Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems
Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems

Author: Yossi Loya

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-05-22

Total Pages: 984

ISBN-13: 3319927353

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This book summarizes what is known about mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) geographically and by major taxa. MCEs are characterized by light-dependent corals and associated communities typically found at depths ranging from 30-40 m. and extending to over 150 m. in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. They are populated with organisms typically associated with shallow coral reefs, such as macroalgae, corals, sponges, and fishes, as well as specialist species unique to mesophotic depths. During the past decade, there has been an increasing scientific and management interest in MCEs expressed by the exponential increase in the number of publications studying this unique environment. Despite their close proximity to well-studied shallow reefs, and the growing evidence of their importance, our scientific knowledge of MCEs is still in its early stages. The topics covered in the book include: regional variation in MCEs; similarities and differences between mesophotic and shallow reef taxa, biotic and abiotic conditions, biodiversity, ecology, geomorphology, and geology; potential connectivity between MCEs and shallow reefs; MCE disturbances, conservation, and management challenges; and new technologies, key research questions/knowledge gaps, priorities, and future directions in MCE research.

A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs
A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-04-05

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 030948538X

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Coral reef declines have been recorded for all major tropical ocean basins since the 1980s, averaging approximately 30-50% reductions in reef cover globally. These losses are a result of numerous problems, including habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, disease, and climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions and the associated increases in ocean temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been implicated in increased reports of coral bleaching, disease outbreaks, and ocean acidification (OA). For the hundreds of millions of people who depend on reefs for food or livelihoods, the thousands of communities that depend on reefs for wave protection, the people whose cultural practices are tied to reef resources, and the many economies that depend on reefs for fisheries or tourism, the health and maintenance of this major global ecosystem is crucial. A growing body of research on coral physiology, ecology, molecular biology, and responses to stress has revealed potential tools to increase coral resilience. Some of this knowledge is poised to provide practical interventions in the short-term, whereas other discoveries are poised to facilitate research that may later open the doors to additional interventions. A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs reviews the state of science on genetic, ecological, and environmental interventions meant to enhance the persistence and resilience of coral reefs. The complex nature of corals and their associated microbiome lends itself to a wide range of possible approaches. This first report provides a summary of currently available information on the range of interventions present in the scientific literature and provides a basis for the forthcoming final report.

From Groups to Individuals
From Groups to Individuals

Author: Frederic Bouchard

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2013-03-22

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0262313456

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The biological and philosophical implications of the emergence of new collective individuals from associations of living beings. Our intuitive assumption that only organisms are the real individuals in the natural world is at odds with developments in cell biology, ecology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and other fields. Although organisms have served for centuries as nature's paradigmatic individuals, science suggests that organisms are only one of the many ways in which the natural world could be organized. When living beings work together—as in ant colonies, beehives, and bacteria-metazoan symbiosis—new collective individuals can emerge. In this book, leading scholars consider the biological and philosophical implications of the emergence of these new collective individuals from associations of living beings. The topics they consider range from metaphysical issues to biological research on natural selection, sociobiology, and symbiosis. The contributors investigate individuality and its relationship to evolution and the specific concept of organism; the tension between group evolution and individual adaptation; and the structure of collective individuals and the extent to which they can be defined by the same concept of individuality. These new perspectives on evolved individuality should trigger important revisions to both philosophical and biological conceptions of the individual. Contributors Frédéric Bouchard, Ellen Clarke, Jennifer Fewell, Andrew Gardner, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Charles J. Goodnight, Matt Haber, Andrew Hamilton, Philippe Huneman, Samir Okasha, Thomas Pradeu, Scott Turner, Minus van Baalen

Microbial Symbiosis of Marine Sessile Hosts - Diversity, Function and Applications
Microbial Symbiosis of Marine Sessile Hosts - Diversity, Function and Applications

Author: Suhelen Egan

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2015-12-21

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 288919681X

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Modern molecular -omics tools (metagenomics, metaproteomics etc.) have greatly contributed to the rapid advancement of our understanding of microbial diversity and function in the world’s oceans. These tools are now increasingly applied to host-associated environments to describe the symbiotic microbiome and obtain a holistic view of marine host-microbial interactions. Whilst all eukaryotic hosts are likely to benefit from their microbial associates, marine sessile eukaryotes, including macroalgae, seagrasses and various invertebrates (sponges, acidians, corals, hydroids etc), rely in particular on the function of their microbiome. For example, marine sessile eukaryotes are under constant grazing, colonization and fouling pressure from the millions of micro- and macroorganisms in the surrounding seawater. Host-associated microorganisms have been shown to produce secondary metabolites as defense molecules against unwanted colonization or pathogens, thus having an important function in host health and survival. Similarly microbial symbionts of sessile eukaryotes are often essential players in local nutrient cycling thus benefiting both the host and the surrounding ecosystem. Various research fields have contributed to generating knowledge of host-associated systems, including microbiology, biotechnology, molecular biology, ecology, evolution and biotechnology. Through a focus on model marine sessile host systems we believe that new insight into the interactions between host and microbial symbionts will be obtained and important areas of future research will be identified. This research topic includes original research, review and opinion articles that bring together the knowledge from different aspects of biology and highlight advances in our understanding of the diversity and function of the microbiomes on marine sessile hosts.

The Limits of the Self
The Limits of the Self

Author: Thomas Pradeu

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2012-02-27

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 0199775281

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Immunology asserts that an individual can be defined through self and nonself. Thomas Pradeu argues that this theory is inadequate, because immune responses to self constituents and immune tolerance of foreign entities are the rule, not the exception.

Biological Individuality
Biological Individuality

Author: Scott Lidgard

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2017-05-24

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 022644659X

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Individuals are things that everybody knows—or thinks they do. Yet even scholars who practice or analyze the biological sciences often cannot agree on what an individual is and why. One reason for this disagreement is that the many important biological individuality concepts serve very different purposes—defining, classifying, or explaining living structure, function, interaction, persistence, or evolution. Indeed, as the contributors to Biological Individuality reveal, nature is too messy for simple definitions of this concept, organisms too quirky in the diverse ways they reproduce, function, and interact, and human ideas about individuality too fraught with philosophical and historical meaning. Bringing together biologists, historians, and philosophers, this book provides a multifaceted exploration of biological individuality that identifies leading and less familiar perceptions of individuality both past and present, what they are good for, and in what contexts. Biological practice and theory recognize individuals at myriad levels of organization, from genes to organisms to symbiotic systems. We depend on these notions of individuality to address theoretical questions about multilevel natural selection and Darwinian fitness; to illuminate empirical questions about development, function, and ecology; to ground philosophical questions about the nature of organisms and causation; and to probe historical and cultural circumstances that resonate with parallel questions about the nature of society. Charting an interdisciplinary research agenda that broadens the frameworks in which biological individuality is discussed, this book makes clear that in the realm of the individual, there is not and should not be a direct path from biological paradigms based on model organisms through to philosophical generalization and historical reification.

The Hologenome Concept: Human, Animal and Plant Microbiota
The Hologenome Concept: Human, Animal and Plant Microbiota

Author: Eugene Rosenberg

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2014-01-31

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 3319042416

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Groundbreaking research over the last 10 years has given rise to the hologenome concept of evolution. This concept posits that the holobiont (host plus all of its associated microorganisms) and its hologenome (sum of the genetic information of the host and its symbiotic microorganisms), acting in concert, function as a unique biological entity and therefore as a level of selection in evolution. All animals and plants harbor abundant and diverse microbiota, including viruses. Often the amount of symbiotic microorganisms and their combined genetic information far exceed that of their host. The microbiota with its microbiome, together with the host genome, can be transmitted from one generation to the next and thus propagate the unique properties of the holobiont. The microbial symbionts and the host interact in a cooperative way that affects the health of the holobiont within its environment. Beneficial microbiota protects against pathogens, provides essential nutrients, catabolizes complex polysaccharides, renders harmful chemicals inert, and contributes to the performance of the immune system. In humans and animals, the microbiota also plays a role in behavior. The sum of these cooperative interactions characterizes the holobiont as a unique biological entity. Genetic variation in the hologenome can be brought about by changes in either the host genome or the microbial population genomes (microbiome). Evolution by cooperation can occur by amplifying existing microbes, gaining novel microbiota and by acquiring microbial and viral genes. Under environmental stress, the microbiome can change more rapidly and in response to more processes than the host organism alone and thus influences the evolution of the holobiont. Prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics and phage therapy are discussed as applied aspects of the hologenome concept.