Comparative genome analysis of the genus Hydrotalea and proposal of the novel species Hydrotalea lipotrueae sp. nov., isolated from a groundwater aquifer in the south of Mallorca Island, Spain.

From a collection of > 140 strains isolated from groundwater with thermal anomalies for the purpose of obtaining good candidates with applications in the cosmetic industry, two strains were selected because of their taxonomic novelty. Among the isolates, strains TMF_100 and TFM_099 stood out for their potential biotechnological relevance, and a comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that these strains represented a new species of the genus Hydrotalea. In addition, from the public genomic databases, metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) and single-cell amplified genomes (SAGs) could be retrieved that affiliated with this genus.

Morphological trait-matching in plant-Hymenoptera and plant-Diptera mutualisms across an elevational gradient.

Morphological trait-matching and species abundance are thought to be the main factors affecting the frequency and strength of mutualistic interactions. However, the relative importance of trait-matching and species abundance in shaping species interactions across environmental gradients remains poorly understood, especially for plant-insect mutualisms involving generalist species. Here, we characterised variation in species and trait composition and the relative importance of trait-matching and species abundance in shaping plant-Hymenoptera and plant-Diptera mutualisms in four meadows across an elevational gradient (2,725-3,910 m) in Yulong Snow Mountain, Southwest China.

Selective forces on the maintenance of outcrossing in an almost exclusively cleistogamous violet species.

Premise: Cleistogamous species constitute interesting study systems to resolve the longstanding question of how outcrossing is maintained given that seed production is ensured through selfing. In this work, we investigate the selective forces that allow the persistence of producing self-pollinated cleistogamous (CL) and chasmogamous (CH) flowers in Viola jaubertiana Marès & Vigin.

Methods: We monitored three populations at different elevation for two years, and studied the flowering phenology and the relative contribution of each flower morph to parental fitness.

Cultivable Winogradskyella species are genomically distinct from the sympatric abundant candidate species.

Winogradskyella is a genus within the phylum Bacteroidetes with a clear marine origin. Most members of this genus have been found associated with marine animals and algae, but also with inorganic surfaces such as sand. In this study, we analyzed genomes of eleven species recently isolated from surface seawater samples from the North Sea during a single spring algae bloom.

Uncertainty and Bias in Global to Regional Scale Assessments of Current and Future Coastal Flood Risk.

This study provides a literature-based comparative assessment of uncertainties and biases in global to world-regional scale assessments of current and future coastal flood risks, considering mean and extreme sea-level hazards, the propagation of these into the floodplain, people and coastal assets exposed, and their vulnerability. Globally, by far the largest bias is introduced by not considering human adaptation, which can lead to an overestimation of coastal flood risk in 2100 by up to factor 1300. But even when considering adaptation, uncertainties in how coastal societies will adapt to sea-level rise dominate with a factor of up to 27 all other uncertainties.

Integrating environmental variability to broaden the research on coral responses to future ocean conditions.

Our understanding of the response of reef-building corals to changes in their physical environment is largely based on laboratory experiments, analysis of long-term field data, and model projections. Experimental data provide unique insights into how organisms respond to variation of environmental drivers. However, an assessment of how well experimental conditions cover the breadth of environmental conditions and variability where corals live successfully is missing.

Inverted microbial community stratification and spatial-temporal stability in hypersaline anaerobic sediments from the S'Avall solar salterns.

The anaerobic hypersaline sediments of an ephemeral pond from the S'Avall solar salterns constituted an excellent study system because of their easy accessibility, as well as the analogy of their microbial assemblages with some known deep-sea hypersaline anaerobic brines. By means of shotgun metagenomics and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, the microbial composition of the sediment was shown to be stable in time and space. The communities were formed by prokaryote representatives with a clear inferred anaerobic metabolism, mainly related to the methane, sulfur and nitrate cycles.

Evidence for the existence of a new genus Chlamydiifrater gen. nov. inside the family Chlamydiaceae with two new species isolated from flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus): Chlamydiifrater phoenicopteri sp. nov. and Chlamydiifrater volucris sp. nov.

The family Chlamydiaceae currently comprises a single genus Chlamydia, with 11 validly published species and seven more taxa. It includes the human pathogens Chlamydia (C.) trachomatis, C.

Poor success of seagrass Posidonia oceanica transplanting in a meadow disturbed by power line burial.

Local disturbances drive the decrease of the area covered by Posidonia oceanica in the Mediterranean. Mechanical impacts during the development of coastal infrastructures alter sea floor and the recolonization of benthic community will depend on the recovery of pre-disturbance environmental conditions and on the intrinsic characteristics of the local community that was disturbed. We transplanted 468 rhizome fragments and 450 seedlings of P.

How Equivalent Are Equivalent Porous Media?

Geoenergy and geoengineering applications usually involve fluid injection into and production from fractured media. Accounting for fractures is important because of the strong poromechanical coupling that ties pore pressure changes and deformation. A possible approach to the problem uses equivalent porous media to reduce the computational cost and model complexity instead of explicitly including fractures in the models.

Description of three new Alteromonas species Alteromonas antoniana sp. nov., Alteromonas lipotrueae sp. nov. and Alteromonas lipotrueiana sp. nov. isolated from marine environments, and proposal for reclassification of the genus Salinimonas as Alteromonas.

In the course of a bioprospective study of marine prokaryotes for cosmetic purposes, four strains, MD_567, MD_652, MD_674 and PS_109, were isolated that 16S rRNA gene affiliation indicated could represent three new species within the family Alteromonadaceae. A thorough phylogenetic, genomic and phenotypic taxonomic study confirmed that the isolates could be classified as three new taxa for which we propose the names Alteromonas antoniana sp. nov.

Swarming bacteria undergo localized dynamic phase transition to form stress-induced biofilms.

Self-organized multicellular behaviors enable cells to adapt and tolerate stressors to a greater degree than isolated cells. However, whether and how cellular communities alter their collective behaviors adaptively upon exposure to stress is largely unclear. Here, we investigate this question using , a model system for bacterial multicellularity.

Impact of the marine litter pollution on the Mediterranean biodiversity: A risk assessment study with focus on the marine protected areas.

In this paper a novel methodology to assess the risk of marine litter (ML) pollution in the Mediterranean Sea is implemented. In this approach, the hazard component is estimated using a state-of-the-art 3D modeling system, which allows the simulation of floating and sinking ML particles; the exposure component is defined from biodiversity estimates; and the vulnerability is related to ML ingestion rates of each species. The results show that the hot-spots for the ML risk concentrate in the coastal regions, and are mainly conditioned by the biodiversity in the region.

Comparative Mitogenomics in (Amphipoda: Crustacea).

We present the sequencing and comparative analysis of 17 mitochondrial genomes of Nearctic and Neotropical amphipods of the genus , most from the Andean Altiplano. The mitogenomes obtained comprised the usual 37 gene-set of the metazoan mitochondrial genome showing a gene rearrangement (a reverse transposition and a reversal) between the North and South American mitogenomes. mitochondrial genomes show the typical AT-richness and strong nucleotide bias among codon sites and strands of pancrustaceans.

A multidisciplinary approach to identify priority areas for the monitoring of a vulnerable family of fishes in Spanish Marine National Parks.

Background: Syngnathid fishes (Actinopterygii, Syngnathidae) are flagship species strongly associated with seaweed and seagrass habitats. Seahorses and pipefishes are highly vulnerable to anthropogenic and environmental disturbances, but most species are currently Data Deficient according to the IUCN (2019), requiring more biological and ecological research. This study provides the first insights into syngnathid populations in the two marine Spanish National Parks (PNIA-Atlantic- and PNAC-Mediterranean).

Phylogenomics of the Hyalella amphipod species-flock of the Andean Altiplano.

Species diversification in ancient lakes has enabled essential insights into evolutionary theory as they embody an evolutionary microcosm compared to continental terrestrial habitats. We have studied the high-altitude amphipods of the Andes Altiplano using mitogenomic, nuclear ribosomal and single-copy nuclear gene sequences obtained from 36 Hyalella genomic libraries, focusing on species of the Lake Titicaca and other water bodies of the Altiplano northern plateau. Results show that early Miocene South American lineages have recently (late Pliocene or early Pleistocene) diversified in the Andes with a striking morphological convergence among lineages.

Sinking CO in Supercritical Reservoirs.

Geologic carbon storage is required for achieving negative CO emissions to deal with the climate crisis. The classical concept of CO storage consists in injecting CO in geological formations at depths greater than 800 m, where CO becomes a dense fluid, minimizing storage volume. Yet CO has a density lower than the resident brine and tends to float, challenging the widespread deployment of geologic carbon storage.

Analytical Solution to Assess the Induced Seismicity Potential of Faults in Pressurized and Depleted Reservoirs.

Displaced faults crossing the reservoir could significantly increase the induced earthquake frequency in geo-energy projects. Understanding and predicting the stress variation in such cases is essential to minimize the risk of induced seismicity. Here, we adopt the inclusion theory to develop an analytical solution for the stress response to pore pressure variations within the reservoir for both permeable and impermeable faults with offset ranging from zero to the reservoir thickness.

Distinct ecotypes within a natural haloarchaeal population enable adaptation to changing environmental conditions without causing population sweeps.

Microbial communities thriving in hypersaline brines of solar salterns are highly resistant and resilient to environmental changes, and salinity is a major factor that deterministically influences community structure. Here, we demonstrate that this resilience occurs even after rapid osmotic shocks caused by a threefold change in salinity (a reduction from 34 to 12% salts) leading to massive amounts of archaeal cell lysis. Specifically, our temporal metagenomic datasets identified two co-occurring ecotypes within the most dominant archaeal population of the brines Haloquadratum walsbyi that exhibited different salt concentration preferences.

How many alien species will there be in 2050?

How many alien species will there be in 2050? Seebens et al. (2020) calculate that the number of alien species will continue to increase steeply everywhere across the globe. This number of emerging alien species will rise globally by about 35% from 2005 to 2050, and each continent will gain around 1,300 new species on average.

Differential effects of nutrient enrichment on carbon metabolism and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fluxes in macrophytic benthic communities.

Nutrient enrichment can alter negatively benthic communities and reduce their ecological services. This study explores in two contrasting seasons (winter and summer), the effects of in situ nutrient enrichment at the community level on carbon metabolism and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fluxes in two benthic communities dominated by the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa and by the macroalga Caulerpa prolifera. Under nutrient enrichment, C.

Taxonomic study of nine new Winogradskyella species occurring in the shallow waters of Helgoland Roads, North Sea. Proposal of Winogradskyella schleiferi sp. nov., Winogradskyella costae sp. nov., Winogradskyella helgolandensis sp. nov., Winogradskyella vidalii sp. nov., Winogradskyella forsetii sp. nov., Winogradskyella ludwigii sp. nov., Winogradskyella ursingii sp. nov., Winogradskyella wichelsiae sp. nov., and Candidatus "Winogradskyella atlantica" sp. nov.

Evaluation of bacterial succession with cultivation-dependent strategies during a spring phytoplankton bloom in the North Sea led to the isolation of 41 strains that affiliated with the genus Winogradskyella. Fifteen of the strains were selected for a taxonomic study after discarding clonal cultures. A thorough phylogenetic, genomic and phenotypic analysis of the isolates indicated that they represented eight new species that coexisted in North Sea waters.

The role of landscape composition and heterogeneity on the taxonomical and functional diversity of Mediterranean plant communities in agricultural landscapes.

The expansion of agriculture is a major driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, through changes generated in the landscape. Despite this, very little is still known about the complex relationships between landscape composition and heterogeneity and plant taxonomical and functional diversity in Mediterranean ecosystems that have been extensively managed during millennia. Although according to the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (IDH) plant richness might peak at intermediate disturbance levels, functional diversity might increase with landscape heterogeneity and decrease with the intensity of disturbance.