Coral reef conservation in Bali in light of international best practice,a literature review

Bali, Indonesia sits within the coral triangle and is internationally recognised for its high coral reef diversity. The health of Bali’s marine ecosystems has declined in recent decades, and this is thought to be due to threats from climate change, destructive fishing practices, pollution, outbreaks coral eating invertebrates, coral disease and unsustainable tourism. As a response, multiple conservation strategies have been introduced by the island’s communities, non-government organisations and governments, with the aim of preventing further decline, as well as restoring already degraded coral reefs. This literature review provides an in-depth analysis of the tools used to conserve Bali’s coral reefs, and compares them to those used in other countries. In light of international ‘best practice’ in coral reef conservation, this review makes suggestions on how Bali could better conserve its coral reef ecosystems. These include (1) increasing its designation of official Marine Protected Areas (MPAS) and strengthening management of existing ones, (2) creating an MPA network, (3) substantially reducing marine plastic pollution, (4) continuing artificial reef construction in degraded habitats, (5) continuing to develop Bali as an ecotourism destination, (6) increasing engagement in global science to inform marine conservation decision-making, and (7) developing more marine monitoring programmes.     

中国西藏发现类三角蚌类祖先闯入非海相领域的证据（英文）北大核心CSCD

新发现的双壳类化石命名为Baxoitrigonia baxoiensis gen. et sp. nov.,产地为藏东八宿林卡家东,化石产于景星动物群之下的拉贡塘组下段,同层位有菊石和其他海相双壳类,时代为晚侏罗世Tithonian期;化石的外部特征很接近于三角蛤类Iotrigonia属,但前闭肌痕特征又相似于类三角蚌类,被认为是三角蛤类闯入非海相领域后演变成类三角蚌类的产物。此发现提供了生物和地层两方面的直接证据,证明非海相类三角蚌类(Trigonioidoidea超科)起源于海相三角蛤类(Trigoniida目),而不是起源于珠蚌类(Unionida目)。海相三角蛤类闯入边缘隔绝的洛隆-八宿地区并演变为非海相类三角蚌类,是一次典型的边域成种事件。     

Population trends for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) foraging in the Francisco Coloane Coastal‐Marine Protected Area,Magellan Strait,Chile

In 2003 a feeding aggregation of southeastern Pacific humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) was reported in the Magellan Strait. While Chile established its first marine national park in the Strait to protect humpback whale habitat, fatal ship strikes remain a concern because of overlap with a busy shipping lane. To better understand population risk, we estimated abundance and survival for this population using Bayesian robust‐design mark‐recapture models fit to photographic data from 2004 to 2016. Overall, the model estimated a total of 204 whales (95% CI: 199–210) during the last 12 yr, and 93 (95% CI: 86–100) in the 2016/2017 austral summer. The population grew at 2.3% (CI: 2.1%–3.1%), an annual increase of two whales. Annual survival (including calves) was estimated at 0.892 (CI: 0.871–0.910). Our results corroborate a persistent feeding population, but one that is increasing relatively slowly. Owing to its vulnerability stemming from its small size, coupled with significant overlap with a busy shipping lane, we argue this subpopulation is at significant risk from ship strikes and may be one of the few populations where anthropogenic mortalities could regulate population dynamics. We therefore encourage continued monitoring via photographic mark‐resighting surveys, and analyses explicitly investigating potential population‐level ship strike effects.     

Marine biological injuries and their medical management: A narrative review

The marine environment can be extremely dangerous, and the harm caused by marine organisms when they contact the human body can be especially harmful, even deadly. Contact includes stings, bites, wounds, and consumption as food. In this article, the characteristics of the common marine biological injuries are summarized, the major marine organisms causing damage in China’s marine waters are described, and injury prevention and treatment methods are discussed.     

Marine Pseudoalteromonas species are associated with higher organisms and produce biologically active extracellular agents

The newly established genus Pseudoalteromonas contains numerous marine species which synthesize biologically active molecules. The production of a range of compounds which are active against a variety of target organisms appears to be a unique characteristic for this genus and may greatly benefit Pseudoalteromonas cells in their competition for nutrients and colonization of surfaces. Species of Pseudoalteromonas are generally found in association with marine eukaryotes and display anti-bacterial, bacteriolytic, agarolytic and algicidal activities. Moreover, several Pseudoalteromonas isolates specifically prevent the settlement of common fouling organisms. While a wide range of inhibitory extracellular agents are produced, compounds promoting the survival of other marine organisms living in the vicinity of Pseudoalteromonas species have also been found.     

海南岛海水鱼类单殖吸虫研究Ⅴ——鲻鱼虫属一新种记述

在大鳞Ｌｉｚａｍａｃｒｏｌｅｐｉｓ鳃上检获到鲻鱼虫属１新种,小钩鲻鱼虫,新种ＬｉｇｏｐｈｏｒｕｓｈａｍｕｌｏｓｕｓＰａｎ＆Ｚｈａｎｇ,ｓｐ．ｎｏｖ．。以其后吸器两对中央大钩的形态结构以及背、腹中央大钩量度上的差异,背联结片的结构和交接器形态结构不同而区别于ＬｉｇｏｐｈｏｒｕｓｉｍｉｔａｎｓＥｕｚｅｔ＆Ｓｕｒｉａｎｏ,１９７７。     

Significance of Na+ in the fish pathogen, Vibrio anguillarum, under energy depleted condition

Vibrio anguillarum kills various kinds of fish over salinities ranging from seawater to freshwater. In this study, we investigated the role of Na(+) in V. anguillarum, especially under energy-depleted conditions such as in natural seawater. V. angustum S14, which is a typical marine vibrio, was used for comparison. V. anguillarum only required Na(+) for starvation-survival, but in contrast, V. angustum S14 always required Na(+) for both growth and starvation-survival. In marine vibrios, Na(+) is used in the Na(+)-dependent respiratory chain that produces the sodium motive force (SMF) across the cell membrane. It has been considered that marine vibrios always need a SMF produced by Na(+), however in the case of V. anguillarum, the SMF is not required for growth, but becomes more important for starvation-survival.     

The effects of mixotrophy on the stability and dynamics of a simple planktonic food web model

Recognition of the microbial loop as an important part of aquatic ecosystems disrupted the notion of simple linear food chains. However, current research suggests that even the microbial loop paradigm is a gross simplification of microbial interactions due to the presence of mixotrophs-organisms that both photosynthesize and graze. We present a simple food web model with four trophic species, three of them arranged in a food chain (nutrients-autotrophs-herbivores) and the fourth as a mixotroph with links to both the nutrients and the autotrophs. This model is used to study the general implications of inclusion of the mixotrophic link in microbial food webs and the specific predictions for a parameterization that describes open ocean mixed layer plankton dynamics. The analysis indicates that the system parameters reside in a region of the parameter space where the dynamics converge to a stable equilibrium rather than displaying periodic or chaotic solutions. However, convergence requires weeks to months, suggesting that the system would never reach equilibrium in the ocean due to alteration of the physical forcing regime. Most importantly, the mixotrophic grazing link seems to stabilize the system in this region of the parameter space, particularly when nutrient recycling feedback loops are included.     

Rapid detection of `rare' actinomycetes in environmental samples

Natural products continue to be a useful source of new leads for the pharmaceutical industry. Actinomycetes are prolific producers of natural products and one strategy to increase the possibility of discovering novel chemical entities is to screen actinomycetes considered 'rare' in the environment and previously under-represented in natural product screening collections. We describe a method using bacteriophage as a marker to detect these actinomycetes in environmental samples. This method allows samples to be pre-screened for the presence of target actinomycetes before lengthy isolation programmes are undertaken.     

Isolation and sequencing of the replication region of plasmid pBFp1 isolated from a marine biofilm

A 24 kb plasmid, pBFp1, encoding mercury resistance was previously isolated from a marine biofilm. Isolation and sequencing of a 4280 bp DNA fragment containing the plasmid replicon (rep-pBFp1) revealed a putative open reading frame encoding a RepA protein and an oriV-like region containing an A+T rich sub-region, iterons, and DnaA boxes. Sequence comparisons showed significant similarities to the incW plasmid pSa both for the RepA amino acid sequence and in the iteron DNA sequence. Plasmid pBFp1 was also shown to be incompatible with pSa in standard incompatibility testing. A probe from the repA gene of pBFp1 was further made and tested on a collection of plasmids exogenously isolated from marine habitats in a previous study.