The aim of the present research was to determine the impact of intense rains and flooding on mercury riverine input to the coastal zone. This study focused on four small rivers (Reda, Zagórska Struga, Płutnica, Gizdepka), typical of the Southern Baltic region, with no significant mercury sources. Samples were collected for 16months during average flow conditions and during selected meteorological events: floods, downpours, thaws and droughts. Results showed decreased retention of mercury during intense rainfalls, thus demonstrating mercury elution from the catchment. Floods and melting snow also have a tremendous impact on the outflow of mercury from the catchment. Development of urban infrastructure and farmlands increases the outflow of mercury from the catchment too, making such areas a significant source of mercury in the river. On the other hand, areas with natural character, predominated by forests, stimulate retention of mercury that reaches them through dry and wet atmospheric deposition.

Researches on the functional diversity of benthic ecosystems have mainly focused on macrofauna, and studies on functional structure of ciliate communities have been based only on trophic- or size-groups. Current research was carried out on the changing patterns of classical and functional diversity of benthic ciliates in response to environmental gradients at three sites in a wetland in Yangtze Estuary. The results showed that changes of environmental factors (e.g. salinity, sediment grain size and hydrodynamic conditions) in the Yangtze Estuary induce variability in species composition and functional trait distribution. Furthermore, increased species richness and diversity did not lead to significant changes in functional diversity due to functional redundancy. However, salt water intrusion of Yangtze Estuary during the dry season could cause reduced functional diversity of ciliate communities. Current study provides the first insight into the functional diversity of ciliate communities in response to environmental gradients.

Bivalves use anti-oxidative enzyme systems to defend themselves against excessive reactive oxygen species, which are often catalyzed by environmental pollution. As a key member of anti-oxidative enzyme family, catalase plays a crucial role in scavenging the high level of reactive oxygen species to protect organisms against various oxidative stresses. In this study, a catalase homologue was identified from Mytilus coruscus (named McCAT, KX957929). The open reading frame of McCAT was 1844bp with a 5′ untranslated region of 341bp and a 3′ untranslated region of 927bp. The deduced amino acid sequence was 512 residues in length with theoretical pI/MW 8.02/57.91kDa. BLASTn and phylogenetic analyses strongly suggested that it was a member of catalase, also known as CAT family for its conserved catalytic site motif and proximal heme-ligand signature motif. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR showed that constitutive expression of McCAT was occurred, with increasing order in mantle, adductor, gill, hemocyte, gonad and hepatopancreas. It was observed that bacterial infection and heavy metals stimulation up-regulated McCAT mRNA expression in hepatopancreas with time-dependent manners. The maximum expression appeared at 8h after pathogenic bacteria injecting, with 15-fold in Vibrio parahemolyticus and 60-fold in Aeromonas hydrophila than that of 0h. The highest point of McCAT mRNA appeared at different times for exposure to heavy metals with copper at day 5 (0.1mg/L 30-fold, 0.5mg/L 15-fold, 1.5mg/L 6-fold) and plumbum at day 3 (3.0mg/L 20-fold). The enzymatic activity analysis found that McCAT activity in the gill of M. coruscus was affected by heavy metals concentration. The results suggested that McCAT plays a significant role in antioxidation and the expression of McCAT can be used as a biomarker for detection of marine environmental pollution.

The marine auxiliary diesel engines installed in the large transoceanic ships are used in order to generate the electricity but at the same time these engines are able to produce a significant amount of the harmful exhaust gas emissions. Therefore the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) concluded an agreement, which has to control generating of gaseous emissions in maritime transport. From this reason started to be used some of the alternative fuels in this branch. There was performed a study, which investigated emissions of the auxiliary marine diesel engine during application of the experimental fuels. The different testing fuels were created using the ratios 0%, 50%, 80% and 100% between the biodiesel and the ULSDF (Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel Fuel). The experimental measurements were performed at the different engine loading levels and various engine speeds in order to investigate an influence of the mixed fuels on the engine operational characteristics.

Wastewater treatment plant effluent introduces a mixture of pollutants into marine environments; however, the impacts of chronic sublethal exposures on populations are often unclear. Presence of estrogenic agents in sediments and uptake of these compounds by demersal flatfishes has been reported at the Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) wastewater outfall. Furthermore, estrogenic activity has been identified in male flatfish in the area, potentially contributing to observed population declines in the OCSD region. Rising ocean temperatures may further contribute to flatfish declines as relationships between temperature and abundance have been reported in the Southern California Bight. To investigate declines, sex ratios, condition factor, organ health indices, hormones, and vitellogenin were quantified in flatfish collected at OCSD outfall and reference sites. Additionally, historical temperature data was examined for trends with population abundances. Rather than being linked to estrogenic activity, results indicated that population declines were more correlated to increases in ocean temperature.

This work is the first study on the spatial and temporal distribution of metals in zooplankton collected along the Persian Gulf. The rank order distribution of metals in terms of their overall average concentration in the zooplankton was observed to be Fe > Zn > Cu > Cd > Ni > Cr > Pb > Co > V. No clear pattern and no statistical differences were detected among the areas and the sampling stations. The highest concentrations of Cu, Zn, and Pb were observed in summer while the highest concentration levels of Fe and Ni were observed in winter. The highest mean zooplankton metal concentration level was found to be Fe with 10.42 μg/g (in winter) and the lowest levels were for V (in spring and summer) and Co (in winter), both of which had a level of 0.01 μg/g. The results can be used to establish base-line data for the trace metal content of zooplankton in the northern region of the Persian Gulf.

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the functional diversity of benthic ciliates has high potential to monitor marine ecological status. Therefore, we investigated the spatial and temporal variation of functional diversity of benthic ciliates in the Yangtze Estuary during one year using biological traits analyses and functional diversity indices. Traits and community compositions showed clear spatial and temporal variations. Among a variety of biological traits, feeding type and body size emerged as strongest predictable variables. Functional divergence (FDiv) had an advantage over two other functional diversity indices, as well as over classical diversity measures (i.e. richness, evenness, Shannon-Wiener) to infer environmental status. Significant correlations between biological traits, FDiv and environmental variables (i.e. nutrients, temperature, salinity) suggested that functional diversity of benthic ciliates might be used as a bio-indicator in environmental status assessments. Further mandatory researches need to implement functional diversity of ciliates in routine monitoring programs were discussed.

Sediment runoff has been cited as a major contributor to the declining health of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), however, climate and land use drivers have not been jointly evaluated. This study used alluvial archives from fluvial benches in two tributaries of the Upper Burdekin catchment together with the best available land use history and climate proxy records to provide insights into the timing of depositional events in this region over the past 500 years. This study suggests that mining and the increased runoff variability in the latter half of the nineteenth century are the likely sources of the original excess sediment that was used to build the bench features in these catchments. Grazing also contributed to increased bench sedimentation prior to 1900, however, the contribution of grazing was likely more significant in the second half of the 20th century, and continues to be a dominant land use contributor today.

Atlantic Bigeye (Priacanthus arenatus) is a demersal species from the Priacanthidae family with little literature relating to its biology and catch aspects. Due to this lack of research, the focus of this effort was to describe the feeding preferences of Atlantic Bigeye and to evaluate the influence of plastic debris derived from the local fisheries activities on its diet. The most important items were Corophiidae, Penaeidae, Actinopterygii, Isopoda, Cephalopoda, Policheta and plastic. Plastic was present in 49.17% of the stomachs analyzed. A total of 210 plastic fragments were found, and 63% were derived from fishing. Of those, 55% were derived from paint fragments from vessels and 8% from synthetic fibers (PA). The results suggest that plastic fragments found in stomachs are related to the species' natural diet and that this debris is locally deposited in the coastal environment. Fishing resources appear to have been affected by this local marine pollution.

Marine anthropogenic debris was sampled from two beaches on the remote South Pacific island Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Abundance, composition, and the attached fouling assemblages on stranded litter were analysed. Most litter (n = 172 items found) was composed of plastic material, and 34% of all litter items were fouled. The main fouling species was the encrusting bryozoan Jellyella eburnea. Transporting vectors were exclusively made from plastics and were mainly small items and fragments, probably stemming from the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre. We present the first report of Planes major, Halobates sericeus, and Pocillopora sp. on anthropogenic litter in the South Pacific.