Patterns and Emerging Trends in Global Ocean Health

International and regional policies aimed at managing ocean ecosystem health need quantitative and comprehensive indices to synthesize information from a variety of sources, consistently measure progress, and communicate with key constituencies and the public. Here we present the second annual global assessment of the Ocean Health Index, reporting current scores and annual changes since 2012, recalculated using updated methods and data based on the best available science, for 221 coastal countries and territories. The Index measures performance of ten societal goals for healthy oceans on a quantitative scale of increasing health from 0 to 100, and combines these scores into a single Index score, for each country and globally. The global Index score improved one point (from 67 to 68), while many country-level Index and goal scores had larger changes. Per-country Index scores ranged from 41–95 and, on average, improved by 0.06 points (range -8 to +12). Globally, average scores increased for individual goals by as much as 6.5 points (coastal economies) and decreased by as much as 1.2 points (natural products). Annual updates of the Index, even when not all input data have been updated, provide valuable information to scientists, policy makers, and resource managers because patterns and trends can emerge from the data that have been updated. Changes of even a few points indicate potential successes (when scores increase) that merit recognition, or concerns (when scores decrease) that may require mitigative action, with changes of more than 10–20 points representing large shifts that deserve greater attention. Goal scores showed remarkably little covariance across regions, indicating low redundancy in the Index, such that each goal delivers information about a different facet of ocean health. Together these scores provide a snapshot of global ocean health and suggest where countries have made progress and where a need for further improvement exists.     

Increased Na+ excretion by the skin of Rana pipiens after NaCl loading

In vivo the frog skin excretes sodium and the sodium excretion is increased in response to a NaCl load. The sodium excretion can be demonstrated in vitro, and the rate of excretion is greater in skin from NaCl-loaded animals than from control, non-loaded animals. Unidirectional 22Na flux experiments on paired frog skins, as well as 22Na and 24Na bidirectional flux experiments measured in vitro, confirm the above finding that net sodium excretion occurs in response to the NaCl load.     

Purification and comparison of two developmentally regulated lectins from Dictyostelium discoideum. Discoidin I and II.

When cells of the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum differentiate from a nonsocial amoeboid form to a cohesive, aggregating form, they synthesize a lectin-like protein called discoidin, which is present on the cell surface. It is now reported that discoidin consists of two distinct lectins, designated discoidin I and discoidin II, which, although similar in some respects, differ in their electrophoretic mobilities, isoelectric points, subunit molecular weights, amino acid compositions, tryptic peptide maps, the erythrocyte species which they agglutinate, and the sensitivity of their agglutination activity to inhibition by monosaccharides. Furthermore, discoidins I and II differ in their developmental regulation as evidenced by the distinct time courses of their appearance during differentiation.     

The effect of acid-base changes on vasopressin-stimulated water flow in toad urinary bladder

Water flow was measured gravimetrically in the presence and absence of vasopressin across the toad urinary bladder. Four groups of toads in different states of acid-base balance were used; a normal group, a group in NH₄Cl induced metabolic acidosis, respiratory acidosis, and a group in NaHCO₃ induced metabolic alkalosis. Vasopressin induced water flow was significantly reduced during metabolic acidosis and respiratory acidosis. Metabolic alkalosis had no effect on the hydro-osmotic response to vasopressin. Dibutyryl cyclic-AMP-stimulated water flow on the other hand was not affected by either a metabolic or respiratory acidosis. Treatment with indomethacin was able to reverse the observed reduction in the vasopressin-stimulated water flow response in the toad bladder during metabolic and respiratory acidosis. We conclude that the vasopressin stimulated water flow is altered during acidosis and evidence suggests that prostaglandins may be involved in the observed reduction in vasopressin-stimulated water flow.