After the first report of Undaria pinnatifida in north Portugal (between 1999 and 2007), a rapid spread of this species could be expected due to the presence of a stable population and the favourable environmental conditions proposed by distribution models. However, field surveys showed that U. pinnatifida was not present in most of the rocky shores in north Portugal. It seems that U. pinnatifida cannot outcompete native species outside of marinas in north Portugal. The only population in natural rocky shores was found in Buarcos, where this species was frequent. This study provides density data of U. pinnatifida that will be useful in the future to monitor changes on its abundance and distribution in the centre and south of Portugal.

Six sites (two sites for each of rocky shores, sandy beaches, and fishing ports) in northern Taiwan were selected to investigate the amount and density of marine debris in each of the four seasons and after spring and neap tides from 2012 to 2013. The results indicate that marine debris was higher on rocky shores than sandy beaches and fishing ports. There is no significant difference between season and tide. The dominant debris was plastic-type, followed by polystyrene. The majority of debris originated from recreational activities, followed from ocean/waterway activities. The results suggest that the following actions are needed: (1) continue and reinforce the plastic-limit policy; (2) increase the cleaning frequency at rocky shores; (3) promote marine environmental education, with a goal of debris-free coasts; (4) recycle fishing gear and to turn that gear into energy; and (5) coordinate between agencies to establish a mechanism to monitor debris.

Seagrasses are among the planet’s most effective natural ecosystems for sequestering (capturing and storing) carbon (C); but if degraded, they could leak stored C into the atmosphere and accelerate global warming. Quantifying and modelling the C sequestration capacity is therefore critical for successfully managing seagrass ecosystems to maintain their substantial abatement potential. At present, there is no mechanism to support carbon financing linked to seagrass. For seagrasses to be recognised by the IPCC and the voluntary C market, standard stock assessment methodologies and inventories of seagrass C stocks are required. Developing accurate C budgets for seagrass meadows is indeed complex; we discuss these complexities, and, in addition, we review techniques and methodologies that will aid development of C budgets. We also consider a simple process-based data assimilation model for predicting how seagrasses will respond to future change, accompanied by a practical list of research priorities.

A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the impacts of recreational boating activities on fishes but little or no synthesis of the information has been undertaken. This review shows that motor boats impact on the biology and ecology of fishes but the effects vary according to the species and even particular size classes. Direct hits on fishes by propellers are an obvious impact but this aspect has been poorly documented. Alterations in the wave climate and water turbidity may also influence fishes and their habitats, especially submerged and emergent plant beds. Sound generated by boat motors can also influence the communication and behaviour of certain species. Pollution arising from fuel spillages, exhaust emissions and antifouling paints all have detrimental effects on fishes. Finally, the use of recreational boats as vectors of aquatic invasive organisms is very real and has created major problems to the ecology of aquatic systems.

Genome resources have advantages for understanding diverse areas such as biological patterns and functioning of organisms. Omics platforms are useful approaches for the study of organs and organisms. These approaches can be powerful screening tools for whole genome, proteome, and metabolome profiling, and can be used to understand molecular changes in response to internal and external stimuli. This methodology has been applied successfully in freshwater model fish such as the zebrafish Danio rerio and the Japanese medaka Oryzias latipes in research areas such as basic physiology, developmental biology, genetics, and environmental biology. However, information is still scarce about model fish that inhabit brackish water or seawater. To develop the self-fertilizing killifish Kryptolebias marmoratus as a potential model species with unique characteristics and research merits, we obtained genomic information about K. marmoratus. We address ways to use these data for genome-based molecular mechanistic studies. We review the current state of genome information on K. marmoratus to initiate omics approaches. We evaluate the potential applications of integrated omics platforms for future studies in environmental science, developmental biology, and biomedical research. We conclude that information about the K. marmoratus genome will provide a better understanding of the molecular functions of genes, proteins, and metabolites that are involved in the biological functions of this species. Omics platforms, particularly combined technologies that make effective use of bioinformatics, will provide powerful tools for hypothesis-driven investigations and discovery-driven discussions on diverse aspects of this species and on fish and vertebrates in general.

The potential impacts of underwater noise on marine mammals are widely recognised, but uncertainty over variability in baseline noise levels often constrains efforts to manage these impacts. This paper characterises natural and anthropogenic contributors to underwater noise at two sites in the Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation, an important marine mammal habitat that may be exposed to increased shipping activity from proposed offshore energy developments. We aimed to establish a pre-development baseline, and to develop ship noise monitoring methods using Automatic Identification System (AIS) and time-lapse video to record trends in noise levels and shipping activity. Our results detail the noise levels currently experienced by a locally protected bottlenose dolphin population, explore the relationship between broadband sound exposure levels and the indicators proposed in response to the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and provide a ship noise assessment toolkit which can be applied in other coastal marine environments.

The effects of a thermal discharge from a coastal power plant on phytoplankton were determined in Zhanjiang Bay. Monthly cruises were undertaken at four tide times during April–October 2011. There were significant differences for dominant species among seven sampling months and four sampling tides. Species diversity (H′) and Evenness showed a distinct increasing gradient from the heated water source to the control zone and fluctuated during four tides with no visible patterns. Species richness, cell count and Chl a at mixed and control zones were significantly higher than heated zones, and showed tidal changes with no obvious patterns. The threshold temperature of phytoplankton species can be regarded as that of phytoplankton community at ebb slack. The average threshold temperature over phytoplankton species, cell count and Chl a, and the threshold temperature of cell count can be regarded as that of phytoplankton community at flood slack during spring and neap respectively.

The concentrations of heavy metals and their associated structural deformities in the gills, muscles and hepatopancreas of Scylla serrata from Pulicat Lake were determined and compared with crabs live along Kovalam coast. The concentrations of metals were high in the hepatopancreas and gills of crab from Pulicat Lake, whereas, low in crab from the Kovalam coast. Data were visualized using a principal component analysis (PCA). Significant differences were found for all variables at the plot scale; however, the overall variation was relatively low for muscle tissues in both stations. The structural deformities observed in the gills, hepatopancreas and muscle was due to metal toxicity, and the degree of damage was correlated with the elevated metal concentration. The results showed significant metal accumulation and histo-cytological lesions in the crabs from Pulicat Lake. The results suggest that these biomarkers are useful for assessing the impact of metal pollution in the coastal environments.

The influence of early diagenesis on the vertical distribution of metal forms in the sediments of Bohai Bay was discussed in this paper. The results showed that the concentrations were: Al>Fe≈Ca>Mn>Cr>Zn>Cu>Pb>Cd. In vertical distribution, the forms of Cr and Pb were stable from the top to the bottom. However, the exchangeable forms and acid-extracted forms of Cd, Cu and Zn presented an obvious declining trend. The metals would be transformed to more stable forms during the early-diagenesis process. Further analysis found that early diagenesis can change the sedimentary environment, affecting pH, oxidation–reduction potential (ORP), total dissolved solid (TDS) and the structure of organic matter (OM), all main factors influencing metal forms in the sediments of Bohai Bay.

The objective of this study was to measure α-, β- and γ-diversity of microfaunas with different ages in colonization surveys using rarefaction-modeling methods. A dataset was complied based on a microperiphyton survey in coastal waters of the Yellow Sea, near Qingdao. The analyses showed that: (1) there was a strong residual influence of sampling effort on β- and γ-diversity after rarefaction, especially for the young communities; (2) the rarefaction curves were well fitted to the Michaelis–Menten equation, and allow modeling and removing the residual influence of sampling effort on β- and γ-diversity; and (3) the estimated values of α-, β- and γ-diversity of a community based on the rarefaction-modeling method were independent of the influence of sampling effort. The results suggest that this approach may be used as a feasible tool to detect α-, β- and γ-diversity without the influence of sampling effort in microfauna colonization surveys for marine bioassessment.