The indiscriminate use of organophosphate pesticides causes serious environmental and human health problems. This study aims the biodegradation of chlorpyrifos, methyl parathion and profenofos with the proposal of new biodegradation pathways employing marine-derived fungi as biocatalysts. Firstly, a growth screening was carried out with seven fungi strains and Aspergillus sydowii CBMAI 935 was selected. For chlorpyrifos, 32% biodegradation was observed and the metabolites tetraethyl dithiodiphosphate, 3,5,6-trichloropyridin-2-ol, 2,3,5-trichloro-6-methoxypyridine, and 3,5,6-trichloro-1-methylpyridin-2(1H)-one were identified. Whereas 80% methyl parathion was biodegraded with the identification of isoparathion, methyl paraoxon, trimethyl phosphate, O,O,O-trimethyl phosphorothioate, O,O,S-trimethyl phosphorothioate, 1-methoxy-4-nitrobenzene, and 4-nitrophenol. For profenofos, 52% biodegradation was determined and the identified metabolites were 4-bromo-2-chlorophenol, 4-bromo-2-chloro-1-methoxybenzene and O,O-diethyl S-propylphosphorothioate. Moreover, A. sydowii CBMAI 935 methylated different phenolic substrates (phenol, 2-chlorophenol, 6-chloropyridin-3-ol, and pentachlorophenol). Therefore, the knowledge about the fate of these compounds in the sea was expanded, and the marine-derived fungus A. sydowii CBMAI 935 showed potential for biotransformation reactions.

We extracted and analyzed microplastics (MP) in archived sediment cores from Great Bay Estuary (GBE) in the Gulf of Maine region of North America. Results indicated that MP are distributed in GBE sediments, 0–30 cm, at an average occurrence of 116 ± 21 particles g⁻¹ and that morphology varies by site and depth. Analysis by sediment depth and age class indicated that MP accumulation increased over several decades but recently (5–10 years) has likely begun to decrease. Hydrodynamic and particle transport modeling indicated that bed characteristics are a more controlling factor in MP distribution than typical MP properties and that the highest accumulation likely occurs in regions with weaker hydrodynamic flows and lower bed shear stress, e.g., eelgrass meadows and along fringes of the Bay. These results provide a baseline and predictive understanding of the occurrence, morphology, and sedimentation of MP in the estuary.

Human activity and urbanization are having profound effects on natural landscapes and ecosystems. The presence and persistence of human-made materials such as microplastics can have major impacts on the health of organisms in both marine and terrestrial environments. We quantified microplastics in herring gull (Larus argentatus) and great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) nests at three colonies in the northeast United States that varied in their degree of urbanization: Jamaica Bay (JB) in New York City, Youngs Island (YI) on Long Island, New York, and Tuckernuck Island (TN) in Massachusetts. Nests in urban colonies contained a higher proportion of microplastics than those in the more remote colony. Our results link urbanization with microplastic accumulation in coastal environments and suggest that assessing microplastics in seabird nests could provide a means of evaluating microplastics encountered by seabirds and other coastal marine animals.

Anthropogenic occurring nanoparticles (NPs) have been one of the principal catalytic components of marine pollution throughout its history. The phosphogypsum (PG) factories present environmental risks and evident marine pollution in different parts of the world. Many of these factors continue to operate, however, some have already been abandoned by the private sector. The general objective of this manuscript is to analyze the real nanoparticles (NPs) present on a beach in southern Brazil to illustrate the need to create public policies and projects for environmental recovery. This work focused on real representative sampling of suspended sediments (SSs), and on a modern analytical procedure via advanced electron microscopes (field emission scanning electron microscope-FE-SEM and high resolution transmission electron microscope-HR-TEM coupled with an energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis system-EDS) to analyze NPs containing hazardous elements (HEs). The results presented in this work demonstrate who the size, morphology, among other physical-geochemical characteristics influence in the adsorption of HEs by the NPs and their respective agglomerates. This study is of great importance for carrying out the application of advanced techniques and methods to better understand the formation and transport of NPs on beaches, which allows assisting in the management of waste from plaster factories on a global scale.

This study presents the first data relating to debris ingestion by diving seabirds wintering in the south-eastern Baltic Sea, sets baselines for further studies and presents the first global record of plastic ingestion in Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis). Three of the six studied seabird species, and 2.1% of all 524 examined individuals collected from fishery bycatch, had ingested marine debris. Frequency of ingestion of Long-tailed Duck, Common Murre (Uria aalge) and Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) were 5.0%, 4.5% and 3.0% debris respectively, dominated by plastic objects. Providing detailed information about the studied individuals and the debris, this initiates discussion about diving birds' sensitivity to marine debris - it may depend on the feeding preferences of the birds, expressed as isotopic niches in this paper.

Recently, corals on the Great Barrier (GBR) have suffered mass bleaching. The link between ocean warming and coral bleaching is understood to be due to temperature-dependence of complex physiological processes in the coral host and algal symbiont. Here we use a coupled catchment-hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model, with detailed zooxanthellae photophysiology including photoadaptation, photoacclimation and reactive oxygen build-up, to investigate whether natural and anthropogenic catchment loads impact on coral bleaching on the GBR. For the wet season of 2017, simulations show the cross-shelf water quality gradient, driven by both natural and anthropogenic loads, generated a contrasting zooxanthellae physiological state on inshore versus mid-shelf reefs. The relatively small catchment flows and loads delivered during 2017, however, generated small river plumes with limited impact on water quality. Simulations show the removal of the anthropogenic fraction of the catchment loads delivered in 2017 would have had a negligible impact on bleaching rates.

Many coastal processes are regulated by day/night cycles and are expected to be altered by Artificial Light at Night (ALAN). The goal of this study was to assess the influence of ALAN on the settlement rates of intertidal barnacles. A newly designed settlement plate equipped with a small central LED light source was used to quantify settlement rates in presence/absence of ALAN conditions. “ALAN plates” as well as regular settlement plates were deployed in the mid rocky intertidal zone. Both ALAN and control plates collected early and late settlers of the barnacles Notochthamalus scabrosus and Jehlius cirratus. Early settlers (pre-metamorphosis cyprids) were not affected by ALAN. By contrast, the density of late settlers (post-metamorphosis spats) was significantly lower in ALAN than in control plates for both species, suggesting detrimental ALAN impacts on the settlement process. The new ALAN plates represent an attractive and alternative methodology to study ALAN effects.

Thirty surface sediment samples were collected from the Pearl River Estuary, South China, and benthic foraminifera were analyzed in order to understand the relationship between foraminiferal assemblages and environmental parameters. Multivariate analyses showed that the foraminferal assemblages (i.e., abundance and diversity) are correlated with the hydro-sedimentary gradients within the estuary. In addition, the dominant faunal composition seems to be largely influenced by food availability and trace metal contamination in surface sediments. A comparison with historical data from 1980s demonstrated that the foraminiferal abundance and diversity in the lower estuary have dramatically decreased over the last three decades, together with a significant shift in the dominant species. This is most likely due to the cumulative impacts of eutrophication and Cu contamination caused by human activities in the Pearl River basin. This work confirms the value of benthic foraminifera as bio-indicators in polluted estuarine environments.

This study reports the levels of plastic contamination in the Atlantic Ocean between 35°N and 32°S during the 1st stage of the 79th cruise of the “Akademik Mstislav Keldysh” from December 12, 2019, to January 4, 2020. A subsurface pump system and a Manta net were used for seawater filtration. Twenty-seven samples were visually analyzed with a microscope. It was found that almost every subsurface sample contained potentially plastic particles, which were classified according to their type and size. Plastic fragments were more commonly found in the samples taken from the surface. In the subsurface layer, the majority of the detected particles were fibers. These results also indicate that minimal concentrations of plastics tend to be found near the equator and to the north of the Canary Islands. The maximum microplastic concentrations were found in tropical zones. The obtained results are in good agreement with previous models and field studies.