Enhancing seagrass restoration success: Detecting and quantifying mechanisms of wave-induced dislodgement.

Seagrass meadows are one of the most productive ecosystems of the world. Seagrass enhances biodiversity, sequesters CO and functions as a coastal protection measure by mitigating waves and enhancing sedimentation. However, populations are declining in many regions and natural recolonization of bare sediment beds is protracted and unlikely.

The effects of primary and secondary bacterial exposure on the seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) immune response.

Evolutionary adaptations in the Syngnathidae teleost family (seahorses, pipefish and seadragons) culminated in an array of spectacular morphologies, key immune gene losses, and the enigmatic male pregnancy. In seahorses, genome modifications associated with immunoglobulins, complement, and major histocompatibility complex (MHC II) pathway components raise questions concerning their immunological efficiency and the evolution of compensatory measures that may act in their place. In this investigation heat-killed bacteria (Vibrio aestuarianus and Tenacibaculum maritimum) were used in a two-phased experiment to assess the immune response dynamics of Hippocampus erectus.