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IMBeR Newsletter
Your news from the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research International Project Office
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Anthropocene Coasts Recruiting Position:
Associate Editors
Anthropocene Coasts is a Golden Open Access journal hosted by East China Normal University, and published by Springer. The journal publishes multidisciplinary research addressing the interaction of human activities with our estuaries and coasts.
To help build on the success of Anthropocene Coasts and to expand the opportunities for international collaboration and contributions to the work of the journal, the journal is seeking more international Associate Editors.
Apply now!
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Call for Collaboration
The IMBeR Young Scholar Program (IYS) has received two applications seeking expertise and resources:
- Microalgae Isolation Techniques
- Genome Editing of Mangroves
We are looking for those interested. If you have the facilities and expertise in either of these areas and are willing to mentor the applicants, please contact the IMBeR IPO at imber@ecnu.edu.cn.
About IMBeR Young Scholar Program
Who can apply: Senior, post-graduate students or early career researchers in Asia-African countries who perceive a deficiency in research resources in their networks.
How to apply: Interested individuals should submit a one-page application to the IPO (imber@ecnu.edu.cn).
Processing time: The IPO evaluates the application and returns comments to the applicant within 14 working days. If the application is deemed worthy, the IPO seeks to identify a suitable advanced laboratory to provide a mentoring service to the applicant.
2024 Applications Open - Submit the IMBeR Young Scholar Program Application Form now!
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This month's Editor Picks share ten interesting readings in physical oceanography, marine biodiversity, marine biology and ecology, and marine biogeochemistry to help us advance our understanding of the biological features of aquatic organisms and their surrounding physical and chemical environments. These studies encompass diverse marine regions, such as the North Atlantic, Southern Ocean, global ocean depths, coastal zones, and the Great Barrier Reef, showcasing different environmental conditions and ecological contexts.
The subjects are nitrogen-fixing organelles in marine algae, the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, the impacts of bathymetry on long-term carbon cycles, the effects of 3D ocean assessments on fisheries and marine protection, compounded ocean condition extremes, challenges in marine carbon dioxide removal, the collective behavior of schooling fish in turbulent waters, historical oceanic anoxia events, pressure adaptation of lipids in deep-sea invertebrates, and the influence of climate warming oscillations on coral reef ecosystems. The observational datasets, numerical model schemes, and innovative frameworks employed are worth noting. Through these diverse research efforts, the newsletter showcases significant advancements and insights in understanding and managing sustainably our ocean biosphere.
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Nitrogen-fixing organelle in a marine alga | |
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Authors: Tyler H. Coale, Valentina Loconte, Kendra A. Turk-Kubo, Bieke Vanslembrouck, Wing Kwan Esther Mak, Shunyan Cheung, Axel Ekman, Jian-Hua Chen, Kyoko Hagino, Yoshihito Takano, Tomohiro Nishimura, Masao Adachi, Mark Le Gros, Carolyn Larabell, and Jonathan P. Zehr
Journal: Science
Symbiotic interactions were key to the evolution of chloroplast and mitochondria organelles, which mediate carbon and energy metabolism in eukaryotes. Biological nitrogen fixation, the reduction of abundant atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) to biologically available ammonia, is a key metabolic process performed exclusively by prokaryotes. Candidatus Atelocyanobacterium thalassa, or UCYN-A, is a metabolically streamlined N2-fixing cyanobacterium previously reported to be an endosymbiont of a marine unicellular alga. Here we show that UCYN-A has been tightly integrated into algal cell architecture and organellar division and that it imports proteins encoded by the algal genome. These are characteristics of organelles and show that UCYN-A has evolved beyond endosymbiosis and functions as an early evolutionary stage N2-fixing organelle, or “nitroplast.”
Click to read the full paper
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3D ocean assessments reveal that fisheries reach deep
but marine protection remains shallow
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Authors: Juliette Jacquemont, Charles Loiseau, Luke Tornabene, and Joachim Claudet
Journal: Nature Communications
The wave of new global conservation targets, the conclusion of the High Seas Treaty negotiations, and the expansion of extractive use into the deep sea call for a paradigm shift in ocean conservation. The current reductionist 2D representation of the ocean to set targets and measure impacts will fail at achieving effective biodiversity conservation. Here, we develop a framework that overlays depth realms onto marine ecoregions to conduct the first three-dimensional spatial analysis of global marine conservation achievements and fisheries footprint. Our novel approach reveals conservation gaps of mesophotic, rariphotic, and abyssal depths and an underrepresentation of high protection levels across all depths. In contrast, the 3D footprint of fisheries covers all depths, with benthic fishing occurring down to the lower bathyal and mesopelagic fishing peaking in areas overlying abyssal depths. Additionally, conservation efforts are biased towards areas where the lowest fishing pressures occur, compromising the effectiveness of the marine conservation network. These spatial mismatches emphasize the need to shift towards 3D thinking to achieve ocean sustainability.
Click to read the full paper
|  | Fig. 2: Distribution of fishing pressure and conservation efforts across depth realms. A Average fishing pressure by fishing gear across depth realms. Lollipops indicate whether fishing pressure in each depth realm is above (red lollipops) or below (green lollipops) global average fishing pressure. B Protection coverage of marine protected areas (MPAs) by IUCN categories and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) across depth realms. Lollipops indicate whether the current protection coverage of depth realms is behind (red lollipops) or ahead (green lollipops) of the average coverage of high protection and of the 2020 CBD target. C Proportion of the ocean falling under each depth realm. D Proportion of depth realms falling under exclusive economic zones or areas beyond national jurisdiction. The four vertical dashed lines represent from left to right: average fishing pressure across depths, average coverage of high protection (MPAs of Ia and Ib IUCN categories) across depths, and the 2020 and 2030 CBD coverage targets. |  | Column‐Compound Extremes in the Global Ocean | |
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Authors: Joel Wong, Matthias Münnich, and Nicolas Gruber
Journal: AGU Advances
Marine extreme events such as marine heatwaves, ocean acidity extremes and low oxygen extremes can pose a substantial threat to marine organisms and ecosystems. Such extremes might be particularly detrimental (a) when they are compounded in more than one stressor, and (b) when the extremes extend substantially across the water column, restricting the habitable space for marine organisms. Here, we use daily output of a hindcast simulation (1961–2020) from the ocean component of the Community Earth System Model to characterize such column-compound extreme events (CCX), employing a relative threshold approach to identify extremes and requiring them to extend vertically over at least 50 m. The diagnosed CCX are prevalent, occupying worldwide in the 1960s about 1% of the volume contained within the top 300 m. Over the duration of our simulation, CCX become more intense, last longer, and occupy more volume, driven by the trends in ocean warming and ocean acidification. For example, the triple CCX expanded 39-fold, now last 3-times longer, and became 6-times more intense since the early 1960s. Removing this effect with a moving baseline permits us to better understand the key characteristics of CCX, revealing a typical duration of 10–30 days and a predominant occurrence in the Tropics and high latitudes, regions of high potential biological vulnerability. Overall, the CCX fall into 16 clusters, reflecting different patterns and drivers. Triple CCX are largely confined to the tropics and the North Pacific and tend to be associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation.
Click to read the full paper
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Fig. 3: Illustration of the concepts used to detect and analyze column compound extremes. (a) Idealized diagram illustrating the time-depth evolution of extreme conditions in a hypothetical water column from the surface down to 300 m depth. The colored regions within the plot are considered extreme, with the colors brown, green and blue representing pure MHW, OAX, and LOX, respectively. The areas where the different extremes overlap are given colors according to the mixing diagram in panel (b). (b) Timeseries of the total vertical extent (within the top 300 m of the water column) for each extreme type. When the vertical extent for a particular type of extreme exceeds 50 m, we call it a Column-single eXtreme event (CSX) of this parameter and when more than one of these occur at the same time a Column-Compound eXtreme event (CCX). The duration of the four different types of CCX is indicated by arrows. | |
Limited understanding of basic ocean processes is hindering progress in marine carbon dioxide removal | |
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Authors: P W Boyd, J-P Gattuso, C L Hurd, and P Williamson
Journal: Environmental Research Letters
To limit warming to <2 °C, we need both emissions reductions and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) (IPCC 2022). A diverse range of potential CDR methods have been proposed to achieve billion-tonne (i.e. gigatonne, Gt) annual CO2 removal rates within 30–50 years (IPCC 2022), with multiple approaches needed to be developed and upscaled massively to achieve that goal. The need for robust criteria to assess the viability of candidate CDR mechanisms has long been recognised (Boyd 2008), yet new methods are being proposed regularly with insufficient exploration of such checks or balances. This is particularly true for ocean-based CDR, now attracting greater interest (NASEM 2022) as the constraints on land-based methods become apparent.
Here, we focus on four ocean-based CDR methods that, in our opinion, are being advocated, not only by scientists, but also in many cases by the private sector, without due diligence on the underpinning fundamental science. We consider proponents of these methods to have an incomplete or incorrect grasp not only of how the ocean carbon cycle functions, but also the up-scaling needed to provide significant climatic benefits. Such upscaling brings other ocean processes into play that could nullify the effectiveness of the proposed CDR approach. In each case, misunderstanding and knowledge gaps affect the credibility of carbon offset schemes. Our case studies are: calcification-based approaches, expansion of seaweed farming, coastal blue carbon restoration, and 're-wilding' whale populations. We consider that the non-climatic benefits of all these actions have potential to greatly exceed their modest (or non-existent) possible contributions to ocean-based CDR.
Click to read the full paper
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Fig. 4: Simplified representation of carbon flows relating to marine calcification, here by oysters. Arrow thickness approximates to magnitude. The green arrow depicts feeding based on phytoplankton primary production which is a CO2 sink. CO2 sources are respiration by oysters and by marine food webs, human harvest and consumption, and the emissions arising from calcification. Images from rawpixel.com and Freepik.
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Collective movement of schooling fish reduces the costs
of locomotion in turbulent conditions
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Authors: Yangfan Zhang, Hungtang Ko, Michael A. Calicchia, Rui Ni, and George V. Lauder
Journal: PLOS BIOLOGY
The ecological and evolutionary benefits of energy-saving in collective behaviors are rooted in the physical principles and physiological mechanisms underpinning animal locomotion. We propose a turbulence sheltering hypothesis that collective movements of fish schools in turbulent flow can reduce the total energetic cost of locomotion by shielding individuals from the perturbation of chaotic turbulent eddies. We test this hypothesis by quantifying energetics and kinematics in schools of giant danio (Devario aequipinnatus) and compared that to solitary individuals swimming under laminar and turbulent conditions over a wide speed range. We discovered that, when swimming at high speeds and high turbulence levels, fish schools reduced their total energy expenditure (TEE, both aerobic and anaerobic energy) by 63% to 79% compared to solitary fish (e.g., 228 versus 48 kj kg−1). Solitary individuals spend approximately 22% more kinematic effort (tail beat amplitude•frequency: 1.7 versus 1.4 BL s−1) to swim in turbulence at higher speeds than in laminar conditions. Fish schools swimming in turbulence reduced their three-dimensional group volume by 41% to 68% (at higher speeds, approximately 103 versus 33 cm3) and did not alter their kinematic effort compared to laminar conditions. This substantial energy saving highlights that schooling behaviors can mitigate turbulent disturbances by sheltering fish (within schools) from the eddies of sufficient kinetic energy that can disrupt locomotor gaits. Therefore, providing a more desirable internal hydrodynamic environment could be one of the ecological drivers underlying collective behaviors in a dense fluid environment.
Click to read the full paper
|  | Fig. 5: Illustration of the environmental turbulence sheltering hypothesis. Schematic diagram of a school of giant danio (D. aequipinnatus) swimming in oncoming turbulence where the largest eddies have an integral length scale (L) on the same order of magnitude as the body depth (D) of the fish. Fish within the school could benefit from a region of reduced turbulence created within the school as a result of nearby neighbors and undulatory body motion modifying flow within the school compared to free stream oncoming flow. We propose a “turbulence sheltering” hypothesis that fish schools can protect individuals within the group from free-stream turbulence. As a result, we predict fish swimming in turbulence could reduce their locomotor costs by schooling in contrast to swimming alone. The sheltering zone is drawn to start with flows generated by the dorsal and anal fins of the leading fish as these fins generate vortical wakes that could contribute to modifying flow within the school. | | | |
Cascading oxygen loss shoreward in the oceans:
Insights from the Cambrian SPICE event
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Authors: Aske L. Sørensen, and Tais W. Dahl
Journal: One Earth
Marine euxinia can amplify phosphorous-limited marine productivity by recycling phosphorous from sediments, creating a feedback loop that increases marine oxygen consumption and ultimately leads to widespread oceanic anoxia. This phenomenon is potentially more dangerous when oxygen loss arises in coastal zones. Here, we present empirical evidence and show that this cascade was set off in the Cambrian Earth system. Carbon isotopes and Mo enrichments in well-dated sediment records from the Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE) event reveal a rapid decline over 130 ± 30 ka to persistently low Mo levels for 1.0 ± 0.2 Ma, followed by a slower recovery. Using dynamic models for the global biogeochemical cycles, we demonstrate that marine anoxia expanded globally through a self-cascading feedback mechanism. Importantly, we find that the benthic phosphorous flux likely scaled with sedimentation, and that chemocline shoaling into coastal areas likely triggered the SPICE event. We evaluate the risk of passing the tipping point for global-scale anoxia today.
Click to read the full paper
|  | Fig. 6: Graphical abstract. | |
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Homeocurvature adaptation of phospholipids to pressure
in deep-sea invertebrates
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Authors: Jacob R. Winnikoff, Daniel Milshteyn, Sasiri J. Vargas-Urbano, Miguel A. Pedraza-Joya, Aaron M. Armando, Oswald Quehenberger, Alexander Sodt, Richard E. Gillilan, Edward A. Dennis, Edward Lyman, Steven H. D. Haddock, and Itay Budin.
Journal: Science
Hydrostatic pressure increases with depth in the ocean, but little is known about the molecular bases of biological pressure tolerance. We describe a mode of pressure adaptation in comb jellies (ctenophores) that also constrains these animals’ depth range. Structural analysis of deep-sea ctenophore lipids shows that they form a nonbilayer phase at pressures under which the phase is not typically stable. Lipidomics and all-atom simulations identified phospholipids with strong negative spontaneous curvature, including plasmalogens, as a hallmark of deep-adapted membranes that causes this phase behavior. Synthesis of plasmalogens enhanced pressure tolerance in Escherichia coli, whereas low-curvature lipids had the opposite effect. Imaging of ctenophore tissues indicated that the disintegration of deep-sea animals when decompressed could be driven by a phase transition in their phospholipid membranes.
Click to read the full paper
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Combined Role of the MJO and ENSO in Shaping Extreme Warming Patterns and Coral Bleaching Risk in the Great Barrier Reef | |
Authors: Catherine H. Gregory, Neil J. Holbrook, Claire M. Spillman, and Andrew G. Marshall
Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
Local meteorology over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) can significantly influence ocean temperatures, which in turn impacts coral ecosystems. While El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) provides insight into the expected synoptic states, it lacks details of anticipated sub-seasonal weather variability at local scales. This study explores the influence of the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) on Australian tropical climate, both independently and in combination with ENSO, focusing on GBR impacts. We find that during El Niño periods, including the summer of 2009/10, faster propagating MJO patterns can disrupt background warm, dry conditions, and potentially provide cooling relief via increased cloud cover and stronger winds. In La Niña periods, such as the summer of 2021/22, the MJO tends to be prevented from passing the Maritime continent, forcing it to remain in a standing pattern in the Indian Ocean. This leads to decreased cloud cover and weaker winds over the GBR, generating warm ocean anomalies.
Click to read the full paper
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Fig. 7: Schematics showing the large-scale ocean-atmosphere feedback processes that occur during El Niño and La Niña in the Pacific Ocean (blue indicates cool SST anomalies while red indicates warm SST anomalies), and the influence on local weather patterns over the GBR that contribute to significant ocean temperature variability and coral exposure to solar radiation. | |
Events, Webinars and Conferences | |
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If you would like to put some recruitment information in the IMBeR monthly newsletter, please contact us through imber@ecnu.edu.cn. | |
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IMBeR International Project Office
State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University
500 Dongchuan Rd., Shanghai 200241, China
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