Bacterial and Symbiodiniaceae communities' variation in corals with distinct traits and geographical distribution.

Coral microbiomes play crucial roles in holobiont homeostasis and adaptation. The host's ability to populate broad ecological niches and to cope with environmental changes seems to be related to the flexibility of the coral microbiome. By means of high-throughput DNA sequencing we characterized simultaneously both bacterial (16S rRNA) and Symbiodiniaceae (ITS2) communities of four reef-building coral species (Mussismilia braziliensis, Mussismilia harttii, Montastraea cavernosa, and Favia gravida) that differ in geographic distribution and niche specificity.

Checklist of marine macroalgae in two contiguous Marine Protected Areas in the south-western Atlantic.

Background: The Costa das Algas Environmental Protection Area (EPA) and the Santa Cruz Wildlife Refuge (WR), located in the Espírito Santo Continental Shelf, Brazil, are outstanding marine protected areas due to their high biodiversity, particularly of macroalgae. Together, these two relatively small protected areas (1,150 and 177 km, respectively) harbour about a quarter of all macroalgal species recorded in Brazil.The checklist presented herein updates the algal flora of these two protected areas with data obtained until 2019.

Population dynamics of dominant dinoflagellate species in the North Sea: in situ growth rates, photosynthetic potential, and losses due to parasitism.

In the North Sea, Tripos and Dinophysis are commonly occurring mixotrophic planktonic dinoflagellate genera. In order to understand their bloom dynamics, an occurring bloom dominated by T. furca and D.

Precision and accuracy of common coral reef sampling protocols revisited with photogrammetry.

The rapid decline of coral reefs calls for cost-effective benthic cover data to improve reef health forecasts, policy building, management responses and evaluation. Reef monitoring has been largely based on divers' observations along transects, and secondarily on quadrat-based protocols, video and photographic records. However, the accuracy and precision of the most common sampling approaches are not yet fully understood.

Incised valleys drive distinctive oceanographic processes and biological assemblages within rhodolith beds.

Continental shelves encompass gently sloped seascapes that are highly productive and intensively exploited for natural resources. Islands, reefs and other emergent or quasi-emergent features punctuate these shallow (<100 m) seascapes and are well known drivers of increased biomass and biodiversity, as well as predictors of fishing and other human uses. On the other hand, relict mesoscale geomorphological features that do not represent navigation hazards, such as incised valleys (IVs), remain poorly charted.

Physiological response of Symbiodiniaceae to thermal stress: Reactive oxygen species, photosynthesis, and relative cell size.

This study investigates the physiological response to heat stress of three genetically different Symbiodiniaceae strains isolated from the scleractinian coral Mussismilia braziliensis, endemic of the Abrolhos Bank, Brazil. Cultures of two Symbiodinium sp. and one Cladocopium sp.

Coral growth bands recorded trace elements associated with the Fundão dam collapse.

In November 2015, the collapse of the Fundão dam (Minas Gerais, Brazil) carried over 40 × 10 m of iron ore tailings into the Doce river and caused massive environmental and socioeconomic impacts across the watershed. The downstream mudslide scavenged contaminants deposited in the riverbed, and several potentially toxic elements were further released through reduction and solubilization of Fe oxy-hydroxides under estuarine conditions. A turbidity plume was formed off the river mouth, but the detection of contaminants' dispersion in the ocean remains poorly assessed.

Decadal (2006-2018) dynamics of Southwestern Atlantic's largest turbid zone reefs.

Tropical reefs are declining rapidly due to climate changes and local stressors such as water quality deterioration and overfishing. The so-called marginal reefs sustain significant coral cover and growth but are dominated by fewer species adapted to suboptimal conditions to most coral species. However, the dynamics of marginal systems may diverge from that of the archetypical oligotrophic tropical reefs, and it is unclear whether they are more or less susceptible to anthropogenic stress.

Tropical rhodolith beds are a major and belittled reef fish habitat.

Understanding habitat-level variation in community structure provides an informed basis for natural resources' management. Reef fishes are a major component of tropical marine biodiversity, but their abundance and distribution are poorly assessed beyond conventional SCUBA diving depths. Based on a baited-video survey of fish assemblages in Southwestern Atlantic's most biodiverse region we show that species composition responded mainly to the two major hard-bottom megahabitats (reefs and rhodolith beds) and to the amount of light reaching the bottom.

Acidification-induced cellular changes in Symbiodinium isolated from Mussismilia braziliensis.

Dinoflagellates from the Symbiodiniaceae family and corals have an ecologically important endosymbiotic relationship. Scleractinian corals cannot survive for long periods without their symbionts. These algae, also known as zooxanthellae, on the other hand, thrives outside the coral cells.

Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral (Verril, 1867).

Most coral reefs have recently experienced acute changes in benthic community structure, generally involving dominance shifts from slow-growing hard corals to fast-growing benthic invertebrates and fleshy photosynthesizers. Besides overfishing, increased nutrification and sedimentation are important drivers of this process, which is well documented at landscape scales in the Caribbean and in the Indo-Pacific. However, small-scale processes that occur at the level of individual organisms remain poorly explored.

Taxonomic and Functional Metagenomic Signature of Turfs in the Abrolhos Reef System (Brazil).

Turfs are widespread assemblages (consisting of microbes and algae) that inhabit reef systems. They are the most abundant benthic component in the Abrolhos reef system (Brazil), representing greater than half the coverage of the entire benthic community. Their presence is associated with a reduction in three-dimensional coral reef complexity and decreases the habitats available for reef biodiversity.

Environmental and Sanitary Conditions of Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro.

Guanabara Bay is the second largest bay in the coast of Brazil, with an area of 384 km(2). In its surroundings live circa 16 million inhabitants, out of which 6 million live in Rio de Janeiro city, one of the largest cities of the country, and the host of the 2016 Olympic Games. Anthropogenic interference in Guanabara Bay area started early in the XVI century, but environmental impacts escalated from 1930, when this region underwent an industrialization process.

BaMBa: towards the integrated management of Brazilian marine environmental data.

A new open access database, Brazilian Marine Biodiversity (BaMBa) (https://marinebiodiversity.lncc.br), was developed in order to maintain large datasets from the Brazilian marine environment.

Use of a marine microbial community as inoculum for biomethane production.

Marine substrates are prominent candidates for the production of biofuels, especially for biogas, which is a well-established technology that accepts different types of substrates for its production. However, the use of marine substrates in bioreactors may cause inhibition of methanogenic bacteria due to the addition of seasalts. Here, we explore a simple and economically viable way to circumvent the problem of inoculum inhibition.

Microbial and sponge loops modify fish production in phase-shifting coral reefs.

Shifts from coral to algae dominance of corals reefs have been correlated to fish biomass loss and increased microbial metabolism. Here we investigated reef benthic and planktonic primary production, benthic dissolved organic carbon (DOC) release and bacterial growth efficiency in the Abrolhos Bank, South Atlantic. Benthic DOC release rates are higher while water column bacterial growth efficiency is lower at impacted reefs.

Multiple Symbiodinium Strains Are Hosted by the Brazilian Endemic Corals Mussismilia spp.

Corals of genus Mussismilia (Mussidae) are one of the oldest extant clades of scleractinians. These Neogene relicts are endemic to the Brazilian coast and represent the main reef-building corals in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean (SAO). The relatively low-diversity/high-endemism SAO coralline systems are under rapid decline from emerging diseases and other local and global stressors, but have not been severely affected by coral bleaching.

Consequences of increased temperature and acidification on bacterioplankton community composition during a mesocosm spring bloom in the Baltic Sea.

Despite the paramount importance of bacteria for biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nutrients, little is known about the potential effects of climate change on these key organisms. The consequences of the projected climate change on bacterioplankton community dynamics were investigated in a Baltic Sea spring phytoplankton bloom mesocosm experiment by increasing temperature with 3°C and decreasing pH by approximately 0.4 units via CO₂ addition in a factorial design.

Effects from log-yard stormwater runoff on the microalgae Scenedesmus subspicatus: intra-storm magnitude and variability.

This paper describes the effects posed by stormwater runoff from an industrial log-yard on the microalgae Scenedesmus subspicatus. The effects of stormwater runoff sampled during two rain events were determined by exposing S. subspicatus cells to different concentrations (% v:v) of each sample.

Chloroplast DNA content in Dinophysis (Dinophyceae) from different cell cycle stages is consistent with kleptoplasty.

Kleptoplasty is the retention of plastids obtained from ingested algal prey, which can remain temporarily functional and be used for photosynthesis by the predator. With a new approach based on cell cycle analysis, we have addressed the question of whether the toxic, bloom-forming dinoflagellate Dinophysis norvegica practice kleptoplasty or if they replicate their own plastid DNA. Dividing (G2) and non-dividing (G1) D.

Ocean urea fertilization for carbon credits poses high ecological risks.

The proposed plan for enrichment of the Sulu Sea, Philippines, a region of rich marine biodiversity, with thousands of tonnes of urea in order to stimulate algal blooms and sequester carbon is flawed for multiple reasons. Urea is preferentially used as a nitrogen source by some cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, many of which are neutrally or positively buoyant. Biological pumps to the deep sea are classically leaky, and the inefficient burial of new biomass makes the estimation of a net loss of carbon from the atmosphere questionable at best.