Integrative use of DNA barcode and morphology reveal high level of diversity in the ornamental fish on the lower Amazon basin.

The Amazon basin is the world's largest hydrographic basin, in terms of both its total area and its species diversity, with more than 2,700 species of fish. Despite this diversity, the data available on the fish fauna of the Amazon basin are still relatively scant and incomplete, in particular from the streams and floodplain lakes of the lower Amazon, which may contain a large proportion of the still undescribed species of the basin. Many of these species are expected to be of interest to the ornamental fish market.

Assessing how restoration can facilitate 30×30 goals for climate-resilient coastal ecosystems in the United States.

Ecosystems globally have reached critical tipping points because of climate change, urbanization, unsustainable resource consumption, and pollution. In response, international agreements have set targets for conserving 30% of global ecosystems and restoring 30% of degraded lands and waters by 2030 (30×30). In 2021, the United States set a target to jointly conserve and restore 30% of US lands and waters by 2030, with a specific goal to restore coastal ecosystems, namely wetlands, seagrasses, coral and oyster reefs, and mangrove and kelp forests, to increase resilience to climate change.

Sea-level rise and extreme Indian Ocean Dipole explain mangrove dieback in the Maldives.

Mangrove forests enhance Small Island Developing States' resilience to climate change, yet in 2020, a mangrove dieback impacted ~ 25% of mangrove-containing islands in the Maldives. Using remote sensing, dendrology and sediment geochemistry, we document a significant decrease in mangrove health post-2020 (NDVI: 0.75 ± 0.

Florida mangrove dieback on a decadal and centennial timescales.

Hurricanes are considered some of the most devastating weather phenomena, causing deaths and destruction along the coast. Mangroves are perceived as natural defenses against coastal hazards. However, mangrove gaps, known as mangrove dieback, have occurred in southwestern Florida.

Experimental characterization of littoral atmospheric acoustics: Concurrent meteorological and acoustic observations.

The aim of this work is to describe a rich set of acoustic transmission loss observations that were completed in a coastal environment. The data library, enumerated in detail and publicly posted, is comprised of pitch-catch acoustic transmission loss measurements along with concurrent high spatial resolution meteorological observations. The meteorological parameters include near-surface temperature profiles, vertical wind speed profiles in the acoustic propagation direction, and significant wave height estimates.

A framework for validating watershed ecosystem service models in the United States using long-term water quality data: Applications with the InVEST Nutrient Delivery (NDR) model in Puerto Rico.

Modeling of watershed Ecosystem Services (ES) processes has increased greatly in recent years, potentially improving environmental management and decision-making by describing the value of nature. ES models may be sensitive to different conditions and, therefore, should ideally be validated against observed data for their use as a decision-support instrument. However, outcomes from such ES modeling are barely validated, making it difficult to assess uncertainties associated with the modeling and justify their actual usefulness to develop generalizable management recommendations.

Seasonality and relative abundance within an elasmobranch assemblage near a major biogeographic divide.

Nearshore waters are utilized by elasmobranchs in various ways, including foraging, reproduction, and migration. Multiple elasmobranch species have been previously documented in the nearshore waters of North Carolina, USA, which has a biogeographic break at Cape Hatteras on the Atlantic coast. However, comprehensive understanding of the elasmobranch community in this region is still lacking.

Effects of damage initiation points of depth-damage function on flood risk assessment.

The flood depth in a structure is a key factor in flood loss models, influencing the estimation of building and contents losses, as well as overall flood risk. Recent studies have emphasized the importance of determining the damage initiation point (DIP) of depth-damage functions, where the flood damage is assumed to initiate with respect to the first-floor height of the building. Here we investigate the effects of DIP selection on the flood risk assessment of buildings located in Special Flood Hazard Areas.

Harnessing ecological theory to enhance ecosystem restoration.

Ecosystem restoration can increase the health and resilience of nature and humanity. As a result, the international community is championing habitat restoration as a primary solution to address the dual climate and biodiversity crises. Yet most ecosystem restoration efforts to date have underperformed, failed, or been burdened by high costs that prevent upscaling.

Hurricanes are limiting the mangrove canopy heights in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mangrove canopy height (MCH) has been described as a leading characteristic of mangrove forests, protecting coastal economic interests from hurricanes. Meanwhile, winter temperature has been considered the main factor controlling the MCH along subtropical coastlines. However, the MCH in Cedar Key, Florida (∼12 m), is significantly higher than in Port Fourchon, Louisiana (∼2.

Theoretical Boundaries of Annual Flood Risk for Single-Family Homes Within the 100-Year Floodplain.

Unlabelled: Special flood hazard areas (SFHAs), defined as having an annual probability of occurrence of 1 percent or above, are used by U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to demarcate areas within which flood insurance purchase is required to secure a mortgage.

Connectivity of floodplain influences riverine carbon outgassing and dissolved carbon transport.

Rivers not only function as a conduit for the delivery of terrestrial constituents to oceans, but they also serve as an essential medium for biogeochemical processing of the constituents. While extensive research has been conducted on carbon transport in many rivers, little is known about carbon transformation in engineered rivers reconnected with their floodplain network. Being the largest distributary of the levee-confined Mississippi River (MR), the Atchafalaya River (AR) carries 25 % of the MR water, flowing through North America's largest freshwater swamp basin and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.

Dissolved carbon in effluent of wastewater treatment plants and its potential impacts in the receiving karst river.

The dissolved carbon cycling in river system fueled by wastewater treatment plant effluent have been a research hotspot. However, the composition of dissolved carbon (DC) in wastewater effluents from karst regions remains poorly understood, resulting in a lack of clarity regarding its impact on the dynamics of dissolved carbon in karst rivers. To address this knowledge gap, this study investigated variations of dissolved inorganic (DIC) and organic C (DOC) components in effluent in karst regions and preliminarily discussed their influence on the DC cycling in karst rivers.

Identification of oral therapeutics using an AI platform against the virus responsible for COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2.

This study introduces a sophisticated computational pipeline, , designed for the discovery of antiviral drugs based on their interactions within the human protein network. There is a pressing need for cost-effective therapeutics for infectious diseases (e.g.

In silico prospecting of the mtDNA of Macrobrachium amazonicum from transcriptome data.

Background: Macrobrachium amazonicum is a freshwater prawn widely distributed in South America that is undergoing speciation, so the denomination "M. amazonicum complex" is used for it. The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene has been used to elucidate this speciation, but heteroplasmies and pseudogenes have been recorded, making separation difficult.

Intense methane diffusive emissions in eutrophic urban lakes, Central China.

Urban lakes are hotspots of methane (CH) emissions. Yet, actual field measurements of CH in these lakes are rather limited and our understanding of CH response to urban lake eutrophication is still incomplete. In this study, we measured dissolved CH concentrations and quantified CH diffusion from four urban lakes in subtropical China during wet and dry seasons.

Changes in CO concentration and degassing of eutrophic urban lakes associated with algal growth and decline.

Urban lakes are numerous in the world, but their role in carbon storage and emission is not well understood. This study aimed to answer the critical questions: How does algal growing season influence carbon dioxide concentration (cCO) and exchange flux (FCO) in eutrophic urban lakes? We investigated trophic state, seasonality of algal productivity, and their association with CO dynamics in four urban lakes in Central China. We found that these lightly-to moderately-eutrophic urban lakes showed a shifting pattern of CO source-sink dynamics.

Nitrogen addition effect overrides warming effect on dissolved CO and phytoplankton structure in shallow lakes.

Shallow lakes are numerous in all climate zones, but our knowledge about their dissolved carbon dioxide (CO) response to future climate change and nutrient enrichment is rather limited. Here we performed a mesocosm experiment with four treatments to investigate how warming and nitrogen addition will impact the partial pressure of CO (pCO) and phytoplankton community individually and combined. We found that warming alone had no significant effect on pCO, while nitrogen addition increased pCO significantly.

Reframing the contribution of pelagic Sargassum epiphytic N2 fixation.

Though nitrogen fixation by epiphytic diazotrophs on pelagic Sargassum has been recognized for decades, it has been assumed to contribute insignificantly to the overall marine nitrogen budget. This six-year study reframes this concept through long-term measurements of Sargassum community nitrogen fixation rates, and by extrapolating mass-specific rates to a theoretical square meter portion of Sargassum mat allowing for comparison of these rates to those of other marine and coastal diazotrophs. On 24 occasions from 2015 to 2021, rates of nitrogen fixation were measured using whole fronds of Sargassum collected from the western edge of the Gulf Stream off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Optimizing environmental flow based on a new optimization model in balancing objectives among river ecology, water supply and power generation in a high-latitude river.

Environmental flow plays an important role in maintaining the health of river ecosystems and aquatic habitats. Although ecological regulation of environmental flow has attracted the attention of scientists, managing the world's reservoir-regulated rivers to better meet the needs of human being and ecosystems is a complex social challenge. To address the above issues, we constructed a model for optimizing reservoir operation based on a balance in achieving multi objectives among environmental flow, water supply and power generation (EWP).

Elevated heat indices resulting from hurricane-related defoliation: a case study.

Defoliation caused by strong tropical cyclones can modify the partitioning of incident solar radiation between the sensible, latent, and substrate heat fluxes. While previous work has shown hurricane defoliation to warm near-surface air temperature along its track, this study more directly contextualizes the warming to human heat stress and exposure via the heat index (HI). For this case study, the spatial extent and temporal persistence of defoliation produced by Hurricane Laura (2020) in southwestern Louisiana was characterized using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).