• European Marine Science
• 2018-2022close
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Abstract Diverse and inclusive marine research is paramount to addressing ocean sustainability challenges in the 21st century, as envisioned by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Despite increasing efforts to diversify ocean science, women continue to face barriers at various stages of their career, which inhibits their progression to leadership within academic institutions. In this perspective, we draw on the collective experiences of thirty-four global women leaders, bolstered by a narrative review, to identify practical strategies and actions that will help empower early career women researchers to become the leaders of tomorrow. We propose five strategies: (i) create a more inclusive culture, (ii) ensure early and equitable career development opportunities for women ECRs, (iii) ensure equitable access to funding for women ECRs, (iv) offer mentoring opportunities and, (v) create flexible, family-friendly environments. Transformational, meaningful, and lasting change will only be achieved through commitment and collaborative action across various scales and by multiple stakeholders.

Infective third-stage larvae (L3) of the marine nematode Anisakis pegreffii cause inflammation and clinical symptoms in humans, their accidental host, that subside and self-resolve in a couple of weeks after L3 die. To characterise the differences in an early immune response of a marine vs. terrestrial host, we stimulated peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) of fish (paratenic host) and rat (accidental, human-model host) with A. pegreffii crude extract and analysed PBL transcriptomes 1 and 12 h post-stimulation. Fish and rat PBLs differentially expressed 712 and 493 transcripts, respectively, between 1 and 12 h post-stimulation (false discovery rate, FDR <0.001, logFC >2). While there was a difference in the highest upregulated transcripts between two time-points, the same Gene Ontologies, biological processes (intracellular signal transduction, DNA-dependent transcription, and DNA-regulated regulation of transcription), and molecular functions (ATP and metal ion binding) were enriched in the two hosts, showing an incrementing dynamic between 1 and 12 h. This suggests that the two distinct hosts employ qualitatively different transcript cascades only to achieve the same effect, at least during an early innate immunity response. Activation of later immunity elements and/or a combination of other host’s intrinsic conditions may contribute to the death of L3 in the terrestrial host.

Warm ocean waters drive rapid ice-shelf melting in the Amundsen Sea. The ocean heat transport toward the ice shelves is associated with the Amundsen Undercurrent, a near-bottom current that flows eastward along the shelf break and transports warm waters onto the continental shelf via troughs. Here we use a regional ice-ocean model to show that, on decadal time scales, the undercurrent's variability is baroclinic (depth-dependent). Decadal ocean surface cooling in the tropical Pacific results in cyclonic wind anomalies over the Amundsen Sea. These wind anomalies drive a westward perturbation of the shelf-break surface flow and an eastward anomaly (strengthening) of the undercurrent, leading to increased ice-shelf melting. This contrasts with shorter time scales, for which surface current and undercurrent covary, a barotropic (depth-independent) behavior previously assumed to apply at all time scales. This suggests that interior ocean processes mediate the decadal ice-shelf response in the Amundsen Sea to climate forcing. The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

The coastal protection function provided by the vegetation of tidal wetlands (e.g. salt marshes) will play an important role in defending coastlines against storm surges in the future and depend on how these systems respond to such forcing. Extreme wave events may induce vegetation failure and thereby risking loss of functionality in coastal protection. However, crucial knowledge on how hydrodynamic forces affect salt-marsh vegetation and whether plant properties might influence plant resistance is missing. In a true-to-scale flume experiment, we exposed two salt-marsh species to extreme hydrodynamic conditions and quantified wave-induced changes in plant frontal area, which was used to estimate plant damage. Moreover, half of the plants were artificially weakened to induce senescence, thus allowing us to examine potential seasonal effects on plant resistance. Morphological, biomechanical as well as biochemical plant properties were assessed to better explain potential differences in wave-induced plant damage. Our results indicate that the plants were more robust than expected, with pioneer species Spartina anglica showing a higher resistance than the high-marsh species Elymus athericus. Furthermore, wave-induced plant damage mostly occurred in the upper part of the vegetation canopy and thus higher canopies (i.e. Elymus athericus) were more vulnerable to damage. Besides a taller canopy, Elymus athericus had weaker stems than Spartina anglica, suggesting that biomechanical properties (flexural stiffness) also played a role in defining plant resistance. Under the highest wave conditions, we also found seasonal differences in the vulnerability to plant damage but only for Elymus athericus. Although we found higher concentrations of a strengthening compound (biogenic silica) in the plant material of the weakened plants, the flexibility of the plant material was not affected indicating that the treatment might not has been applied long enough. Nevertheless, this study yields important implications since we demonstrate a high robustness of the salt-marsh vegetation as well as species-specific and seasonal differences in the vulnerability to plant damage.

Heavy metals (HMs) can induce both chronic and acute harmful effects on marine and freshwater biota. The environmental impact of HMs in freshwater, seawater, soil, and wastewater can be limited using microbes, including microalgae, that are able to remove metals from environmental matrices. Indeed, they can passively adsorb and actively accumulate these persistent pollutants within their organelles, limiting their detrimental effects on cellular metabolism. The Sarno River is a 30 km long freshwater stream located in Southern Italy, polluted by partially untreated municipal, agricultural, and industrial wastewaters. In spite of this, microalgal cultures from Sarno River or Sarno River Mouth have never been established. In the present study, we isolated a green algal strain from the Sarno River Mouth and determined its ability to grow in polluted seawater containing different concentrations of cadmium, lead, or zinc. This strain was found to be able to accumulate these elements within its biomass in a dose-dependent manner. Growth inhibition experiments confirm the relatively low toxicity of Cd and Pb below 50 µM, while algal growth was seriously affected in Zn-amended media. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study focused on the ability of microalgae from Sarno River Mouth to tolerate and uptake HMs.

BackgroundIt has been reported for several years that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) could disturb human endocrine function. However, there is still a short of consistent conclusion about the relationship between PAH exposure and levels of sexual hormones. The aim of our study is to explore whether exposure to PAHs and how PAHs affect the levels of serum testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) in adults, hoping to fulfill the knowledge gap.Materials and methodsThis study included adults aged 20 and above who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2011 to 2016. We included 10 PAH metabolites in this study. The levels of urinary PAH metabolites were log-transformed and divided into quartiles. The associations between PAH metabolites and both serum T levels of males and E2 levels of females were investigated using multivariate regression models. We furtherly calculated PAHs scores by sum of ranks across 10 PAHs metabolites, which represented the exposure levels of PAHs mixtures, and the association between PAHs scores and serum T and E2 levels were analyzed.ResultsA total of 4,654 subjects were included in this study, including 2,460 males and 2,194 females. After adjusting for confounders, 2-hydroxynapthalene and 3-hydroxyfluorene were positively associated with serum T levels of males (p-value for trend=0.047, and p-value for trend=0.006, respectively), while 1-hydroxyphenanthrene was positively associated with serum E2 levels of females (p-value for trend=0.013). In the adjusted models, no significant association was found between PAHs scores and either T levels of males or E2 levels of females (p-value for trend=0.615, and p-value for trend=0.241, respectively).ConclusionsThis study showed urinary 2-hydroxynapthalene and 3-hydroxyfluorene were associated with increased T levels of males, and urinary 1-hydroxyphenanthrene was associated with increased E2 levels of females. The observed association indicated disrupting effects of PAH exposure on reproductive health.

AbstractPaleotemperature proxy data form the cornerstone of paleoclimate research and are integral to understanding the evolution of the Earth system across the Phanerozoic Eon. Here, we present PhanSST, a database containing over 150,000 data points from five proxy systems that can be used to estimate past sea surface temperature. The geochemical data have a near-global spatial distribution and temporally span most of the Phanerozoic. Each proxy value is associated with consistent and queryable metadata fields, including information about the location, age, and taxonomy of the organism from which the data derive. To promote transparency and reproducibility, we include all available published data, regardless of interpreted preservation state or vital effects. However, we also provide expert-assigned diagenetic assessments, ecological and environmental flags, and other proxy-specific fields, which facilitate informed and responsible reuse of the database. The data are quality control checked and the foraminiferal taxonomy has been updated. PhanSST will serve as a valuable resource to the paleoclimate community and has myriad applications, including evolutionary, geochemical, diagenetic, and proxy calibration studies.