The ecology and phylogeny of cyanobacterial symbionts in sponges

Cyanobacteria have flexible photosynthetic apparatus that allows them to utilise light at very low levels, making them ideal symbionts for a wide range of organisms. Sponge associations with cyanobacteria are common in all areas of the world, but little is known about them. Recent research has revealed new cyanobacterial symbionts that may be host specific and two major clades, ' Candidatus Synechococcus spongiarum ' and Oscillatoria spongeliae , that occur in widely separated geographic locations in unrelated sponge hosts. These clades may represent a cluster of closely related symbiont species, or may be single species that are maintained by periods of horizontal transmission over large distances. Erroneous assumptions regarding the importance of cyanobacterial symbionts to the survival of individual sponges or species may arise from cyanosponges being deemed to be phototrophic or mixotrophic without studies of their photophysiology. This review brings together recent and past research on cyanobacterial associations with sponges, including their biogeography, phylogeny, host specificity, and ecology.     

Dynamics of the Mackenzie River plume on the inner Beaufort shelf during an open water period in summer

The oceanographic conditions of the Mackenzie River plume in the Arctic Ocean were examined during a 12-day period in August 2007. Field observations in the river channel and the delta region (2–6 m depth), ship-based observations on the shelf and satellite observations of sea surface temperatures indicate that movements of plume density fronts cause changes in water temperatures of over 10  C over a few days. We used a 1D model to compare the strength of stratification versus surface wind stress, and a 3D numerical model to simulate the plume motions under forcing from the river flows, local wind and water level variations from tides and wind-driven surge. The results indicate that the coastal region is stratified with a ∼2 m thick surface plume even in water depths of 3–4 m, resulting in strong vertical variation of horizontal currents. Moderate easterly winds of 5–10 m/s are sufficient to induce offshore transport of the surface plume and onshore transport of the deeper shelf water, leading to large fluctuations in temperature and salinity in the coastal region. This study examined a period of offshore transport and mean water level set-down, and indicates the rapid response of the plume to wind over the shallow delta.     

Living on the margin: Ethnoecological insights from Marshall Islanders at Rongelap atoll

Pacific Islanders who live on atolls are among the first people who have begun to be seriously impacted by the effects of global climate change. These are the people whose entire landscape is typically no higher than one meter above sea level. Extreme environmental changes are nothing new to these communities. Over many generations these atoll cultures have survived major, unpredictable and locally devastating changes that are of the same magnitude as those expected from climate changes. An examination of traditional ecological knowledge of Marshall Islanders at Rongelap atoll serves to illustrate some of the coping strategies that have enabled these people to be resilient in the past and in the current environmental crisis. Interviews revealed that these atoll dwellers actively manage the resources that are most likely to be impacted by climate change.     

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: luminosity dependence of galaxy clustering

We investigate the dependence of the strength of galaxy clustering on intrinsic luminosity using the Anglo-Australian two degree field galaxy redshift survey (2dFGRS). The 2dFGRS is over an order of magnitude larger than previous redshift surveys used to address this issue. We measure the projected two-point correlation function of galaxies in a series of volume-limited samples. The projected correlation function is free from any distortion of the clustering pattern induced by peculiar motions and is well described by a power law in pair separation over the range     . The clustering of     galaxies in real space is well-fitted by a correlation length     and power-law slope     . The clustering amplitude increases slowly with absolute magnitude for galaxies fainter than M *, but rises more strongly at higher luminosities. At low luminosities, our results agree with measurements from the Southern Sky Redshift Survey 2 by Benoist et al. However, we find a weaker dependence of clustering strength on luminosity at the highest luminosities. The correlation function amplitude increases by a factor of 4.0 between     and −22.5, and the most luminous galaxies are 3.0 times more strongly clustered than L * galaxies. The power-law slope of the correlation function shows remarkably little variation for samples spanning a factor of 20 in luminosity. Our measurements are in very good agreement with the predictions of the hierarchical galaxy formation models of Benson et al.