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It is unclear whether transport by human vectors can increase the robustness of translocated populations and thereby enhance their invasiveness. To test this concept, we investigated the effect of heat stress on the tolerance of mussel populations towards a second stress event of the same kind. The heat challenges we mimicked can be faced by marine invertebrates that are transported through regions with high sea surface temperatures on ship hulls or in ballast water tanks. The study included 5 mussel species that were collected at sites in Brazil, Chile, Finland, Germany (Baltic Sea) and Portugal. In parallel laboratory experiments, monospecific groups of individuals were exposed to heat challenges that caused 60–83% mortality in the experimental groups within 15–28 days. The surviving individuals were exposed to a second stress event of the same kind, while their survival was then compared to the robustness of conspecifics that had not been exposed to elevated temperatures before. We observed that thermal tolerance was significantly enhanced by previous heat stress experience in case of Semimytilus algosus from Chile and in case of Mytilus edulis from Germany. Our results suggest that heat challenges, which marine invertebrates experience during transport, can enhance stress tolerance in founder populations of these species in their non-native range by potentially increasing the frequency of genetically adapted genotypes. This points at the necessity to learn more about selection acting on organisms during human-mediated transport—in the aquatic but also in the terrestrial environment.

Pergerakan organisme dipengaruhi oleh penyebaran alami dan aktivitas manusia.Beberapa spesies yang terbawa, memiliki sebaran yang melebihi distribusi batas normal oleh pengaruh tertentu (vector).Penelitian ini melakukan pengujian pada skala laboratorium untuk melihat survival rate yang terkait dengan body condition index selama diberikan stress suhu yang terkait perubahan iklim dan ini juga dapat dijadikan sebagai simulasi transportasi kapal, sehingga dapat diketahui pergerakan organisme.Distribusi organisme tersebut mempengaruhi kemampuan bertahan hidupselama transportasi.Oleh karena itu, perlu dilakukan penelitian dengan mengekspose grup pra-stress dan grup non stress sebelum masuk ke fase stress dan membandingkan survival rate dan body condition index (BCI) pada organisme tersebut. Organisme yang dipilih adalah Kerang Hijau (P. viridis) dengan menggunakan stress suhu.Pengukuran respon variabel dari organisme tersebut yaitu survival rate dan body condition index (BCI).Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa survival rate dan body condition index memiliki korelasi linier.

The clown anemonefish ‘Nemo’ Amphiprion ocellaris is the most popular fish species in the global marine ornamental trade and also its host sea anemones Heteractis magnifica, Stichodactyla gigantea, and Stichodactyla mertensii are traded. However, total catch and the potential impact of exploitation of these target organisms in Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia, are not known. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the fishery on populations of A. ocellaris and its host anemones and how management could be improved. In order to obtain a comprehensive view on the marine ornamental fishery and trade of these species in Spermonde, this study also investigated the socioeconomics of the marine ornamental fishery and the catch records for A. ocellaris and it's host anemones. The study revealed that both, A. ocellaris and sea anemone densities were significantly lower at coral reefs with high exploitation (HE) than at reefs with low exploitation (LE). The total body length and group size of A. ocellaris was also significantly smaller at HE than at HL sites. The yearly amount traded by middlemen is estimated to 140 000 specimens of A. ocellaris and 31 000 anemones. The socioeconomic analysis showed that educational level of marine fishermen family members was low; most of them only finished elementary school. The household income analysis showed that marine ornamental fishery was not the major source of income, covering 13−43% of the expenses, with the exception of one studied island (84%). These findings revealed a considerable negative impact of marine ornamental fishery on the target populations and therefore, the implications for management strategies and conservation are discussed, including fish size restrictions for collectors, marine protected areas and regular monitoring of the amount of trade at middlemen.

It is unclear whether habitat degradation correlates with tolerance of marine invertebrates to abiotic stress. We therefore tested whether resistance to climate change-related stressors differs between populations of the green mussel Perna viridis from a heavily impacted and a mostly pristine site in West Java, Indonesia. In laboratory experiments, we compared their oxygen consumption and mortality under lowered salinity (-13 and -18 units, both responses), hypoxia (0.5 mg/l, mortality only) and thermal stress (+7 degrees C, mortality only). Mussels from the eutrophied and polluted Jakarta Bay showed a significantly smaller deviation from their normal oxygen consumption and higher survival rates when stressed than their conspecifics from the unaffected Lada Bay. This shows that human induced habitat degradation correlates with mussel tolerance to environmental stress. We discuss possible mechanisms - e.g. the selection of tolerant genotypes or habitat-specific differences in the nutritional status of the mussels - that could explain our observation.

Die Weltmeere sind der groste Lebensraum der Erde. Von den flachen Kustengewassern bis in die dunkle Tiefsee wird ihr Boden von einer immensen Vielfalt „exotischer“ Lebewesen, dem Benthos, besiedelt. Wissenschaftler bringen Licht in das Dunkel und Ordnung in die Mannigfaltigkeit. Sie untersuchen die Zusammensetzung der Lebensgemeinschaften und das Funktionieren der Okosysteme am Meeresboden, und sie erkunden die Folgen des Umweltwandels in diesem einzigartigen und noch kaum erforschten Lebensraum.

The colonisation of hard substrata (HS) by epibenthic megafauna was studied by photographic surveys along the Ardencaple Canyon in the deep western Greenland Sea in 2000. Seven transects at 2,700–3,200 m water depth showed generally low densities of dropstones, sunken wood, and other substrata including anthropogenic material (range: 2–11 HS km−1). Overall, 30 different taxa and morphotypes were found on or associated with HS. While the sea anemone Bathyphellia margaritacea and the pantopod Ascorhynchus abyssi dominated the fauna on the substrate surfaces, a ball-shaped morphotype of uncertain taxonomic origin characterised assemblages marginally associated with HS. Community analysis revealed differences in faunal patterns near the continental rise and towards the deep sea, but diversity and evenness did not differ significantly between the various regions. However, we conclude that dropstones and other hard substrata at the seafloor serve as colonisation islands and thereby generally increase small-scale habitat diversity in polar deep-sea environments.

The Asian green mussel Perna viridis is tolerant to environmental stress, but its robustness varies between populations from habitats that differ in quality. So far, it is unclear whether local adaptations through stress-induced selection or phenotypic plasticity are responsible for these inter-population differences. We tested for the relevance of both mechanisms by comparing survival under hypoxia in mussels that were transplanted from an anthropogenically impacted (Jakarta Bay, Indonesia) to a natural habitat (Lada Bay, Indonesia) and vice versa. Mussels were retrieved 8 weeks after transplantation and exposed to hypoxia in the laboratory. Additional hypoxia tests were conducted with juvenile mussels collected directly from both sites. To elucidate possible relationships between habitat quality and mussel tolerance, we monitored concentrations of inorganic nutrients, temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, phytoplankton density and the mussels’ body condition index (BCI) for 20 months before, during and after the experiments. Survival under hypoxia depended mainly on the quality of the habitat where the mussels lived before the hypoxia tests and only to a small degree on their site of origin. Furthermore, stress tolerance was only higher in Jakarta than in Lada Bay mussels when the BCIs were substantially higher, which in turn correlated with the phytoplankton densities. We explain why phenotypic plasticity and high BCIs are more likely the causes of population-specific differences in hypoxia tolerance in P. viridis than stress-induced selection for robust genotypes. This is relevant to understanding the role of P. viridis as mariculture organism in eutrophic ecosystems and invasive species in the (sub)tropical world.

It is an open question whether adverse habitat conditions, characteristic for many anthropogenically impacted coastal habitats, can determine resistance to abiotic stress in populations of residing invertebrates. We tested experimentally for differences in stress tolerance between individuals of the Asian green mussel Perna viridis stemming from the heavily impacted Jakarta Bay and from two natural sites, Lada Bay and Pelabuhan Ratu, West Java. Mussel performance under hyposalinity and hypoxia was assessed in laboratory assays by measuring fitness-related response variables, e.g. body condition index, relative shell weight, byssus production, respiration rates and survival. We found stress-specific and population-specific differences in mussel resistance to adverse conditions: Individuals from the impacted Jakarta Bay performed better under hypoxia than their conspecifics from the natural sites, whereas the latter were more resistant to hyposalinity. We explain these differences by differential acclimation to environmental conditions in the respective habitats and by diverging degrees of food supply.

The Laptev Sea is a high-Arctic epicontinental sea north of Siberia (Russia) that is one of the least understood regions of the world’s ocean. It is characterized by a shallow and broad shelf plateau, high influx of river water, sediments and nutrients during summer, long-lasting sea-ice cover from October to May, and the formation of a narrow flaw-lead polynya off the fast-ice edge during winter. Here, we describe results of a German–Russian research project (1993-present), presenting the distribution patterns and dynamics of its marine flora and fauna, as well as pathways and processes of coupling between sea-ice, water-column and sea-floor biota. Three ecological zones are distinguished along a combined east–west and Lena-impact gradient, differing in the composition of pelagic and benthic communities. In general, high Chl a concentrations in the sediments indicate a tight coupling between sympagic and pelagic primary production and nutrient supply to the benthos throughout the entire Laptev Sea. However, there were pronounced regional differences between the ecological zones in magnitude of primary production and trophic dynamics. Primary production during the ice-free summer was highest in the estuarine zone most strongly influenced by the Lena River (210 mg C m −2 day −1 ). The western and northeastern Laptev Sea yielded 55 and 95 mg C m −2 day −1 , respectively. Moreover, the zones differed in the partitioning of carbon flux between zooplankton and benthic food webs. In the Lena zone zooplankton carbon demand was about 31 mg C m −2 day −1 whereas in the western zone it was 21 mg C m −2 day −1 and in the eastern zone 4 mg C m −2 day −1 . Total benthic carbon demand was 32 mg C m −2 day −1 for the Lena zone, 56 mg C m −2 day −1 in the western zone and 100 mg C m −2 day −1 in the northeastern zone. A carbon budget constructed for the Laptev Sea indicates that (1) a high proportion of primary production is channelled through the benthic trophic web, bypassing the pelagic trophic web, and (2) autochthonous primary production in the northeastern and western Laptev Sea might not be sufficient to fuel both pelagic and benthic secondary production and, hence, input of allochthonous organic carbon is required to balance the overall carbon demand.

The associated microbial community in the mesohyl of the Arctic deep-water sponge Tentorium semisuberites Schmidt, 1870 (Hadromerida, Demospongiae) is dominated by Archaea. This is the result of an integral approach applying analyses of microbial lipid biomarkers as well as microscopic investigations using differential fluorescence in situ hybridisation with universal probes and counterstaining with 4′,6′-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) on sponge sections based on samples collected in the Greenland Sea in 2001, 2002 and 2005. The distribution of isoprenoidal C40 hydrocarbons of the biphytane series suggests that affiliates of both major archaeal kingdoms, the Crenarchaeota and the Euryarchaeota, are present in the choanosome of T. semisuberites. Positive signals using the oligonucleotide probe ARCH915 indicate high numbers of Archaea in the mesohyl of this sponge. Based on optical estimations 70–90% of all microbial DAPI signals accounted for archaeal cells. Archaea in these high proportions have never been described in an Arctic deep-sea hadromerid sponge, nor in any other demosponge species. Similar observations in specimens collected over a time scale of 4 years suggest permanent sponge-Archaea associations.

The marine Arctic has played an essential role in the history of our planet over the past 130 million years and contributes considerably to the present functioning of Earth and its life. The global cycles of a variety of materials fundamental to atmospheric conditions and thus to life depend to a signifi cant extent on Arctic marine processes (Aargaard et al., 1999). The past decades have seen remarkable changes in key Arctic variables. The decrease of sea-ice extent and sea-ice thickness in the past decade is statistically signifi - cant (Cavalieri et al., 1997; Parkinson et al., 1999; Walsh and Chapman, 2001; Partington et al., 2003; Johannessen et al., 2004). There have also been large changes in the upper and intermediate layers of the ocean, which have environmental implications. For instance, the deep Greenland Sea has continued its decadal trend towards warmer and saltier conditions, with a corresponding decrease in oxygen content, refl ecting the lack of effective local convection and ventilation (Dickson et al., 1996; Boenisch et al., 1997). Changes in temperature and salinity and associated shifts in nutrient distributions will directly affect the marine biota on multiple scales from communities and populations to individuals, consequently altering food-web structures and ecosystem functioning (Benson and Trites, 2002; Moore, 2003; Schumacher et al., 2003; Wiltshire and Manly, 2004; Perry et al., 2005). Today, we do not know whether the severe alterations in abiotic parameters represent perturbations due to human impacts, natural long-term trends, or new equilibriums (Bengtson et al., 2004). Because Arctic organisms are highly adapted to extreme environmental conditions with strong seasonal forcing, the accelerating rate of recent climate change challenges the resilience of Arctic life (Hassol, 2004). The entire system is likely to be severely affected by changing ice and water conditions, varying primary production and food availability to faunal communities, an increase in contaminants, and possibly increased UV irradiance. The stability of a number of Arctic populations and ecosystems is probably not strong enough to withstand the sum of these factors, which might lead to a collapse of subsystems. To detect and track the impact of large-scale environmental changes in the transition zone between the northern North Atlantic and the central Arctic Ocean, and to determine experimentally the factors controlling deep-sea biodiversity, the German Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) established the deepsea, long-term observatory HAUSGARTEN, representing the fi rst, and by now only, open-ocean, long-term station in a polar region.

Sediments sampled during summers 1999–2002 with the German ice-breaker RV “ Polarstern ” were analyzed to estimate benthic microbial activity and biomass of the smallest sediment-inhabiting organisms (size range: bacteria to meiofauna) along a channel system in the deep western Greenland Sea at about 75°N. Biochemical investigations were expanded by direct counts of bacteria and meiofaunal organisms, including foraminiferans. A total of 36 stations was sampled along the Ardencaple Canyon, extending over 200 km in north-easterly direction from the Greenland continental rise towards the central Greenland Basin. Stations were grouped in defined regions, generally with sampling sites inside the canyon plus accompanying sites on the northern and southern levees. An additional eight stations were sampled along a depth transect crossing the Greenland continental margin and traversing the channel in its midsection. All parameters investigated confirmed no differences between stations within the channel compared to stations on the levees, opposing the hypothesis that the Ardencaple Canyon displays a major pathway for suspension-driven shelf drainage flows. However, investigations showed some general trends in the data: parameters indicating food availability at the seafloor and total microbial biomass generally decreased with increasing water depth and distance from the Eastern Greenland continental margin. Along the depth transect crossing the Greenland margin both parameters exhibited increased values at deep stations on the continental rise. The position of these stations coincides with the position of the ice edge during sampling in summer 2000. Increased food availability and microbial biomass in the sediments most probably reflect raised levels of primary productivity and enhanced sedimentation in the marginal ice zone, thereby pointing to a close pelago-benthic coupling. Bacterial activities in the sediments showed a different picture with generally increasing values with increasing distance from the continental margin, which could probably be explained by a change in bacterial assemblages.

Although the use of deep-sea imagery considerably increased during the last decades, reports on nekton falls to the deep seafloor are very scarce. Whereas there are a few reports describing the finding of whale carcasses in the deep north-eastern and south-eastern Pacific, descriptions of invertebrate or vertebrate food-falls at centimetre to metre scale are extremely rare. After 4 years of extensive work at a deep-sea long-term station in northern polar regions (AWI-“Hausgarten”), including large-scale visual observations with various camera systems covering some 10 000 m 2 of seafloor at water depths between 1250 and 5600 m, this paper describes the first observation of a fish carcass at about 1280 m water depth, west off Svalbard. The fish skeleton had a total length of 36 cm and an approximated biomass of 0.5 kg wet weight. On the basis of in situ experiments, we estimated a very short residence time of this particular carcass of about 7 h at the bottom. The fast response of the motile deep-sea scavenger community to such events and the rapid utilisation of this kind of organic carbon supply might partly explain the extreme rarity of such an observation.

The regular sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus pallidus (G.O. Sars, 1871), is a widespread epibenthic species in high-Arctic waters. However, little is known about its distribution, standing stock, population dy- namics and production. In the northern Barents Sea, S. pallidus was recorded on seabed still photographs at 10 out of 11 stations in water depths of 80-360 m. Mean abundances along photographic transects of 150-300 m length ranged between

Species composition, abundance, biomass and spatial distribution pattern of brittle star assemblages of the Kolbeinsey Ridge, north of Iceland, were investigated by analysing seafloor photographs and epibenthic sled catches. Sampling was conducted in July 1992 along a 34 km long cross-ridge transect at 67°55′N in depths ranging from 830 to 1100 m. Five brittle star species were found. Only one species, Ophiocten gracilis, occurred with densities of more than 1 ind m−2. Both ridge slopes were characterized by soft bottom habitats, the ophiuroid distribution, however, revealed differences between slopes. Generally, brittle star densities were significantly higher on the eastern slope. There, the highest mean abundance per station of O. gracilis was 497 ind m−2. Except for one station, a distinct patchiness on the 100 m-scale was obvious in the spatial distribution of O. gracilis. Small settling stages with disc diameters 4 mm were most abundant. Our findings reflect a cross-ridge gradient in terms of hydrographic regime and, hence, probably pattern of food supply for the benthos.

The distribution and structure of zoobenthic communities have been investigated in the northern North Atlantic. The principal goal of these studies is to assess the degree to which benthic community patterns depend on and/ or mediate carbon flux between the pelagic and benthic realms, as well as between seabed, sediment-water interface and benthic boundary layer. A common rationale is that these patterns integrate the impact of environmental factors over longer periods of time and reflect relatively long-lasting or predictably recurrent environmental states, thus providing clues to the relative significance of potential community determinants on a time scale of months to years. Since 1992, several meso-scale field studies have been carried out in three regions at the East Greenland continental margin between 68° N and 81° N at water depths ranging from 40 to 3,700 m. A suite of sampling methods was employed (corers, trawls, seabed imaging) to adequately probe various benthic community fractions, such as foraminifers, poriferans, macrobenthic endofauna, peracarid crustaceans and megabenthic epifauna.A depth zonation in the faunal composition, accompanied by a shift in the predominance of different feeding types and a significant decline in biomass and abundance by as much as two and three orders of magnitude was the most conspicuous general pattern detected. However, in terms of species richness, no common trend for water depth or latitude was perceivable. The general depth zonation of the macrobenthos as well as the spatial concordance of high macrobenthic abundance and biomass with relatively productive hydrographic zones, such as marginal ice zones, polynyas and anti-cyclonic gyres, provide evidence for the importance of water column processes and, hence, for subsequent food availability as major determinants for benthic assemblages and the significance of pelago -benthic coupling in the study area in general. However, for megafaunal species such as echinoderms, community patterns on a 10-1an scale and the dispersion of organisms on a 100-m scale, are best explained by seafloor properties. There is no evidence of direct pelago-benthic coupling, irrespective of water depth. These contrasting findings emphasize that the relative importance of potential community determinants can change with both spatial scale and life traits, e.g. body size, mobility and feeding ecology, of the organisms considered.

Russian and German scientists have investigated the extreme environmental system in and around the Laptev Sea in the Siberian Arctic. For the first time a major comprehensive research program combining the efforts of several projects addressed both oceanic and terrestrial processes, and their consequences for marine and terrestrial biota, landscape evolution as well as land-ocean interactions. The primary scientific goal of the multidisciplinary program was to decipher past climate variations and their impact on contemporary environmental changes. Extensive studies of the atmosphere, sea ice, water column, and sea-floor on the Laptev Sea Shelf, as well as of the vegetation, soil development, carbon cycle, permafrost behaviour and lake hydrology, and sedimentation on Taymyr Peninsula and Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago were performed during the past years under a framework of joint research activities. They included land and marine expeditions during spring (melting), summer (ice free), and autumn (freezing) seasons. The close bilateral cooperation between many institutions in Russia and Germany succeeded in drawing a picture of important processes shaping the marine and terrestrial environment in northern Central Siberia in Late Quaternary time. The success of the projects, which ended in late 1997, resulted in the definition and establishment of a new major research effort which will concentrate on establishing a better understanding of the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental record of the area. This is important because it allows to be able to judge rates and extremes of potential future environmental changes.