Search

Vegetated coastal ecosystems (mangroves, seagrasses, and saltmarshes, often called Blue Carbon ecosystems) store large carbon stocks. However, their regional carbon inventories, sequestration rates, and potential as natural climate change mitigation strategies are poorly constrained. Here, we systematically review organic carbon storage and accumulation rates in vegetated coastal ecosystems across the Central and Southwestern Atlantic, extending from Guyana (08.28°N) to Argentina (55.14°S). We estimate that 0.4 Pg organic carbon is stored in the region, which is approximately 2-5% of global carbon stores in coastal vegetated systems, and that they accumulate 0.5 to 3.9 Tg carbon annually. By ecosystem type, mangroves have the largest areal extent and contribute 70-80% of annual organic carbon accumulation, with Brazil hosting roughly 95% of mangrove stocks. Our findings suggest that organic carbon accumulation in the region is equivalent to 0.7 to 13% of global rates in vegetated coastal ecosystems, indicating the importance of conserving these ecosystems as a nature-based approach for mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Funding Information: This work was funded by Portuguese National Funding through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I. P., through project LA/P/0083/2020 (LA LARSyS - MARETEC) and project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associate Laboratory ARNET. The present work was supported by the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE) which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UIDB/04292/2020) Joana M. Neves was supported by a PhD fellowship (UI/BD/150954/2021) from FCT. This work was supported by Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (JCC, FAPERJ- E26/201.286/2014) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (JCC, CNPq- 307117/2014–6) and Santander Bank staff mobility funding through Swansea University, UK. Studies in Costa Rica were funded by the Vicerrectoría de Investigación at the Universidad de Costa Rica. The funders took no part in the design of the study, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, and in writing the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Vieira, Lobo-Arteaga, Santos, Leitão-Silva, Veronez, Neves, Nogueira, Creed, Bertelli, Samper-Villarreal and Pettersen. Seagrasses are declining globally, in large part due to increased anthropogenic coastal nutrient loads that enhance smothering by macroalgae, attenuate light, and are toxic when in excessive concentrations of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus. However, as sanitation is improved many seagrass meadows have been observed to recover, with a few studies suggesting that they may even benefit from mild anthropogenic nutrient additions. Monitoring seagrass demography and health has faced difficulties in establishing the adequate variables and metrics. Such uncertainty in the methods has caused uncertainty of the significance of results presented and compromised extrapolations to other seasons, areas, or species. One solution has come from within the plant self-thinning theories. During the 1980s, an interspecific boundary line (IBL) was determined as the upper limit of the combination of plant density and above-ground biomass for any stand on Earth, setting their maximum possible efficiency in space occupation. Recently, two meta-analyses to determine specific IBLs for algae and for seagrasses have been performed. The recently updated seagrass dataset comprises 5,052 observations from 78 studies on 18 species. These IBLs opened new perspectives for monitoring: the observed distance of a stand to the respective IBL (i.e., each stand’s relative efficiency of space occupation) was demonstrated to be a valuable indicator of a population’s health. Thus, this metric can be used to determine the impact of nutrients and pollutants on algae and seagrass populations. Furthermore, because the IBLs are common to all species, they may be used to compare all species from any location worldwide. This novel approach showed that Halodule wrightii, Halodule beaudettei, Halophila baillonii, Zostera marina, and Zostera noltei meadows benefit from anthropogenic additions of nitrogen and phosphorus, as long as these additions are moderate. In fact, the healthier Z. noltei meadows in Portugal (and among the healthiest meadows worldwide) were the ones exposed to effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and a food factory. We conclude that those effluents are providing water with enough quality and that their optimal management should coordinate the technological solutions of the WWTP with the natural potential of seagrass meadows as water purifiers and biomass producers. publishersversion published

A ciência deve ser cada vez mais valorizada, incentivada e estar mais acessível a todos, dentro e fora do meio acadêmico. E o apoio da população em geral que, via de regra, não tem contato com a ciência no seu dia a dia, é fundamental nesse processo. Mas como apoiar aquilo que não se conhece? O presente projeto “Pra que Serve? O que faz um cientista que trabalha com o mar.” visa divulgar a profissão do pesquisador científico promovendo o diálogo entre a comunidade acadêmica e a comunidade externa, estimulando a reflexão e debate de ideias de forma lúdica e participativa, familiarizando o público com a rotina de um cientista que trabalha com o mar. Relatamos aqui a experiência vivenciada durante todo o processo de criação e aplicação da oficina. A metodologia do presente projeto é dividida em duas etapas. Na primeira, através de apresentação oral, nós mostramos o que é um cientista, o que faz um cientista quando vai para o campo, como é mergulhar no mar e quais materiais são utilizados. Na segunda etapa nós realizamos uma oficina prática, mostrando a rotina de trabalho de um cientista, como diferentes organismos marinhos são identificados, que organismos são esses e a importância do trabalho de um cientista. Os participantes podem vivenciar a rotina de trabalho de um cientista que trabalha com o mar, além de observar a importância dos ambientes marinhos e da profissão cientista. No final das apresentações os participantes recebem uma tirinha em quadrinho resumindo tudo o que foi aprendido. Até o presente momento o projeto foi realizado em turmas de educação infantil, e ensino básico tecnológico, ambos de escolas públicas e em eventos de divulgação científica em locais públicos. Por ser um projeto de divulgação científica, adaptado para diferentes públicos, pretendemos repetir as atividades aqui apresentadas em outras instituições de ensino e eventos de divulgação científica a fim de incentivar o interesse em relação aos temas científicos, desenvolver o pensamento crítico em relação ao status da ciência na sociedade e contribuir para a valorização da ciência e educação.

The role of seagrass meadows in the cycling and accumulation of rare earth elements and yttrium (REEY) is unknown. Here, we measured the concentration of REEY in the different compartments of Halodule wrightii (shoots, rhizomes, and roots) and soils in seagrass meadows near sandy beaches, mangroves, and coral reefs in the Todos os Santos Bay, Brazil. We provide data on the accumulation dynamics of REEY in seagrass compartments and demonstrate that plant compartments and soil properties determine accumulation patterns. The ∑REEY in soils were ~1.7-fold higher near coral reefs (93.0 ± 5.61 mg kg

O presente trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso sobre o desenvolvimento do Programa de Educação e Interpretação Ambiental e Patrimonial (PEIAP) da Reserva Biológica Estadual de Guaratiba, no Rio de Janeiro (RJ/Brasil). O objetivo geral foi analisar o processo de implantação do PEIAP e apontar potencialidades e fragilidades das estratégias adotadas. A base metodológica foi a pesquisa qualitativa, com abordagem de estudo de caso observacional. A pesquisa foi realizada entre abril de 2017 e julho de 2021. As estratégias metodológicas empregadas foram: levantamento bibliográfico; análise documental e observação-participante e pesquisa participante. Foi possível concluir que o desenvolvimento do PEIAP da Reserva se deve a um conjunto de fatores como: 1) gestão participativa e comprometida com o Plano de Manejo e Planos de Ação; 2) participação de voluntários, através de recursos humanos e materiais, 3) integração do ensino formal e não formal, conciliando os projetos escolares com as ações socioambientais da unidade de conservação; 4) apoio da equipe da sede aos encaminhamentos da Câmara Temática e 5) adaptação do plano de ação à realidade global e ao contexto local, gerada pela pandemia por COVID-19. Como fragilidades a serem superadas foi verificado: insuficiente embasamento na legislação, ausência de profissional qualificado em educação ambiental integrando a equipe da Reserva; dificuldade de conciliar as agendas das escolas e da gestão e centralização de tarefas em poucos integrantes da Câmara Temática.

The high diversity of species in the marine environment gives rise to compounds with unique structural patterns not found as natural products in other systems and with great potential for pharmacological, cosmetic and nutritional use. The genus Tubastraea (Class Anthozoa, Order Scleractinia, Family Dendrophylliidae) is characterized as a hard coral without the presence of zooxanthellae. In species of this genus alkaloids derived from the compound aplysinopsin with pharmacological activity are known. In Brazil T. coccinea and T. tagusensis are characterized as non-indigenous and invasive and are currently found along the Brazilian coast, from Santa Catarina to Bahia states. This study aims to analyze the mutagenic, cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of methanolic and ethanolic extracts from T. coccinea and T. tagusensis collected in Ilha Grande Bay, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Bacterial reverse mutation assay on the standard strains TA97, TA98, TA100, TA102 and TA104, in vitro micronucleus formation test and colorimetric assays for cytotoxic signals on the cell lines HepG2 and RAW264.7 were used. We also synthesized an oxoaplysinopsin derivate alkaloid (APL01) for comparative purposes. No mutagenic (250; 312.5; 375; 437.5 and 500 μg/plate) or genotoxic (0.05; 0.5; 5.0; 50 and 500 μg/mL) effects were observed in any sample tested for all measured concentrations. Cytotoxic responses were observed for eukaryotic cells in all tested samples at 500 and 5000 μg/mL concentrations. Cytotoxicity found in the WST-1 assay was independent of the metabolism of substances present in samples compositions. The cytotoxicity observed in the LDH release assay depended on metabolism.

The scleractinian corals Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829 and T. tagusensis Wells, 1982 have invaded reefs along Brazil's coastline. Over the period 2011–2017 a standard, fast, easily repeatable semi-quantitative method was used to produce maps of distribution and a site (n = 77) specific Relative Abundance Index (RAI) to determine range expansion at Cabo Frio, an upwelling region. Invaded sites doubled from six to 12 over the period (one per year) and mean abundance increased tenfold from 0.2 to 2.6 RAI and 0.22 to 1.8 RAI (T. coccinea and T. tagusensis respectively). Site specific oceanographic conditions (temperature, salinity and water transparency) and distance from currently invaded sites (a proxy for propagule pressure) were chosen and used as determinants of invasion success in order to model the expansion. Model results compared favourably with empirical measurements and the simple, regional, and spatially explicit model predicted future range expansion under 10 and 20 year scenarios.

Tropical marine ecosystems are biologically diverse and economically invaluable. However, they are severely threatened from impacts associated with climate change coupled with localized and regional stressors, such as pollution and overfishing. Non-native species (sometimes referred to as ‘alien’ species) are another major threat facing these ecosystems, although rarely discussed and overshadowed by the other stressors mentioned above. NNS can be introduced accidentally (for example via shipping activities) and/or sometimes intentionally (for aquaculture or by hobbyists). Understanding the extent of the impacts NNS have on native flora and fauna often remains challenging, along with ascertaining when the species in question actually became ‘invasive’. Here we review the status of this threat across key tropical marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, algae meadows, mangroves, and seagrass beds. We aim to provide a baseline of where invasive NNS can be found, when they are thought to have been introduced and what impact they are thought to be having on the native ecosystems they now inhabit. In the appended material we provide a comprehensive list of NNS covering key groups such as macroalgae, sponges, seagrasses and mangroves, anthozoans, bryozoans, ascidians, fishes, and crustaceans.

Voluntary participation of citizens scientists has become a valuable tool for scientific research, but rarely applied for detection of non-native species in marine environments. This study was conducted in the Rio de Janeiro state, southeastern Brazil, at sites used for the SCUBA diving. The awareness activity was directed at dive centres before dives, addressing themes such as marine biodiversity, rocky reefs, biological invasions and citizen science. After the briefing, divers were invited to record occurrences of the invasive Tubastraea spp. on a wet note slate that were left under the responsibility of the dive centers, usually visible on the boat. This study showed a high level (100%) of credibility for data provided by volunteers, new records (N = 39) for the invasive species that had not previously been mentioned in published articles, and that the approach used is efficient in its spatial and temporal aspects. The successful development of citizen-based monitoring programs depends on the approximation of the academic community and the commitment of dive operators. The diver plays a critical role within this process, providing valuable information, which can be used to confirm the engagement of common citizens and also to track the spread of non-native marine species.

AIM: As a step towards providing support for an ecological approach to strengthening marine protected areas (MPAs) and meeting international commitments, this study combines cumulative impact assessment and conservation planning approach to undertake a large‐scale spatial prioritization. LOCATION: Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Brazil, Southwest Atlantic Ocean. METHODS: We developed a prioritization approach to protecting different habitat types, threatened species ranges and ecological connectivity, while also mitigating the impacts of multiple threats on biodiversity. When identifying priorities for conservation, we accounted for the co‐occurrence of 24 human threats and the distribution of 161 marine habitats and 143 threatened species, as well as their associated vulnerabilities. Additionally, we compared our conservation priorities with MPAs proposed by local stakeholders. RESULTS: We show that impacts to habitats and species are widespread and identify hot spots of cumulative impacts on inshore and offshore areas. Industrial fisheries, climate change and land‐based activities were the most severe threats to biodiversity. The highest priorities were mostly found towards the coast due to the high cumulative impacts found in nearshore areas. As expected, our systematic approach showed a better performance on selecting priority sites when compared to the MPAs proposed by local stakeholders without a typical conservation planning exercise, increasing the existing coverage of MPAs by only 7.9%. However, we found that proposed MPAs still provide some opportunities to protect areas facing high levels of threats. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: The study presents a blueprint of how to embrace a comprehensive ecological approach when identifying strategic priorities for conservation. We advocate protecting these crucial areas from degradation in emerging conservation efforts is key to maintain their biodiversity value.

Aim: The introduction of aquatic non-indigenous species (ANS) has become a major driver for global changes in species biogeography. We examined spatial patterns and temporal trends of ANS detections since 1965 to inform conservation policy and management.Location: Global. Methods: We assembled an extensive dataset of first records of detection of ANS (1965–2015) across 49 aquatic ecosystems, including the (a) year of first collection, (b) population status and (c) potential pathway(s) of introduction. Data were analysed at global and regional levels to assess patterns of detection rate, richness and trans-port pathways.Results: An annual mean of 43 (±16 SD) primary detections of ANS occurred—one new detection every 8.4 days for 50 years. The global rate of detections was rel-atively stable during 1965–1995, but increased rapidly after this time, peaking at roughly 66 primary detections per year during 2005–2010 and then declining marginally. Detection rates were variable within and across regions through time. Arthropods, molluscs and fishes were the most frequently reported ANS. Most ANS were likely introduced as stowaways in ships’ ballast water or biofouling, although direct evidence is typically absent.Main conclusions: This synthesis highlights the magnitude of recent ANS detections, yet almost certainly represents an underestimate as many ANS go unreported due to limited search effort and diminishing taxonomic expertise. Temporal rates of detec-tion are also confounded by reporting lags, likely contributing to the lower detection rate observed in recent years. There is a critical need to implement standardized, repeated methods across regions and taxa to improve the quality of global-scale comparisons and sustain core measures over longer time-scales. It will be fundamen-tal to fill in knowledge gaps given that invasion data representing broad regions of the world's oceans are not yet readily available and to maintain knowledge pipelines for adaptive management. Fil: Bailey, Sarah A.. Great Lakes Laboratory For Fisheries And Aquatic Scienc; Canadá Fil: Brown, Lyndsay. Marine Scotland Science; Reino Unido Fil: Campbell, Marnie L.. Deakin University; Australia Fil: Canning-Clode, João. Marine And Environmental Sciences Centre; Portugal Fil: Carlton, James T.. Williams College. Maritime Studies Program; Estados Unidos Fil: Castro, Nuno. Marine And Environmental Sciences Centre; Portugal Fil: Chainho, Paula. Marine And Environmental Sciences Centre; Portugal Fil: Chan, Farrah T.. Great Lakes Institute For Enviromental Research; Canadá Fil: Creed, Joel C.. Universidade do Estado de Rio do Janeiro; Brasil Fil: Curd, Amelia. Ifremer Institut Francais de Recherche Pour L'exploitation de la Mer; Francia Fil: Darling, John. United States Environmental Protection Agency; Estados Unidos Fil: Fofonoff, Paul. Smithsonian Environmental Research Ctr; Estados Unidos Fil: Galil, Bella S.. The Steinhardt Museum Of Natural History; Israel Fil: Hewitt, Chad L.. Murdoch University; Australia Fil: Inglis, Graeme J.. National Institute Of Water & Atmospheric Research Lt; Nueva Zelanda Fil: Keith, Inti. Charles Darwin Foundation; Ecuador Fil: Mandrak, Nicholas E.. University Of Toronto Scarborough; Canadá Fil: Marchini, Agnese. University of Pavia; Italia Fil: McKenzie, Cynthia H.. Fisheries And Ocean Canada. Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre; Canadá Fil: Occhipinti‐Ambrogi, Anna. University of Pavia; Italia Fil: Ojaveer, Henn. University of Tartu; Estonia Fil: Pires‐Teixeira, Larissa M.. Universidad de Lisboa; Portugal. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil Fil: Robinson, Tamara B.. Stellenbosch University; Sudáfrica Fil: Ruiz, Gregory M.. United States Environmental Protection Agency; Estados Unidos Fil: Seaward, Kimberley. National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd.; Nueva Zelanda Fil: Schwindt, Evangelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos; Argentina Fil: Son, Mikhail O.. Institute of Marine Biology; Ucrania Fil: Therriault, Thomas W.. Pacific Biological Station; Canadá Fil: Zhan, Aibin. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China

Background Ecological communities tend to be spatially structured due to environmental gradients and/or spatially contagious processes such as growth, dispersion and species interactions. Data transformation followed by usage of algorithms such as Redundancy Analysis (RDA) is a fairly common approach in studies searching for spatial structure in ecological communities, despite recent suggestions advocating the use of Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). Here, we compared the performance of GLMs and RDA in describing spatial structure in ecological community composition data. We simulated realistic presence/absence data typical of many β-diversity studies. For model selection we used standard methods commonly used in most studies involving RDA and GLMs. Methods We simulated communities with known spatial structure, based on three real spatial community presence/absence datasets (one terrestrial, one marine and one freshwater). We used spatial eigenvectors as explanatory variables. We varied the number of non-zero coefficients of the spatial variables, and the spatial scales with which these coefficients were associated and then compared the performance of GLMs and RDA frameworks to correctly retrieve the spatial patterns contained in the simulated communities. We used two different methods for model selection, Forward Selection (FW) for RDA and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) for GLMs. The performance of each method was assessed by scoring overall accuracy as the proportion of variables whose inclusion/exclusion status was correct, and by distinguishing which kind of error was observed for each method. We also assessed whether errors in variable selection could affect the interpretation of spatial structure. Results Overall GLM with AIC-based model selection (GLM/AIC) performed better than RDA/FW in selecting spatial explanatory variables, although under some simulations the methods performed similarly. In general, RDA/FW performed unpredictably, often retaining too many explanatory variables and selecting variables associated with incorrect spatial scales. The spatial scale of the pattern had a negligible effect on GLM/AIC performance but consistently affected RDA’s error rates under almost all scenarios. Conclusion We encourage the use of GLM/AIC for studies searching for spatial drivers of species presence/absence patterns, since this framework outperformed RDA/FW in situations most likely to be found in natural communities. It is likely that such recommendations might extend to other types of explanatory variables.

Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1830 and T. tagusensis Wells 1982 are azooxanthellate corals non-native to Brazil and introduced through fouling on oil platforms, the primary vector. They first invaded the tropical rocky reefs at Ilha Grande Bay (southwest Atlantic Ocean), during the early 1990s. Currently, at some Brazilian locations these species occupy 80% of the benthos of the shallow subtidal. They cause economic and environmental impacts by fouling shipping and modifying native communities. This study provides observations of an additional mechanism of secondary dispersal by T. coccinea and T. tagusensis that were seen attached to floating wood debris and marine litter, which are highly abundant in the region. Such rafting corals have been found adjacent to invaded reefs and stranded on beaches. These observations indicate that transport by rafting over long distances may be another mechanism of range expansion and secondary introduction of these invasive species within the region.

Background As plants, algae and some sessile invertebrates may grow in nearly monospecific assemblies, their collective biomass increases and if they compete hard enough some die, freeing up space. The concurrent increase in biomass and decrease in density is called self-thinning, and its trajectory over time or maximum values represent a boundary condition. For a single stand developing over time the boundary defines the carrying capacity of the environment but the most extreme trajectories emulate the efficiency of species in packing biomass into space. Results Here we present a meta-analysis of compiled data on biomass and density from 56 studies of 42 species of seaweeds from 8 orders within 3 phyla scattered through the world’s oceans. Our analysis shows that, with respect to biomass, seaweeds are the most efficient space occupiers on Earth because they transgress previously fixed limits derived from land plants. This is probably because seaweeds are not limited by water and do not need structures for its transport or for transpiration; they photosynthesise and uptake nutrients over their entire surface; they are attached to the substrate by holdfasts that are small proportional to their volume or weight compared to roots; water provides them better support, reducing the need for tissues for rigidity. We also identified a biomass concentration common to plants and seaweeds which represents the threshold that no life on the planet can pass. Using each stand’s distance to the biomass–density boundary, we determined that within the seaweeds the efficiency of space occupation differed amongst taxonomic and functional groups as well as with clonality and latitude. Conclusions Algae occupy space more efficiently than plants, most likely because the watery environment facilitates the physical processes and integration of space occupation. The distance-to-the-boundary proves a good metric to discriminate among groups and may be useful for comparison of the most efficient biomass producing systems, or for the identification of systems impacted by pollution. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12898-019-0218-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Atlantia is described as a new genus pertaining to the family Dendrophylliidae (Anthozoa, Scleractinia) based on specimens from Cape Verde, eastern Atlantic. This taxon was first recognized as Enallopsammia micranthus and later described as a new species, Tubastraea caboverdiana, which then changed the status of the genus Tubastraea as native to the Atlantic Ocean. Here, based on morphological and molecular analyses, we compare fresh material of T. caboverdiana to other dendrophylliid genera and describe it as a new genus named Atlantia in order to better accommodate this species. Evolutionary reconstruction based on two mitochondrial and one nuclear marker for 67 dendrophylliids and one poritid species recovered A. caboverdiana as an isolated clade not related to Tubastraea and more closely related to Dendrophyllia cornigera and Leptopsammia pruvoti. Atlantia differs from Tubastraea by having a phaceloid to dendroid growth form with new corallites budding at an acute angle from the theca of a parent corallite. The genus also has normally arranged septa (not Portualès Plan), poorly developed columella, and a shallow-water distribution all supporting the classification as a new genus. Our results corroborate the monophyly of the genus Tubastraea and reiterate the Atlantic non-indigenous status for the genus. In the light of the results presented herein, we recommend an extensive review of shallow-water dendrophylliids from the Eastern Atlantic.

Vinegar/acetic acid (V/AA) has been used to control unwanted marine and freshwater species. As a naturally occurring, available and ubiquitous substance most countries’ legislations do not consider V/AA as harmful to the environment. We investigated the toxicity of household vinegar for the invasive corals Tubastraea coccinea and T. tagusensis (Dendrophylliidae), using injection (1, 2 or 4 of 10, 20 or 40 ml of vinegar) and immersion (full and half concentration; periods of 15, 30, 45, 60 or 120 min) treatments. For Tubastraea spp., immersion treatment always resulted in the death of the corals. In contrast, the lethality of injected vinegar depended on the number and volume of injections per coral colony; partially damaged colonies may be able to recover after vinegar injection. We also carried out a critical review and analysis regarding the use of V/AA in other aquatic species. V/AA has been tested and used as a biocide from virus and bacteria to fish; as for Tubastraea spp., three quarters of studies investigated the positive effects of V/AA as a biocide, the rest negative collateral effects on non-target species. We conclude that V/AA is an effective agent for killing Tubastraea spp. and most other aquatic organisms, can be applied using different methods and in different environments for controlling: (1) invasive or outbreak species; and (2) biofouling by native or invasive species on aquaculture systems and vectors. V/AA may be used applied pre-border to shipping vectors potentially transporting non-indigenous marine biofouling species such as Tubastraea spp.

Seagrasses, marine flowering plants, provide a wide range of ecosystem services, defined here as natural processes and components that directly or indirectly benefit human needs. Recent research has shown that there are still many gaps in our comprehension of seagrass ecosystem service provision. Furthermore, there seems to be little public knowledge of seagrasses in general and the benefits they provide. This begs the questions: how do we move forward with the information we have? What other information do we need and what actions do we need to take in order to improve the situation and appreciation for seagrass? Based on the outcomes from an international expert knowledge eliciting workshop, three key areas to advance seagrass ecosystem service research were identified: 1) Variability of ecosystem services within seagrass meadows and among different meadows; 2) Seagrass ecosystem services in relation to, and their connection with, other coastal habitats; and 3) Improvement in the communication of seagrass ecosystem services to the public. Here we present ways forward to advance seagrass ecosystem service research in order to raise the profile of seagrass globally, as a means to establish more effective conservation and restoration of these important coastal habitats around the world.

Non-indigenous species (NIS) can cause substantial change in ecosystems and as marine invasives they can become a major threat to coastal and subtidal habitats. In September 2017 previously unknown and apparently NIS soft corals were detected on a shallow subtidal tropical rocky reef at Ilha Grande Bay, southeast Brazil. The present study aims to identify the species, quantify their distribution, abundance, and their interactions with native species. The most abundant NIS belonged to the recently described genus Sansibia (family Xeniidae) and the less common species was identified as Clavularia cf. viridis (family Clavulariidae). They were found along 170 m of shoreline at all depths where hard substrate was available. Sansibia sp. dominated deeper communities, associated positively with some macroalgal and negatively with the zoantharian Palythoa caribaeorum, which probably provided greater biotic resistance to invasion. Both species are of Indo-Pacific origin and typical of those ornamentals found in the aquarium trade.

Seagrasses in the Tropical Atlantic region include ten species, five of which are from the Halophila genus. One of these species, the clover grass Halophila baillonii, is currently considered as vulnerable by the IUCN (Red List), with a fragmented distribution in the Caribbean, Atlantic Ocean in Brazil and in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. There is confusion as to the correct nomenclature for this species with both H. baillonii and H baillonis treated as synonyms. Here, we clarify that given that the first description of the species was provided by Ascherson in 1875, following the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants based on the first valid publication with a diagnosis of the taxon, the correct name to be used for this species is Halophila baillonii Ascherson and should be referred to as such in the future.

Nonindigenous species are increasingly transported around the world through multiple pathways by a diversity of vectors. Invasive species are a subset of those that are introduced into the receptor community, where they establish and increase their population to a size where they impact the native system. Marine invasive species can therefore interact with and modify native animal forests and/or create novel ones resulting in simple-to-complex changes in material cycling, energy flow, ecosystem structure, and function. Despite the ever increasing number of studies dealing with marine invasive species, mostly biological invasions are mentioned generically as one of a number of threats of direct and indirect effects of human activities on animal forests. In order to redress this imbalance, this chapter focuses on invasive species as modifiers and creators of marine animal forests. As well as some theoretical consideration of biological invasion, we consider how pathways and vectors have changed over time and the importance of historical collections. We overview the available information regarding the main taxonomic groups of marine species that are invasive to animal forests, what makes them successful invaders, and how they interact with and effect the receptor community. The establishment of novel animal forests through biological invasion is also reviewed. We identify knowledge gaps and present perspectives and challenges for future research.

Objectives The objective was to analyse the anti-inflammatory potential of the invasive coral species Tubastraea coccinea and Tubastraea tagusensis. Methods Methanolic extracts, fractions and synthesized compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory ability, and their composition was elucidated through chemical analysis. Key findings The genus Tubastraea (Order Scleractinia, Family Dendrophylliidae) (known as sun corals) presents compounds with pharmacological value. The introduction of these azooxanthellate hard corals into Brazil, initially in Rio de Janeiro state, occurred through their fouling of oil and gas platforms from the Campos oil Basin. The two invasive species have successfully expanded along the Brazilian coast and threaten endemic species and biodiversity. The HPLC-MS and GC-MS data suggest the presence of aplysinopsin analogues (alkaloids). Anti-inflammatory activity was observed in all samples tested in in-vivo assays, especially in T. coccinea. The ethyl acetate fraction from this sample was more effective in in-vitro assays for anti-inflammatory activity. Depending on the concentration, this fraction showed cytotoxic responses. Conclusions These species have potential pharmacological use, and considering their invasive nature, this study presents a potential alternative use, which may enhance the management of this biological invasion.

Sun corals Tubastraea spp. from the Indo-Pacific have invaded hard grounds in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Canary Islands where they cause significant ecological and economic damage to native systems, industry and society. In Brazil the National Plan for the Prevention, Control and Monitoring of the Sun Coral requires that sun corals are reduced to acceptable levels in nature and eradicated from vectors. Here we tested the efficiency of manual removal as a management tool at three sites along 260 km of Brazil's coastline with different oceanographic conditions (Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro and Cabo Frio). Four treatments were applied to shorelines undergoing management: (a) community removal (the whole benthic community scraped and stripped to bare rock), (b) sun coral single removal (c) sun coral repeated removal at 2 mo revisit) and (d) control areas naturally devoid of Tubastraea spp. Benthic communities were sampled over time using cover estimated from underwater photographs and larvae quantified in plankton trawls during management. The act of manual removal had no significant effect on sun coral larval abundance. The repeated removal method reduced cover at all sites to zero but a single removal was sufficient at sites with low densities of sun coral. The treatment effects varied systematically between sites, depending on local propagule pressure and invasion history. Manual removal is efficient and readily available and should be implemented in synergy with other methods to slow the spread of invaders, promote ecosystem recovery and allow time for the development of additional tools.

Phase shift phenomena are becoming increasingly common. However, they are also opportunities to better understand how communities are structured. In Southwest Atlantic coral reefs, a shift to the zoanthid Palythoa cf. variabilis dominance has been described. To test if competition drove this process, we carried out a manipulative experiment with three coral species. To estimate the natural frequency of encounters we assess the relationship between the proportion of encounters and this zoanthids coverage. The contact causes necrosis in 78% of coral colonies (6.47 ± SD 7.92 cm(2)) in 118 days. We found a logarithmic relationship between the proportion of these encounters and the cover of P. cf. variabilis, where 5.5% coverage of this zoanthid is enough to put 50% of coral colonies in contact, increasing their partial mortality. We demonstrate that zoanthid coverage increase followed by coral mortality increase will reduce coral cover and that competition drives the phase shift process.

The acidification of samples for the simultaneous measurement of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes represents an important methodological question still not clarified because the removal of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from samples may affect the outcome of the stable-isotope analysis. We investigated the effect of acidification on samples of 25 different taxa of benthic marine organisms from a rocky shore, to determine whether acidification affects the isotopic values of δ13C and δ15N. After washing with distilled water and drying, each sample was divided into two parts; one part was acidified by adding 1M HCl with a pipette, until no more CO2 was released, whereas the other part was retained as a non-acidified sample. Organisms with little CaCO3 showed no difference in carbon isotopic signatures after acidification, from those in the non-acidified part. Some organisms with a high CaCO3 content did show differences in carbon isotopic signatures after acidification. The nitrogen isotopic signature presented a significant difference; however, to what extent this difference is biologically important is discussed. Avoiding sampling parts containing a high concentration of carbonate is an efficient way to circumvent this problem. Acidification of samples as a pre-treatment for isotopic analysis is not useful for marine organisms without calcareous structures and is necessary only when the sampled parts contain significant amounts of carbonate.

Seagrasses are subjected to intense levels of anthropogenic disturbance as a result of the shallow nearshore waters they inhabit. Some seagrasses are known to have dynamic growth patterns, enabling them to colonize unstable shallow environments and adapt to a range of disturbances. This can result in high levels of variability in morphological and physiological attributes. The seagrass Halodule wrightii is known to be a fast-growing pioneering species with a large geographic range. The present study examines Halodule wrightii in a region under intense anthropogenic stress in order to determine what are the main environmental drivers affecting the morphology, physiology and status of these habitats. Parameters of plant morphology, physiology and status were measured either at the meadow scale (e.g. biochemistry) or at a higher frequency shoot scale (e.g. shoot width). We assigned an impact assessment index to a series of seagrass sites over a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance and found this to be explanatory of a number of the seagrass parameters measured including epiphyte cover, stable isotope δ15N and ETRmax however, it did not clearly explain shoot density, a commonly used bioindicator of environmental stress. At the shoot scale, Principal Component Analysis identified epiphyte and leaf width to have the strongest association. At the meadow scale this was shoot density, dry weight and Ek, albeit with the most impacted sites showing highest shoot density. Stable isotope (δ15N) and leaf length were most significant in explaining the variation between sites and impact category, providing a direct link between anthropogenic sources of nutrients to seagrass meadow density.

Background Seagrasses are foundation species in estuarine and lagoon systems, providing a wide array of services for the ecosystem and the human population. Understanding the dynamics of their stands is essential in order to better assess natural and anthropogenic impacts. It is usually considered that healthy seagrasses aim to maximize their stand biomass (g DW m−2) which may be constrained by resource availability i.e., the local environment sets a carrying capacity. Recently, this paradigm has been tested and reassessed, and it is believed that seagrasses actually maximize their efficiency of space occupation—i.e., aim to reach an interspecific boundary line (IBL)—as quick as possible. This requires that they simultaneously grow in biomass and iterate new shoots to increase density. However, this strategy depresses their biomass potential. Results to comply with this new paradigm, we developed a seagrass growth model that updates the carrying capacities for biomass and shoot density from the seagrass IBL at each time step. The use of a joint biomass and density growth rates enabled parameter estimation with twice the sample sizes and made the model less sensitive to episodic error in either of the variables. The use of instantaneous growth rates enabled the model to be calibrated with data sampled at widely different time intervals. We used data from 24 studies of six seagrass species scattered worldwide. The forecasted allometric biomass–density growth trajectories fit these observations well. Maximum growth and decay rates were found consistently for each species. The growth rates varied seasonally, matching previous observations. Conclusions State-of-art models predicting both biomass and shoot density in seagrass have not previously incorporated our observation across many seagrass species that dynamics depend on current state relative to IBL. Our model better simulates the biomass–density dynamics of seagrass stands while shedding light on its intricacies. However, it is only valid for established patches where dynamics involve space-filling, not for colonization of new areas. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12898-019-0221-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Accidental introduction through ballast water and biofouling are currently the main factors responsible for spreading non-indigenous species in the marine realm. In the Southwestern Atlantic, two scleractinian corals, Tubastraea coccinea and T. tagusensis, have been introduced by opportunistic colonization in 1980 and are now widespread along more than 3,500 km of coastline. To better understand the invasion process and the role of vectors in spreading these species, we sampled 306 and 173 colonies of T. coccinea and T. tagusensis from invaded sites, possible vectors and one native population. Analyses revealed a higher diversity of multi-locus genotypes (MLGs) on vectors, suggesting that they were contaminated prior to their arrival in the Southwestern Atlantic, and a high proportion of clones at invaded sites, with few genotypes spread over ~2,000 km. This broad distribution is most likely a result of secondary introductions through the transport of contaminated vectors. Results also suggest the occurrence of multiple invasions, mainly in the northernmost sites. In summary, clonality, secondary introductions, and multiple invasions are the main reasons for the broad spread and invasive success of Tubastraea spp. in the Southwestern Atlantic. Consequently, the correct control of vectors is the most effective approach for management and prevention of new invasions.