We studied germination behaviors and persistence mechanism of wild Glehnia littoralis, a typical coastal species at temperate sandy coasts of the North Pacific Ocean, and tested the hypothesis that the coastal plants may have evolved special seeds adapting to the coasts, by which they recruit and persist easily, occupying the coasts as ideal habitats. In the Shandong Peninsula, China, we invest...

Five periods of increased electrical conductivity have been found in the karst conduits supplying one of the largest first magnitude springs in Florida with water. Numerous well-developed conduit networks are distributed in the Woodville Karst Plain (WKP), Florida and connected to the Gulf of Mexico. A composite analysis of precipitation and electrical conductivity data provides strong evidence...

Heavy metal concentrations in Antarctic surface seawaters and some marine organisms were determined, and their distributions and bioaccumulations were discussed in comparison with other marine ecosystems. Locational difference of the heavy metal concentrations in Antarctic seawater was negligible, and their concentrations were in the order of Zn Fe> Mn> Cu>Pb Ni> Cd> Hg. When compared to the we...

Actinomycetes were isolated from near-shore marine sediments collected at 15 island locations throughout the Bahamas. A total of 289 actinomycete colonies were observed, and all but 6 could be assigned to the suprageneric groups actinoplanetes and streptomycetes. A bimodal distribution in the actinomycete population in relation to depth was recorded, with the maximum numbers occurring in the sh...

[1] Reconstruction of oceanic nutrient concentrations in the past provides information about nutrient cycling and physical circulation and the role these processes have played in past climate changes. The Cd/Ca and Zn/Ca of benthic foraminifera have been used successfully to reconstruct past deep ocean nutrient concentrations. In this study we test the ability of benthic foraminiferal Cd/Ca and...

One of the most intriguing recent discoveries in biogeochemistry is the ubiquity of cryptic sulfur cycling. From subglacial lakes to marine oxygen minimum zones, and in marine sediments, cryptic sulfur cycling—the simultaneous consumption and production of sulfate—has been observed. Though this process does not leave an imprint in the sulfur budget of the ambient environment—thus the term crypt...

It has recently been suggested that the majority of virus production in seawater is through lysogen induction. Here, we examine the mechanism of virus production in coastal surface seawater. Bacteria and viruses were removed from seawater by ultrafiltration (0.2 or 0.02 pm) and introduced back to the water in 0.6 pm filtered inocula. Viral and bacterial abundance was followed during sample incu...

Deep-sea ferromanganese crusts are found ubiquitously on the surface of seamounts of the world's oceans. Considering the wide distribution of the crusts, archaeal and bacterial communities on these crusts potentially play a significant role in biogeochemical cycling between oceans and seamounts; however little is known about phylogenetic diversity, abundance and function of the crust communitie...