Beach morphodynamics modulate the effects of multidirectional habitat loss on population density and size structure of the Atlantic ghost crab Ocypode quadrata.

Sandy beaches are land-sea transitional habitats experiencing 'multidirectional' habitat loss due to coastal developments (e.g. armoring and/or conversion of natural vegetation into manmade structures) and beach erosion.

A scuticociliate causes mass mortality of in the Caribbean Sea.

Echinoderm mass mortality events shape marine ecosystems by altering the dynamics among major benthic groups. The sea urchin , virtually extirpated in the Caribbean in the early 1980s by an unknown cause, recently experienced another mass mortality beginning in January 2022. We investigated the cause of this mass mortality event through combined molecular biological and veterinary pathologic approaches comparing grossly normal and abnormal animals collected from 23 sites, representing locations that were either affected or unaffected at the time of sampling.

Daily environmental variation influences temporal patterns of marine debris deposition along an estuarine outlet in southern Brazil.

The influence of short-term (daily) variation in environmental conditions (rainfall, wind, tide, river flow) on debris accumulation was examined on two beaches at an estuarine outlet. Sampling occurred over 60 consecutive days along two sections (Internal Area, IA; and External Area, EA) of the Paranaguá Estuary Complex's southern outlet, in Paraná, southern Brazil. The IA is sheltered from direct wave action, whereas the EA is more exposed to wave and wind action from the open ocean.

Elevated pCO does not impair performance in autotomised individuals of the intertidal predatory starfish Asterias rubens (Linnaeus, 1758).

The impacts of ocean acidification remain less well-studied in starfish compared to other echinoderm groups. This study examined the combined effects of elevated pCO and arm regeneration on the performance of the intertidal predatory starfish Asterias rubens, as both are predicted to come at a cost to the individual. A two-way factorial experiment (~400 μatm vs ~1000 μatm; autotomised vs non-automised individuals) was used to examine growth rates, lipid content (pyloric caeca and gonads), and calcium content (body wall) in both intact and regenerating arms, as well as subsequent effects on rate of arm regeneration, righting time (behaviour) and mortality over 120 days.

The influence of environmental gradients on individual behaviour: Individual plasticity is consistent across risk and temperature gradients.

The expression of individual behaviour as a function of environmental variation (behavioural plasticity) is recognized as a means for animals to modify their phenotypes in response to changing conditions. Plasticity has been studied extensively in recent years, leading to an accumulation of evidence for behavioural plasticity within natural populations. Despite the recent attention given to studying individual variation in behavioural plasticity, there is still a lack of consensus regarding its causes and constraints.