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Elevated environmental carbon dioxide (pCO2) levels have been found to cause organ damage in the early life stages of different commercial fish species, including Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). To illuminate the underlying mechanisms causing pathologies in the intestines, the kidney, the pancreas and the liver in response to elevated pCO2, we examined related gene expression patterns in Atlantic cod reared for two months under three different pCO2 regimes: 380 μatm (control), 1800 μatm (medium) and 4200 μatm (high). We extracted RNA from whole fish sampled during the larval (32 dph) and early juvenile stage (46 dph) for relative expression analysis of 18 different genes related to essential metabolic pathways. At 32 dph, larvae subjected to the medium treatment displayed an up-regulation of genes mainly associated with fatty acid and glycogen synthesis (GYS2, 6PGL, ACoA, CPTA1, FAS and PPAR1b). Larvae exposed to the high pCO2 treatment upregulated fewer but similar genes (6PGL, ACoA and PPAR1b,). These data suggest stress-induced alterations in the lipid and fatty acid metabolism and a disrupted lipid homeostasis in larvae, providing a mechanistic link to the findings of lipid droplet overload in the liver and organ pathologies. At 46 dph, no significant differences in gene expression were detected, confirming a higher resilience of juveniles in comparison to larvae when exposed to elevated pCO2 up to 4200 μatm.

AbstractWhile an understanding of evolutionary processes in shifting environments is vital in the context of rapid ecological change, one of the most potent selective forces, sexual selection, remains curiously unexplored. Variation in sexual selection across a species range, especially across a gradient of temperature regimes, has the potential to provide a window into the possible impacts of climate change on the evolution of mating patterns. Here, we investigated some of the links between temperature and indicators of sexual selection, using a cold‐water pipefish as model. We found that populations differed with respect to body size, length of the breeding season, fecundity, and sexual dimorphism across a wide latitudinal gradient. We encountered two types of latitudinal patterns, either linear, when related to body size, or parabolic in shape when considering variables related to sexual selection intensity, such as sexual dimorphism and reproductive investment. Our results suggest that sexual selection intensity increases toward both edges of the distribution and that the large differences in temperature likely play a significant role. Shorter breeding seasons in the north and reduced periods for gamete production in the south certainly have the potential to alter mating systems, breeding synchrony, and mate monopolization rates. As latitude and water temperature are tightly coupled across the European coasts, the observed patterns in traits related to sexual selection can lead to predictions regarding how sexual selection should change in response to climate change. Based on data from extant populations, we can predict that as the worm pipefish moves northward, a wave of decreasing selection intensity will likely replace the strong sexual selection at the northern range margin. In contrast, the southern populations will be followed by heightened sexual selection, which may exacerbate the problem of local extinction at this retreating boundary.

A 67-year-old Caucasian male with lung cancer was presented to the Emergency Department with asthenia, anorexia, jaundice and choluria. The patient's lung cancer was being treated medically by a combination of paclitaxel/carboplatin with bi-monthly frequency. The patient was also self-medicating with several natural products, including Chlorella (520 mg/day), Silybum marianum (total of 13.5 mg silymarin/day), zinc sulphate (5.5 mg), selenium (50 μg) and 15 g/day of Curcuma longa. In first chemotherapy cycle no toxicity was observed even he was taking other medications as budesonide and sitagliptin. The toxic events started only after the introduction of the dietary products. Chlorella had contamination with cyanobacteria (Oscillatoriales) and 1.08 μg of cyanotoxin Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) per gram of biomass was found. Patient was consuming ca 0.01 μg MC-LR/kg/day. This case report describes the first known case of paclitaxel toxicity probably related to pharmacokinetic interaction with Turmeric and a contaminated Chlorella supplement resulting in an acute toxic hepatitis and the impact on oncologic patient health.

Earth’s biodiversity and human societies face pollution, overconsumption of natural resources, urbanization, demographic shifts, social and economic inequalities, and habitat loss, many of which are exacerbated by climate change. Here, we review links among climate, biodiversity, and society and develop a roadmap toward sustainability. These include limiting warming to 1.5°C and effectively conserving and restoring functional ecosystems on 30 to 50% of land, freshwater, and ocean “scapes.” We envision a mosaic of interconnected protected and shared spaces, including intensively used spaces, to strengthen self-sustaining biodiversity, the capacity of people and nature to adapt to and mitigate climate change, and nature’s contributions to people. Fostering interlinked human, ecosystem, and planetary health for a livable future urgently requires bold implementation of transformative policy interventions through interconnected institutions, governance, and social systems from local to global levels.

The main goal of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to achieve good ecological status across European surface waters by 2015 and as such, it offers the opportunity and thus the challenge to improve the protection of our coastal systems. It is the main example for Europe's increasing desire to conserve aquatic ecosystems. Ironically, since c. 1975 the increasing adoption of EU directives has been accompanied by a decreasing interest of, for example, the Dutch government to assess the quality of its coastal and marine ecosystems. The surveillance and monitoring started in NL in 1971 has declined since the 1980s resulting in a 35% reduction of sampling stations. Given this and interruptions the remaining data series is considered to be insufficient for purposes other than trend analysis and compliance. The Dutch marine managers have apparently chosen a minimal (cost-effective) approach despite the WFD implicitly requiring the incorporation of the system's 'ecological complexity' in indices used to evaluate the ecological status of highly variable systems such as transitional and coastal waters. These indices should include both the community structure and system functioning and to make this really cost-effective a new monitoring strategy is required with a tailor-made programme. Since the adoption of the WFD in 2000 and the launching of the European Marine Strategy in 2002 (and the recently proposed Marine Framework Directive) we suggest reviewing national monitoring programmes in order to integrate water quality monitoring and biological monitoring and change from 'station oriented monitoring' to 'basin or system oriented monitoring' in combination with specific 'cause-effect' studies for highly dynamic coastal systems. Progress will be made if the collected information is integrated and aggregated in valuable tools such as structure- and functioning-oriented computer simulation models and Decision Support Systems. The development of ecological indices integrating community structure and system functioning, such as in Ecological Network Analysis, are proposed to meet a cost-effective approach at the national level and full assessment of the ecosystem status at the EU level. The WFD offers the opportunity to re-consider and re-invest in environmental research and monitoring. Using examples from the Netherlands and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom, the present paper therefore reviews marine monitoring and marine environmental research in combination and in the light of such major policy initiatives such as the WFD.

Rapid growth in production of the farmed Vietnamese whitefish pangasius and its trade with the European Union has provoked criticism of the fish’s environmental, social and safety credentials by actors including WWF and Members of the European Parliament and associated negative media coverage. This paper reviews the range of claims communicated about pangasius (identified as a form of mass mediated risk governance), in light of scientific evidence and analysis of data from the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feeds food safety notification system for imported seafood. This analysis shows pangasius to be generally safe, environmentally benign and beneficial for actors along the international value chains that characterise the trade. The case is made that increasingly politicised debates in Europe around risk and uncertainty are potentially counterproductive for EU seafood security and European aquaculture industry, and that the trade in pangasius can contribute to sustainable seafood consumption in a number of ways. Transparent evidence-based assessment and systems for communicating complex issues of risk for products such as pangasius are required in order to support continuance of fair and mutually beneficial trade.

EC-Earth, a new Earth system model based on the operational seasonal forecast system of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), is presented. The performance of version 2.2 (V2.2) of the model is compared to observations, reanalysis data and other coupled atmosphere–ocean-sea ice models. The largescale physical characteristics of the atmosphere, ocean and sea ice are well simulated. When compared to other coupled models with similar complexity, the model performs well in simulating tropospheric fields and dynamic variables, and performs less in simulating surface temperature and fluxes. The surface temperatures are too cold, with the exception of the Southern Ocean region and parts of the Northern Hemisphere extratropics. The main patterns of interannual climate variability are well represented. Experiments with enhanced CO2 concentrations show well-known responses of Arctic amplification, land-sea contrasts, tropospheric warming and stratospheric cooling. The global climate sensitivity of the current version of EC-Earth is slightly less than 1 K/(W m-2). An intensification of the hydrological cycle is found and strong regional changes in precipitation, affecting monsoon characteristics. The results show that a coupled model based on an operational seasonal prediction system can be used for climate studies, supporting emerging seamless prediction strategies.