1,815 results match your criteria: "Alfred Wegener Institute[Affiliation]"

Recent methane surges reveal heightened emissions from tropical inundated areas.

Nat Commun

December 2024

Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China.

Record breaking atmospheric methane growth rates were observed in 2020 and 2021 (15.2±0.5 and 17.

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Although the symbiotic partnership between corals and algal endosymbionts has been extensively explored, interactions between corals, their algal endosymbionts and microbial associates are still less understood. Screening the response of natural microbial consortiums inside corals can aid in exploiting them as markers for dysbiosis interactions inside the coral holobiont. The coral microbiome includes archaea, bacteria, fungi, and viruses hypothesized to play a pivotal vital role in coral health and tolerance to heat stress condition via different physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms.

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Increasing frequencies of heatwaves threaten marine ectotherm species but not all alike. In exposed habitats, some species rely on a higher capacity for passive tolerance at higher temperatures, thereby extending time-dependent survival limits. Here we assess how the involvement of the cardiovascular system in extended tolerance at the margins of the thermal performance curve is dependent on warming rate.

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Background: The Antarctic krill Euphausia superba is a keystone species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem. This crustacean has an ancestral clock whose main components have been identified and characterized in the past few years. However, the second feedback loop, modulating clock gene expression through two transcription factors, VRI and PDP1, has yet to be described.

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Migratory animals rely on multiple sites during their annual cycles. Deteriorating conditions at any site can have population-level consequences, with long-distance migrants seen as especially susceptible to such changes. Reduced adult survival caused by persecution at non-breeding sites has been suggested a major reason for the catastrophic decline of a formerly abundant, long-distance migratory songbird, the Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola.

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Knowledge about seafloor depth, or bathymetry, is crucial for various marine activities, including scientific research, offshore industry, safety of navigation, and ocean exploration. Mapping the central Arctic Ocean is challenging due to the presence of perennial sea ice, which limits data collection to icebreakers, submarines, and drifting ice stations. The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) was initiated in 1997 with the goal of updating the Arctic Ocean bathymetric portrayal.

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Microplastic (MP) pollution has reached the remotest areas of the globe, including the polar regions. In the Arctic Ocean, MPs have been detected in ice, snow, water, sediment, and biota, but their temporal dynamics remain poorly understood. To better understand the transport pathways and drivers of MP pollution in this fragile environment, this study aims to assess MPs (≥ 11 μm) in sediment trap samples collected at the HAUSGARTEN observatory (Fram Strait) from September 2019 to July 2021.

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Effects of perfluorooctanoic acid and nano titanium dioxide on the immune response and energy allocation in Mytilus coruscus.

Chemosphere

December 2024

International Research Center for Marine Biosciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China; Marine Biomedical Science and Technology Innovation Platform of Lin-gang Special Area, Shanghai, 201306, China. Electronic address:

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) functions as a surfactant, while nano-titanium dioxide (nano-TiO) serves as an antibacterial agent. These substances are extensively utilized in industrial production and, upon release into aquatic environments, pose significant threats to the viability and development of marine organisms. However, research into the effects of PFOA and nano-TiO on the immune functions and cellular energy allocation (CEA) of bivalves remains limited.

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Gliomas are primary malignant brain tumors with a typically poor prognosis, exhibiting significant heterogeneity across different cancer types. Each glioma type possesses distinct molecular characteristics determining patient prognosis and therapeutic options. This study aims to explore the molecular complexity of gliomas at the transcriptome level, employing a comprehensive approach grounded in network discovery.

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Sediment reworking by benthic infauna, namely bioturbation, is of pivotal importance in expansive soft-sediment environments such as the Wadden Sea. Bioturbating fauna facilitate ecosystem functions such as bentho-pelagic coupling and sediment nutrient remineralization capacities. Yet, these benthic fauna are expected to be profoundly affected by current observed rising sea temperatures.

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In 2023, the global mean temperature soared to almost 1.5K above the pre-industrial level, surpassing the previous record by about 0.17K.

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Circumpolar and Regional Seascape Drivers of Genomic Variation in a Southern Ocean Octopus.

Mol Ecol

December 2024

Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Understanding how ecological, environmental and geographic features influence population genetic patterns provides crucial insights into a species' evolutionary history, as well as their vulnerability or resilience under climate change. In the Southern Ocean, population genetic variation is influenced across multiple spatial scales ranging from circum-Antarctic, which encompasses the entire continent, to regional, with varying levels of geographic separation. However, comprehensive analyses testing the relative importance of different environmental and geographic variables on genomic variation across these scales are generally lacking in the Southern Ocean.

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Arctic shorelines are vulnerable to climate change impacts as sea level rises, permafrost thaws, storms intensify, and sea ice thins. Seventy-five years of aerial and satellite observations have established coastal erosion as an increasing Arctic hazard. However, other hazards at play-for instance, the cumulative impact that sea-level rise and permafrost thaw subsidence will have on permafrost shorelines-have received less attention, preventing assessments of these processes' impacts compared to and combined with coastal erosion.

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The value of information in predicting harmful algal blooms.

J Environ Manage

November 2024

Bielefeld University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Universitätsstraße 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany; Helmholtz-Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB), Im Technologiepark 5, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany; Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW, Leipziger Straße 70/71, 06108 Halle (Saale), Germany.

Environmental decision-making is inherently subject to uncertainty. However, decisions are often urgent, and whether to take direct action or invest in collecting additional data beforehand is pervasive. To make this trade-off explicit, the value of information (VoI) theory offers a powerful decision analytic tool to quantify the expected benefit of resolving uncertainty in a decision context.

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The Hunga Tonga-Hunga/Hunga-Ha'apai eruption on January 15, 2022 sent off a plume of ash material up to the stratosphere and triggered a meteotsunami and barometric pressure pulse that rippled through the atmosphere and oceans all around the world. The nature of the volcanic event and its global impacts on the oceans, atmosphere, lithosphere and the cryosphere are a matter of debate. Here we present a first overview of the time travel of the sound atmospheric pressure wave through the Antarctic continent based on in situ measurements, which represented a unique event observed through the polar ice sheet during the instrumental meteorological era.

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The ice-covered period of large Arctic rivers is shortening. To what extent will this affect biogeochemical processing of nutrients? Here we reveal, with silicon isotopes (δSi), a key winter pathway for nutrients under river ice. During colder winter phases in the Lena River catchment, conditions are met for frazil ice accumulation, which creates microzones.

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Recent emergence of Arctic atlantification dominated by climate warming.

Sci Adv

November 2024

Key Laboratory of Ocean Observation and Forecasting and Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China.

Article Synopsis
  • The Arctic Ocean's Eurasian Basin experienced significant atlantification in the 2010s, leading to warmer Atlantic Water and increased salinity, impacting the climate and marine life.
  • The main factor driving this atlantification was a decline in Arctic sea ice, while the atmospheric Arctic Dipole and positive Arctic Oscillation played minor roles.
  • Changes in atmospheric circulation over the Greenland Sea attempted to cool the Atlantic Water layer, but these effects were overridden by the warming from reduced sea ice.
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Human population dynamics and their drivers are not well understood, especially over the long term and on large scales. Here, we estimate demographic growth trajectories from 9 to 3 ka BP across the entire globe by employing summed probability distributions of radiocarbon dates. Our reconstruction reveals multicentennial growth cycles on all six inhabited continents, which exhibited matching dominant frequencies and phase relations.

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Article Synopsis
  • Climate change is altering habitats in the Arctic Ocean, affecting migrating baleen whales like blue and fin whales, leading to changes in their range and presence in Arctic waters.
  • A study using passive acoustic monitoring in Fram Strait from 2012 to 2021 reveals that blue whales are primarily present from July to October, with some winter activity, while fin whales peak in mid-summer to autumn with some winter and sporadic spring presence.
  • Environmental factors such as zooplankton mass and sea surface temperature influence the acoustic presence of blue and fin whales, with no significant trends in the timing of their presence over the years, indicating Fram Strait is an important feeding ground for these species.
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Biodiversity and Hemolytic Toxicity of the Genus (Dinophyceae) in the Beibu Gulf, China.

Mar Drugs

November 2024

Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China.

Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on the biodiversity of a dinoflagellate genus in the Beibu Gulf, identifying several strains associated with harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Western Pacific Ocean.
  • Researchers utilized light and scanning electron microscopy alongside genetic sequencing techniques (LSU rDNA and ITS) to morphologically characterize and phylogenetically analyze six strains, discovering two distinct ribotypes and one new ribotype.
  • Notable findings include the morphological characteristics of the strains, the identification of a new ribotype, and the absence of hemolytic toxicity in some strains, which enhances our understanding of dinoflagellate species and their potential impacts in the region.
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Offshore wind farms (OWFs) pose new anthropogenic pressures on the marine environment as the erosion of turbine blades release organic and inorganic substances with potential consequences for marine life. In the present study, possible effects of the released particles and their chemical constituents on the metabolic profile of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, were investigated, utilizing H NMR spectroscopy. In the lab, mussels were exposed for 7 and 14 days to different concentrations (10 and 40 mg L) of microplastic (MP) particles which were derived from cryo-milled rotor blade coatings and core materials (glass fiber polymer, GFP).

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Evolutionary genomics of the emergence of brown algae as key components of coastal ecosystems.

Cell

November 2024

Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Algal Genetics Group, Integrative Biology of Marine Models Laboratory, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, France. Electronic address:

Brown seaweeds are keystone species of coastal ecosystems, often forming extensive underwater forests, and are under considerable threat from climate change. In this study, analysis of multiple genomes has provided insights across the entire evolutionary history of this lineage, from initial emergence, through later diversification of the brown algal orders, down to microevolutionary events at the genus level. Emergence of the brown algal lineage was associated with a marked gain of new orthologous gene families, enhanced protein domain rearrangement, increased horizontal gene transfer events, and the acquisition of novel signaling molecules and key metabolic pathways, the latter notably related to biosynthesis of the alginate-based extracellular matrix, and halogen and phlorotannin biosynthesis.

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Background: Over their evolutionary history, corals have adapted to sea level rise and increasing ocean temperatures, however, it is unclear how quickly they may respond to rapid change. Genome structure and genetic diversity contained within may highlight their adaptive potential.

Results: We present chromosome-scale genome assemblies and linkage maps of the critically endangered Atlantic acroporids, Acropora palmata and A.

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Article Synopsis
  • Evidence of Antarctic ozone recovery has been observed, but Arctic ozone recovery remains uncertain 25 years after the peak of ozone-depleting substances.
  • A Dynamic Linear Model was used to analyze data from ozonesondes over 20-year periods (1994-2022), revealing no detectable recovery in lower Arctic stratospheric ozone.
  • Significant positive trends were found before 2017 at some measurement stations, but trends since 2019 have been notably negative, underscoring the need for ongoing monitoring of Arctic ozone levels.
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A new micro-destructive technique for high-resolution water isotope analysis of ice samples using a Laser Ablation (LA) system coupled with a Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer (CRDS) is presented. This method marks the first time water isotope analysis is conducted directly on the ice, bypassing the traditional steps of melting and vaporizing the ice sample, thanks to the direct transition of ice into water vapour through the laser ablation process. A nanosecond ArF laser ablation system (193 nm) with an integrated two-volume ablation chamber was successfully coupled to a CRDS analyzer, utilizing nitrogen as the carrier gas.

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