Marine biology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Comment
    | Open Access

    The Tara Pacific program and expedition focused on coral reefs across the Pacific Ocean and used a coordinated sampling effort to address questions at multiple scales using a common suite of samples. Here, we highlight some of the Tara Pacific achievements, discussing the benefits of long-duration sea expeditions for investigating a wide array of research questions within a selected ecosystem.

    • Serge Planes
    •  & Denis Allemand

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using data from the Tara Pacific expedition to investigate symbiont fidelity and patterns of gene expression across a thermal gradient, this study shows that Pocillopora corals have a three-tiered strategy of thermal acclimatization that is underpinned by host–photosymbiont specificity, host transcriptomic plasticity, and differential photosymbiotic associations under extreme warming.

    • Eric J. Armstrong
    • , Julie Lê-Hoang
    •  & Patrick Wincker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    From profiling the gene expression of five coral species exposed to Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), this study finds signatures of in situ degradation of Symbiodiniaceae experiencing photosystem dysfunction. These results indicate that Symbiodiniaceae may be the target of initial SCTLD infection, which subsequently induces host responses and tissue loss.

    • Kelsey M. Beavers
    • , Emily W. Van Buren
    •  & Laura D. Mydlarz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This global analysis reveals that artificial light from cities is associated with the disruption of synchronised egg release by corals. This situation could reduce coral reproductive health, hindering conservation efforts in the face of climate change and other anthropogenic impacts.

    • Thomas W. Davies
    • , Oren Levy
    •  & Tim Smyth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Combining geological evidence and modelling, Crichton and others find life in the ocean Twilight Zone (200 m to 1000 m depth) is vulnerable to warming due to lower food supply. High emissions may lead to severe depletion and extinction in this habitat

    • Katherine A. Crichton
    • , Jamie D. Wilson
    •  & Paul N. Pearson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By combining fisheries, nutrient, and carbon cycling data, this synthesis suggests that marine kelp forests, a dominant but often undescribed habitat, provide services with a potential value of $111,000/ha/year and a global yearly value of $500 billion.

    • Aaron M. Eger
    • , Ezequiel M. Marzinelli
    •  & Adriana Vergés

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Koch and Brown et al. led a collaborative and comprehensive synthesis that shows the transfer of ice algal carbon is widespread throughout the Arctic marine food web and contributes to supporting organisms throughout the dark winter months

    • Chelsea W. Koch
    • , Thomas A. Brown
    •  & David J. Yurkowski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors investigate marine heatwaves on the ocean bottom in the shallow waters surrounding North America. Relative to their surface counterparts, bottom marine heatwaves are often more intense, more persistent, and can occur independently.

    • Dillon J. Amaya
    • , Michael G. Jacox
    •  & Adam S. Phillips

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study reports a dense, late summer phytoplankton bloom in the Southern Ocean that accumulated unusually high levels of organic matter and supported feeding hot spots for birds and whales. The authors show that this recurring open ocean bloom is driven by anomalies in easterly winds that push sea ice southwards and favour the upwelling of deep waters enriched in hydrothermal iron.

    • Sebastien Moreau
    • , Tore Hattermann
    •  & Harald Steen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Temperature shapes the adaptation and composition of microbiomes, but whether their enzymes drive the thermal response remains unknown. Using an analysis of seven enzyme classes from worldwide marine microbiome data, this study shows that enzyme thermal properties explain microbial thermal plasticity and they are both finely tuned by the thermal variability of the environment.

    • Ramona Marasco
    • , Marco Fusi
    •  & Daniele Daffonchio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marine fishes can substantially contribute to the inorganic carbon cycle through the excretion of intestinally precipitated carbonates, but the underlying drivers remain largely unknown. This study identifies the environmental factors and fish traits that predict carbonate excretion rate and mineralogical composition in tropical reef fishes.

    • Mattia Ghilardi
    • , Michael A. Salter
    •  & Sonia Bejarano

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Zooplankton are a critical link to higher trophic levels and play an important role in global biogeochemical cycles. This Review examines key responses of zooplankton to ocean warming, highlights key knowledge and geographic gaps that need to be addressed, and discusses how better use of observations and long-term zooplankton monitoring programmes can help fill these gaps.

    • Lavenia Ratnarajah
    • , Rana Abu-Alhaija
    •  & Lidia Yebra

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sharks and rays are vital coral reef species. This study shows that nearly two thirds (59%) of the 134 coral-reef associated species are threatened with extinction. The main cause of their decline is found to be overfishing, both targeted and unintentional, and extinction risk is greater for larger species found in nations with higher fishing pressure and weaker governance.

    • C. Samantha Sherman
    • , Colin A. Simpfendorfer
    •  & Nicholas K. Dulvy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coastal ecosystems are promoted as nature-based solutions to climate change. Here, the authors show that natural methane emissions across a variety of vegetated and unvegetated coastal habitats can, however, offset one-third of the carbon sink capacity attributed to atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake.

    • Florian Roth
    • , Elias Broman
    •  & Alf Norkko

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Over several years, this study examines how biotic interactions and warming affect the entire marine prokaryotic community at a location off the coast of Southern California. Analyses show that free-living and particle-associated prokaryotes were strongly predicted by phytoplankton and viral communities, and El Niño warming shifted cyanobacteria from cold-water ecotypes to warm-water ecotypes.

    • Yi-Chun Yeh
    •  & Jed A. Fuhrman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this study, the microbiota of multiple body sites from 101 marine fish species from Southern California were sampled and analysed. The authors compared diversity measures while also establishing a method to estimate microbial biomass. Body site is shown to be the strongest driver of microbial diversity and patterns of phylosymbiosis are observed across the gill, skin and hindgut.

    • Jeremiah J. Minich
    • , Andreas Härer
    •  & Eric E. Allen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrogen-fixing (diazotrophic) cyanobacteria provide a critical nutrient input to the ocean. Non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs are also thought to contribute, but they have not been observed to fix nitrogen. Using dual isotope labeling combined with nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry, this study demonstrates that putative non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs attached to particles can fix nitrogen.

    • Katie J. Harding
    • , Kendra A. Turk-Kubo
    •  & Jonathan P. Zehr

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using high-resolution stable isotope and microstructure analyses of otoliths, this study reveals that sardine populations in the western and eastern North Pacific have different early life metabolic and growth rates that respond contrastingly to temperature variations. These findings could explain observations of different responses in these populations to decadal-scale temperature anomalies.

    • Tatsuya Sakamoto
    • , Motomitsu Takahashi
    •  & Tomihiko Higuchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sedimentary ancient DNA can indicate ecosystem-wide changes. Here, the authors show association between warm phases and high diatom abundance in the Antarctic Scotia Sea, in addition to presenting ancient eukaryote sedimentary DNA spanning the last approximately 1 million years.

    • Linda Armbrecht
    • , Michael E. Weber
    •  & Xufeng Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reproduction in numerous marine organisms is timed to specific moon phases, but the mechanisms for sensing moon phases are incompletely understood. Here the authors report that an ancient, light-sensitive protein L-Cryptochrome in a marine bristle worm can discriminate between sun- and moonlight, enabling the animals to properly decode moon phases.

    • Birgit Poehn
    • , Shruthi Krishnan
    •  & Kristin Tessmar-Raible

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using CRISPR-Cas9 mediated-knockout and overexpression analyses, this study shows that a trypsin in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum promotes phosphorus uptake and inhibits nitrogen uptake but its expression is downregulated under nitrogen stress and upregulated under phosphorus stress. Together, the findings suggest this trypsin is a coordinate regulator of nutrient homeostasis.

    • Yanchun You
    • , Xueqiong Sun
    •  & Senjie Lin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advances in climate prediction mean that the state of the ocean and the drivers of shifts can be skilfully forecast up to a decade ahead. This study applies decadal-scale climate predictions to forecast shifts in the habitat and distribution of marine fish species, providing information relevant to stakeholders and a tool to foresee and adapt to the challenges of a changing climate.

    • Mark R. Payne
    • , Gokhan Danabasoglu
    •  & Stephen G. Yeager

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study uses multispecies modelling to show that the management of a coral predator, the crown-of-thorns starfish, could help corals recover following bleaching events. They show that management was most effective when heat stress severity for corals was low to moderate, when corals had lower heat sensitivity and when the recruitment rate of starfish was high.

    • Jacob G. D. Rogers
    •  & Éva E. Plagányi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Finding coral reefs resilient to climate warming is challenging. This study combines Great Barrier Reef remote sensing with breeding experiments that estimate coral survival under exposure to high temperatures to develop forecasting models that locate reefs with increased heat tolerance. These reefs represent targets for protection and potential sources of corals for reef restoration.

    • K. M. Quigley
    •  & M. J. H. van Oppen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The V-shaped Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world’s oceans. Using 586 prokaryotic metagenome-assembled genomes and metatranscriptomic data, this study explores metabolic capabilities and activities of microorganisms involved in elemental cycling in hadal sediments, and reveals the different distribution of processes between its bottom-axis and slope.

    • Ying-Li Zhou
    • , Paraskevi Mara
    •  & Yong Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wildfires are expected to increase in frequency and severity. Here the authors use geochemical paleo-reconstructions to show that over decadal timescales in Earth history wildfires are positively correlated with phytoplankton production off the coast of Australia.

    • Dongyan Liu
    • , Chongran Zhou
    •  & Yan Du

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marine microbes govern ocean productivity and biogeochemistry, regulating global climate. Here the authors describe the sophisticated feeding strategy of a mixotrophic dinoflagellate and show how its behaviour impacts the vertical flux of carbon.

    • Michaela E. Larsson
    • , Anna R. Bramucci
    •  & Martina A. Doblin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrogen depletion in the ocean provides a favourable niche for nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, which can form symbioses with eukaryotic algae. This study reports the discovery of two distinct marine pennate diatom–diazotroph symbioses, which had previously only been observed in freshwater environments and represent an overlooked but widespread source of bioavailable nitrogen in marine habitats.

    • Christopher R. Schvarcz
    • , Samuel T. Wilson
    •  & Grieg F. Steward

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The taxonomic and functional diversity of marine microbial communities are shaped by both environmental and biotic factors. Here, the authors investigate the functional biogeography of epipelagic prokaryotic communities along a 13,000-km transect in the Southern and Atlantic Oceans, showing finely tuned genetic adaptations to regional conditions.

    • Leon Dlugosch
    • , Anja Poehlein
    •  & Meinhard Simon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the interactions between bacteria and their viruses (phages) in natural communities is a major challenge. Here, the authors isolate and study large numbers of marine Vibrio bacteria and their phages, and find that lytic interactions are sparse and many phages are host-strain-specific, but nevertheless recombination between some phages is common.

    • Kathryn M. Kauffman
    • , William K. Chang
    •  & Libusha Kelly

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The North Atlantic biological pump has the most intense absorption of C globally, but how this will fare in light of climate changes (especially sea-ice melting) is poorly understood. Here the authors present a 24-month continuous time series of physical, chemical, and biological observations in the Fram Strait.

    • Wilken-Jon von Appen
    • , Anya M. Waite
    •  & Antje Boetius

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Navigation and trajectory planning in environments with background flow, relevant for robotics, are challenging provided information only on local surrounding. The authors propose a reinforcement learning approach for time-efficient navigation of a swimmer through unsteady two-dimensional flows.

    • Peter Gunnarson
    • , Ioannis Mandralis
    •  & John O. Dabiri

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Discoveries of persistent coastal species in the open ocean shift our understanding of biogeographic barriers. Floating plastic debris from pollution now supports a novel sea surface community composed of coastal and oceanic species at sea that might portend significant ecological shifts in the marine environment.

    • Linsey E. Haram
    • , James T. Carlton
    •  & Gregory M. Ruiz

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