Rapid, long-distance dispersal by pumice rafting

Pumice is an extremely effective rafting agent that can dramatically increase the dispersal range of a variety of marine organisms and connect isolated shallow marine and coastal ecosystems. Here we report on a significant recent pumice rafting and long-distance dispersal event that occurred across the southwest Pacific following the 2006 explosive eruption of Home Reef Volcano in Tonga. We have constrained the trajectory, and rate, biomass and biodiversity of transfer, discovering more than 80 species and a substantial biomass underwent a .5000 km journey in 7–8 months. Differing microenvironmental conditions on the pumice, caused by relative stability of clasts at the sea surface, promoted diversity in biotic recruitment. Our findings emphasise pumice rafting as an important process facilitating the distribution of marine life, which have implications for colonisation processes and success, the management of sensitive marine environments, and invasive pest species.

Trashtopia by Maison Briz Vegas

Description of the Work Trashtopia was a fashion exhibition at Craft Queensland’s Artisan gallery showcasing outfits made entirely from rubbish materials. The exhibition was part of an on-going series by the Queensland Fashion Archives, called Remember or Revive. Maison Briz Vegas designers, Carla Binotto and Carla van Lunn created a dystopian beach holiday tableau referencing mid-century Californian and Gold Coast beach culture and style, and today’s plastic pollution of the world’s oceans. The display engaged a popular audience with ideas about environmental destruction and climate change while bringing twentieth and twenty-first century consumer and leisure culture into question. The medium of fashion was used as a means of amusement and provocation. The fashion objects and installation questioned current mores about the material value of rubbish and the installation was also a work of environmental activism. Statement of the Research Component The work was framed by critical reflections of contemporary consumer culture and research fields questioning value in waste materials and fashion objects. The work is situated in the context of conceptual and experimental fashion design practice and fashion presentation. The exhibited work transgressed the conventional production methods and material choice of designer fashion garments, for example, discarded plastic shopping bags were painstakingly shredded to mimic ostrich feathers. The viewer was prompted to reflect on the materiality of rubbish and its potential for transformation. The exhibition also sits in the context of culture jamming and contemporary activist practice. The work references and subverts twentieth century beach holiday culture, contrasting resort wear with a contemporary picture of plastic pollution of the oceans and climate change. Hawaiian style prints contained a playful and dark narrative of dying marine-life and the viewer was invited to take a “Greetings from Trashtopia” postcard depicting fashion models floating in oceans of plastic rubbish. This reflective creative practice sought to address the question of whether fashion made from recycled rubbish materials can critically and emotionally engage viewers with questions about contemporary consumer culture and material value. This work presents an innovative model of fashion design practice in which rubbish materials are transformed into designer garments and rubbish is placed centre stage in the public presentation of the designs. In overturning the traditional model of fashion presentation, the viewer is also given a deeper connection to the recycling process and complex ideas of waste and value. In 2015 two outfits from the exhibition were selected, along with works from three leading Australian fashion labels, and four leading New Zealand labels, for a commemorative ANZAC fashion collection shown at iD Dunedin Fashion Week. The show titled, “Together Alone, revisited” reprised an Australian and New Zealand fashion exhibition first held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2009.

Management implications of climate change impacts of fisheries resources

This application was developed in response to the widely recognised concern that climate change will result in changes to marine life and ecosystems, and hence fisheries, throughout Australia with tropical marine ecosystems in northern Australia identified as being particularly vulnerable. These changes are predicted to vary spatially depending on local climate and biophysical processes. Northern Australia is one of three major Australian regions predicted to be impacted. The project addresses the important FRDC strategic challenge of improving the management of aquatic natural resources to ensure their sustainability through research and management that accounts for the effects that climate change may have on the resources.

Paciano II: the report of a conversation on whaling and science, 1-3 March 2008 (Paciano, Umbria)

In 2006 the UK-based charity, Global Ocean, with local support from the Third Millennium Foundation, convened a Conversation among specialists about the problems facing the conservation of whales. Called "A consultation on whaling", this gathering was held in the ancient village of Paciano, in Umbria near the border with Tuscany, 15 – 17 October 2006. There were 15 participants from 11 countries. Dr Kees Lankester served as moderator. The outcome was an Aide Memoire which served to guide the participants in the run-up to the 2007 meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), held in Anchorage, Alaska, in June. One point of agreement was that a second consultation should be held in the months following the Anchorage meeting, involving some but not necessarily all of the participants in the first, but concentrating this time on scientific issues – especially those encountered in the Scientific Committee of the IWC –with particular attention to informing a wider public about those scientific activities in relation to the problems confronting the IWC and the views of scientists about them. This document is the report of that Conversation, referred to as Paciano II. The moderator was Dr Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara and the Report was written by Kieran Mulvaney in consultation with all participants, and with reference to an Aide Memoire prepared by the Rapporteur, Dr Russell Leaper. The sponsor and organisers have agreed with the general sentiment expressed by participants in Paciano II that further such conversations should be held at roughly yearly intervals and they will try to satisfy that desire. Although these future gatherings would be concerned with the living ocean they would not necessarily be restricted in future to consideration of whales and whaling. Discussions are on-going for selection of a theme which is of both scientific interest and practical concern for conservation of marine life and management of the uses of ocean space. (Document has 18 pages)

Paciano II: a report of a conversation on whaling and science, 1-3 March 2008

In 2006 the UK-based charity, Global Ocean, with local support from the Third Millennium Foundation, convened a Conversation among specialists about the problems facing the conservation of whales. Called "A consultation on whaling", this gathering was held in the ancient village of Paciano, in Umbria near the border with Tuscany, 15 – 17 October 2006. There were 15 participants from 11 countries. Dr Kees Lankester served as moderator. The outcome was an Aide Memoire which served to guide the participants in the run-up to the 2007 meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), held in Anchorage, Alaska, in June. One point of agreement was that a second consultation should be held in the months following the Anchorage meeting, involving some but not necessarily all of the participants in the first, but concentrating this time on scientific issues – especially those encountered in the Scientific Committee of the IWC –with particular attention to informing a wider public about those scientific activities in relation to the problems confronting the IWC and the views of scientists about them. This document is the report of that Conversation, referred to as Paciano II. The moderator was Dr Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara and the Report was written by Kieran Mulvaney in consultation with all participants, and with reference to an Aide Memoire prepared by the Rapporteur, Dr Russell Leaper. The sponsor and organisers have agreed with the general sentiment expressed by participants in Paciano II that further such conversations should be held at roughly yearly intervals and they will try to satisfy that desire. Although these future gatherings would be concerned with the living ocean they would not necessarily be restricted in future to consideration of whales and whaling. Discussions are on-going for selection of a theme which is of both scientific interest and practical concern for conservation of marine life and management of the uses of ocean space. (19 page document)

Effects of underwater explosions on oysters, crabs and fish: a preliminary report.

Investigation on the effects of explosive shock on marine life. Necessary that the "commercial" effects, the actual damage to commercially important stocks of fish and shellfish, be evaluated. Equally important are the "biological" effects, the immediate physical effects of shock waves on animals and the indirect effects on future stocks. Indirect effects might include the diversion of migratory stocks from an area, or actual damage to the habitat, rendering it unfit for sedentary or non-migratory native species. Interruption of the food chains in an area by destruction of forge forms or vegetation. (PDF contains 43 pages)

Biology, Oceanography, and Fisheries of the North Pacific Transition Zone and Subarctic Frontal Zone: Papers from the North Pacific Transition Zone Workshop, Honolulu, Hawaii, 9-11 May 1988

In the past few years, large-scale, high-seas driftnet fishing has sparked intense debate and political conflict in many oceanic regions. In the Pacific Ocean the driftnet controversy first emerged in the North Pacific transition zone and subarctic frontal zone, where driftnet vessels from Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan pursue their target species of neon flying squid. Other North Pacific driftnet fleets from Japan and Taiwan target stocks of tunas and billfishes. Both types of driftnet fishing incidentally kill valued non-target species of marine life, including fish, mammals, birds, and turtles. In response to public concerns about driftnet fishing, government scientists began early on to assemble available information and consider what new data were required to assess impacts on North Pacific marine resources and the broader pelagic ecosystem. Accordingly, a workshop was convened at the NMFS Honolulu Laboratory in May 1988 to review current information on the biology, oceanography, and fisheries of the North Pacific transition zone and subarctic frontal zone. The workshop participants, from the United States and Canada, also developed a strategic plan to guide NMFS in developing a program of driftnet fishery research and impact assessment. This volume contains a selection of scientific review papers presented at the 1988 Honolulu workshop. The papers represent part of the small kernel of information available then, prior to the expansion of cooperative international scientific programs. Subsequent driftnet fishery monitoring and research by the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have added much new data. Nevertheless, this collection of papers provides a historical perspective and contains useful information not readily available elsewhere. (PDF file contains 118 pages.)

"Global Change" und das Meer als Nahrungsquelle

The potential importance of marine produetion as a protein ressource for a growing human population can hardly be overestimated. Climatic changes in the marine environment may affect marine production in a significant way. Increasing levels of UV-B may decrease primary production and thus diminish the food base for harvestable marine ressources. Direct effects on early stages of fishes may occur. Temperature changes can lead to additional mortality in the early phase of life histories of fishes. In spite of the potentially negative scenario, actual effects of global change on the ressources have not been detected so far. The marine organisms dispose of a significant level of pre-adaptation to changes of environmental factors both on a seasonal and an interannual scale. Effects on marine life may therefore be less dramatic than those on terrestrial systems, which are more directly linked with the exponentially growing human population.

Benthic habitats of Buck Island Reef National Monument

NOAA’s Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment’s Biogeography Branch has mapped and characterized large portions of the coral reef ecosystems inside the U.S. coastal and territorial waters, including the U.S. Caribbean. The complementary protocols used in these efforts have enabled scientists and managers to quantitatively compare different marine ecosystems in tropical U.S. waters. The Biogeography Branch used these same general protocols to generate three seamless habitat maps of the Bank/Shelf (i.e., from 0 ≤50 meters) and the Bank/Shelf Escarpment (i.e., from 50 ≤1,000 meters and from 1,000 ≤ 1,830 meters) inside Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM). While this mapping effort marks the fourth time that the shallow-water habitats of BIRNM have been mapped, it is the first time habitats deeper than 30 meters (m) have been characterized. Consequently, this habitat map provides information on the distribution of mesophotic and deep-water coral reef ecosystems and serves as a spatial baseline for monitoring change in the Monument. A benthic habitat map was developed for approximately 74.3 square kilometers or 98% of the BIRNM using a combination of semi-automated and manual classification methods. The remaining 2% was not mapped due to lack of imagery in the western part of the Monument at depths ranging from 1,000 to 1,400 meters. Habitats were interpreted from orthophotographs, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) imagery and four different types of MBES (Multibeam Echosounder) imagery. Three minimum mapping units (MMUs) (100, 1,000 and 5,000 square meters) were used because of the wide range of depths present in the Monument. The majority of the area that was characterized was deeper than 30 m on the Bank/Shelf Escarpment. This escarpment area was dominated by uncolonized sand which transitioned to mud as depth increased. Bedrock was exposed in some areas of the escarpment, where steep slopes prevented sediment deposition. Mesophotic corals were seen in the underwater video, but were too sparsely distributed to be reliably mapped from the source imagery. Habitats on the Bank/Shelf were much more variable than those seen on the Bank/Shelf Escarpment. The majority of this shelf area was comprised of coral reef and hardbottom habitat dominated by various forms of turf, fleshy, coralline or filamentous algae. Even though algae was the dominant biological cover type, nearly a quarter (24.3%) of the Monument’s Bank/Shelf benthos hosted a cover of 10%-<50% live coral. In total, 198 unique combinations of habitat classes describing the geography, geology and biology of the sea-floor were identified from the three types of imagery listed above. No thematic accuracy assessment was conducted for areas deeper than about 50 meters, most of which was located in the Bank/Shelf Escarpment. The thematic accuracy of classes in waters shallower than approximately 50 meters ranged from 81.4% to 94.4%. These thematic accuracies are similar to those reported for other NOAA benthic habitat mapping efforts in St. John (>80%), the Main Eight Hawaiian Islands (>84.0%) and the Republic of Palau (>80.0%). These digital maps products can be used with confidence by scientists and resource managers for a multitude of different applications, including structuring monitoring programs, supporting management decisions, and establishing and managing marine conservation areas. The final deliverables for this project, including the benthic habitat maps, source imagery and in situ field data, are available to the public on a NOAA Biogeography Branch website (http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreef/stcroix.aspx) and through an interactive, web-based map application (http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/explorer/biomapper/biomapper.html?id=BUIS). This report documents the process and methods used to create the shallow to deep-water benthic habitat maps for BIRNM. Chapter 1 provides a short introduction to BIRNM, including its history, marine life and ongoing research activities. Chapter 2 describes the benthic habitat classification scheme used to partition the different habitats into ecologically relevant groups. Chapter 3 explains the steps required to create a benthic habitat map using a combination of semi-automated and visual classification techniques. Chapter 4 details the steps used in the accuracy assessment and reports on the thematic accuracy of the final shallow-water map. Chapter 5 summarizes the type and abundance of each habitat class found inside BIRNM, how these habitats compare to past habitat maps and outlines how these new habitat maps may be used to inform future management activities.

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) research highlights in the Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It is a unique and valuable national treasure because of its ecological, recreational, economic and cultural benefits. The problems facing the Bay are well known and extensively documented, and are largely related to human uses of the watershed and resources within the Bay. Over the past several decades as the origins of the Chesapeake’s problems became clear, citizens groups and Federal, State, and local governments have entered into agreements and worked together to restore the Bay’s productivity and ecological health. In May 2010, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order number 13508 that tasked a team of Federal agencies to develop a way forward in the protection and restoration of the Chesapeake watershed. Success of both State and Federal efforts will depend on having relevant, sound information regarding the ecology and function of the system as the basis of management and decision making. In response to the executive order, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) has compiled an overview of its research in Chesapeake Bay watershed. NCCOS has a long history of Chesapeake Bay research, investigating the causes and consequences of changes throughout the watershed’s ecosystems. This document presents a cross section of research results that have advanced the understanding of the structure and function of the Chesapeake and enabled the accurate and timely prediction of events with the potential to impact both human communities and ecosystems. There are three main focus areas: changes in land use patterns in the watershed and the related impacts on contaminant and pathogen distribution and concentrations; nutrient inputs and algal bloom events; and habitat use and life history patterns of species in the watershed. Land use changes in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have dramatically changed how the system functions. A comparison of several subsystems within the Bay drainages has shown that water quality is directly related to land use and how the land use affects ecosystem health of the rivers and streams that enter the Chesapeake Bay. Across the Chesapeake as a whole, the rivers that drain developed areas, such as the Potomac and James rivers, tend to have much more highly contaminated sediments than does the mainstem of the Bay itself. In addition to what might be considered traditional contaminants, such as hydrocarbons, new contaminants are appearing in measurable amounts. At fourteen sites studied in the Bay, thirteen different pharmaceuticals were detected. The impact of pharmaceuticals on organisms and the people who eat them is still unknown. The effects of water borne infections on people and marine life are known, however, and the exposure to certain bacteria is a significant health risk. A model is now available that predicts the likelihood of occurrence of a strain of bacteria known as Vibrio vulnificus throughout Bay waters.

Mahim Bay: a polluted environment of Bombay

Distribution of the marine life in relation to the extent of pollution at and outside Mahim Bay was studied. A poor marine fauna at stations A and B was associated with a relatively high intensity of pollution accompanied by high BOD and nutrients and low DO levels. A distinct deterioration in the marine life and water quality along the northern part of the bay as compared to the southern part was evident. An increasing trend in the marine fauna with decreasing intensity of pollution from inside to outside the bay was noticed.

Impact of human activities on benthic biotopes and species

Executive Summary 1. The Marine Life Information Network (MarLIN) has been developed since 1998. Defra funding has supported a core part of its work, the Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme. This report relates to Biology and Sensitivity work for the period 2001-2004. 2. MarLIN Biology and Sensitivity research takes information on the biology of species to identify the likely effects of changing environmental conditions linked to human activities on those species. In turn, species that are key functional, key structural, dominant, or characteristic in a biotope (the habitat and its associated species) are used to identify biotope sensitivity. Results are displayed over the World Wide Web and can be accessed via a range of search tools that make the information of relevance to environmental management. 3. The first Defra contract enabled the development of criteria and methods of research, database storage methods and the research of a wide range of species. A contract from English Nature and Scottish Natural Heritage enabled biotopes relevant to marine SACs to be researched. 4. Defra funding in 2001-2004 has especially enabled recent developments to be targeted for research. Those developments included the identification of threatened and declining species by the OSPAR Biodiversity Committee, the development of a new approach to defining sensitivity (part of the Review of Marine Nature Conservation), and the opportunity to use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) more effectively to link survey data to MarLIN assessments of sensitivity. 5. The MarLIN database has been developed to provide a resource to 'pick-and-mix' information depending on the questions being asked. Using GIS, survey data that provides locations for species and biotopes has been linked to information researched by MarLIN to map the likely sensitivity of an area to a specified factor. Projects undertaken for the Irish Sea pilot (marine landscapes), in collaboration with CEFAS (fishing impacts) and with the Countryside Council for Wales (oil spill response) have demonstrated the application of MarLIN information linked to survey data in answering, through maps, questions about likely impacts of human activities on seabed ecosystems. 6. GIS applications that use MarLIN sensitivity information give meaningful results when linked to localized and detailed survey information (lists of species and biotopes as point source or mapped extents). However, broad landscape units require further interpretation. 7. A new mapping tool (SEABED map) has been developed to display data on species distributions and survey data according to search terms that might be used by an environmental manager. 8. MarLIN outputs are best viewed on the Web site where the most up-to-date information from live databases is available. The MarLIN Web site receives about 1600 visits a day. 9. The MarLIN approach to assessing sensitivity and its application to environmental management were presented in papers at three international conferences during the current contract and a 'touchstone' paper is to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Hydrobiologia. The utility of MarLIN information for environmental managers, amongst other sorts of information, has been described in an article in Marine Pollution Bulletin. 10. MarLIN information is being used to inform the identification of potential indicator species for implementation of the Water Framework Directive including initiatives by ICES. 11. Non-Defra funding streams are supporting the updating of reviews and increasing the amount of peer review undertaken; both of which are important to the maintenance of the resource. However, whilst MarLIN information is sufficiently wide ranging to be used in an 'operational' way for marine environmental protection and management, new initiatives and the new biotopes classification have introduced additional species and biotopes that will need to be researched in the future. 12. By the end of the contract, the Biology and Sensitivity Key Information database contained full Key Information reviews on 152 priority species and 117 priority biotopes, together with basic information on 412 species; a total of 564 marine benthic species.

Assessment of the potential impacts of coasteering on rocky intertidal habitats in Wales

The relatively new recreational pursuit of coasteering, which has developed in the St David's area of Pembrokeshire, appears to be expanding rapidly. The majority of local commercial recreation providers (outdoor pursuit centers etc.) now appear to offer this pursuit. The majority of the rocky coastlines where it takes place lie within Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and are also Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). No assessment has yet been undertaken of coasteering's potential impact on the intertidal habitats. Therefore the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) commissioned the Marine Life Information Network (MarLIN) to undertake a desk study of the likely environmental effects of coasteering on rocky intertidal habitats within the Pembrokeshire marine SAC. The desk study was based on a review of the available literature, and in particular the effects of trampling on rocky intertidal communities. Communities (as biotopes) within the Pembrokeshire marine SAC likely to be exposed to coasteering activities were identified from Phase I biotope data for the area, provided by CCW. Where possible, existing research by MarLIN into the intolerance, recoverability and sensitivity of the biotopes identified, was used to identify their potential vulnerability to trampling. The literature review revealed that: - foliose canopy forming algae (e.g. fucoids) were particularly intolerant and sensitive to trampling impacts; - trampling damaged erect coralline turfs, barnacles, and resulted in an increase in bare space; in some cases paths across the shore were visible; - on brown algae dominated shores, understorey algae could suffer due to increased desiccation but algal turf species, opportunists and gastropod grazers (e.g. limpets) could increase in abundance as an indirect effect of trampling, and that - trampling impacts resulted from physical contact and wear and were dependant on the intensity, duration, and frequency of trampling, and even the type of footwear used. A total of 19 intolerant rocky intertidal biotopes were identified as potentially vulnerable to trampling and hence coasteering within the Pembrokeshire marine SAC, of which six are of Welsh importance and eight are nationally rare or scarce. Trampling is a highly localized impact and it was not possible to identify biotopes, and hence communities, actually impacted by coasteering activities in the Pembrokeshire marine SAC. In addition, the majority of the literature addresses the impacts of trampling on wave sheltered or moderately exposed brown algal dominated shores, while coasteering occurs on more wave exposed, steeply inclined shores. Therefore, direct survey of the routes used by coasteering groups within the Pembrokeshire marine SAC is required to identify the intensity, duration and frequency of trampling impact, together with the communities impacted. Given the paucity of data concerning trampling effects in the rocky intertidal in the UK, a survey of the impacts of coasteering would provide an opportunity to examine the effects of trampling and visitor use in steep rocky, wave exposed shores. The report recognizes the potential to engage coasteerers in contributing to the development of strategies for minimizing adverse impacts, recording impacts and collecting information of use in identifying climate change and the occurrence of non-native species.