The importance of mariculture areas for the dispersal of alien invasive species (AIS) on artificial floating items has recently been highlighted as a priority research need. Here we present the results of surveys in two important European shellfish culture areas that release rafting AIS, the Venetian lagoon and the Portuguese Algarve region. We found eight aquaculture-related non-native, invasive species attached to anthropogenic litter items mostly related to aquaculture: Amphibalanus amphitrite, Austrominius modestus, Balanus trigonus, Hesperibalanus fallax, Hydroides elegans, Hydroides sanctaecrucis, and Magallana angulata. These species are well-adapted to rafting on artificial surfaces and have a high potential to disperse via this vector. This is the first record of the notorious nuisance species H. sanctaecrucis both in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic, as well as on floating litter. We also present the first records of M. angulata, H. sanctaecrucis, Sabellaria alveolata, Mytilus edulis and Chthamalus montagui on stranded anthropogenic litter.

The recently developed modelling tool MERLIN-Expo was applied to support the exposure assessment of an aquatic food web to trace metals in a coastal environment. The exposure scenario, built on the data from Daliao River estuary in the Liaodong Bay (Bohai Sea, China), affected by long-term and large-scale industrial activities as well as rapid urbanization in Liao River watershed, represents an interesting case-study for ecological exposure modelling due to the availability of local data on metal concentrations in water and sediment. The bioaccumulation of selected trace metals in aquatic organisms was modelled and compared with field data from local aquatic organisms. Both model results and experimental data demonstrated that As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn, out of examined metals, were accumulated most abundantly by invertebrates and less by higher trophic level species. The body parts of the sampled animals with the highest measured concentration of metals were predominantly muscles, intestine and liver and fish skin in the case of Cr.The Morris and extended Fourier Analysis (EFAST) were used to account for variability in selected parameters of the bioaccumulation model. Food assimilation efficiency and slopes and intercepts of two sub-models for calculating metal specific BCFs (BCFmetal-exposure concentration) and fish weight (Weightfish-Lengthfish) were identified as the most influential parameters on ecological exposure to selected metals.

Sexual reproduction in predominantly clonal marine plants increases recombination favoring adaptation and enhancing species resilience to environmental change. Recent studies of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica suggest that flowering intensity and frequency are correlated with warming events associated with global climate change, but these studies have been observational without direct experimental support. We used controlled experiments to test if warming can effectively trigger flowering in P. oceanica. A six-week heat wave was simulated under laboratory mesocosm conditions. Heating negatively impacted leaf growth rates, but by the end of the experiment most of the heated plants flowered, while controls plants did not. Heated and control plants were not genetically distinct and flowering intensity was significantly correlated with allelic richness and heterozygosity. This is an unprecedented finding, showing that the response of seagrasses to warming will be more plastic, more complex and potentially more resilient than previously imagined.

This study developed a novel probabilistic agent-based approach for modeling of marine oily wastewater treatment processes. It begins first by constructing a probability-based agent simulation model, followed by a global sensitivity analysis and a genetic algorithm-based calibration. The proposed modeling approach was tested through a case study of the removal of naphthalene from marine oily wastewater using UV irradiation. The removal of naphthalene was described by an agent-based simulation model using 8 types of agents and 11 reactions. Each reaction was governed by a probability parameter to determine its occurrence. The modeling results showed that the root mean square errors between modeled and observed removal rates were 8.73 and 11.03% for calibration and validation runs, respectively. Reaction competition was analyzed by comparing agent-based reaction probabilities, while agents' heterogeneity was visualized by plotting their real-time spatial distribution, showing a strong potential for reactor design and process optimization.

Surface sediments from three zones (fresh water, estuarine, and riverine/industrial zones) of the Cochin estuary, Southwest coast of India, were seasonally analyzed to understand the nature and degradation status of organic matter. Amino acid-based indices such as total hydrolyzable amino acids (THAAs), percentage contributions of amino acid carbon to total organic carbon (THAA-C%) and those of amino acid nitrogen to total nitrogen (THAA-N%), and degradation index (DI) were calculated. Elevated levels of amino acids in the sediments of the estuary were attributed to river runoff, autochthonous production, allochthonous inputs, and industrial and domestic effluent discharges. Higher levels of THAA-C%, THAA-N%, THAA, and positive DI found in most of the stations suggest the fresh deposition of organic matter. Multivariate statistical analyses revealed that the dispersal pattern of amino acids depends on the sediment texture, organic matter, redox state, and microbial processes in the study region.

Marine debris is pervasive worldwide, and affects biota negatively. We compared the characteristics of debris incorporated within brown booby (Sula leucogaster) nests throughout their pantropical distribution by assessing the type, colour and mass of debris items within nests and in beach transects at 18 sites, to determine if nests are indicators of the amount of debris in local marine environments. Debris was present in 14.4% of nests surveyed, with the proportion of nests with debris varying among sites (range: 0–100%). There was minimal overlap between the type or colour of debris found in nests and on adjacent beaches at individual sites. This suggests that brown boobies do not select debris uniformly across their distribution. We propose that the nests of brown boobies can be used as a sentinel of marine debris pollution of their local environment.

This study aimed to compare the bioaccumulation patterns and translocation of trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn) from the environment in the seagrasses Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa. Results showed that P. oceanica has a higher capacity of accumulation. P. oceanica and C. nodosa accumulate mainly in roots and leaves, the main organs acting as potential bioindicators. No significant correlation was found between water and both seagrasses. In turn, P. oceanica and C. nodosa were correlated, to a different extent, with As, Cd, Cu, Ni and Zn in sediments. This study showed also that current European regulations do not provide an exhaustive set of legal concentration limits of trace elements in marine water and sediments. Seagrasses P. oceanica and C. nodosa can act as effective bioindicators of trace elements only if quality limits are set for the most toxic elements present in marine ecosystems.

National and international regulations require that ships' ballast water is treated to minimize the risk of introducing potentially invasive species. A common approach employed by commercial ballast water management systems is chlorination. This study presents the algal toxicity findings for three chlorination-based BWMS and their implications to environmental safety of port waters receiving treated ballast water from ships. Discharged treated ballast water from all three BWMS was toxic to algae with IC25s (25% growth inhibition) ranging from 9.9% to 17.9%, despite having total residual oxidant concentrations below 0.02 mg/l, based on Whole Effluent Toxicity assays. When held at 4 °C, some of the ballast water samples continued to exhibit toxic effects with no observed effect concentrations as low as 18% after a 134 day holding time. Thirteen individual disinfection by-products were measured above the detected limit at the time of discharge. No correlation between DBPs and algal toxicity was observed.

The increase of pollutants in coastal seawater could produce several harmful biological effects on marine organisms related to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) causing cellular and tissue damages through oxidative stress mechanisms. Common octopuses (Octopus vulgaris) inhabiting coastal areas under high anthropogenic activity of Mallorca (W-Mediterranean Sea) have the ability to control oxidative damage by triggering antioxidant enzyme responses. Analyzing the digestive glands, octopuses from human-altered coastal areas showed higher activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) compared to octopuses from non-influenced coastal waters (i.e. marine reserve area). Higher metallothionein (MT) concentrations and lack of malondialdehyde (MDA) variations also reflect adaptations of O. vulgaris to polluted areas. This is the first study assessing the levels of the oxidative stress biomarkers on O. vulgaris in the Mediterranean Sea, revealing their usefulness to assess diverse environmental pollution effects on this relevant ecological and commercial species.

We used environmental magnetism methods to study recently deposited marine sediments from the estuarine ecosystems on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Cartagena region has undergone an increasing sediment load during the last decades via sediment plumes from Magdalena River and its distributary man-made channel. Concentration dependent magnetic parameters show an increasing abundance of ferrimagnetic minerals on the uppermost sediments on sites located close to the continent (remanent magnetization SIRM = 5.4–9.5 × 10−3Am2 kg−1) as well as faraway sites (SIRM = 0.5–1.7 × 10−3Am2 kg−1 near Rosario Islands coral reef complex). The magnetic grain size and mineralogy along the cores are variable, showing the dominance of the magnetite-like minerals (remanent coercivity Hcr = 34.3–45.3 mT), with a minor contribution of high-coercivity minerals (Hcr = 472–588 mT). In addition, there is a moderate enrichment of elements Cu, Mo, and Zn (enrichment factor EF = 1.5–3.8) that indicates the additional land-derived contribution on sediments. The environmental magnetism approach, which shows significant signals of magnetic minerals and trace elements, is a reliable tool to prove the presence of continental sediment supply in coral reef ecosystems.