In recent years, the widespread use of rare earth elements (REEs) has raised the issue of their harmful effects on the aquatic environment. REEs are now considered as contaminants of emerging concern. Despite the increasing interest of REEs in modern industry, there is still a lack of knowledge on their potential impact on the environment and especially in the marine environment. In this context, the need for monitoring tools to assess REEs pollution status in marine ecosystems is considered as the first step towards their risk assessment. Similar to mussels, filter-feeder sponges have emerged as a key bio-monitor species for marine chemical pollution. Their key position at a low level of the trophic chain makes them suitable model organisms for the study of REEs potential transfer through the aquatic food web. We therefore undertook a comparative study on seven marine sponge species, assessing their capability to bioaccumulate REEs and to potentially transfer these contaminants to higher positions in the trophic chain. A spike experiment under controlled conditions was carried out and the intra- and inter-species variability of REEs was monitored in the sponge bodies by ICP-MS. Concentrations were found to be up to 170 times higher than the corresponding control specimens. The tubular species Aplysina cavernicola showed the highest concentrations among the studied species. This study shows, for the first time, the potential of marine sponges as bio-monitor of REEs as well as their possible application in the bioremediation of polluted sites.

A bioflocculant-producing bacterial strain, designated MSI021, was isolated from the marine sponge Dendrilla nigra and demonstrated 94% flocculation activity in a kaolin clay suspension. MSI021 was identified as Bacillus cereus based on phylogenetic affiliation and biochemical characteristics. The purified extra-cellular bioflocculant was chemically elucidated as a polysaccharide molecule. The polysaccharide bioflocculant was stable under both acidic and alkaline conditions (pH 2.0–10.0) and temperatures up to 100 °C. The purified bioflocculant efficiently nucleated the formation of silver nanoparticles which showed broad spectrum antibacterial activity. The ability of the bioflocculant to remediate heavy metal toxicity was evaluated by measuring the inhibition of bioluminescence expression in Vibrio harveyi. Enrichment of heavy metals such as zinc, mercury and copper at concentrations of 1, 2 and 3 mM in culture media showed significant reduction of bioluminescence in Vibrio, whereas media enriched with heavy metals and bioflocculant showed dose dependent improvement in the expression of bioluminescence. The assay results demonstrated that the polysaccharide bioflocculant effectively mitigates heavy metal toxicity, thereby improving the expression of bioluminescence in Vibrio. This bioluminescence reporter assay can be developed into a high-throughput format to monitor and evaluate of heavy metal toxicity. The findings of this study revealed that a novel polysaccharide bioflocculant produced by a marine B. cereus demonstrated strong flocculating performance and was effective in nucleating the formation antibacterial silver nanoparticles and removing heavy metals. These results suggest that the MSI021 polysaccharide bioflocculant can be used to develop greener waste water treatment systems.

We investigated the temporal changes from spring to summer of the stranded litter and the composition of plastic encrusting biota along an Italian beach. Our findings highlight a higher quantity of litter (average value 1510.67 ± 581.27 items) in spring, particularly plastic material with a composition driven by currents, winds and waves transported from rivers to sea. During summer the source was caused by anti-social behaviours (e.g. cigarettes). Regarding the plastic size, the most is macroplastic (85.96 %), followed by mesoplastic (13.74 %) and megaplastic (0.30 %) overall, and no seasonal trend was observed. Concerning the encrusting biota, Mollusca was the most frequent phylum found on plastic beach litter, whereas Porifera the most abundant overall. During spring a greater abundance of individuals was recorded compared to summer. The trend of taxa richness was decreasing from spring to summer. Arthropoda, Porifera and Mollusca phyla were significantly more abundant in spring, while Algae in summer.

Plastic debris provides long-lasting substrates for benthic organisms, thus acting as a potential vector for their dispersion. Its interaction with these colonizers is, however, still poorly known. This study examines fouling communities on beached, buoyant and benthic plastic debris in the Catalan Sea (NW Mediterranean), and characterizes the plastic type. We found 14 specimens belonging to two phyla (Annelida and Foraminifera) on microplastics, and more than 400 specimens belonging to 26 species in 10 phyla (Annelida, Arthropoda, Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Chordata, Cnidaria, Echinodermata, Mollusca, Porifera and Sipuncula) on macroplastics. With 15 species, bryozoans are the most diverse group on plastics. We also report 17 egg cases of the catshark Scyliorhinus sp., and highlight the implications for their dispersal. Our results suggest that plastic polymers may be relevant for distinct fouling communities, likely due to their chemical structure and/or surface properties. Our study provides evidence that biofouling may play a role in the sinking of plastic debris, as the most abundant fouled plastics had lower densities than seawater, and all bryozoan species were characteristic of shallower depths than those sampled. More studies at low taxonomic level are needed in order to detect new species introduction and potential invasive species associated with plastic debris.

Microplastic fibres are a widespread pollutant in the marine environment. Their presence has been searched for in marine sponge specimens of a museum, collected over 20 years ago. The pollutant was observed in more than half of the samples analysed, allowing a reference point to be fixed in the past. Analysis has demonstrated that fibres were vagrant in the water column and were incorporated actively by sponges. Inclusion into bottom-fixed sponges has been demonstrated for the natural environment. The study of microplastic in organisms collected in the past and stored in natural history collections is the key for fixing reference points and build up temporal trends, especially considering the lack of studies on this topic before 1980. The idea of using animals preserved in natural history museums could be extended to other pollutants in order to search for reference points or past baselines.

Changes in sediment input to marine systems can influence benthic environments in many ways. Sponges are important components of benthic ecosystems world-wide and as sessile suspension feeders are likely to be impacted by changes in sediment levels. Despite this, little is known about how sponges respond to changes in settled and suspended sediment. Here we review the known impacts of sedimentation on sponges and their adaptive capabilities, whilst highlighting gaps in our understanding of sediment impacts on sponges. Although the literature clearly shows that sponges are influenced by sediment in a variety of ways, most studies confer that sponges are able to tolerate, and in some cases thrive, in sedimented environments. Critical gaps exist in our understanding of the physiological responses of sponges to sediment, adaptive mechanisms, tolerance limits, and the particularly the effect of sediment on early life history stages.

This study compared 2 standardized protocols to monitor subtidal rocky shores. We tested 2 sampling methods (temporal unit and quadrat) to assess the efficiency of extracting biota parameters (diversity, abundance, and biomass) of macroalgae, Mollusca, and Porifera with respect to time–cost and the number of sampling units. Species richness and occurrence of rocky subtidal habitats were better described by visual censuses than by quadrats. The same estimated richness was provided by the 2 methods. The association of a visual census and a quadrat was the most efficient way for responding to the requirements. A minimum of 5 sampling units per discrete area is recommended for accurately describing habitats. Then, we tested the sensitivity of the proposed protocol on the Bizeux Islet to study the variations of community structures according to depth and station. Based on the results, recommendations for monitoring purposes have been proposed according to European directives.

Considerable debate surrounds the sources of oxygenated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (O-PBDEs) in wildlife as to whether they are naturally produced or result from anthropogenic industrial activities. Natural radiocarbon (¹⁴C) abundance has proven to be a powerful tool to address this problem as recently biosynthesized compounds contain contemporary (i.e. modern) amounts of atmospheric radiocarbon; whereas industrial chemicals, mostly produced from fossil fuels, contain no detectable ¹⁴C. However, few compounds isolated from organisms have been analyzed for their radiocarbon content. To provide a baseline, we analyzed the ¹⁴C content of four O-PBDEs. These compounds, 6-OH-BDE47, 2′-OH-BDE68, 2′,6-diOH-BDE159, and a recently identified compound, 2′-MeO-6-OH-BDE120, were isolated from the tropical marine sponges Dysidea granulosa and Lendenfeldia dendyi. The modern radiocarbon content of their chemical structures (i.e. diphenyl ethers, C₁₂H₂₂O) indicates that they are naturally produced. This adds to a growing baseline on, at least, the sources of these unusual compounds.

Halogenated natural products (HNPs) were identified from organic extracts of the marine sponge Hyrtios proteus from The Bahamas using gas chromatography with electron capture negative ion mass spectrometry and non-targeted gas chromatography with electron ionization mass spectrometry. The HNPs found have similar properties to anthropogenic persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Two ortho-methoxy brominated diphenyl ethers (MeO-BDEs) 2′-MeO-BDE 68 and 6-MeO-BDE 47 were the most abundant compounds. Fourteen other MeO-BDEs were detected along with several polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PBDDs) (1,3,7-triBDD, 1,3,6,8-tetraBDD and 1,3,7,9-tetraBDD) and MeO-PBDDs. Further analysis of a higher trophic level octopus (Octopus maya) from the same FAO fishing area showed that the major HNPs detected in Hyrtios proteus were also predominant. Moreover, HNPs were more than 30-fold higher in abundance than the major POPs in the octopus, i.e., polychlorinated biphenyls. Hence, Caribbean marine organisms, including those potentially used for food, harbor relatively high concentrations of HNPs.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in environmental samples (sponges, fish and sediment) collected in 2014 and 2016 from the Faroe-Shetland Channel and Rosemary Bank Seamount. These data could be used to provide a baseline against which any changes can be assessed in the event of an oil spill and contribute to any environmental impact assessment. Concentrations in all samples were low, often below the detection limits, and were typical of reference sites. Sponges can be used as an alternative indicator species to mussels for monitoring PAHs in the marine environment as they can accumulate PAHs from both the dissolved and particulate phase. PAH concentrations in marine sponges from Scottish waters have not previously been reported. Concentrations were low, but contained a higher proportion of heavier 4- to 6-ring PAHs compared to the fish samples.