Cognitive warfare: a conceptual analysis of the NATO ACT cognitive warfare exploratory concept.

This study evaluates NATO ACT's cognitive warfare concept from a political science perspective, exploring its utility beyond military applications. Despite its growing presence in scholarly discourse, the concept's interdisciplinary nature has hindered a unified definition. By analyzing NATO's framework, developed with input from diverse disciplines and both military and civilian researchers, this paper seeks to assess its applicability to political science.

Can biochemical tracers reveal ontogenetic trophic shift and individual prey selection in white sharks from Guadalupe Island, Northeast Pacific?

Refining the role of apex predators in marine food webs is a necessary step in predicting the consequences of their global decline under the footprint of fishing activities. White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are vulnerable predators, performing large migrations and able to forage on a variety of prey in different habitats. In the Northeast Pacific, juvenile and adult white sharks are found seasonally at the same aggregation sites, such as Guadalupe Island off Mexico.

Combined effects of temperature and diet on the performance of larvae produced by young and old Palaemon serratus females.

Seasonal variations in environmental conditions determine the success of decapod larval development, and females transmit more energy in sub-optimal conditions to maximise the fitness of their offspring. The objective of this study was to focus on the combined effects of temperature (14, 18 and 22 °C) and food quality on the performance of larvae produced by 5 young (0+) and 5 old (I+) Palaemon serratus females. We prepared 3 diets based on Artemia, in decreasing order of total fatty acid content: freshly hatched nauplii (N), unenriched metanauplii (M) and metanauplii enriched with a mixture of microalgae (ME).

Do marine protected areas influence mercury exposure? Insights from a shark community in the tropical Northeast Pacific.

Biomass depletion caused by overfishing is likely to alter the structure of food webs and impact mercury transfer to marine predators. Although marine protected areas (MPAs) are spared from fishing pressure, their influence on biota mercury levels is poorly understood. Here, we used carbon and nitrogen stable isotope compositions as well as mercury concentrations in fin clips to characterize foraging habitat and mercury exposure of a shark community composed of migratory and resident species of the Revillagigedo archipelago, an offshore MPA in the Northeast Pacific off Mexico.

Stomach content and stable isotope analyses provide complementary insights into the trophic ecology of coastal temperate bentho-demersal assemblages under environmental and anthropogenic pressures.

Assessing organic matter fluxes and species interactions in food webs is of main interest to understand the ecological functioning in bays and estuaries characterised by a wide diversity of primary producers and consumers. Demersal fish and cephalopod assemblages were studied across a network of 24 shallow subtidal stations in the bay of Saint-Brieuc for their diversity, stable isotope compositions and stomach contents. The community was composed of 21 taxa, eight species accounting for 94.

Mercury stable isotopes suggest reduced foraging depth in oxygen minimum zones for blue sharks.

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are currently expanding across the global ocean due to climate change, leading to a compression of usable habitat for several marine species. Mercury stable isotope compositions provide a spatially and temporally integrated view of marine predator foraging habitat and its variability with environmental conditions. Here, we analyzed mercury isotopes in blue sharks Prionace glauca from normoxic waters in the northeastern Atlantic and from the world's largest and shallowest OMZ, located in the northeastern Pacific (NEP).

Spatio-temporal patterns in stable isotope composition of a benthic intertidal food web reveal limited influence from salt marsh vegetation and green tide.

Assessing fluxes of matter and energy in food webs within and across benthic habitats is important to understand the ecological functioning in bays and estuaries, where the productivity is favoured by a wide diversity of primary producers. The temporal variability (March vs September 2019) in the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope composition of primary food sources and benthic invertebrates consumers was investigated in a large intertidal area (Western English-Channel, France). The study area is influenced by megatidal conditions and characterised by salt marshes in the sheltered part, and seasonal Ulva spp.

Potential microplastics impacts on African fishing resources.

Microplastic (MP) pollution is increasing worldwide and affecting aquatic fauna in different ways, which endangers current aquatic resources in a still unknown extent. MP-induced threats to marine fauna are critical for developing countries, where waste treatment may be not optimal and coastal communities rely heavily on marine resources for dietary protein. In this study, we assess the importance of MP pollution for African fishing resources.

Foraging depth depicts resource partitioning and contamination level in a pelagic shark assemblage: Insights from mercury stable isotopes.

The decline of shark populations in the world ocean is affecting ecosystem structure and function in an unpredictable way and new ecological information is today needed to better understand the role of sharks in their habitats. In particular, the characterization of foraging patterns is crucial to understand and foresee the evolution of dynamics between sharks and their prey. Many shark species use the mesopelagic area as a major foraging ground but the degree to which different pelagic sharks rely on this habitat remains overlooked.

The Twilight Zone as a Major Foraging Habitat and Mercury Source for the Great White Shark.

The twilight zone contains the largest biomass of the world's ocean. Identifying its role in the trophic supply and contaminant exposure of marine megafauna constitutes a critical challenge in the context of global change. The white shark () is a threatened species with some of the highest concentrations of neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) among marine top predators.

Specific regulations of gill membrane fatty acids in response to environmental variability reveal fitness differences between two suspension-feeding bivalves ( and ).

Bivalves' physiological functions (i.e. growth, reproduction) are influenced by environmental variability that can be concomitant with trophic resource variations in terms of quality and quantity.

Trophic resources and mercury exposure of two silvertip shark populations in the Northeast Pacific Ocean.

Worldwide shark populations have experienced rapid declines over the last decades, mainly due to overfishing. Marine protected areas (MPAs) have thus become an indispensable tool for the protection of these marine predators. Two recently-created MPAs in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, the Revillagigedo National Park and Clipperton Atoll, are characterized by different trophic structures potentially influencing the trophic niche and contaminant exposure of resident sharks in these two sites.

Green macroalgae blooms (Ulva spp.) influence trophic ecology of juvenile flatfish differently in sandy beach nurseries.

Opportunistic green macroalgae blooms increasingly affect coastal areas worldwide. Understanding their impacts on organisms that use this zone, such as juvenile flatfish, is critical. By combining stable isotope data, digestive tract contents and community analyses of flatfish and their potential prey (benthic macroinvertebrates) from two North-East Atlantic sandy beaches (one impacted by blooms and one not), we detected similar and species-specific trophic changes among three co-occurring species (sand sole, plaice and turbot).

Trophic ecology of suspension-feeding bivalves inhabiting a north-eastern Pacific coastal lagoon: Comparison of different biomarkers.

Understanding the nature and origins of food sources supporting coastal lagoon-inhabiting organisms is necessary to evaluate the ecological status of such ecosystems. The trophic ecology of a bivalve species Spondylus crassisquama was studied in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon (Baja California, Mexico), combining stable isotope (SI), fatty acid (FA) and sterol analyses along a transect under oceanic influences. The second objective of the study was to investigate if sterol compositions give complementary information to those obtained from FA and SI.

Stable isotope analyses revealed the influence of foraging habitat on mercury accumulation in tropical coastal marine fish.

Bioaccumulation of toxic metal elements including mercury (Hg) can be highly variable in marine fish species. Metal concentration is influenced by various species-specific physiological and ecological traits, including individual diet composition and foraging habitat. The impact of trophic ecology and habitat preference on Hg accumulation was analyzed through total Hg concentration and stable isotope ratios of carbon (δC) and nitrogen (δN) in the muscle of 132 fish belonging to 23 different species from the Senegalese coast (West Africa), where the marine ecosystem is submitted to nutrient inputs from various sources such as upwelling or rivers.

Trophic ecology influence on metal bioaccumulation in marine fish: Inference from stable isotope and fatty acid analyses.

The link between trophic ecology and metal accumulation in marine fish species was investigated through a multi-tracers approach combining fatty acid (FA) and stable isotope (SI) analyses on fish from two contrasted sites on the coast of Senegal, one subjected to anthropogenic metal effluents and another one less impacted. The concentrations of thirteen trace metal elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sn, U, and Zn) were measured in fish liver. Individuals from each site were classified into three distinct groups according to their liver FA and muscle SI compositions.