How does the coral microbiome mediate its natural host fitness under climate stress conditions? Physiological, molecular, and biochemical mechanisms.

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.

Blue carbon stock heterogeneity in Brazilian mangrove forests: A systematic review.

This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis of blue carbon stocks in Brazilian mangroves. We evaluated the effect of characteristics and site status (impacted versus non-impacted) on carbon stocks found in the various compartments on total ecosystem carbon stock (TECS). TECS followed an inverse trend with the latitudinal position: the highest values were found on the North coast (mean 511 Mg C ha), followed by the Northeast and Southeast.

Epigenetic Diversity and the Evolutionary Potential of Wild Populations.

Fast-paced selective pressures imposed by climate change and anthropogenic activities call for adaptive evolutionary responses to emerge at ecological timescales. However, the evolution and heritability of genomic variation underlie mechanistic constraints, which dictate a slower pace of adaptation exclusively relying on standing genetic variation and novel mutations. Environmentally responsive epigenetic mechanisms can allow acclimatisation and adaptive phenotypes to arise faster than DNA sequence-based mechanisms alone.

An integrated mapping approach highlights extended distribution and high environmental status of Irish seagrass meadows.

To address the remaining knowledge gap regarding the distribution of seagrasses in Ireland, this study aimed a) to create an updated seagrass (Zostera spp.) distribution map, and b) to evaluate the environmental quality to which seagrass meadows are exposed. To achieve the first objective, we (i) combined the available data on seagrass distribution published to date, and (ii) mapped additional meadows by implementing an integrated method based on species distribution models, satellite-derived images, and snorkelling-based surveys.

Metabolic responses of sea anemone and jellyfish to temperature and UV bleaching: Insights into stress adaptation using LCMS-based metabolomics, molecular networking and chemometrics.

Introduction: Climate change poses various threats to marine life, particularly in shallow tropical waters.

Objective: The impact of increased temperature and ultraviolet (UV) exposure on two photosymbiotic cnidarians, a common bubble-tip anemone and an upside-down jellyfish, was investigated.

Methods: To illustrate the response of aquatic organisms, the metabolomes of unstressed Entacmaea quadricolor and Cassiopea andromeda were compared for detailed metabolite profiling.

Protection efforts have resulted in ~10% of existing fish biomass on coral reefs.

The amount of ocean protected from fishing and other human impacts has often been used as a metric of conservation progress. However, protection efforts have highly variable outcomes that depend on local conditions, which makes it difficult to quantify what coral reef protection efforts to date have actually achieved at a global scale. Here, we develop a predictive model of how local conditions influence conservation outcomes on ~2,600 coral reef sites across 44 ecoregions, which we used to quantify how much more fish biomass there is on coral reefs compared to a modeled scenario with no protection.

Non-invasive methods characterise the world's largest tiger shark aggregation in Fuvahmulah, Maldives.

Tiger sharks are apex predators with a circumglobal tropical and warm-temperate distribution, with a general lack of population data for the central Indian Ocean. In Fuvahmulah, Maldives, tiger sharks display frequent use of the harbour area, attracted by discarded fish waste. Here, we document the population structure, residency, and reproductive characteristics of the world's largest known tiger shark aggregation in a geographically-restricted area.

Managing nutrition-biodiversity trade-offs on coral reefs.

Coral reefs support an incredible abundance and diversity of fish species, with reef-associated fisheries providing important sources of income, food, and dietary micronutrients to millions of people across the tropics. However, the rapid degradation of the world's coral reefs and the decline in their biodiversity may limit their capacity to supply nutritious and affordable seafood while meeting conservation goals for sustainability. Here, we conduct a global-scale analysis of how the nutritional quality of reef fish assemblages (nutritional contribution to the recommended daily intake of calcium, iron, and zinc contained in an average 100 g fish on the reef) relates to key environmental, socioeconomic, and ecological conditions, including two key metrics of fish biodiversity.

Allelochemicals determine competition and grazing control in Alexandrium catenella.

The production of allelochemicals by the toxigenic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella is one of the suggested mechanisms to facilitate its bloom formation and persistence by outcompeting other phototrophic protists and reducing grazing pressure. In Southern California, toxic events caused by A. catenella and paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) regularly impact coastal ecosystems; however, the trophic interactions and mechanisms promoting this species in a food web context are still not fully understood.

A global coastal permeability dataset (CoPerm 1.0).

The permeability of aquifers strongly influences groundwater flow characteristics. Worldwide, coastal groundwater is often the primary freshwater source for coastal communities and ecosystems but is also particularly vulnerable to abstraction since saltwater intrusion may threaten its quality. Thus, understanding coastal permeability is crucial to the sustainable use of coastal groundwater.

Individual mangrove trees provide alternative reef fish habitat on backreefs.

Mangrove trees occur in a variety of geomorphic and sedimentary settings. Yet, studies investigating their role as habitat providers often focus on the most common biophysical types, such as deltaic, estuarine, open coast or lagoonal mangroves on soft sediments, disregarding less typical environments. Here, we investigated the influence of individual mangrove trees growing on a consolidated backreef system (Laucala Bay, Fiji) on habitat use by reef fishes.

Epigenetic diversity of genes with copy number variations among natural populations of the three-spined stickleback.

Duplicated genes provide the opportunity for evolutionary novelty and adaptive divergence. In many cases, having more gene copies increases gene expression, which might facilitate adaptation to stressful or novel environments. Conversely, overexpression or misexpression of duplicated genes can be detrimental and subject to negative selection.

Four decades of data indicate that planted mangroves stored up to 75% of the carbon stocks found in intact mature stands.

Mangroves' ability to store carbon (C) has long been recognized, but little is known about whether planted mangroves can store C as efficiently as naturally established (i.e., intact) stands and in which time frame.

Rapid mode switching facilitates the growth of : A model analysis.

is one of the dominant dinitrogen (N) fixers in the ocean, influencing global carbon and nitrogen cycles through biochemical reactions. Although its photosynthetic activity fluctuates rapidly, the physiological or ecological advantage of this fluctuation is unclear. We develop a metabolic model of that can perform daytime N fixation.

An epigenetic toolbox for conservation biologists.

Ongoing climatic shifts and increasing anthropogenic pressures demand an efficient delineation of conservation units and accurate predictions of populations' resilience and adaptive potential. Molecular tools involving DNA sequencing are nowadays routinely used for these purposes. Yet, most of the existing tools focusing on sequence-level information have shortcomings in detecting signals of short-term ecological relevance.

Simultaneous ocean acidification and warming do not alter the lipid-associated biochemistry but induce enzyme activities in an asterinid starfish.

Ocean acidification and warming affect marine ecosystems from the molecular scale in organismal physiology to broad alterations of ecosystem functions. However, knowledge of their combined effects on tropical-subtropical intertidal species remains limited. Pushing the environmental range of marine species away from the optimum initiates stress impacting biochemical metabolic characteristics, with consequences on lipid-associated and enzyme biochemistry.

Noise and opinion dynamics: how ambiguity promotes pro-majority consensus in the presence of confirmation bias.

Opinion dynamics are affected by cognitive biases and noise. While mathematical models have focused extensively on biases, we still know surprisingly little about how noise shapes opinion patterns. Here, we use an agent-based opinion dynamics model to investigate the interplay between confirmation bias-represented as bounded confidence-and different types of noise.

Negative Coupling: The Coincidence of Premating Isolating Barriers Can Reduce Reproductive Isolation.

Speciation can be mediated by a variety of reproductive barriers, and the interaction among different barriers has often been shown to enhance overall reproductive isolation, a process referred to as "coupling." Here, we analyze a population genetics model to study the establishment of linkage disequilibrium (LD) among loci involved in multiple premating barriers, an aspect that has received little theoretical attention to date. We consider a simple genetic framework underlying two distinct premating barriers, each encoded by a preference locus and its associated mating trait locus.

Herbivorous fish feeding dynamics and energy expenditure on a coral reef: Insights from stereo-video and AI-driven 3D tracking.

Unveiling the intricate relationships between animal movement ecology, feeding behavior, and internal energy budgeting is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem functioning, especially on coral reefs under significant anthropogenic stress. Here, herbivorous fishes play a vital role as mediators between algae growth and coral recruitment. Our research examines the feeding preferences, bite rates, inter-bite distances, and foraging energy expenditure of the Brown surgeonfish () and the Yellowtail tang () within the fish community on a Red Sea coral reef.

Tropical bloom-forming mesoalgae Cladophoropsis sp. and Laurencia sp.-responses to ammonium enrichment and a simulated heatwave.

Algal blooms are increasing worldwide, driven by elevated nutrient inputs. However, it is still unknown how tropical benthic algae will respond to heatwaves, which are expected to be more frequent under global warming. In the present study, a multifactorial experiment was carried out to investigate the potential synergistic effects of increased ammonium inputs (25 μM, control at 2.

Ecotype-Specific and Correlated Seasonal Responses of Biomass Production, Non-Structural Carbohydrates, and Fatty Acids in .

Seagrasses, which are marine flowering plants, provide numerous ecological services and goods. is the most widely distributed seagrass in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, tolerant of a wide range of environmental conditions. This study aimed to (i) examine seasonal trends and correlations between key seagrass traits such as biomass production and biochemical composition, and (ii) compare seasonal adaptation of two ecotypes of exposed to similar environmental conditions on the west coast of Ireland.

Functional composition outweighs taxonomic and functional diversity in maintaining ecosystem properties and processes of mangrove forests.

Biodiversity loss can have significant consequences for human well-being, as it can affect multiple ecosystem properties and processes (MEPP) that drive ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive understanding of the link between environmental factors, biodiversity, and MEPP remains elusive, especially in mangrove ecosystems that millions of people along tropical coastlines worldwide depend upon. Here, we collated a comprehensive dataset on forest inventory, plant traits, and environmental factors across 93 plots in the Sundarbans Reserved Forests, Bangladesh.

Anthropogenic nutrients and phytoplankton diversity in Kenya's coastal waters: An ecological quality assessment of sea turtle foraging sites.

We assessed ecological quality status (EQS) of coastal waters following claims of increasing sea turtle fibro-papillomatosis (FP) infections in Kenya, a disease hypothesized to be associated with 'poor' ecological health. We established widespread phosphate (P) and silicate (Si) limitation, dissolved ammonium contamination and an increase in potential harmful algal blooming species. Variations in the EQS was established in the sites depending on the indicators used and seasons.