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This report identifies transferable skills and competences relevant for early career researchers to gather during their doctoral training program and beyond, in order to increase their employability in multiple work sectors. A skills matrix and infographic (see Appendix) with nine different categories, containing a total of 66 transferable skills and competences, is presented. Advice on how to acquire and document these skills and competences is provided. Source at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1299178 More information at http://eurodoc.net/news/2018/press-release-eurodoc-report-on-transferable-skills-and-competences

Mission Microbiomes Leg 8 took place between Salvador de Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It corresponded to the first AtlantECO “Biodiscovery” leg, the first case Study on "Molecular Bioprospecting" of the mission. The two principal objectives of this leg were 1) to augment plankton biodiversity discovery through replicated omics samplings, and 2) to enable the potential discovery of new bioproducts & chemicals for industrial applications with high socio-economic value, such as new ways to produce pharmaceutical products or natural enzymes able to digest complex molecules such as pollutants or plastics. Given the bioprospecting focus of this leg, sampling stations were all located within international waters, along the Vitória-Trindade Chain (VTC) consisting of 11 heterogeneous seamounts. Due to this location, an additional objective of this leg was 3) to produce samples potentially also valuable for the H2020 EU-funded All-Atlantic sister project iAtlantic (Integrated Assessment of Atlantic Marine Ecosystems in Space and Time), which overall goal is to measure the impact of climate change on the Atlantic, and notably on deep-sea corals of the VTC seamounts. In line with these objectives, the main questions we wish to address are: a) Are we under-sampling the functional and taxonomic biodiversity of marine microbiomes? What are the “rare” species? (Is everything everywhere?); b) What is the nutrient/light dynamics of a DCM? Is the DCM a vertically homogeneous feature or is it made of vertically separated niches? and c) What are the pelagic microbiomes associated with deep coral reefs? Can we characterize the vertical connectivity between the pelagic microbiomes and deep-sea corals (e.g., downward export of organic matter, using a genomic signature)? What is the survival of coral larvae in the pelagic ecosystem?

Climate warming and related drivers of soil thermal change in the Arctic are expected to modify the distribution and dynamics of carbon contained in perennially frozen grounds. Thawing of permafrost in the Mackenzie Delta region of northwestern Canada, coupled with increases in river discharge and coastal erosion, trigger the release of terrestrial organic matter (OMt) from the largest Arctic drainage basin in North America into the Arctic Ocean. While this process is ongoing, well-established, and its rate is accelerating, the fate of the newly-mobilized organic matter, as it transits from the watershed through the delta and into the marine system, remains poorly understood. In the framework of the European Horizon 2020 Nunataryuk programme, and as part of the Work Package 4 (WP4) Coastal Waters theme, four field expeditions were conducted in the Mackenzie Delta region and southern Beaufort Sea from April to September 2019. The temporal sampling design allowed the survey of ambient conditions in the coastal waters under full ice cover prior to the spring freshet, during ice break-up in summer, as well as anterior to the freeze-up period in fall. To capture the fluvial-marine transition zone, and with distinct challenges related to shallow waters and changing seasonal and meteorological conditions, the field sampling was conducted in close partnership with members of the communities of Aklavik, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, using several platforms: helicopters, snowmobiles and small boats. Water column profiles of physical and optical variables were measured in situ, while surface water, groundwater and sediment samples were collected and preserved for the determination of the composition and sources of OMt, including particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC, DOC), and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), as well as a suite of physical, chemical and biological variables. Here we present an overview of the standardized datasets, including hydrographic profiles, remote sensing reflectance, temperature and salinity, particle absorption, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, particulate organic nitrogen, colored dissolved organic matter absorption, fluorescent dissolved organic matter intensity, suspended particulate matter, total particulate carbon, total particulate nitrogen, stable water isotopes, radon in water, bacterial abundance, and a string of phytoplankton pigments including total chlorophyll. Datasets and related metadata can be found in Juhls et al. 2021. https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.937587.

Objectives: to explore seamounts of the Azorean archipelago to better understand the distribution patterns of large VME species and commercial fishes. Namely, the cruise aimed to (i) map benthic communities inhabiting unexplored seamounts and banks in the Central (Dom João de Castro) and Eastern (Alcatraz and Mar da prate) part of the Azores Region, (ii) identify new areas that fit the FAO vulnerable marine ecosystems definition; and (iii) determine distribution patterns of deep-sea benthic biodiversity in the Azores. The results of this cruise will also contribute to identify the environmental drivers that determine the spatial distribution of deep-sea benthic biodiversity in the Azores region. It will also provide valuable information in the context of Good Environmental Status (GES), Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and provide new insights on how to sustainably manage deep-sea ecosystems. The devices used in this survey correspond to low-cost custom made video platforms designed to operate between 200 and 500 m depth.

AbstractThere is considerable evidence for an adaptive role of inversions, but how their genetic content evolves and affects the subsequent evolution of chromosomal polymorphism remains controversial. Here, we track how life‐history traits, chromosomal arrangements and 22 microsatellites, within and outside inversions, change in three replicated populations of Drosophila subobscura for 30 generations of laboratory evolution since founding from the wild. The dynamics of fitness‐related traits indicated adaptation to the new environment concomitant with directional evolution of chromosomal polymorphism. Evidence of selective changes in frequency of inversions was obtained for seven of 23 chromosomal arrangements, corroborating a role for inversions in adaptation. The evolution of linkage disequilibrium between some microsatellites and chromosomes suggested that adaptive changes in arrangements involved changes in their genetic content. Several microsatellite alleles increased in frequency more than expected by drift in targeted inversions in all replicate populations. In particular, there were signs of selection in the O3+4 arrangement favouring a combination of alleles in two loci linked to the inversion and changing along with it, although the lack of linkage disequilibrium between these loci precludes epistatic selection. Seven other alleles increased in frequency within inversions more than expected by drift, but were not in linkage disequilibrium with them. Possibly these alleles were hitchhiking along with alleles under selection that were not specific to those inversions. Overall, the selection detected on the genetic content of inversions, despite limited coverage of the genome, suggests that genetic changes within inversions play an important role in adaptation.

Alvinocaridid shrimp occurring in dense assemblages close to vigorously venting orifices are characteristic of many vent fields on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Central Indian Ridge, and Mid-Cayman Rise. Episymbiotic bacteria of these shrimp are exposed to vent fluids enriched in inorganic nutrients (carbon dioxide, sulfide) that, together with dissolved oxygen in the surrounding seawater, sustain autotrophic growth and supply nourishment to the shrimp. Enigmatically, conspecific shrimp may also be found sparsely distributed in the periphery of a vent field, where there is little visual evidence of vent fluid flux. We tested the null hypothesis that nourishment sources were identical for the central (dense) and peripheral shrimp assemblages, using gut content and stable isotope analyses. Rimicaris hybisae were sampled from central and peripheral assemblages at the Von Damm Vent Field (Mid-Cayman Rise). Guts of centrally aggregated shrimp contained a white material inferred to be bacteria, while peripheral individuals contained this white material and/or pieces of crustacean exoskeletons. C, N, and S isotopic compositions of shrimp muscle tissues were significantly different between central and peripheral shrimp assemblages, and little overlap in isotopic space was found. A comparison of δ13C and δ34S values of gut contents and abdominal tissues revealed that abdominal tissue composition reflects the shrimp's source of nourishment. Slight but significantly elevated δ15N values in peripheral shrimp, together with crustacean exoskeleton fragments in the gut, suggest facultative carnivory in peripherally aggregated shrimp. The lower δ13C and δ34S values in individuals from the peripheral assemblages are also consistent with a mixotrophic diet. We conclude that central and peripheral assemblages of R. hybisae have different nourishment sources, with central assemblages relying on episymbionts, while peripheral assemblages have diverse nourishment sources comprising bacteria and Crustacea.

The paper by Hannah et al. (this volume) invokes foodweb theory and the ideas of complexity theory to guide the construction of models of intermediate complexity, which sacrifice explicit process detail to increase the number of interacting components of the system and simulate the web of feedback loops. This approach has its merits, if best practice modelling guidelines are followed and the method is used well. However, if this is not the case then the fundamental weakness of the intermediate model approach is that it may end up producing models that are over general and therefore not useful. To make the most of the intermediate complexity approach it is essential to keep the tenets of the middle-out approach in mind. Under the middle-out approach computational models are constructed and tested at the levels where we have the most detailed information, building on our existing knowledge and data and coupling a hierarchy of models rather than being swamped in a morass of detail or missing key feedbacks through over-generality. International audience