Exploring the Transport Path of Oceanic Microplastics in the Atmosphere.

Microplastics (MP) have been recognized as an emerging atmospheric pollutant, yet uncertainties persist in their emissions and concentrations. With a bottom-up approach, we estimate 6-hourly MP fluxes at the ocean-atmosphere interface, using as an input the monthly ocean surface MP concentrations simulated by the global oceanic model (NEMO/PISCES-PLASTIC, Nucleus for European Modeling of the Ocean, Pelagic Interaction Scheme for Carbon and Ecosystem Studies), a size distribution estimate for the MP in the micrometer range, and a sea salt emission scheme. The atmospheric dispersion is then simulated with the Lagrangian model FLEXPART.

Pervasive tandem duplications and convergent evolution shape coral genomes.

Background: Over the last decade, several coral genomes have been sequenced allowing a better understanding of these symbiotic organisms threatened by climate change. Scleractinian corals are reef builders and are central to coral reef ecosystems, providing habitat to a great diversity of species.

Results: In the frame of the Tara Pacific expedition, we assemble two coral genomes, Porites lobata and Pocillopora cf.

Integrative omics framework for characterization of coral reef ecosystems from the Tara Pacific expedition.

Coral reef science is a fast-growing field propelled by the need to better understand coral health and resilience to devise strategies to slow reef loss resulting from environmental stresses. Key to coral resilience are the symbiotic interactions established within a complex holobiont, i.e.

Open science resources from the Tara Pacific expedition across coral reef and surface ocean ecosystems.

The Tara Pacific expedition (2016-2018) sampled coral ecosystems around 32 islands in the Pacific Ocean and the ocean surface waters at 249 locations, resulting in the collection of nearly 58 000 samples. The expedition was designed to systematically study warm-water coral reefs and included the collection of corals, fish, plankton, and seawater samples for advanced biogeochemical, molecular, and imaging analysis. Here we provide a complete description of the sampling methodology, and we explain how to explore and access the different datasets generated by the expedition.

Ecology of Endozoicomonadaceae in three coral genera across the Pacific Ocean.

Health and resilience of the coral holobiont depend on diverse bacterial communities often dominated by key marine symbionts of the Endozoicomonadaceae family. The factors controlling their distribution and their functional diversity remain, however, poorly known. Here, we study the ecology of Endozoicomonadaceae at an ocean basin-scale by sampling specimens from three coral genera (Pocillopora, Porites, Millepora) on 99 reefs from 32 islands across the Pacific Ocean.

Diversity of the Pacific Ocean coral reef microbiome.

Coral reefs are among the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They support high biodiversity of multicellular organisms that strongly rely on associated microorganisms for health and nutrition. However, the extent of the coral reef microbiome diversity and its distribution at the oceanic basin-scale remains to be explored.

Telomere DNA length regulation is influenced by seasonal temperature differences in short-lived but not in long-lived reef-building corals.

Telomeres are environment-sensitive regulators of health and aging. Here,we present telomere DNA length analysis of two reef-building coral genera revealing that the long- and short-term water thermal regime is a key driver of between-colony variation across the Pacific Ocean. Notably, there are differences between the two studied genera.

The effect of ultrasonic antifouling control on the growth and microbiota of farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax).

Biofouling is a serious threat to marine renewable energy structures and marine aquaculture operations alike. As an alternative to toxic surface coatings, ultrasonic antifouling control has been proposed as an environmentally friendly means to reduce biofouling. However, the impact of ultrasound on fish farmed in offshore structures or in marine multi-purpose platforms, combining renewable energy production and aquaculture, has not yet been assessed.

Seascape genomics reveals population isolation in the reef-building honeycomb worm, Sabellaria alveolata (L.).

Background: Under the threat of climate change populations can disperse, acclimatise or evolve in order to avoid fitness loss. In light of this, it is important to understand neutral gene flow patterns as a measure of dispersal potential, but also adaptive genetic variation as a measure of evolutionary potential. In order to assess genetic variation and how this relates to environment in the honeycomb worm (Sabellaria alveolata (L.

Spiny lobster sounds can be detectable over kilometres underwater.

The detection ranges of broadband sounds produced by marine invertebrates are not known. To address this deficiency, a linear array of hydrophones was built in a shallow water area to experimentally investigate the propagation features of the sounds from various sizes of European spiny lobsters (Palinurus elephas), recorded between 0.5 and 100 m from the animals.

Selection of Vibrio crassostreae relies on a plasmid expressing a type 6 secretion system cytotoxic for host immune cells.

Pacific oyster mortality syndrome affects juveniles of Crassostrea gigas oysters and threatens the sustainability of commercial and natural stocks of this species. Vibrio crassostreae (V. crassostreae) has been repeatedly isolated from diseased animals, and the majority of the strains have been demonstrated to be virulent for oysters.

Stable isotope analyses revealed the influence of foraging habitat on mercury accumulation in tropical coastal marine fish.

Bioaccumulation of toxic metal elements including mercury (Hg) can be highly variable in marine fish species. Metal concentration is influenced by various species-specific physiological and ecological traits, including individual diet composition and foraging habitat. The impact of trophic ecology and habitat preference on Hg accumulation was analyzed through total Hg concentration and stable isotope ratios of carbon (δC) and nitrogen (δN) in the muscle of 132 fish belonging to 23 different species from the Senegalese coast (West Africa), where the marine ecosystem is submitted to nutrient inputs from various sources such as upwelling or rivers.

Protective Efficacy of a Pseudoalteromonas Strain in European Abalone, Haliotis tuberculata, Infected with Vibrio harveyi ORM4.

The hemolymph of healthy marine invertebrates is known to harbor antibiotic-producing bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudoalteromonas. Such strains are potential probiotics to control infectious diseases in aquaculture. In the present study, we screened a collection of Pseudoalteromonas strains isolated from the hemolymph of oyster and mussel for antimicrobial activity against Vibrio harveyi, a pathogenic species responsible for high mortality in abalone.

Microplastics in seafood: Benchmark protocol for their extraction and characterization.

Pollution of the oceans by microplastics (<5 mm) represents a major environmental problem. To date, a limited number of studies have investigated the level of contamination of marine organisms collected in situ. For extraction and characterization of microplastics in biological samples, the crucial step is the identification of solvent(s) or chemical(s) that efficiently dissolve organic matter without degrading plastic polymers for their identification in a time and cost effective way.

Ocean plankton. Eukaryotic plankton diversity in the sunlit ocean.

Marine plankton support global biological and geochemical processes. Surveys of their biodiversity have hitherto been geographically restricted and have not accounted for the full range of plankton size. We assessed eukaryotic diversity from 334 size-fractionated photic-zone plankton communities collected across tropical and temperate oceans during the circumglobal Tara Oceans expedition.

The early stages of the immune response of the European abalone Haliotis tuberculata to a Vibrio harveyi infection.

Vibrio harveyi is a marine bacterial pathogen responsible for episodic abalone mortalities in France, Japan and Australia. In the European abalone, V. harveyi invades the circulatory system in a few hours after exposure and is lethal after 2 days of infection.

Vibrio harveyi adheres to and penetrates tissues of the European abalone Haliotis tuberculata within the first hours of contact.

Vibrio harveyi is a marine bacterial pathogen responsible for episodic epidemics generally associated with massive mortalities in many marine organisms, including the European abalone Haliotis tuberculata. The aim of this study was to identify the portal of entry and the dynamics of infection of V. harveyi in the European abalone.

Link between domoic acid production and cell physiology after exchange of bacterial communities between toxic Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries and non-toxic Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima.

Bacteria are known to influence domoic acid (DA) production by Pseudo-nitzschia spp., but the link between DA production and physiology of diatoms requires more investigation. We compared a toxic P.

Cellular effects of bacterial N-3-Oxo-dodecanoyl-L-Homoserine lactone on the sponge Suberites domuncula (Olivi, 1792): insights into an intimate inter-kingdom dialogue.

Sponges and bacteria have lived together in complex consortia for 700 million years. As filter feeders, sponges prey on bacteria. Nevertheless, some bacteria are associated with sponges in symbiotic relationships.

Development of a new in vitro method to evaluate the photoprotective sunscreen activity of plant extracts against high UV-B radiation.

Sunscreen efficiency of biomolecules against UV-B radiation was generally determined in vitro by cosmetic methods which are not well-adapted for routine ecophysiological and bio-guidance studies in plant research laboratories. In this article, we propose a new in vitro method to evaluate the sunscreen photoprotective activity of plant extracts against high UV-B radiation. Because photosynthetic pigments are one of the first targets of UV-B radiation in plants, the experimental design is based on the ability of the tested substances to limit the degradation of sodium magnesium chlorophyllin (SMC), a derivative compound of natural chlorophyll.

Xenobiotic-induced immunomodulation in the European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis.

The presence of chemical contaminants in marine coastal waters is a major subject of concern since many molecules are potentially immunotoxic, even at low concentration. During the last decade, studies in sentinel species, such as the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, or the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, have revealed that immunosuppressive responses can be related to xenobiotic exposure, in the laboratory and in the field. In the present study, European flat oysters were experimentally exposed to heavy metals, to investigate possible alterations of their immune function.