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This is the first forecast of marine circulation and biogeochemistry for the Ascension Island Marine Protected Area (MPA). MPAs are a key management tools used to safeguard ocean biodiversity from human impacts, but their efficacy is increasingly threatened by anthropogenic climate change. To assess the vulnerability of individual MPAs to climate change and predict biological responses, it is first necessary to forecast how local marine environments will change. We found that the MPA will become warmer, more saline, more acidic, with less nutrients, less chlorophyll and less primary production by the mid-century. A weakening of the Atlantic equatorial undercurrent is forecast in all scenarios. In most cases, these changes are more extreme in the scenarios with higher greenhouse gases emissions and more significant climate change. The mean rise in temperature is between 0.9 \degree C and 1.2 \degree C over the first half of the 21st century. The integrated primary production and nutrients are forecast to decline in the MPA, but there is less consistency between models in projections of salinity, surface chlorophyll, and dissolved oxygen concentration at 500m depth. The combined effects of these projections may lead to changes in ecosystem services around Ascension Island. The effects of the model outputs were interpreted for three key ecosystem service providing habitats: biogenic deep sea habitats, intertidal sand and intertidal rocky shores. The outcomes were then used to assess potential effects on eight marine and coastal ecosystem services and information was compared to current ecosystem service levels.

Standard of care for patients with symptomatic, advanced‐stage follicular lymphoma (FL) is rituximab‐containing chemoimmunotherapy followed by rituximab maintenance. This prospective, multicenter, noninterventional study analyzed how efficacy and safety data from randomized controlled trials translate into clinical practice in Germany. Both treatment‐naïve and relapsed/refractory patients with FL, who responded to rituximab‐containing induction and were scheduled for rituximab maintenance, were observed for 24 months. Effectiveness was measured by response and Kaplan‐Meier survival analysis. In addition, treatment patterns of induction and maintenance, as well as adverse events, were documented. The evaluable study population consisted of 310 first‐line patients and 173 relapsed/refractory patients, including 116 patients with initial Ann‐Arbor stage I/II and 20 patients with FL grade 3B. Regarding first‐line induction, a shift from R‐CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) to R‐bendamustine was observed over time, as well as a decline in radiotherapy. 2‐year progression‐free survival rates were 88.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 84.0‐92.6) for first‐line patients and 76.0% (95% CI: 68.8‐83.3) for relapsed/refractory patients. Conversion from partial to complete remission (PR, CR) occurred in 53.4% of analyzed first‐line patients with PR, resulting in 69.4% CRs at study end (relapsed/refractory: conversion in 42.9%, final CRs 57.9%). Safety results were consistent with the known safety profile of rituximab in this setting. Both treatment‐naïve and relapsed/refractory patients with FL show favorable 2‐year PFS rates and improvements in the remission status with postinduction rituximab monotherapy as maintenance and consolidation therapy. CA - Dürsen

Ecosystem service assessments are increasingly used to support natural resource management, but there is a bias in their application towards terrestrial systems and higher income countries. Tropical marine applications are particularly scarce, especially in SE Asia. Given the growing coastal population and expansion in blue economy sectors in SE Asia, evidence to support effective marine planning, such as ecosystem service assessments, is urgently needed. Data deficiencies for marine systems, especially (but not only) in lower income countries is a significant obstacle for ecosystem service assessments. To overcome this, we develop an ecosystem service potential matrix which combines evidence taken from an extensive literature review together with expert opinion. The matrix includes both natural and modified habitats as the service providing units. The ecosystem service potential for habitats are scored at the macro level (e.g. mangrove) due to insufficient evidence to score micro-habitats (e.g. fringe, basin or riverine mangroves). The majority of evidence is available for biogenic habitats (mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass meadows) with comparatively little for sedimentary habitats. While provisioning, regulating and cultural services are scored, published evidence is more readily available for provisioning and regulating services. Confidence scores, indicating the uncertainty in the ecosystem service potential scores are included in the matrix. To our knowledge this is the first attempt to systematically capture the provision of ecosystem services from tropical marine habitats. Although initially developed for four marine biosphere reserves and protected areas in SE Asia, the generic nature of the evidence included suggests that the matrix constitutes a valuable baseline for marine ecosystem service assessments within SE Asia and provides a robust foundation for development in future work.

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires member states to manage their marine ecosystems with the goal of achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) of all European Seas by 2020. Member states assess GES according to 11 descriptors set out in the MSFD, and their associated indicators. An ecosystem service approach is increasingly being advocated to ensure sustainable use of the environment, and sets of indicators have been defined for ecosystem service assessments. We considered whether a selection of GES indicators related to biological descriptors, D1 Biodiversity, D2 Non-indigenous species, D4 Food webs and D6 Seafloor integrity, may provide information relevant to ecosystem services, potentially allowing use of collected environmental data for more than one purpose. Published lists of indicators for seven selected marine ecosystem services were compared to 296 biodiversity-related indicators included within the DEVOTOOL catalogue, established for screening marine biodiversity indicators for the MSFD. We concluded that 64 of these biodiversity indicators are directly comparable to the ecosystem service indicators under consideration. All 296 biodiversity indicators were then reassessed objectively to decide which of them could be useful as ecosystem service indicators. To carry out this step in a consistent and transparent manner, guidelines were developed among the co-authors that helped the decision making process for each individual indicator. 247 biodiversity indicators were identified as potentially useful ecosystem service indicators. By highlighting the comparability between ecosystem service and biodiversity indicators it is hoped that future monitoring effort can be used not only to ensure that GES is attained, but also that ecosystem service provision is maximised. It is recommended that these indicators should be tested across EU regional seas to see if they are useful in practice, and if ecosystem service assessments are comparable across regional seas.

Our understanding of ecological processes that lead to ecosystem services is still evolving but ecological research aims to understand the linkages between the ecosystem and services. These linkages can affect trade-offs between different ecosystem services. Understanding these linkages, by considering multiple ecosystem services simultaneously supports management of the environment and sustainable use of resources. The UK marine environment is relatively data rich, yet the links between ecosystem and several ecosystem services and linkages between services are poorly described. A workshop with 35 marine scientists was used to create a conceptual model that links ecosystem components and key processes to four services they provide and to highlight trade-offs between them. The model was subsequently further developed to include pressures and mitigating management measures. The models are discussed in terms of their application to marine data to facilitate evidence-based marine management and their usefulness to communicate management measures with managers and stakeholders.

Societal, economic and scientific interests in knowing where biodiversity is, how it is faring and what can be done to efficiently mitigate further biodiversity loss and the associated loss of ecosystem services are at an all-time high. So far, however, biodiversity monitoring has primarily focused on structural and compositional features of ecosystems despite growing evidence that ecosystem functions are key to elucidating the mechanisms through which biological diversity generates services to humanity. This monitoring gap can be traced to the current lack of consensus on what exactly ecosystem functions are and how to track them at scales beyond the site level. This contribution aims to advance the development of a global biodiversity monitoring strategy by proposing the adoption of a set of definitions and a typology for ecosystem functions, and reviewing current opportunities and potential limitations for satellite remote sensing technology to support the monitoring of ecosystem functions worldwide. By clearly defining ecosystem processes, functions and services and their interrelationships, we provide a framework to improve communication between ecologists, land and marine managers, remote sensing specialists and policy makers, thereby addressing a major barrier in the field.

Research to date has suggested that both individual marine species and ecological processes are expected to exhibit diverse responses to the environmental effects of climate change. Evolutionary responses can occur on rapid (ecological) timescales, and yet studies typically do not consider the role that adaptive evolution will play in modulating biological responses to climate change. Investigations into such responses have typically been focused at particular biological levels (e.g., cellular, population, community), often lacking interactions among levels. Since all levels of biological organisation are sensitive to global climate change, there is a need to elucidate how different processes and hierarchical interactions will influence species fitness. Therefore, predicting the responses of communities and populations to global change will require multidisciplinary efforts across multiple levels of hierarchy, from the genetic and cellular to communities and ecosystems. Eventually, this may allow us to establish the role that acclimatisation and adaptation will play in determining marine community structures in future scenarios.

Changes in mobile benthic fauna affected by a seasonal oxycline were studied at three-monthly intervals for one year at Lough Hyne, a marine reserve in county Cork, Ireland. This marine lake features regular seasonal anoxic conditions in the deepest part (the Western Trough). Building on previous studies of the effects of the oxycline on demersal fauna, a ROV was used to film the benthic assemblage. Transects above, within and below oxycline depth were filmed on each sampling occasion. Animals were identified and their sizes measured. Data on oxygen concentration of the water column were taken monthly during this period to correlate with the presence and absence of animals in the Trough. Most noteworthy was the establishment of a demersal fish assemblage during normoxic conditions in the deeper areas of the Trough. The goby Lesueurigobius friesii was the most abundant species and their population contained all size classes. They are territorial and build burrows into which they retreated when the ROV approached. The main factor influencing benthic fauna below oxycline depth was oxygen concentration, while the assemblage above the oxycline was never affected by hypoxia. This study shows that mobile animals make use of areas affected by hypoxia as soon as conditions improve, and can establish resident communities.

While hypoxic and anoxic environments have existed throughout geological time, their frequency of occurrence in shallow coastal and estuarine areas appears to be increasing. However, few data are available on the physicochemical conditions at the boundary between anoxic and normoxic layers, including the conditions required for both formation and dissipation of stratification. Advances in autonomous environmental sensing technology have produced robust sensors capable of detailed measurements under inhospitable conditions created in such environments. In this study, an autonomous sensor approach was used to compare water column properties above and below the stratification before during and after dissipation of the stratification. Further, an investigation into the effect of the stratification on sedimentation rates of organic and inorganic matter and current speeds is reported here. Lough Hyne, a seasonally stratified temperate marine lake provided favourable conditions for this study. It was shown that temperatures dropped rapidly above the oxy-thermocline while increasing rapidly below the stratification, leading to a mixing of the complete water column. This was reflected in oxygen measurements below the stratification, which rose from anoxia to normoxic conditions over the same time period. During summer, the thermocline formed a barrier to organic matter sedimentation, reducing it significantly when present, while inorganic matter sedimentation was unaffected by the presence of thermocline. It also caused a reduction in current speeds below the thermocline.

The area off-shore Venice is characterized by a relatively mild climate that allows in principle a safe installation of an off-shore platform, but at the same time strongly limits the benefits of a single–purpose installation, both because of the limited available energy and because of the high distance from the shore due to the flat sea-bottom. Therefore the site appeared to be suited for multi-purpose designs with fish farming and wind energy as potential activities. An Ecosystem Services Approach (ESA) is adopted to identify possible environmental effects and conflicts with other relevant uses. We deal with these potential impacts by choosing a suitable location of the platform. Limited financial data on wind energy suggested a negative Net Present Value (NPV), whereas proper financial data on fish farming produced a slightly positive NPV. A Life Cycle Assessment applied to wind energy and fish farming estimated a significantly positive effect from reduced CO2-eq emissions expressed in euros. A Social Cost-Benefit Analysis (SCBA) applied only to fish farming (i.e., including financial and CO2 results) due to lack of data and resulted on a positive NPV. However, a MUP is not recommended by SCBA, and more explicitly it is not supported by stakeholders in the short-run. Whereas, it might be suggested in the long-run, when, in a crowded sea, both economic and environmental reasons could suggest to move some activities off-shore.

Valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) is widely recognized as a useful, though often controversial, approach to conservation and management. However, its use in the marine environment, hence evidence of its efficacy, lags behind that in terrestrial ecosystems. This largely reflects key challenges to marine conservation and management such as the practical difficulties in studying the ocean, complex governance issues and the historically-rooted separation of biodiversity conservation and resource management. Given these challenges together with the accelerating loss of marine biodiversity (and threats to the ES that this biodiversity supports), we ask whether valuation efforts for marine ecosystems are appropriate and effective. We compare three contrasting systems: the tropical Pacific, Southern Ocean and UK coastal seas. In doing so, we reveal a diversity in valuation approaches with different rates of progress and success. We also find a tendency to focus on specific ES (often the harvested species) rather than biodiversity. In light of our findings, we present a new conceptual view of valuation that should ideally be considered in decision-making. Accounting for the critical relationships between biodiversity and ES, together with an understanding of ecosystem structure and functioning, will enable the wider implications of marine conservation and management decisions to be evaluated. We recommend embedding valuation within existing management structures, rather than treating it as an alternative or additional mechanism. However, we caution that its uptake and efficacy will be compromised without the ability to develop and share best practice across regions.

In the near future, the oceans will be subjected to a massive development of marine infrastructures, including offshore wind, tidal and wave energy farms and constructions for marine aquaculture. The development of these facilities will unavoidably exert environmental pressures on marine ecosystems. It is therefore crucial that the economic costs, the use of marine space and the environmental impacts of these activities remain within acceptable limits. Moreover, the installation of arrays of wave energy devices is still far from being economically feasible due to many combined aspects, such as immature technologies for energy conversion, local energy storage and moorings. Therefore, multi-purpose solutions combining renewable energy from the sea (wind, wave, tide), aquaculture and transportation facilities can be considered as a challenging, yet advantageous, way to boost blue growth. This would be due to the sharing of the costs of installation and using the produced energy locally to feed the different functionalities and optimizing marine spatial planning. This paper focuses on the synergies that may be produced by a multi-purpose offshore installation in a relatively calm sea, i.e. , the Northern Adriatic Sea, Italy, and specifically offshore Venice. It analyzes the combination of aquaculture, energy production from wind and waves, and energy storage or transfer. Alternative solutions are evaluated based on specific criteria, including the maturity of the technology, the environmental impact, the induced risks and the costs. Based on expert judgment, the alternatives are ranked and a preliminary layout of the selected multi-purpose installation for the case study is proposed, to further allow the exploitation of the synergies among different functionalities.

Measuring sedimentation rates may provide useful information on the habitat preferences of marine organisms. To understand the effect of flow rates and meteorological conditions on sedimentation in the absence of other confounding factors, sedimentation of organic (OM) and inorganic (IOM) matters was measured at 6 sites in Lough Hyne Marine Reserve (a semienclosed marine lake) over the course of 13 months. During winter, both OM and IOM were imported to the Lough, peaking in December at Whirlpool, the site nearest to the Lough entrance, likely as a result of extreme weather conditions causing resuspension of matter outside the Lough. Highest inorganic matter (IOM) sedimentation occurred in December (47.36 gm−2d−1at Whirlpool Cliff) and was related to November wind speeds (, ). Decreasing current speed also caused a decline in IOM sedimentation. Highest OM sedimentation occurred in December at Whirlpool (5.59 gm−2d−1), but was not related to meteorological conditions. No single environmental factor strongly influenced organic matter (OM) sedimentation. One-way ANOVAs on OM and log-transformed IOM data showed that sedimentation differed significantly amongst the six sites within the Lough. Increased plankton production in the Lough during summer led to increased OM sedimentation in areas of low current speed away from the entrance of the Lough.