Immunosuppression of aquatic organisms exposed to elevated levels of manganese: From global to molecular perspective.

Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace metal for all organisms. However, in excess it causes toxic effects but the impact on aquatic environments has so far been highly overlooked. Manganese is abundant both in costal and deep sea sediments and becomes bioavailable (Mn) during redox conditions.

Alteration of host-pathogen interactions in the wake of climate change - Increasing risk for shellfish associated infections?

The potential for climate-related spread of infectious diseases through marine systems has been highlighted in several reports. With this review we want to draw attention to less recognized mechanisms behind vector-borne transmission pathways to humans. We have focused on how the immune systems of edible marine shellfish, the blue mussels and Norway lobsters, are affected by climate related environmental stressors.

Motoric impairment following manganese exposure in asteroid echinoderms.

In the oceans, naturally occurring manganese (Mn) is released from the sediments during events of hypoxia. While neuro- and immuno-toxic effects of bioavailable manganese are well documented for crustaceans, studies of similar effects of manganese on other marine invertebrates are comparatively few. Here, we developed a new functional test "the repeated turning assay" to investigate if manganese exposure at ∼12 mg L(-1) affected motoric behaviour of two asteroid echinoderms, the Common sea star, Asterias rubens, and the Black brittle star, Ophiocomina nigra.

Ocean acidification and host-pathogen interactions: blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, encountering Vibrio tubiashii.

Ocean acidification (OA) can shift the ecological balance between interacting organisms. In this study, we have used a model system to illustrate the interaction between a calcifying host organism, the blue mussel Mytilus edulis and a common bivalve bacterial pathogen, Vibrio tubiashii, with organisms being exposed to a level of acidification projected to occur by the end of the 21st century. OA exposures of the mussels were carried out in relative long-term (4 months) and short-term (4 days) experiments.

Stress biology and immunology in Nephrops norvegicus.

The Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus lives at low-light depths, in muddy substrata of high organic content where water salinities are high and fluctuations in temperature are moderate. In this environment, the lobsters are naturally exposed to a number of potential stressors, many of them as a result of the surficial breakdown of organic material in the sediment. This process (early diagenesis) creates a heterogeneous environment with temporal and spatial fluctuations in a number of compounds such as oxygen, ammonia, metals, and hydrogen sulphide.

Dynamics of seagrass meadows on the Swedish Skagerrak coast.

Seagrasses have declined in many places around the world, and the Swedish Skagerrak coast is no exception. Between the 1980s and 2000, the cover of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) on the Swedish Skagerrak coast decreased about 60%.

Manganese induced apoptosis in haematopoietic cells of Nephrops norvegicus (L.).

Manganese (Mn) is highly abundant as MnO2 in marine sediments. During hypoxia in bottom waters, the reduced bioavailable fraction of manganese, Mn2+, increases. Thereby, Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus, can experience concentrations up to 1000 times normoxic levels.

Manganese induced immune suppression of the lobster, Nephrops norvegicus.

Manganese (Mn) is one of the most abundant elements on earth, particularly in the soft bottom sediments of the oceans. As a micronutrient Mn is essential in the metabolic processes of organisms. However, at high concentrations the metal becomes a neurotoxin with well-documented effects.

Manganese accumulation by the antennule of the Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus (L.) as a biomarker of hypoxic events.

In laboratory tests, manganese accumulation by the appendages of the sediment burrowing Norway lobster. Nephrops norvegicus (L.) (including the lateral antennules) was approximately three times greater [600 microg Mn g(-1) (dry weight) after 5 days in 20 mg Mn l(-1)] than that by the carapace.