Kelp forests are essential marine ecosystems providing high-density habitats, nurseries, and food for countless species, including fish, invertebrates, and mammals. An increasing number of rafting thalli have been observed recently. This phenomenon may represent a natural dispersal strategy of kelp populations, or alternatively, it may be associated with rising ocean temperatures and the increased frequency and intensity of st...

Photosynthetic microalgae are an attractive source of food, fuel, or nutraceuticals, but commercial production of microalgae is limited by low spatial efficiency. In the present study we developed a simple photosynthetic hydrogel system that cultivates the green microalga, Marinichlorella kaistiae KAS603, together with a novel strain of the bacteria, Erythrobacter sp. We tested the performance of the co-culture in the hydrogel...

Theory suggests that the direct transmission of beneficial endosymbionts (mutualists) from parents to offspring (vertical transmission) in animal hosts is advantageous and evolutionarily stable, yet many host species instead acquire their symbionts from the environment (horizontal acquisition). An outstanding question in marine biology is why some scleractinian corals do not provision their eggs and larvae with the endosymbiot...