Experiments in sandscaping: Liminal entanglements on the Norfolk and South Holland Coast

This hybrid creative-critical article explores how new ways of living beyond the current environmental crisis are forged on two sandscaping schemes that have been constructed as new experimental measures against coastal erosion. The Zandmotor, created in 2011, is an artificial peninsula built out of sand on the coast of South Holland. The success of this project inspired a similar sandscaping scheme at Bacton on the coast of Norfolk, constructed in 2019. The strange liminal landscapes that are the result of these projects are not just symbols of adaptive, nature-based water management in times of rising sea levels, they also become time machines, making fossils of different times emerge out of the sand taken from the seabed of the North Sea. In addition, the sandscapes are symbols of the artificialization of the coastal landscape, given the fact that sand suppletions disrupt not only life on the beach, but also destroy much bottom-dwelling life on the seabed from which the sand is harvested. However, these unique liminal landscapes between land and sea also create new ecological opportunities. At the Zandmotor, for example, rare bristle worms and Baltic clams have made their unexpected appearance. Moreover, the sandscape invites people not just to look for fossilized mammoth teeth, but also inspires them to create sense-altering art projects specifically adapted to the unique conditions in the area. In this article, I trace these various significances of both sandscaping schemes and argue that they cannot be reduced to any of these different meanings. Instead, I describe the Zandmotor as an example of Donna Haraway’s idea of ‘staying with the trouble’ (2016: 4) and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s concept of ‘contaminated diversity’ (2015: 30). For although enormous amounts of animal and plant life have been destroyed for the creation of the Zandmotor, this does not discredit the fact that this new liminal environment has opened up new ecological opportunities for multispecies flourishing, creating unexpected combinations of landscapes and creatures. These new combinations inspire a shift in thinking about coastal environments and present new ways of living that may emerge beyond the current environmental crisis.

Jaws of Platynereis dumerilii: Miniature Biogenic Structures with Hardness Properties Similar to Those of Crystalline Metals

Nanoindentation, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy and weighing ion-spiked organic matrix standards revealed structure-property relations in the microscopic jaw structures of a cosmopolitan bristle worm, Platynereis dumerilii. Hardness and elasticity values in the jaws’ tip region, exceeding those in the center region, can be traced back to more metal and halogen ions built into the structural protein matrix. Still, structure size appears as an even more relevant factor governing the hardness values measured on bristle worm jaws across the genera Platynereis, Glycera and Nereis. The square of the hardness scales with the inverse of the indentation depth, indicating a Nix-Gao size effect as known for crystalline metals. The limit hardness for the indentation depth going to infinity, amounting to 0.53 GPa, appears to be an invariant material property of the ion-spiked structural proteins likely used by all types of bristle worms. Such a metal-like biogenic material is a major source of bio-inspiration.

Results of zoobentos research in river Sotka, PINEZHSKY STATE RESERVE (Arkhangelsk region, Russia)

В статье рассмотрен качественный состав (видовое и таксономическое разнообразие) и количественные показатели (встречаемость, численность и биомасса) зообентоса р. Сотка в пространственном аспекте. Выявлены участки реки с минимальной и максимальной численностью и биомассой. Определены доминирующие группы донных животных по численности (личинки хирономид и малощетинковые черви) и биомассе (двукрылые, олигохеты и двустворчатые моллюски). На основе кластерного анализа (по видовому сходству) станции отбора бентосных проб объединены в 2 группы. Качество вод оценено как условно чистое - слабо загрязненное. Проведенные исследования зообентоса в уникальной реке на территории заповедника Пинежский будут использованы при ведении комплексного мониторинга качества вод и биотической части ее экосистемы (фито- и зоопланктон, зообентос, ихтиофауна), включая и приточную систему. The article considers the qualitative composition (species and taxonomic diversity) and quantitative indicators (occurrence, number and biomass) of zoobenthos of river Sotka in the spatial aspect. The sections of the river with the minimum and maximum abundance and biomass were identified. The dominant groups of benthic animals were determined by their numbers (chironomid larvae and small-bristle worms) and biomass (dipterans, oligochaetes and bivalve mollusks). Comparison of quantitative indicators in the annual aspect revealed a significant increase in biomass and relative stability of abundance over a 20-year period at the Filippovskoye site, as well as a decrease in numbers and biomass at the Moiseev Nos site. Based on cluster analysis (by species similarity), benthic sampling stations are combined into 2 groups. Water quality is assessed as conditionally pure, slightly polluted. Studies of zoobenthos in a unique river on the territory of the Pinezhsky reserve will be used to conduct a comprehensive monitoring of water quality and the biotic part of its ecosystem (phyto- and zooplankton, zoobenthos, ichthyofauna), including the inflow system.

The fauna and benthic communities of invertebrates of the Ural river within the Atuar steppe (Orenburg state nature reserve)

There are 70 species and forms in the composition of zoobenthos of the river Ural and in water bodies of its floodplain have been identified. Mayflies and chironomids are represented in various ways (13 and 12 species and forms, respectively). Caddisflies (10) and stone flies (7) are rich in species. Among other invertebrates, bivalves (6) and gastropods (5), small-bristled worms (5), non-chironomid dipterans (4), leeches, crustaceans and dragonflies, bugs and beetles were recorded. On sandy-gravel-pebble soils is formed a zoobenthocenosis, dominated by the mayflies Ephoron virgo. They are accompanied by Chironomidae larvae. The biomass of the community varies between of 29.32–31.68 g/m2 with an abundance of 18.1–32.44 thousand ind./m2. In the coastal of the channel is formed a pelophilic zoobenthocenosis, the basis of it abundance and biomass are constituted by the small-bristle worms Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri. They are accompanied by mollusks Stagnicola palustris and mysids P. lacustris. The biomass of the pelophilic community is 13.68 g/m2 with a population of 15.45 thousand ind./m2. In floodplain water bodies are formed pelophilic zoobenthocenoses, the biomass of which varies in the range of 19.2–34.24 g/m2 with an abundance of 5.64–30.04 thousand ind./m2. Chironomid larvae constitute the base of the population. The biomass is composed by dragonflies Libellula sp., Chironomids, and mollusks Bithynia tentaculata.

Fossil impressions of pectinariid tubes (Polychaeta) in Miocene sediments of the Sakhalin Island

The fossil impressions of tubes belonging to the bristle worms of the family Pectinariidae and probably the genus Pectinaria Savigny, 1818 was found at the coastal cliffs of the Tartar Strait (Southern Sakhalin) in deposits of the late Miocene Kurasi Formation. Rare mentions of findings of impressions of the polychaetes tubes perhaps may be explained by the fact that such impressions are misidentified as fossils of animals from other higher taxa. Some new data on the bionomics of the recent pectinariids are given and some taphonomical aspects of the group are considered.

Discovery of methylfarnesoate as the annelid brain hormone reveals an ancient role of sesquiterpenoids in reproduction

Animals require molecular signals to determine when to divert resources from somatic functions to reproduction. This decision is vital in animals that reproduce in an all-or-nothing mode, such as bristle worms: females committed to reproduction spend roughly half their body mass for yolk and egg production; following mass spawning, the parents die. An enigmatic brain hormone activity suppresses reproduction. We now identify this hormone as the sesquiterpenoid methylfarnesoate. Methylfarnesoate suppresses transcript levels of the yolk precursor Vitellogenin both in cell culture and in vivo, directly inhibiting a central energy–costly step of reproductive maturation. We reveal that contrary to common assumptions, sesquiterpenoids are ancient animal hormones present in marine and terrestrial lophotrochozoans. In turn, insecticides targeting this pathway suppress vitellogenesis in cultured worm cells. These findings challenge current views of animal hormone evolution, and indicate that non-target species and marine ecosystems are susceptible to commonly used insect larvicides.

Improving TEM Fixation with Additives

Attempts to fix the gregarine Pterospora floridiensis (a protozoan parasite found in marine bristle worms) for TEM using a conventional glutaraldehyde and osmium protocol produced poor preservation of the outer pellicular membranes and internal membranous structures. However, fixation success was achieved using the well-known fixative additives tannic acid and potassium ferrocyanide, which improved membrane preservation, cytoplasmic integrity, and contrast in both the unencysted feeding stage of P. floridiensis as well as the difficult-to-fix cyst stage. The longer fixation times (24 hours) needed for the cysts were compatible with the modified fixatives. Interestingly, both additives were needed to improve fixation.