ASLO takes a step to address the inequity of open-access publication

Early Career Researchers around the world are doing impactful innovative science. Most do not have resources to pay for open-access publication of their work. ASLO has taken a step to help with its Early Career Publication Honor that pays for OA publication by ECRs in need. A new virtual issue of Limnology and Oceanography Letters binds together the first seven papers published with the Early Career Publication Honor, and opens with an editorial explaining its origin and goals.

EDITORIAL:
Taking steps to address inequities in open-access publishing through an early career publication honor
Scott Hotaling, Bridget R. Deemer, Kelsey Poulson-Ellestad, Laura J. Falkenberg

Seascape topography slows predicted range shifts in fish under climate change
Curtis Champion, Melinda A. Coleman

Abstract

Shifts in marine species distributions are occurring rapidly in response to climate change, yet predicted rates of change are partly dependent on the data used to estimate species distributions. While pelagic fishes are known to respond to dynamic oceanographic variables, static topographic features can also regulate their distributions, yet the effect of topography on rates of range shifts remains poorly understood. For a suite of five pelagic fishes from an ocean warming hotspot, we developed generalized additive mixed models that did and did not incorporate preferences for seascape topographic heterogeneity when estimating species distributions. Monthly spatial predictions over two decades revealed that poleward extensions in species' core environmental habitats were significantly reduced by 5.3–60.4% (7.1–131.4 km per decade) when preferences for seascape topography were incorporated. These findings suggest that ignoring species associations with static environmental features can substantially affect predicted rates of climate-driven redistributions in fishes.

Ocean acidification alters the diversity and structure of oyster associated microbial communities
Andrea Unzueta-Martínez, Alan M. Downey-Wall, Louise P. Cameron, Justin B. Ries, Katie E. Lotterhos, Jennifer L. Bowen

Abstract

Host-associated microbial communities are fundamental to host physiology, yet it is unclear how these communities will respond to environmental disturbances. Here, we disentangle the environment-linked and host-linked effects of ocean acidification on oyster-associated microbial communities. We exposed adult oysters (Crassostrea virginica) to CO₂-induced ocean acidification (400 vs. 2800 ppm) for 80 d. We measured the oyster extrapallial fluid pH and sampled the gills for microbial analysis at six time points. We found that different subsets of microbes were linked to acidification (n = 34 amplicon sequence variants [ASVs]) and to host response (n = 20 ASVs) with little overlap (n = 8 ASVs), suggesting that some members of the oyster microbiome were more responsive to environmental conditions while others were more tightly linked to host condition. Our results provide insight into which members of the oyster microbiome may contribute to the health and resistance of their host, and which members are the most vulnerable to changing environmental conditions.

Sea-level rise drives wastewater leakage to coastal waters and storm drains
Tristan McKenzie, Shellie Habel, Henrietta Dulai

Abstract

Sea-level rise (SLR) is expected to compromise coastal wastewater infrastructure (WIS) via groundwater inundation (GWI). We conducted a field-based study in urban Honolulu, Hawai'i using spring tides as a proxy for future sea levels to quantify the hydrologic connection of WIS. This study focused on two possible pathways: (1) direct GWI of WIS and subsequent discharge into the coastal ocean and (2) indirect inundation of WIS evidenced in storm drains. We used geochemical tracers and emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) to monitor groundwater discharge and its wastewater content. Groundwater discharge and EOCs fluctuated with tides for coastal and canal groundwater and surface water samples, and storm drains, indicating tidally driven GWI and wastewater discharge. This study presents some of the first field-based evidence for GWI of coastal WIS and demonstrates that SLR is creating additional risks to environmental and human health.

Diverse arsenic-containing lipids in the surface ocean
Katherine R. Heal, Ashley E. Maloney, Anitra E. Ingalls, Randelle M. Bundy

Abstract

Arsenic is present at nanomolar levels throughout the ocean, and microbes assimilate this potentially toxic element due to its similarity to inorganic phosphorus. Although dissolved arsenic has been a focus of several oceanographic studies, the size and chemical character of the particulate arsenic pool is poorly understood. We measured particulate arsenic in five samples from the open ocean and determined the contribution of arsenic-containing lipids to this pool. Here we show that the accumulation of arsenic into lipids is a widespread phenomenon in the surface ocean. Particulate arsenic concentrations were 15–42 pmol L⁻¹ with 7–20% of the particulate arsenic pool within arsenolipids. We found that arsenosugar phospholipids dominated the arsenolipid pools in our samples with a minor component of arsenohydrocarbons and other unidentified lipids. A significant portion of the arsenosugar phospholipids (up to 35%) was present as previously undescribed mixed acyl ether lipids, suggesting a bacterial source.

Changes in phytoplankton and biomineral content of particles during episodic fluxes to abyssal depth
Cynthia A. Michaud, Christine L. Huffard, Kenneth L. Smith Jr, Colleen A. Durkin

Abstract

Large episodic pulses of particulate organic carbon (POC) at the deep-sea (~ 4000 m) time-series Sta. M in the Northeast Pacific Ocean have increased in frequency and magnitude over the past 32 years. We inferred the ecological drivers of these events by quantifying the phytoplankton and biomineral composition within particles collected by bottom-moored sediment traps immediately before, during, and after 14 high-flux events. Samples collected during high-flux events contained a significantly different phytoplankton community from other sampling periods. These particles contained relatively fewer intact phytoplankton cells and a sustained contribution from fragmented diatom frustules from species typical in coastal blooms. Biomineral fluxes did not appear to be driving high-flux events. We suggest that most of the observed high-flux events were generated by offshore transport of coastal diatom blooms, but that these particles were also highly transformed by deep-sea pelagic food webs before reaching bathypelagic depths.

Worms and submersed macrophytes reduce methane release and increase nutrient removal in organic sediments
Sara Benelli, Marco Bartoli

Abstract

Organic sediments are greenhouse gas and nutrient hotspots. They may display lower methane (CH₄) emissions and increase nutrient retention when macrophytes and macrofauna are present, due to oxygen leakage from roots and bioirrigation. We tested this hypothesis via incubations of microcosms reproducing four treatments: bare sediment, sediment with oligochaetes, sediment with macrophytes, and sediment with both organisms. Along a 12-d experiment, CH₄ ebullition in bare sediment (470 ± 13 mmol m⁻²) decreased by 67%, 88%, and 97% in the presence of plants, oligochaetes, and both organisms, respectively. Oligochaetes increased N₂ production by ~ 200 mmol N m⁻² and nitrate consumption by a factor of 4, whereas macrophytes reduced nitrogen losses by ~ 65 mmol N m⁻². All treatments acted as phosphate sink. Results suggest that the maintenance of vegetation and associated macrofauna in organic sediments promotes their combined ecosystem services, resulting in significant reduction of greenhouse gas emission and nutrient release to the water column.

Divergent physiological and molecular responses of light- and iron-limited Southern Ocean phytoplankton
Sarah M. Andrew, Robert F. Strzepek, Spencer M. Whitney, Wah Soon Chow, Michael J. Ellwood

Abstract

It has recently been shown that Southern Ocean phytoplankton species have evolved to optimize their light-harvesting potential without increasing the high iron-requiring proteins used for photosynthesis. We measured molecular and physiological responses of phytoplankton cultures under a combination of iron and light conditions. While iron-replete cultures mostly increased biovolume, photochemical efficiency (F_v/F_m) and the relative abundance of photosystem II (PSII) and Cytochrome b₆f protein compared to iron-limited cultures, light also regulated cellular chlorophyll a content and played a role in controlling PSII protein abundance. Investment of protein resources into the carbon fixing enzyme Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (Rubisco) was species-specific, but increased growth rates correlated with increased investment into Rubisco for all species. Our results suggest that Proboscia inermis uses a divergent molecular strategy to compete for nutrients, light, and CO₂ in the Southern Ocean.

ASLO takes a step to address the inequity of open-access publication

ASLO takes a step to address the inequity of open-access publication

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ASLO takes a step to address the inequity of open-access publication

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