Description: Highlights: • First long-term study on microplastic in the marine environment • Case study based on a unique sample set from the highly human impacted Baltic Sea • Water column microplastic concentration constant over past three decades • Microplastic concentration in forage fish constant over past three decades • We hypothesise that household waste is the dominant source of Baltic marine plastics. Abstract Microplastic is considered a potential threat to marine life as it is ingested by a wide variety of species. Most studies on microplastic ingestion are short-term investigations and little is currently known about how this potential threat has developed over the last decades where global plastic production has increased exponentially. Here we present the first long-term study on microplastic in the marine environment, covering three decades from 1987 to 2015, based on a unique sample set originally collected and conserved for food web studies. We investigated the microplastic concentration in plankton samples and in digestive tracts of two economically and ecologically important planktivorous forage fish species, Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) and European sprat (Sprattus sprattus), in the Baltic Sea, an ecosystem which is under high anthropogenic pressure and has undergone considerable changes over the past decades. Surprisingly, neither the concentration of microplastic in the plankton samples nor in the digestive tracts changed significantly over the investigated time period. Average microplastic concentration in the plankton samples was 0.21±0.15particlesm-3. Of 814 fish examined, 20% contained plastic particles, of which 95% were characterized as microplastic (〈5mm) and of these 93% were fibres. There were no significant differences in the plastic content between species, locations, or time of day the fish were caught. However, fish size and microplastic in the digestive tracts were positively correlated, and the fish contained more plastic during summer than during spring, which may be explained by increased food uptake with size and seasonal differences in feeding activity. This study highlights that even though microplastic has been present in the Baltic environment and the digestive tracts of fishes for decades, the levels have not changed in this period. This underscores the need for greater understanding of how plastic is cycled through marine ecosystems. The stability of plastic concentration and contamination over time observed here indicates that the type and level of microplastic pollution may be more closely correlated to specific human activities in a region than to global plastic production and utilization as such.

Description: The European and American eels spawn in the subtropical convergence zone (STCZ) in the Sargasso Sea, a dynamic and relatively productive area that is strongly influenced by front and eddy formations and subducted high-saline water masses. To understand how the physical and biological environments may affect the early life history of eels, we conducted a detailed bio-physical investigation of the water column at a site of high eel larvae abundance. Diel measurements and sampling in the upper 300 m revealed strong variations in hydrographic conditions and mean depths of different taxonomic groups; however, characteristics patterns of distribution were apparent. Most species showed diel vertical migrations, ascending about 20-30 m at night, whereas examples of night-time downward migration were also seen. European eel larvae were among the species showing more extensive diel vertical migration: their population mean depth changed from 160 m at day to 100 m at night where abundance peaked at 45 m depth. Distribution and migration of eel larvae corresponded to patterns observed for small hydrozoans, supporting a proposed predator-prey linkage. The study demonstrates the diverse and vertically strongly structured plankton community of STCZ where larvae of eel and other fish find a wide range of potential niches.

Description: The vertical distribution of copepods, fecal pellets and the fecal pellet production of copepods were measured at seven stations across the Southern Indian Ocean from productive areas off South Africa to oligotrophic waters off Northern Australia during October/November 2006. We quantified export of copepod fecal pellet from surface waters and how much was retained. Furthermore, the potential impact of Oncaea spp. and harpacticoid copepods on fecal pellets degradation was evaluated and found to be regional substantial. The highest copepod abundance and fecal pellet production was found in the western nutrient-rich stations close to South Africa and the lowest at the central oligotrophic stations. The in situ copepod fecal pellet production varied between 1 and 1,000 μg C m−3 day−1. At all stations, the retention of fecal pellets in the upper 400 m of the water column was more than 99% and the vertical export of fecal pellets was low (〈0.02 mg m−2 day−1).

Description: This talk focuses on the distribution pattern and grazing impact of different functional metazooplankton groups in a tropical marine ecosystem. We studied the metazooplankton distribution across the continental shelf from eutrophic mangrove areas to the oligotrophic deep blue ocean off NW Australia. Chlorophyll a concentrations were reduced by factor 10 along the transect including a shift towards small sized primary producers. The metazooplankton biomass followed the same pattern. Even though low in abundance, copepods were most frequent followed by larvaceans, doliolids other thaliacea and chaetognaths. Small size classes 〈200 μm dominated the zooplankton and e.g. 80 % of the larvacean community belonged to the micro-size fraction. We show that gelatinous zooplankton is of key importance for the carbon cycling in this tropical area. Larvaceans exceeded the copepod grazing impact on the primary producers especially in oligotrophic areas. The metazooplankton community structure and production reflect biotic and abiotic conditions of the system. We show that small size classes, especially larvaceans, have a higher contribution to secondary production and carbon cycling in tropical oligotrophic areas than previously thought

Description: Background A major cause of phytoplankton mortality is predation by zooplankton. Strategies to avoid grazers have probably played a major role in the evolution of phytoplankton and impacted bloom dynamics and trophic energy transport. Certain species of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia produce the neurotoxin, domoic acid (DA), as a response to the presence of copepod grazers, suggesting that DA is a defense compound. The biosynthesis of DA comprises fusion of two precursors, a C10 isoprenoid geranyl pyrophosphate and l-glutamate. Geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP) may derive from the mevalonate isoprenoid (MEV) pathway in the cytosol or from the methyl-erythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway in the plastid. l-glutamate is suggested to derive from the citric acid cycle. Fragilariopsis, a phylogenetically related but nontoxic genus of diatoms, does not appear to possess a similar defense mechanism. We acquired information on genes involved in biosynthesis, precursor pathways and regulatory functions for DA production in the toxigenic Pseudo-nitzschia seriata, as well as genes involved in responses to grazers to resolve common responses for defense strategies in diatoms. Results Several genes are expressed in cells of Pseudo-nitzschia when these are exposed to predator cues. No genes are expressed in Fragilariopsis when treated similarly, indicating that the two taxa have evolved different strategies to avoid predation. Genes involved in signal transduction indicate that Pseudo-nitzschia cells receive signals from copepods that transduce cascading molecular precursors leading to the formation of DA. Five out of seven genes in the MEP pathway for synthesis of GPP are upregulated, but none in the conventional MEV pathway. Five genes with known or suggested functions in later steps of DA formation are upregulated. We conclude that no gene regulation supports that l-glutamate derives from the citric acid cycle, and we suggest the proline metabolism to be a downstream precursor. Conclusions Pseudo-nitzschia cells, but not Fragilariopsis, receive and respond to copepod cues. The cellular route for the C10 isoprenoid product for biosynthesis of DA arises from the MEP metabolic pathway and we suggest proline metabolism to be a downstream precursor for l-glutamate. We suggest 13 genes with unknown function to be involved in diatom responses to grazers.

Description: Copepods are important grazers on toxic phytoplankton and serve as vectors for algal toxins up the marine food web. Success of phytoplankton depends among other factors on protection against grazers like copepods, and same way copepod survival and population resilience relies on their ability to escape predators. Little is, however, known about the effect of toxins on the escape response of copepods. In this study we experimentally tested the hypothesis that the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) produced by the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia affects escape responses of planktonic copepods. We found that the arctic copepods Calanus hyperboreus and C. glacialis reduced their escape response after feeding on a DA-producing diatom. The two species were not affected the same way; C. hyperboreus was affected after shorter exposure and less intake of DA. The negative effect on escape response was not related to the amount of DA accumulated in the copepods. Our results suggest that further research on the effects of DA on copepod behavior and DA toxicity mechanisms is required to evaluate the anti-grazing function of DA.