Marine Metazoan Modern Mass Extinction: Improving Predictions by Integrating Fossil, Modern, and Physiological Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 369-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piero Calosi ◽  
Hollie M. Putnam ◽  
Richard J. Twitchett ◽  
Fanny Vermandele
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
Modern Mass

Evolution, extinction, and dispersion are fundamental processes affecting marine biodiversity. Until recently, studies of extant marine systems focused mainly on evolution and dispersion, with extinction receiving less attention. Past extinction events have, however, helped shape the evolutionary history of marine ecosystems, with ecological and evolutionary legacies still evident in modern seas. Current anthropogenic global changes increase extinction risk and pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems, which are critical for human use and sustenance. The evaluation of these threats and the likely responses of marine ecosystems requires a better understanding of evolutionary processes that affect marine ecosystems under global change. Here, we discuss how knowledge of ( a) changes in biodiversity of ancient marine ecosystems to past extinctions events, ( b) the patterns of sensitivity and biodiversity loss in modern marine taxa, and ( c) the physiological mechanisms underpinning species’ sensitivity to global change can be exploited and integrated to advance our critical thinking in this area.

scholarly journals Acoustic indexes for marine biodiversity trends and ecosystem health

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1814) ◽  
pp. 20190447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Pieretti ◽  
Roberto Danovaro
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Integrative Research ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
A Current

Acoustic approaches have been recently proposed to investigate critical ecological issues, such as biodiversity loss and different typologies of impacts, including climate change. However, the extensive use of acoustic monitoring is hampered by the lack of algorithms enabling the discrimination among different sound sources (e.g. geophysical, anthropogenic and biological). Eco- and bioacoustic indexes have been applied to provide non-invasive information on the temporal and spatial patterns of marine biodiversity and on the anthropogenic impact on marine life. Here, we review the potential of acoustic tools in expanding the monitoring of marine ecosystems from a current three-dimensional perception to a four-dimensional dimension. We also explore the use of acoustic indexes, mostly developed in terrestrial ecology, for the investigation of different marine ecosystems. Their appraisal, strengths and limits, and potential for future investigations in the biological exploration of the oceans are also discussed. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Integrative research perspectives on marine conservation’.

scholarly journals Conservation Status of Marine Biodiversity in Oceania: An Analysis of Marine Species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A. Polidoro ◽  
Cristiane T. Elfes ◽  
Jonnell C. Sanciangco ◽  
Helen Pippard ◽  
Kent E. Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Threatened Species ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Conservation Priorities ◽  
Conservation Action

Given the economic and cultural dependence on the marine environment in Oceania and a rapidly expanding human population, many marine species populations are in decline and may be vulnerable to extinction from a number of local and regional threats. IUCN Red List assessments, a widely used system for quantifying threats to species and assessing species extinction risk, have been completed for 1190 marine species in Oceania to date, including all known species of corals, mangroves, seagrasses, sea snakes, marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles, sharks, and rays present in Oceania, plus all species in five important perciform fish groups. Many of the species in these groups are threatened by the modification or destruction of coastal habitats, overfishing from direct or indirect exploitation, pollution, and other ecological or environmental changes associated with climate change. Spatial analyses of threatened species highlight priority areas for both site- and species-specific conservation action. Although increased knowledge and use of newly available IUCN Red List assessments for marine species can greatly improve conservation priorities for marine species in Oceania, many important fish groups are still in urgent need of assessment.

Phanerozoic trends in the global geographic disparity of marine biotas

Paleobiology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold I. Miller ◽  
Devin P. Buick ◽  
Katherine V. Bulinski ◽  
Chad A. Ferguson ◽  
Austin J. W. Hendy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Distance ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Geographic Disparity ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of

Previous analyses of the history of Phanerozoic marine biodiversity suggested that the post-Paleozoic increase observed at the family level and below was caused, in part, by an increase in global provinciality associated with the breakup of Pangea. Efforts to characterize the Phanerozoic history of provinciality, however, have been compromised by interval-to-interval variations in the methods and standards used by researchers to calibrate the number of provinces. With the development of comprehensive, occurrence-based data repositories such as the Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB), it is now possible to analyze directly the degree of global compositional disparity as a function of geographic distance (geo-disparity) and changes thereof throughout the history of marine animal life. Here, we present a protocol for assessing the Phanerozoic history of geo-disparity, and we apply it to stratigraphic bins arrayed throughout the Phanerozoic for which data were accessed from the PaleoDB. Our analyses provide no indication of a secular Phanerozoic increase in geo-disparity. Furthermore, fundamental characteristics of geo-disparity may have changed from era to era in concert with changes to marine venues, although these patterns will require further scrutiny in future investigations.

Exploring long-term trends in marine ecosystems: machine-learning approaches to global change biology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico D'Alelio ◽  
Salvatore Rampone ◽  
Luigi Maria Cusano ◽  
Nadia Sanseverino ◽  
Luca Russo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Global Change Biology ◽  
Long Term Trends

scholarly journals Using insect natural history collections to study global change impacts: challenges and opportunities

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1763) ◽  
pp. 20170405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Kharouba ◽  
Jayme M. M. Lewthwaite ◽  
Rob Guralnick ◽  
Jeremy T. Kerr ◽  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Genomic Information ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Global Change Research ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Over the past two decades, natural history collections (NHCs) have played an increasingly prominent role in global change research, but they have still greater potential, especially for the most diverse group of animals on Earth: insects. Here, we review the role of NHCs in advancing our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary responses of insects to recent global changes. Insect NHCs have helped document changes in insects' geographical distributions, phenology, phenotypic and genotypic traits over time periods up to a century. Recent work demonstrates the enormous potential of NHCs data for examining insect responses at multiple temporal, spatial and phylogenetic scales. Moving forward, insect NHCs offer unique opportunities to examine the morphological, chemical and genomic information in each specimen, thus advancing our understanding of the processes underlying species’ ecological and evolutionary responses to rapid, widespread global changes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the anthropocene’.

scholarly journals The first Mares Conference on Marine Ecosystems Health and Conservation 2014: key messages and outcomes

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Deprez ◽  
Magda Vincx ◽  
Adelino V.M. Canario ◽  
Karim Erzini ◽  
Katherine Brownlie
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Ocean Noise

The first Mares Conference on Marine Ecosystems Health and Conservation was a successful event organized by the MARES doctoral programme bringing together over 150 researchers in Olhão, Portugal from November 17th to 21st 2014. The conference was opened by Prof. Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner, whose keynote address focused on a sectoral analysis by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5) on the impacts of climate change on the world’s oceans. The first session on “Future oceans” was opened with a talk by Dr. Frank Melzner highlighting the problems calcifying invertebrates face in the warmer, more acidic and hypoxic waters. Other presenters dealt with changing global diversity patterns, ocean acidification, and the loss the genetic diversity. The second session on “Natural resources” was opened by Dr. Rainer Froese, who focused on whether or not the oceans can feed humanity. This talk introduced other contributions in the session, dealing with fisheries issues and Marine Protected Areas, as well as problems with proper identifications of species used for economic purposes. “Biodiversity effects” was the scope of the third session opened by a talk on oxygenation and marine biodiversity challenges in the 21st Century by Prof. Lisa Levin. Rapid ocean deoxygenation is a process which is currently less investigated but which has considerable effects on body size, taxonomic composition, habitat heterogeneity, and nutrient cycling. The following presentations focused on other factors having a strong effect on marine biodiversity, ranging from the harvesting of algae to the fragmentation of ecosystems. The fourth session addressed “Biological invasions”. Dr. Gregory Ruiz discussed biological invasions in North American marine ecosystems and the need for constant monitoring, and the use of a dynamic and multi-vector approach. Problems with invasive species in European waters were addressed with examples from the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. The fifth session on “Ocean Noise” was opened by Prof. Peter Tyack with a talk on the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals. Although ocean noise issues are often linked to marine mammals, the effects of sound related to marine constructions on fish behaviour, nicely illustrated that ocean noise is a factor with a much broader impact than expected. The last session of the first Mares Conference dealt with “Habitat loss”. Dr. Michael Beck focused on this topic with his talk on ‘Building Coastal Resilience for Climate Adaptation and Risk Reduction’. Talks in the session ranged from the use of telemetry as a tool to monitor species in changed habitats, to cases dealing with sea level rise related problems in for example salt-marshes. The first Mares Conference offered a broad range of oral and poster presentations, as well as digital presentations. The poster and digital object presentations included over 100 contributions.

scholarly journals Basidiobolus omanensis sp. nov. Causing Angioinvasive Abdominal Basidiobolomycosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 653
Author(s):  
Abdullah M. S. Al-Hatmi ◽  
Abdullah Balkhair ◽  
Ibrahim Al-Busaidi ◽  
Marcelo Sandoval-Denis ◽  
Saif Al-Housni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Abdominal Pain ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Gastrointestinal Disease ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Pathogenic Role ◽  
Opportunistic Fungi ◽  
Ribosomal Operon ◽  
History Of ◽  
Hygienic Conditions

Human infectious fungal diseases are increasing, despite improved hygienic conditions. We present a case of gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis (GIB) in a 20-year-old male with a history of progressively worsening abdominal pain. The causative agent was identified as a novel Basidiobolus species. Validation of its novelty was established by analysis of the partial ribosomal operon of two isolates from different organs. Phylogeny of ITS and LSU rRNA showed that these isolates belonged to the genus Basidiobolus, positioned closely to B. heterosporus and B. minor. Morphological and physiological data supported the identity of the species, which was named Basidiobolus omanensis, with CBS 146281 as the holotype. The strains showed high minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) to fluconazole (>64 µg/mL), itraconazole and voriconazole (>16 µg/mL), anidulafungin and micafungin (>16 µg/mL), but had a low MIC to amphotericin B (1 µg/mL). The pathogenic role of B. omanensis in gastrointestinal disease is discussed. We highlight the crucial role of molecular identification of these rarely encountered opportunistic fungi.

scholarly journals Sediment core fossils in ancient Lake Ohrid: testing for faunal change in molluscs since the Last Interglacial period

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 3969-3999 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Albrecht ◽  
H. Vogel ◽  
T. Hauffe ◽  
T. Wilke
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Core ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Interglacial Period ◽  
Ancient Lake ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Lake Ohrid ◽  
Last Interglacial Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
Mollusc Shells

Abstract. Ancient Lake Ohrid is probably of early Pleistocene or Pliocene origin and amongst the few lakes in the world harboring an outstanding degree of endemic biodiversity. Although there is a long history of evolutionary research in Lake Ohrid, particularly on molluscs, a mollusc fossil record has been missing up to date. For the first time, gastropod and bivalve fossils are reported from the basal, calcareous part of a 2.6 m long sediment succession (core Co1200) from the north-eastern part of Lake Ohrid. Electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of mollusc shells from the same stratigraphic level yielded an age of 130±28 ka. Lithofacies III sediments, i.e. a subdivision of the stratigraphic unit comprising the basal succession of core Co1200 between 181.5–263 cm appeared solid, grayish-white, and consisted almost entirely of silt-sized endogenic calcite (CaCO3>70%) and intact and broken mollusc shells. Here we compare the faunal composition of the thanatocoenosis with recent mollusc associations in Lake Ohrid. A total of 13 mollusc species (9 gastropod and 4 bivalve species) could be identified within Lithofacies III sediments. The value of sediment core fossils for reconstructing palaeoenvironmental settings was evaluated. The agreement between sediment and palaeontological proxies was tested. The combined findings of the ecological study and the sediment characteristics suggest deposition in a shallow water environment during the Last Interglacial period. We tested for major faunal changes since the Last Interglacial period and searched for signs of extinction events. The fossil fauna exclusively included species also found in the present fauna, i.e. no extinction events are evident for this site since the Last Interglacial. The thanatocoenosis showed the highest similarity with recent Intermediate Layer (5–25 m) mollusc assemblages. The demonstrated existence of a mollusc fossil record in Lake Ohrid sediment cores also has great significance for future deep drilling projects. It can be hoped that a more far reaching mollusc fossil record will then be obtained, enabling insight into the early evolutionary history of Lake Ohrid.

scholarly journals The origins of modern biodiversity on land

2010 ◽  
Vol 365 (1558) ◽  
pp. 3667-3679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Benton
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Extinction Events ◽  
Mass Extinction Events

Comparative studies of large phylogenies of living and extinct groups have shown that most biodiversity arises from a small number of highly species-rich clades. To understand biodiversity, it is important to examine the history of these clades on geological time scales. This is part of a distinct ‘phylogenetic expansion’ view of macroevolution, and contrasts with the alternative, non-phylogenetic ‘equilibrium’ approach to the history of biodiversity. The latter viewpoint focuses on density-dependent models in which all life is described by a single global-scale model, and a case is made here that this approach may be less successful at representing the shape of the evolution of life than the phylogenetic expansion approach. The terrestrial fossil record is patchy, but is adequate for coarse-scale studies of groups such as vertebrates that possess fossilizable hard parts. New methods in phylogenetic analysis, morphometrics and the study of exceptional biotas allow new approaches. Models for diversity regulation through time range from the entirely biotic to the entirely physical, with many intermediates. Tetrapod diversity has risen as a result of the expansion of ecospace, rather than niche subdivision or regional-scale endemicity resulting from continental break-up. Tetrapod communities on land have been remarkably stable and have changed only when there was a revolution in floras (such as the demise of the Carboniferous coal forests, or the Cretaceous radiation of angiosperms) or following particularly severe mass extinction events, such as that at the end of the Permian.

Conservation biology of marine fishes: perceptions and caveats regarding assignment of extinction risk

2001 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Marine Fishes ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
High Fecundity ◽  
Reproductive Rates ◽  
Biological Extinction

Quantitative criteria used to assign species to categories of extinction risk may seriously overestimate these risks for marine fishes. Contemporary perception is that marine fishes may be less vulnerable to extinction than other taxa, because of great natural variability in abundance, high fecundity, rapid population growth, and an intrinsically high capability of recovering from low population size. Contrary to perception, however, there appears to be generally little theoretical or empirical support for the hypotheses that marine fish are more likely to experience large reductions in population size, to produce unusually high levels of recruitment, to have higher reproductive rates, or to recover more rapidly from prolonged population declines than nonmarine fishes. Although existing population-decline criteria may not accurately reflect probabilities of biological extinction, they do appear to reflect the converse-population recovery. Insufficient support for contemporary perceptions of their susceptibility to extinction, coupled with caveats associated with the assignment of extinction risk, suggest that significant increases in the population-decline thresholds used to assign marine fishes to at-risk categories would be inconsistent with a precautionary approach to fisheries management and the conservation of marine biodiversity.

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