Brittany Alexander

European Marine Board

EMB Future Science Brief No. 11 ‘Marine habitat mapping’ presents science and policy needs and recommendations to advance next-generation marine habitat mapping. This document highlights current methods and future trends in the acquisition of data from the seabed and water column via remote sensing and direct, in situ techniques. It discusses combi...

The presence of invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea is much higher than in other European seas, and understanding the reasons behind the range expansion of this invasive species is important for minimising any possible impacts to the already highly pressurised Mediterranean marine ecosystem. In this work, a brief description of sightings of t...

Summary: https://marine.copernicus.eu/news/ocean-state-report-5-summary-now-available Full report: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1755876X.2021.1946240

Successful dispersal of freshwater sponges depends on the formation of dormant sponge bodies (gemmules) under adverse conditions. Gemmule formation allows the sponge to overcome critical environmental conditions, for example, desiccation or freezing, and to re-establish as a fully developed sponge when conditions are more favorable. A key process i...

Marine organism are often kept, cultured, and experimented on in running seawater aquaria. However, surprisingly little attention is given to the nutrient composition of the water flowing through these systems, which is generally assumed to equal in situ conditions, but may change due to the presence of biofouling organisms. Significantly lower bac...

High resolution photographs biofouling inlet pipe 0–4 m

R-script statistical analysis

Raw data bacterial abundances and inorganic nutrients

High resolution photographs biofouling inlet pipe 8–12 m

High resolution photographs biofouling inlet pipe 12–14 m

High resolution photographs biofouling inlet pipe 4–8 m

Sponges have a remarkable capacity to rapidly regenerate in response to wound infliction. In addition, sponges rapidly renew their filter systems (choanocytes) to maintain a healthy population of cells. This study describes the cell kinetics of choanocytes in the encrusting reef sponge Halisarca caerulea during early regeneration (0–8 h) following...

This study describes in vivo cell turnover (the balance between cell proliferation and cell loss) in eight marine sponge species from tropical coral reef, mangrove and temperate Mediterranean reef ecosystems. Cell proliferation was determined through the incorporation of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) and measuring the percentage of BrdU-positive c...