Evidence of increasing concentrations of dissolved carbon dioxide, especially in the surface ocean and its associated impacts on calcifying organisms, is accumulating. Among these organisms, benthic and planktonic foraminifera are responsible for a large amount of the globally precipitated calcium carbonate. Hence, their response to an acidifying ocean may have important consequences for future...

Despite advances in understanding the ecological functions of secondary metabolites from marine organisms, there has been little focus on the influence of chemically-defended species at the community level. Several compounds have been isolated from the gorgonian octocoral Phyllogorgia dilatata, a conspicuous species that forms dense canopies on rocky reefs of northern Rio de Janeiro State, Braz...

We analyzed stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to investigate the trophic structure of the subtidal food web around the Mingan Islands, northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, eastern Canada. All benthic consumers were enriched in 13C (mean δ13C of –17.1% ) compared to particulate organic matter (POM: –23.3% ). Nitrogen stable isotope ratios ranged from 6% to 14% and the organisms studied fell into ...

Ecological interactions, including symbiotic associations such as mutualism, parasitism and commensalism are crucial factors in generating evolutionary novelties and strategies. Direct examples of species interactions in the fossil record generally involve organisms attached to sessile organisms in an epibiont or macroboring relationship. Here we provide support for an intimate ecological assoc...

Background Alacranes Reef was declared as a National Marine Park in 1994. Since then, many efforts have been made to inventory its biodiversity. However, groups such as amphipods have been underestimated or not considered when benthic invertebrates were inventoried. Here we present a dataset that contributes to the knowledge of benthic amphipods (Crustacea, Peracarida) from the inner lagoon hab...

Evolution of planktic organisms from benthic ancestors is commonly thought to represent unidirectional expansion into new ecological domains, possibly only once per clade. For foraminifera, this evolutionary expansion occurred in the Early-Middle Jurassic, and all living and extinct planktic foraminifera have been placed within 1 clade, the Suborder Globigerinina. The subsequent radiation of pl...

Large benthic foraminifera are unicellular calcifying reef organisms that can form symbiotic relationships with a range of different microalgae. However, the cellular functions, such as symbiosis and calcification, and other aspects of cellular physiology in large benthic foraminifera are not fully understood. Amphisorus kudakajimensis was used as a model to determine the detailed cellular char...

Water resources especially lotic ecosystems drain diverse landscapes with their peculiar climatic regime, making them extremely diverse in terms of establishment of complex network of biotic communities, one such component are benthic macroinvertebrates or zoobenthos which are integral components of freshwater systems. They are represented by insects, molluscans, crustaceans, annelids and nemat...