Mejia Martinez AY (Bay Islands Conservation Association, Honduras) ? Puncher GN (Roatan Marine Park, Honduras) ? Erzini K (Center of Marine Sciences, Portugal) ? Gonçalves JMS (Center of Marine Sciences, Portugal)

 A mesocosm experiment was conducted to quantify the effects of pH and temperature on an intact marine invertebrate community. Standardised communities from the low intertidal zone were exposed to one of eight nominal treatments (four pH × two temperature levels). After 60 days exposure communities showed significant changes in structure and diversity. At higher pH levels elevated temperature treatments contained higher species abundances and diversity than the lower temperature treatments.

 

 

Post-Glacial colonization of Northern regions in the Northern hemisphere by terrestrial animals have been extensively studied, and a cross-species analysis has revealed major routes and demographic patterns. Analogous comparisons for Atlantic marine species are undergoing. Preliminary comparisons across a variety of bentic inshore organisms, ranging from fish and invertebrates to algae,  reveal a diversity of patterns of colonization of Northern boreal waters after the Last Glacial Maximum.

A fundamental goal of the Scottish Marine Bill is to streamline regulation and develop a new framework to coordinate and manage activities' around Scotland's coast. This study will evaluate and explore the application of different approaches, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to the development of a Scottish marine spatial planning framework, with a particular focus on decision-making for future aquaculture sites.

The polychaetes from the dorvilleid genus Ophryotrocha were previously considered to be shallow-water dwellers of organically enriched environments, but recent exploration of similar habitats in the deep sea have showed that the genus is not restricted to a certain depth. New species of Ophryotrocha have been found at whale-falls, cold seeps and hydrothermal vents as well as in sediments beneath fish farms, in the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Ocean and at depth spans from 30 m to below...

An initiative by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) named as ‘Citizen Science' aims to increase participation of the general public with science organisations.  A Littoral Seaweed Project has been envisaged as a means of engaging communities to take more interest in a rocky shore that is close to them.

Sediment water interface is an important transition zone and is classically characterized by a well define oxic horizon with geochemical gradients. In reality, in coastal sediments, fauna activity and patchy distribution of organic matter introduce another level of complexity and initiate a heterogenic pattern of microzones. Thus the investigation of benthic processes and exchange rates needs to resolve temporal and spatial variations on different scales and requires the use of innovative...