Article
Biology
Hugo Duarte Moreno, Martin Koering, Julien Di Pane, Nelly Tremblay, Karen H. Wiltshire, Maarten Boersma, Cedric L. Meunier
Summary: Global change can alter the community structure and dynamics of coastal marine systems. This study conducted a mesocosm experiment to assess the impact of future global change scenarios on plankton, a vital component of marine food webs. The findings showed that warming, acidification, and increased N:P ratios influenced plankton dynamics, favoring smaller phytoplankton species, benefiting microzooplankton, and impairing mesozooplankton. The study also identified a tipping point between different scenarios, beyond which substantial changes in food web structure and dynamics occurred. Future environmental conditions may lead to the dominance of certain key species and the decline of others in coastal planktonic food webs.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Huo Xu, Haijiao Liu, Fengyuan Chen, Xiaodong Zhang, Zhen Zhang, Jie Ma, Ke Pan, Hongbin Liu
Summary: This study investigates the effects of ocean acidification on Emiliania huxleyi, a model coccolithophore, and finds that increased pCO2 decreases intracellular Ca2+ and coccolith area, as well as reduces the modulus and hardness of coccolith. Additionally, ocean acidification increases the organic matter and silicon content on the coccolith surface. These findings suggest that ocean acidification can alter competitive interactions between coccolithophores and other phytoplankton, potentially impacting carbon export to the deep ocean.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Eric Mortenson, Andrew Lenton, Elizabeth H. Shadwick, Thomas W. Trull, Matthew A. Chamberlain, Xuebin Zhang
Summary: The ocean serves as a major sink for anthropogenic heat and carbon, but the trajectories of heat and CO2 uptake diverge over the 21st century due to regional differences in physical and chemical drivers. Regional variations in heat-to-carbon uptake ratios will result in coherent regional patterns for sea surface warming and acidification by the end of this century.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Natasha Garner, Pauline M. Ross, Laura J. Falkenberg, Justin R. Seymour, Nachshon Siboni, Elliot Scanes
Summary: Seagrass may not be a panacea for mitigating the negative impacts of ocean acidification on oysters, but it can benefit oyster growth.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Haimanti Biswas
Summary: This study investigates the growth response of Arctic diatom Chaetoceros gelidus under varying CO2 and light levels. The results suggest that this species has a high adaptability to variable light levels and is capable of accumulating substantial amounts of organic carbon at low CO2 levels. Additionally, under nitrogen limitation, intracellular nitrogen resources may be recycled, resulting in an increased carbon-to-nitrogen ratio within the cells.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
J. I. Bertucci, J. Bellas
Summary: This study aimed to estimate the potential risk of the combined effect of global change factors and microplastic pollution on the growth and development of the sea urchin P. lividus. The results showed that exposure to decreased pH and microplastic caused a significant decrease in larval growth, while an increase in water temperature added additional stress, resulting in lower growth and altered development of the sea urchin larvae. The combined stress of ocean warming, acidification, and microplastic pollution may threaten sea urchin populations and have a potential impact on coastal ecosystems.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Fisheries
Elliot Scanes, Pauline M. Ross, Justin R. Seymour, Nachshon Siboni, Michael C. Dove, Wayne A. O'Connor, Callum Dittes, Laura M. Parker
Summary: Ocean acidification can affect marine molluscs, but transgenerational plasticity may mitigate some effects. This study investigated how the microbiome can be influenced by transgenerational exposure to ocean acidification in Sydney Rock oysters. The results showed that parental exposure to elevated PCO2 altered the bacterial community composition in both eggs and larvae, with certain Rhodobacteraceae ASVs increasing or decreasing in abundance. These findings suggest that the transfer of maternal microbiomes to larvae is affected by exposure to ocean acidification and may contribute to transgenerational plasticity.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Angela Almeida, Vania Calisto, Valdemar I. Esteves, Rudolf J. Schneider, Amadeu M. V. M. Soares, Rosa Freitas
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the impacts of pharmaceutical drugs and acidification on edible clams. The results showed that the combination of drugs had fewer impacts on the clams compared to when the drugs were acting alone. Acidification had negative effects on the clams, but it did not enhance the toxicity when combined with pharmaceutical drugs.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mitchell C. Gibbs, Laura M. Parker, Elliot Scanes, Maria Byrne, Wayne A. O'Connor, Pauline M. Ross
Summary: This study investigated the impact of ocean acidification on larval energetics of oysters and found that elevated p CO2 reduced survival, size, and lipid levels across all lipid classes. Larvae of Saccostrea glomerata were more impacted than Crassostrea gigas, especially when food was limited, highlighting concerns for their aquacultural status and ecological function.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Elliot Scanes, Laura M. Parker, Justin R. Seymour, Nachshon Siboni, William L. King, Nathan P. Danckert, K. Mathias Wegner, Michael C. Dove, Wayne A. O'Connor, Pauline M. Ross
Summary: The study found that elevated pCO2 and temperature interact to affect the microbiome of oysters, with pCO2 being the most important factor influencing species diversity and richness.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Y. Quilfen, J. Shutler, J-F Piolle, E. Autret
Summary: Anthropogenic climate change is predicted to have significant impacts on the marine ecosystems of the Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS), particularly through ocean acidification and changes in upwelling dynamics. A study focusing on the California Current Upwelling System (CCUS) showed an increase in upwelling-favorable winds, affecting seasonal upwelling transport. The observed changes in wind trends are consistent with trends in water chlorophyll-a, CO2 partial pressure, and pH analysis, highlighting the importance of these changes for modulating the carbonate system within the CCUS.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lester Kwiatkowski, Olivier Torres, Olivier Aumont, James C. C. Orr
Summary: Studies have shown that the influence of increasing atmospheric CO2 and climate change on the marine CO2 system and ecosystems is mainly manifested in the variability of carbonate chemistry, including seasonal and diurnal variations. Models project that the future ocean will experience enhanced diurnal variability of pCO2 and [H+], which may impose higher metabolic costs on marine organisms.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Celia Schunter, Michael D. Jarrold, Philip L. Munday, Timothy Ravasi
Summary: The study found that in a stable elevated pCO(2) environment, both species of coral reef fishes showed a consistent brain molecular response, including the downregulation of immediate early genes. The transcriptional program was more strongly affected by higher average pCO(2) in stable conditions. The largest difference in molecular response was between stable and fluctuating pCO(2) treatments, indicating that the response to environmental pCO(2) conditions differs for organisms living in fluctuating versus stable environments.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Amber M. Holdsworth, Li Zhai, Youyu Lu, James R. Christian
Summary: Model projections of ocean circulation and biogeochemistry reveal the importance of high-frequency wind variability in freshwater distribution along the continental shelf of the Canadian Pacific Coast.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Angus Mitchell, David J. Booth, Ivan Nagelkerken
Summary: The study found that ocean acidification reduced shoal cohesion, with mixed-species shoals showing lower cohesion than temperate-only shoals under climate stressors. Tropical fish became bolder under ocean acidification, while temperate fish became bolder with increasing temperature, but ocean acidification dampened the boldness of temperate fish.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Mathematics, Applied
James McCoy, Glen Wheeler, Yuhan Wu
Summary: The study focuses on the evolution of regular closed curves, showing that when the curvature or energy of the initial curve is small enough, the evolving curve converges to a straight horizontal line segment. The smallness conditions depend only on m.
ADVANCES IN CALCULUS OF VARIATIONS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Kevin J. Flynn, Aditee Mitra, William H. Wilson, Susan A. Kimmance, Darren R. Clark, Angela Pelusi, Luca Polimene
Summary: Rapid virus proliferation has a significant impact on phytoplankton populations, affecting marine biogeochemistry and ecology. The interactions between viruses, hosts, grazers, and competitors generate boom-and-bust dynamics, suppressing potentially successful phytoplankton species. Virus control of bloom development is more important than virus-induced termination, influencing plankton succession and competition.
Article
Plant Sciences
Marc-Andre Cormier, Jean-Baptiste Berard, Gael Bougaran, Clive N. Trueman, Daniel J. Mayor, Richard S. Lampitt, Nicholas J. Kruger, Kevin J. Flynn, Rosalind E. M. Rickaby
Summary: The traditional separation between primary producers and consumers in the marine food web is being replaced by the paradigm of mixoplankton, which are planktonic protists capable of both heterotrophy and autotrophy. This shift in understanding has implications for primary production, biomass transfer, and CO2 sequestration in the deep ocean. However, there is currently no tool to quantify the relative contributions of autotrophy and heterotrophy in planktonic protists, hindering our understanding of carbon cycling in marine ecosystems. This study explores the use of hydrogen isotopic signature of lipid biomarkers as a novel tool to investigate the prevalence of mixotrophy in marine microorganisms.
Article
Mathematics
James A. McCoy, Phil Schrader, Glen Wheeler
Summary: In this article, we studied L-2(d theta)-gradient flows for higher-order curvature functionals and derived similar representation formulae for their solutions. Solutions exist for all time under natural conditions on the initial curve and converge exponentially fast in the smooth topology to multiply-covered circles. We considered different types of curves and also discussed corresponding `globally constrained' flows and a higher order approach to the Yau problem.
JOURNAL OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Gerald Langer, Ian Probert, Madison B. Cox, Alison Taylor, Glenn M. Harper, Colin Brownlee, Glen Wheeler
Summary: In this study, the effects of microtubule and actin inhibitors on coccolith morphogenesis in two species of coccolithophores were examined. The results showed that all cytoskeleton inhibitors induced malformations in coccoliths, indicating the crucial roles of microtubules and actin filaments in morphogenesis.
JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Plant Sciences
Aditee Mitra, Kevin J. Flynn, Diane K. Stoecker, John A. Raven
Summary: Analysis of trait trade-offs helps simplify and understand the complexities of ecology. The presence and diversity of mixoplankton in surface ocean waters can be explained by their evolution from different lineages and their ability to function competitively in mature ecosystems. However, there is no clear evidence to support trait trade-off arguments in plankton research, except for acquired phototrophy in mixoplanktonic ciliates versus zooplanktonic ciliates.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Mathematics, Applied
Shinya Okabe, Glen Wheeler
Summary: In this paper, we study the L2-gradient flow of the modified p-elastic energy on planar closed curves. We introduce a notion of weak solution for the flow and prove the existence of global-in-time weak solutions for initial curves in the energy space when p ≥ 2 using the method of minimizing movements. Furthermore, we establish the existence of unique global-in-time solutions to the flow when p = 2 and show their subconvergence to an elastica as t tends to infinity.
JOURNAL DE MATHEMATIQUES PURES ET APPLIQUEES
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Aditee Mitra, David A. Caron, Emile Faure, Kevin J. Flynn, Suzana Goncalves Leles, Per J. Hansen, George B. McManus, Fabrice Not, Helga do Rosario Gomes, Luciana F. Santoferrara, Diane K. Stoecker, Urban Tillmann
Summary: This research discovered that protist plankton can perform both photosynthesis and food uptake, and they are called mixoplankton. This finding changes the structure of marine food webs. The researchers created a comprehensive database of mixoplankton, which helps scientists understand the physiological traits and trophic interactions of these organisms, as well as identify knowledge gaps.
JOURNAL OF EUKARYOTIC MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Mathematics
M. K. Cooper, G. Wheeler, V. -M. Wheeler
Summary: In this article, we study Chen's flow of curves from both theoretical and numerical perspectives. Our goal is to understand the global behavior of the flow in two different settings: closed immersed co-circles and immersed lines satisfying a cocompactness condition. While the argument for the cocompact case is straightforward, the argument for the closed case is complex. We successfully conduct a full analysis of the rescaling under a curvature condition. Our work is supplemented by a numerical study of the flow, including an explanation of the algorithms used. (c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
JOURNAL OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
(2023)
Article
Mathematics
Philip Schrader, Glen Wheeler, Valentina-Mira Wheeler
Summary: In this article, we study the length functional on immersed planar curves. The curve shortening flow is obtained as the gradient flow of the length functional with respect to the L-2(ds(gamma)) Riemannian metric. Motivated by the vanishing of the L-2(ds(gamma)) Riemannian distance, we consider the gradient flow of the length functional with respect to the H-1(ds(gamma))-metric. Circles with radius r(0) shrink according to r(t) = root W(e(c-2t)), where W is the Lambert W function and c = r(0)(2) + log r(0)(2). We conduct a thorough study of this flow, including the existence of eternal solutions, convergence for general initial data, preservation of regularity in various spaces, qualitative properties of the flow after rescaling, and numerical simulations.
JOURNAL OF GEOMETRIC ANALYSIS
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Kevin J. Flynn, John A. Raven
Summary: An error in our original work led us to reevaluate the factors constraining photoautotrophic plankton growth rates (mu(max)). Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate Carboxylase-Oxygenase does not provide this constraint, but we identified other factors that suggest our previously suggested value of approximately 2 doublings per day is still likely representative of the maximum for most photoautotrophs. mu(max) likely evolves a balance between competitive advantage and minimizing stress caused by various limiting factors. Organisms with extremely high mu(max) are expected to grow under specific conditions that provide a stable environment with non-limiting nutrients and light for sufficient time to evolve higher mu(max). Conditions allowing for higher mu(max) include exploiting exceptional opportunities and entering stasis, or situations where high grazing pressures match high phytoplankton growth, maintaining non-limiting nutrient and light conditions. However, the latter conflicts with the paradox of enrichment, as predator-prey dynamics only achieve necessary stability under resource limitation. Ultimately, phototroph mu(max) is constrained by ecology, not biophysics.
JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Kevin J. Flynn, Aditee Mitra
Summary: Plankton phototrophy and heterotrophy have opposing effects on seawater pH. Mixoplankton, which can engage in both activities, have the potential to create a stable pH environment for plankton growth. However, most mixoplankton groups do not stabilize seawater pH. Enhanced phototrophy in mixoplankton through phagotrophy can elevate pH, especially for certain mixoplankton types. Mixoplankton blooms can exceed phytoplankton blooms and can enhance primary production. The dynamics of these blooms depend on the consumption of heterotrophs and/or phototrophs and the succession of the plankton community.
JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Mathematics, Applied
Piotr Rybka, Glen Wheeler
Summary: This paper shows the stabilization of solutions to the sixth-order convective Cahn-Hilliard equation. By applying an abstract result by Carvalho, Langa, and Robinson, it is proved that for small delta, the equation has the structure of gradient flow in a weak sense. The desired stabilization is obtained through a powerful theorem due to Hale and Raugel. The importance of this article lies in providing a significant approach to solve the problem by citing other research and applying theorems.
SIAM JOURNAL ON MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Urban Tillmann, Aditee Mitra, Kevin J. Flynn, Michaela E. Larsson
Summary: This study reveals that small planktonic Prorocentrum species capture prey by crafting mucus traps, which enhance their mixoplanktonic feeding activity. These traps can either passively entangle prey or actively immobilize them through water movement. This feeding strategy facilitates faster growth and is common among certain clades of small Prorocentrum species.
Article
Education & Educational Research
Bonnie Amelia Dean, Trish Mundy, Oriana Price, Meredith Kennedy, Glen Wheeler, Lynn Sheridan, Loretta Iskra
Summary: This study explores academics' perceptions of work-integrated learning (WIL) resourcing provisions and challenges at one institution. The findings suggest mixed perceptions on WIL resourcing, with a need for more integration in subjects and recognition of WIL work. The study highlights the invisibility of academics' efforts to embed WIL in curriculum and recommends coherent policies for recognition of WIL work.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING
(2023)
