An unprecedented marine heatwave in 2023 caused widespread coral bleaching and mortality throughout the Caribbean. In the Florida Keys (USA), 2 foundation species, elkhorn coral ( Acropora palmata ) and staghorn coral ( Acropora cervicornis ), were severely affected. These species have been the primary focus of reef restoration in Florida for decades. Substantial losses of these species occurred in outplanted populations, in o...

Blood flow velocity in the cerebral perforating arteries can be quantified in a two-dimensional plane with phase contrast magnetic imaging (2D PC-MRI). The velocity pulsatility index (PI) can inform on the stiffness of these perforating arteries, which is related to several cerebrovascular diseases. Currently, there is no open-source analysis tool for 2D PC-MRI data from these small vessels, impeding the usage of these measure...

The majority of taxa with peltate leaves are perennial herbs native to swampy or aquatic habitats or to mesic shaded understorey habitats. These large peltate leaves are formed by a meristematic bridge at the lamina–petiole junction. However, there are also several strong-light exposed, small-leaved, xero- and scleromorphic Myrtaceae with leaf peltation which is formed without a meristem fusion/bridge. Here, abaxial laminar ti...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) globally serve conservation and fisheries management goals, generating positive effects in some marine ecosystems. Surf zones and sandy beaches, critical ecotones bridging land and sea, play a pivotal role in the life cycles of numerous fish species and serve as prime areas for subsistence and recreational fishing. Despite their significance, these areas remain understudied when evaluating the eff...

Blue ( Balaenoptera musculus ) and fin ( B. physalus) whales are prominent species in the California Current Ecosystem (CCE) using the area for migration and foraging. Blue whales migrate between tropical wintering grounds and higher latitude foraging grounds in the CCE, whereas fin whales may remain there year-round. We used Argos tracks of 182 blue (mean duration: 78 days) and 98 fin (mean duration: 35 days) whales tagged fr...

Dinophysis is an obligate mixotroph that relies on consumption of the ciliate, Mesodinium rubrum , to grow and form harmful algal blooms (HABs). In this study, blooms of Dinophysis acuminata in two NY, USA, estuaries were studied over the course of 3 yr (2019–2021) using discrete samples and an Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) to capture images of plankton 20–150 μ m. The darkness of Dinophysis images on the IFCB was used to quantif...

Coastal wetlands, such as saltmarshes, are globally widespread and highly effective at capturing and storing ‘blue carbon’ and have the potential to regulate climate over varying timescales. Yet only Australia and the United States of America have national inventories of organic carbon held within saltmarsh habitats, hindering the development of policies and management strategies to protect and preserve these organic carbon st...

Key message We examined the leaf structure of two basal Cupressus species with a distinct leaf dimorphism. Some foliar features are regarded as ancestral and it is suggested that drought adaptation was one of the important ecological drivers in the evolution of the Cupressus genus. Abstract Leaf morphology and anatomy of two Cupressus species, C . nootkatensis and C . vietnamensis , were investigated with classical paraffin te...

Key message We examined leaves of a suite of microphyllous woody plants and describe a little-known form of leaf peltation for the first time and also investigate strongly reflexed leaves in two distantly related lineages. Abstract Plants cope with a range of environmental conditions, especially related to water relations, and have developed an array of physiological and structural solutions to maintain a functional water bala...

Here, we provide the first reports of spawning activity by Acropora palmata colonies outplanted to reefs in Florida, USA. In 2020, we observed light spawning from A. palmata colonies five years after they had been outplanted on two Florida reefs. In 2021 and 2022, we observed outplanted A. palmata colonies spawning synchronously with other nearby (<3 m) outplants and wild colonies more than 100 m away. During the 2022 spawning...

Marine protected areas (MPAs), particularly large MPAs, are increasing in number and size around the globe in part to facilitate the conservation of marine megafauna under the assumption that large-scale MPAs better align with vagile life histories; however, this alignment is not well established. Using a global tracking dataset from 36 species across five taxa, chosen to reflect the span of home range size in highly mobile ma...

Climate change is transforming marine ecosystems through the expansion and contraction of species’ ranges. Sea ice loss and warming temperatures are expected to expand habitat availability for macroalgae along long stretches of Arctic coastlines. To better understand the current distribution of kelp forests in the Eastern Canadian Arctic, kelps were sampled along the coasts for species identifications and percent cover. The sa...

The nutritional diversity of resources can affect the adaptive evolution of consumer metabolism and consumer diversification. The omega‐3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n‐3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n‐3) have a high potential to affect consumer fitness, through their widespread effects on reproduction, growth and survival. However, few studies consider the evolution of fatty ac...