Sensing the sea

The development of the 'ecosystem approach' to the management of marine systems is leading to a requirement for data to be collected with greater frequency and spatial resolution than has been necessary in the past. This is being met both by the analysis of more samples (to better describe variability and temporal change) and by the deployment of instrumented platforms that gather data over long time periods. To meet these requirements in the hostile conditions at sea, a range of sensors based on physical, chemical and biological responses is being developed. These sensors have applications in laboratory analysis of collected samples, during field studies and directly in situ at remote sites for real-time observations of environmental trends. Here, we consider the role that biosensors could have in future marine monitoring programmes.     

Signaling by the sea

In a spectacular location nestled in the hills on Croatia's coast, a group of 300 scientists from around the world gathered to listen to recent advances in cellular signaling and to gaze across the Adriatic Sea during discussions that surely put this work into perspective. Topics discussed ranged from precise structural details of signaling events to animal models for understanding signaling disorders.     

Cytoskeletons by the sea

The ESF-EMBO meeting, 'Emergent Properties of the Cytoskeleton: Molecules to Cells', took place in October 2010 in San Feliu dex Guíxols on the eastern coast of Spain. It brought together a diverse group of international cytoskeletal researchers who gave presentations on topics from structural biology and biophysical analyses of the cytoskeleton and its motors, to studies of the role of cytoskeletal proteins in multicellular development.     

Micronomads of the Mediterranean sea

Abstract

The Structural Heterogeneity of Plants with a Thallus. Plants that evolved in aquatic environments developed a thallus, that is a multicellular body without structures deputed to the mass transportation of water along great distances. The structural organisations of thalli shows a number of different solution to reach the coordination necessary to the expression of differentiation in the multicellular thalli. Some of these structures are comparatively esamined, pointing out their peculiarities. The diversity observed among plants evolved in aquatic environments is expressed not only by the taxa that can be recognized, but also by a great number of solutions developed to express the differentiation of parts in a complex multicellular body.     

Biotechnology and the sea

Abstract

The application of recent discoveries in genetic engineering to marine plants and animals offers enormous potential for harvesting more food, pharmaceuticals, and industrial compounds from the sea. Using biotechnology's ability to excise and replace genetic material selected for specific functions, such efforts would allow manifold increases in production of substances conventionally reliant on the capture of often rare marine species. This article reviews the status of marine biotechnology with particular attention to its current and prospective uses for medicine, industrial chemicals, pollution control, and aquaculture. It concludes with some observations about the relationship of marine biotechnology to broader economic, legal, and ethical concerns about genetic manipulation.     

Pelagic sea snakes dehydrate at sea

Secondarily marine vertebrates are thought to live independently of fresh water. Here, we demonstrate a paradigm shift for the widely distributed pelagic sea snake, Hydrophis (Pelamis) platurus, which dehydrates at sea and spends a significant part of its life in a dehydrated state corresponding to seasonal drought. Snakes that are captured following prolonged periods without rainfall have lower body water content, lower body condition and increased tendencies to drink fresh water than do snakes that are captured following seasonal periods of high rainfall. These animals do not drink seawater and must rehydrate by drinking from a freshwater lens that forms on the ocean surface during heavy precipitation. The new data based on field studies indicate unequivocally that this marine vertebrate dehydrates at sea where individuals may live in a dehydrated state for possibly six to seven months at a time. This information provides new insights for understanding water requirements of sea snakes, reasons for recent declines and extinctions of sea snakes and more accurate prediction for how changing patterns of precipitation might affect these and other secondarily marine vertebrates living in tropical oceans.     

Canada and the law of the sea

Abstract

This paper gives a compact overview of Canadian policy on the law of the sea. Section I looks at Canada's maritime attributes, and the policy interests which arise from them. Section II describes the development of Canada's policy in ten issue areas, and examines the outcomes for Canadian diplomacy at UN‐CLOS. Section III covers the strategy and technique used by Canada in pursuit of its law of the sea objectives, and explores five reasons underlying its high level of influence and success. The conclusions consider Canada as a case study of middle‐power influence, and look at the role of unilateral action in the process of international law‐making.     

Preventing oil pollution of the sea

Summary 1. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (1954) and its amendments (1962) are discussed.2. An account is given of the load-on-top procedure, which is designed to prevent oil pollution of the sea by tankers and which is currently practised by about three-quarters of the world's tanker fleet.3. The grounding of the Torrey Canyon has highlighted some of the problems which can arise following tanker accidents and has prompted consideration of how accidents might be minimised. Some possible accident and pollution prevention measures are discussed briefly and a few pointers are given to areas in which future development is desirable.

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Verhinderung der Ölverunreinigung des Meeres

Kurzfassung Bisher ausgeführte Versuche und Maßnahmen, die ergriffen wurden, um eine Verunreinigung des Meeres durch Öl von Schiffen zu verhindern, werden diskutiert. Eine kurze Geschichte der juristischen Situation wird gegeben. Das load-on-top-Verfahren, das von den meisten Ölgesellschaften praktiziert wird, um Verunreinigungen durch Tanker zu verhindern, wird beschrieben. Der Untergang der Torrey Canyon im März 1967 hat in besonders eindringlichem Maße gezeigt, daß es notwendig ist, Überlegungen und Untersuchungen anzustellen, um die Verunreinigungen, die auf Grund von Unfällen auf dem Meer entstehen können, so gering wie möglich zu halten. Einige Vorschläge hierzu werden unterbreitet und diskutiert.

     

RNA viruses in the sea

Viruses are ubiquitous in the sea and appear to outnumber all other forms of marine life by at least an order of magnitude. Through selective infection, viruses influence nutrient cycling, community structure, and evolution in the ocean. Over the past 20 years we have learned a great deal about the diversity and ecology of the viruses that constitute the marine virioplankton, but until recently the emphasis has been on DNA viruses. Along with expanding knowledge about RNA viruses that infect important marine animals, recent isolations of RNA viruses that infect single-celled eukaryotes and molecular analyses of the RNA virioplankton have revealed that marine RNA viruses are novel, widespread, and genetically diverse. Discoveries in marine RNA virology are broadening our understanding of the biology, ecology, and evolution of viruses, and the epidemiology of viral diseases, but there is still much that we need to learn about the ecology and diversity of RNA viruses before we can fully appreciate their contributions to the dynamics of marine ecosystems. As a step toward making sense of how RNA viruses contribute to the extraordinary viral diversity in the sea, we summarize in this review what is currently known about RNA viruses that infect marine organisms.     

Sperm limitation in the sea

Because sperm outnumber eggs, it is often assumed that variation in female reproductive success has little to do with male or sperm availability. Similarly for males, access to viable eggs and sperm competition are thought to drive variation in male fertilization success. These assumptions result from empirical studies on organisms with internal fertilization. However, recent evidence from free-spawning organisms suggests that sperm can often be limiting. This finding may alter our perspective on mating-system evolution, especially in externally fertilizing organisms.