnia symptoms and neural regions is unknown. This preliminary study examined whether arousal interacted with sleep in associations with gray matter volume of frontal (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex) and temporal (right/left hippocampus) regions in adults with chronic widespread pain and insomnia complaints.

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Large and hyperdiverse marine ecosystems pose significant challenges to biodiversity monitoring. While environmental DNA (eDNA) promises to meet many of these challenges, recent studies suggested that sponges, as "natural samplers" of eDNA, could further streamline the workflow for detecting marine vertebrates. However, beyond pilot studies demonstrating the ability of sponges to capture eDNA, little is known about the dynamics of eDNA particles in sponge tissue, and the effectiveness of the latter compared to water samples.

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Article Synopsis
  • Coral reefs are facing severe threats from climate change, prompting the aquarium community to play a crucial role in conservation efforts, yet many coral species remain unidentified in aquaria, complicating conservation assessments.
  • This study utilizes DNA barcoding alongside traditional morphological methods to identify various coral species in 127 aquarium samples, successfully identifying 44% to species level and offering provisional identifications for 80%.
  • The research highlights limitations in public genomic databases, the necessity of diversifying reference sequences, and proposes a standardized approach for effective species identification to aid both taxonomists and aquarists alike.
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