Oxylipin Receptors and Their Role in Inter-Partner Signalling in a Model Cnidarian-Dinoflagellate Symbiosis.

Oxylipin signalling is central in biology, mediating processes such as cellular homeostasis, inflammation and molecular signalling. It may also facilitate inter-partner communication in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis, though this aspect remains understudied. In this study, four oxylipin receptors were characterised using immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting in the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana ('Aiptasia'): Prostaglandin E2 receptor 2 (EP2) and 4 (EP4), Transient Receptor Potential cation channel A1 (TRPA1) and Glutamate Receptor Ionotropic, Kainate 2 (GRIK2).

Mediterranean seagrasses provide essential coastal protection under climate change.

Seagrasses are vital in coastal areas, offering crucial ecosystem services and playing a relevant role in coastal protection. The decrease in the density of Mediterranean seagrasses over recent decades, due to warming and anthropogenic stressors, may imply a serious environmental threat. Here we quantify the role of coastal impact reduction induced by seagrass presence under present and future climate.

Deep-sea fish reveal alternative pathway for vertebrate visual development.

Vertebrate vision is accomplished by two phenotypically distinct types of photoreceptors in the retina: the saturation-resistant cones for the detection of bright light and the highly sensitive rods for dim light conditions [1]. The current dogma is that, during development, all vertebrates initially feature a cone-dominated retina, and rods are added later [2, 3]. By studying the ontogeny of vision in three species of deep-sea fishes, we show that their larvae express cone-specific genes in photoreceptors with rod-like morphologies.

The active free-living bathypelagic microbiome is largely dominated by rare surface taxa.

A persistent microbial seed bank is postulated to sustain the marine biosphere, and recent findings show that prokaryotic taxa present in the ocean's surface dominate prokaryotic communities throughout the water column. Yet, environmental conditions exert a tight control on the activity of prokaryotes, and drastic changes in these conditions are known to occur from the surface to deep waters. The simultaneous characterization of the total (DNA) and active (i.

Global mesozooplankton communities show lower connectivity in deep oceanic layers.

Mesozooplankton is a key component of the ocean, regulating global processes such as the carbon pump, and ensuring energy transfer from lower to higher trophic levels. Yet, knowledge on mesozooplankton diversity, distribution and connectivity at global scale is still fragmented. To fill this gap, we applied DNA metabarcoding to mesozooplankton samples collected during the Malaspina-2010 circumnavigation expedition across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans from the surface to bathypelagic depths.

Physiological response of Symbiodiniaceae to thermal stress: Reactive oxygen species, photosynthesis, and relative cell size.

This study investigates the physiological response to heat stress of three genetically different Symbiodiniaceae strains isolated from the scleractinian coral Mussismilia braziliensis, endemic of the Abrolhos Bank, Brazil. Cultures of two Symbiodinium sp. and one Cladocopium sp.

Water mass age structures the auxiliary metabolic gene content of free-living and particle-attached deep ocean viral communities.

Background: Viruses play important roles in the ocean's biogeochemical cycles. Yet, deep ocean viruses are one of the most under-explored fractions of the global biosphere. Little is known about the environmental factors that control the composition and functioning of their communities or how they interact with their free-living or particle-attached microbial hosts.

The microbial landscape in bioturbated mangrove sediment: A resource for promoting nature-based solutions for mangroves.

Globally, soils and sediments are affected by the bioturbation activities of benthic species. The consequences of these activities are particularly impactful in intertidal sediment, which is generally anoxic and nutrient-poor. Mangrove intertidal sediments are of particular interest because, as the most productive forests and one of the most important stores of blue carbon, they provide global-scale ecosystem services.

Overcoming the coupled climate and biodiversity crises and their societal impacts.

Earth's biodiversity and human societies face pollution, overconsumption of natural resources, urbanization, demographic shifts, social and economic inequalities, and habitat loss, many of which are exacerbated by climate change. Here, we review links among climate, biodiversity, and society and develop a roadmap toward sustainability. These include limiting warming to 1.

Enzyme adaptation to habitat thermal legacy shapes the thermal plasticity of marine microbiomes.

Microbial communities respond to temperature with physiological adaptation and compositional turnover. Whether thermal selection of enzymes explains marine microbiome plasticity in response to temperature remains unresolved. By quantifying the thermal behaviour of seven functionally-independent enzyme classes (esterase, extradiol dioxygenase, phosphatase, beta-galactosidase, nuclease, transaminase, and aldo-keto reductase) in native proteomes of marine sediment microbiomes from the Irish Sea to the southern Red Sea, we record a significant effect of the mean annual temperature (MAT) on enzyme response in all cases.

The temperature dependence of microbial community respiration is amplified by changes in species interactions.

Respiratory release of CO by microorganisms is one of the main components of the global carbon cycle. However, there are large uncertainties regarding the effects of climate warming on the respiration of microbial communities, owing to a lack of mechanistic, empirically tested theory that incorporates dynamic species interactions. We present a general mathematical model which predicts that thermal sensitivity of microbial community respiration increases as species interactions change from competition to facilitation (for example, commensalism, cooperation and mutualism).

Global seaweed productivity.

The magnitude and distribution of net primary production (NPP) in the coastal ocean remains poorly constrained, particularly for shallow marine vegetation. Here, using a compilation of in situ annual NPP measurements across >400 sites in 72 geographic ecoregions, we provide global predictions of the productivity of seaweed habitats, which form the largest vegetated coastal biome on the planet. We find that seaweed NPP is strongly coupled to climatic variables, peaks at temperate latitudes, and is dominated by forests of large brown seaweeds.

Long walk home: Magellanic penguins have strategies that lead them to areas where they can navigate most efficiently.

Understanding how animals move in dense environments where vision is compromised is a major challenge. We used GPS and dead-reckoning to examine the movement of Magellanic penguins commuting through vegetation that precluded long-distance vision. Birds leaving the nest followed the shortest, quickest route to the sea (the 'ideal path', or '') but return tracks depended where the birds left the water.

Rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 challenges human defenses.

The race between pathogens and their hosts is a major evolutionary driver, where both reshuffle their genomes to overcome and reorganize the defenses for infection, respectively. Evolutionary theory helps formulate predictions on the future evolutionary dynamics of SARS-CoV-2, which can be monitored through unprecedented real-time tracking of SARS-CoV-2 population genomics at the global scale. Here we quantify the accelerating evolution of SARS-CoV-2 by tracking the SARS-CoV-2 mutation globally, with a focus on the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of the spike protein determining infection success.

Unifying the known and unknown microbial coding sequence space.

Genes of unknown function are among the biggest challenges in molecular biology, especially in microbial systems, where 40-60% of the predicted genes are unknown. Despite previous attempts, systematic approaches to include the unknown fraction into analytical workflows are still lacking. Here, we present a conceptual framework, its translation into the computational workflow AGNOSTOS and a demonstration on how we can bridge the known-unknown gap in genomes and metagenomes.

Fate and Effects of Macro- and Microplastics in Coastal Wetlands.

Coastal wetlands trap plastics from terrestrial and marine sources, but the stocks of plastics and their impacts on coastal wetlands are poorly known. We evaluated the stocks, fate, and biological and biogeochemical effects of plastics in coastal wetlands with plastic abundance data from 112 studies. The representative abundance of plastics that occurs in coastal wetland sediments and is ingested by marine animals reaches 156.

Decision rules for determining terrestrial movement and the consequences for filtering high-resolution global positioning system tracks: a case study using the African lion ().

The combined use of global positioning system (GPS) technology and motion sensors within the discipline of movement ecology has increased over recent years. This is particularly the case for instrumented wildlife, with many studies now opting to record parameters at high (infra-second) sampling frequencies. However, the detail with which GPS loggers can elucidate fine-scale movement depends on the precision and accuracy of fixes, with accuracy being affected by signal reception.

How often should dead-reckoned animal movement paths be corrected for drift?

Background: Understanding what animals do in time and space is important for a range of ecological questions, however accurate estimates of how animals use space is challenging. Within the use of animal-attached tags, radio telemetry (including the Global Positioning System, 'GPS') is typically used to verify an animal's location periodically. Straight lines are typically drawn between these 'Verified Positions' ('VPs') so the interpolation of space-use is limited by the temporal and spatial resolution of the system's measurement.

Widespread bleaching in the One Tree Island lagoon (Southern Great Barrier Reef) during record-breaking temperatures in 2020.

The global marine environment has been impacted significantly by climate change. Ocean temperatures are rising, and the frequency, duration and intensity of marine heatwaves are increasing, particularly affecting coral reefs. Coral bleaching events are becoming more common, with less recovery time between events.