Article
Environmental Sciences
Gal Eyal, Jack H. Laverick, Pim Bongaerts, Oren Levy, John M. Pandolfi
Summary: Mesophotic coral ecosystems are important, but research on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is scarce due to reasons such as strict diving regulations, involvement of new researchers, logistics, and cost. Research efforts on these ecosystems are declining, and unless this changes, the knowledge gap between Australian MCEs and other major coral reef regions worldwide will continue to widen. Action is needed to enhance understanding of these ecosystems in Australia.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Jeanne Bloomberg, Daniel M. Holstein
Summary: As shallow coral populations decline globally, mesophotic coral ecosystems are proposed as potential refugia for coral species. The study assesses the refuge potential of mesophotic reefs in the US Virgin Islands for Montastraea cavernosa, with deeper coral experiencing slightly lower reproductive potential. Changes in coral cover and sex ratios primarily drive variations in oocyte production over depth, with mesophotic reefs playing a key role in providing oocytes despite lower proportion of females. The persistence of mesophotic reefs as reproductive refuges is questioned due to disease perturbations affecting deeper reefs.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Joshua M. Copus, Cameron A. J. Walsh, Mykle L. Hoban, Anne M. Lee, Richard L. Pyle, Randall K. Kosaki, Robert J. Toonen, Brian W. Bowen
Summary: This study examines the phylogeography of two mesophotic coral fish species and compares them to shallow-reef species. The results suggest that mesophotic coral ecosystems may be older and more stable than shallow coral ecosystems, contradicting previous beliefs. The genetic diversity and coalescence times of the mesophotic fish species are similar to their shallow-water counterparts.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mykle L. Hoban, Michael Bunce, Brian W. Bowen
Summary: This study used environmental DNA metabarcoding to assess biodiversity patterns in mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The results show significant community differences between depth zones, with fishes not showing distinct zonation. This suggests that MCEs may serve as refugia for fishes, but invertebrate communities in deeper areas are distinct, indicating limited connectivity among reef fauna.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Dor Shefy, Gabrielle Guerrini, Nir Marom, Nadav Shashar, Baruch Rinkevich
Summary: This study investigates the settlement patterns of the brooding coral Stylophora pistillata, showing that larval settlement is mainly influenced by the number of larval donors and tends to aggregate. Aggregated settlement carries disadvantages but can also have benefits such as enhanced fertilization and ecological advantages.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Aleksander Majchrzyk, Michal Jakubowicz, Blazej Berkowski, Pim Bongaerts, Mikolaj K. Zapalski
Summary: One of the keys to the success of modern and ancient reef ecosystems is photosymbiosis. Mesophotic coral reef ecosystems (MCE) can survive in the lower part of the photic zone. Recent studies have found that MCEs existed as early as the middle Palaeozoic. The Aferdou el Mrakib reef in Morocco represents one of the southernmost Givetian reefs and provides insights into the paleoecology of these communities. The MCEs in the Aferdou el Mrakib reef show taxonomic and ecological similarities with reefs in Laurussia and southern China, indicating a cosmopolitan nature of Middle Devonian mesophotic ecosystems.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ross Jones, Mary Wakeford, Leanne Currey-Randall, Karen Miller, Hemerson Tonin
Summary: The study aimed to enhance knowledge on impact predictions near sensitive environments during drilling, emphasizing on the need to better characterize drilling fluid discharges to reduce uncertainty. High volume, concentration, and discharge rate water-based drilling mud discharges were identified as the most significant dispersal risk, but the generation of jet-like plumes limited longer-range movement.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Assaf Malik, Shai Einbinder, Stephane Martinez, Dan Tchernov, Sivan Haviv, Ricardo Almuly, Paul Zaslansky, Iryna Polishchuk, Boaz Pokroy, Jaroslaw Stolarski, Tali Mass
Summary: Research shows that corals adapt to different depths and produce specific skeletal morphologies as ambient light decreases, attributed to physiological feedback between corals and symbiotic algae. Experimental transplantation reveals corals partially adapt and exhibit depth-specific properties. In mesophotic depths, corals have enriched organic matrices and overexpress transcripts encoding biomineralization tool-kit structural proteins.
ACTA BIOMATERIALIA
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Raymond C. Boland, K. David Hyrenbach, Edward E. DeMartini, Frank A. Parrish, John J. Rooney
Summary: This study conducted surveys of the mesophotic reef in the Au'au Channel between Maui and Lana'i islands using various methods. The results showed that depth, benthic substrates, and coverage have an impact on the distribution of fish assemblages in the mesophotic reef. Additionally, two distinct mesophotic assemblages were identified, one in the upper depths and the other in the lower depths.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nestor E. Bosch, Fernando Espino, Fernando Tuya, Ricardo Haroun, Lorenzo Bramanti, Francisco Otero-Ferrer
Summary: The degradation of shallow ecosystems has led to a need to study and understand the biodiversity and functioning of Mesophotic Ecosystems. However, most research has been limited to tropical regions and focused on species, neglecting other important aspects of biodiversity. By studying a subtropical island in the Atlantic Ocean, we found that fish communities in mesophotic black coral forests (BCFs) differed in functional structure compared to shallow reefs, indicating the importance of specific management and conservation strategies for preserving the unique biodiversity and functionality of mesophotic BCFs.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gonzalo Perez-Rosales, Heloise Rouze, Gergely Torda, Pim Bongaerts, Michel Pichon, Valeriano Parravicini, Laetitia Hedouin
Summary: The study showed that the probability of coral bleaching decreases with depth, especially in lower mesophotic depths of 60 meters or more where little to no bleaching was observed. Corals vary in their sensitivity to depth, with depth-generalist corals benefiting more from increasing depth compared to depth-specialists. The reduction of bleaching with depth was found to be more related to light-irradiance attenuation than temperature.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ivonne Bejarano, Victor Orenes-Salazar, Rita Bento, Jose Antonio Garcia-Charton, Daniel Mateos-Molina
Summary: This study documents the decline of coral reefs in the southern Arabian Gulf, specifically the loss of Acropora corals. It found that the last remaining large stands of Acropora are located on an offshore island with less extreme environmental conditions. The study provides essential information for the management and conservation of these valuable and vulnerable corals.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lauren T. Toth, Travis A. Courtney, Michael A. Colella, Rob R. Ruzicka
Summary: SCTLD has had an unprecedented impact on the western Atlantic coral-reef ecosystems, causing a decline in reef-accretion potential and altering the composition of coral assemblages. The loss of reef-building corals has significantly decreased carbonate production, leading to a decline in their capacity for growth.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gal Vered, Noa Shenkar
Summary: The Gulf of Aqaba in the northern Red Sea has relatively lower levels of plastic pollution in coral reefs compared to other regions. However, deep mesophotic reefs have significantly higher levels of benthic plastic debris, and the surrounding seawater has similar microplastic levels as surface waters in the central Red Sea. The findings from this study provide a scientific basis for shaping regional policies and implementing management strategies to control and mitigate plastic pollution.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gal Eyal, Jack H. Laverick, Or Ben-Zvi, Kristen T. Brown, Netanel Kramer, Raz Tamir, Yoav Lindemann, Oren Levy, John M. Pandolfi
Summary: Climate change is degrading coral reefs worldwide, and mesophotic coral ecosystems are facing the threats of bleaching and population decline, questioning their potential as refuges.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Erika Gress, Jack H. Laverick, Margaux A. A. Monfared, Alex David Rogers, Dan A. Exton
JOURNAL OF THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
(2018)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jack H. Laverick, Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Alex D. Rogers
Article
Ecology
Michael P. Lesser, Marc Slattery, Jack H. Laverick, Keir J. Macartney, Tom C. Bridge
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2019)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Jack H. Laverick, Tamara K. Green, Heidi L. Burdett, Jason Newton, Alex D. Rogers
JOURNAL OF THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Raz Tamir, Gal Eyal, Netanel Kramer, Jack H. Laverick, Yossi Loya
Article
Ecology
Jack H. Laverick, Raz Tamir, Gal Eyal, Yossi Loya
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2020)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gal Eyal, Jack H. Laverick, Pim Bongaerts, Oren Levy, John M. Pandolfi
Summary: Mesophotic coral ecosystems are important, but research on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is scarce due to reasons such as strict diving regulations, involvement of new researchers, logistics, and cost. Research efforts on these ecosystems are declining, and unless this changes, the knowledge gap between Australian MCEs and other major coral reef regions worldwide will continue to widen. Action is needed to enhance understanding of these ecosystems in Australia.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Michael R. Heath, Deborah Benkort, Andrew S. Brierley, Ute Daewel, Jack H. Laverick, Roland Proud, Douglas C. Speirs
Summary: The Barents Sea is projected to be more than 95% ice-free throughout the year by the 2040s, with a temperature increase of around 2 degrees Celsius. Fisheries management reference points for demersal fish are expected to increase, while reference points for planktivorous fish are projected to decrease. Upper trophic levels are highly sensitive to the harvesting of planktivorous fish.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Jack H. Laverick, Douglas C. Speirs, Michael R. Heath
Summary: Seabed sediment maps are crucial for marine research, but some regions lack comprehensive data. This study predicts the sediment distribution of the inaccessible North East Greenland shelf using a random forest model trained with data from the neighboring Barents Sea. The study also generates new spatial data on previously un-mapped properties of the Barents Sea.
GEOSCIENCE DATA JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gal Eyal, Jack H. Laverick, Or Ben-Zvi, Kristen T. Brown, Netanel Kramer, Raz Tamir, Yoav Lindemann, Oren Levy, John M. Pandolfi
Summary: Climate change is degrading coral reefs worldwide, and mesophotic coral ecosystems are facing the threats of bleaching and population decline, questioning their potential as refuges.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emily G. Simmonds, Kwaku Peprah Adjei, Christoffer Wold Andersen, Janne Cathrin Hetle Aspheim, Claudia Battistin, Nicola Bulso, Hannah M. Christensen, Benjamin Cretois, Ryan Cubero, Ivan A. Davidovich, Lisa Dickel, Benjamin Dunn, Etienne Dunn-Sigouin, Karin Dyrstad, Sigurd Einum, Donata Giglio, Haakon Gjerlow, Amelie Godefroidt, Ricardo Gonzalez-Gil, Soledad Gonzalo Cogno, Fabian Grosse, Paul Halloran, Mari F. Jensen, John James Kennedy, Peter Egge Langsaether, Jack H. Laverick, Debora Lederberger, Camille Li, Elizabeth G. Mandeville, Caitlin Mandeville, Espen Moe, Tobias Navarro Schroeder, David Nunan, Jorge Sicacha-Parada, Melanie Rae Simpson, Emma Sofie Skarstein, Clemens Spensberger, Richard Stevens, Aneesh C. Subramanian, Lea Svendsen, Ole Magnus Theisen, Connor Watret, Robert B. O'Hara
Summary: Quantifying and reporting the uncertainty associated with models is crucial in different scientific fields, and there is still limited knowledge about how different fields approach this issue.
Article
Mathematical & Computational Biology
Pim Bongaerts, Gonzalo Perez-Rosales, Veronica Z. Radice, Gal Eyal, Andrea Gori, Erika Gress, Nicholas M. Hammerman, Alejandra Hernandez-Agreda, Jack Laverick, Paul Muir, Hudson Pinheiro, Richard L. Pyle, Luiz Rocha, Joseph A. Turner, Ryan Booker
DATABASE-THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL DATABASES AND CURATION
(2019)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Jack H. Laverick, Shanice Piango, Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Dan A. Exton, Pim Bongaerts, Tom C. L. Bridge, Michael P. Lesser, Richard L. Pyle, Marc Slattery, Daniel Wagner, Alex D. Rogers
ENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE
(2018)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Jack H. Laverick, Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Dan A. Exton, Pim Bongaerts, Tom C. L. Bridge, Michael P. Lesser, Richard L. Pyle, Marc Slattery, Daniel Wagner, Alex D. Rogers
ENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE
(2016)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Emily Curren, Sandric Chee Yew Leong
Summary: Microplastics in marine ecosystems serve as microhabitats for diverse toxic plankton species, including viable resting cysts of dinoflagellates. The diversity of plankton communities on the plastisphere is influenced by anthropogenic factors. This study highlights the importance of plastics as vectors for the transport of harmful opportunistic species in the marine environment.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Vladimir G. Dvoretsky, Alexander G. Dvoretsky
Summary: The Barents Sea, as the largest Arctic shelf region, plays a vital role in supporting commercial fisheries. The ecosystem of this region is significantly influenced by both warm Atlantic Water (AW) and cold Arctic Water (ARW), resulting in distinct frontal zones. This study found that copepod populations, particularly herbivorous copepods, were most abundant and productive in the Polar Front, as well as in the eastern frontal zones. The geographic positions of sampling stations, depth, and chlorophyll a concentration were identified as the main factors influencing copepod biomass and production.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alberto Rovellini, Charlotte L. Mortimer, Matthew R. Dunn, Elizabeth A. Fulton, Jamaluddin Jompa, Abdul Haris, James J. Bell
Summary: This study compared the structural complexity of coral- and sponge-dominated areas of an Indonesian coral reef using 3D photogrammetry. The results showed that smaller-scale refugia were reduced in sponge-dominated reefs, potentially impacting smaller reef fauna.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2024)