Plastics and other artificial materials pose new risks to the health of the ocean. Anthropogenic debris travels across large distances and is ubiquitous in the water and on shorelines, yet, observations of its sources, composition, pathways, and distributions in the ocean are very sparse and inaccurate. Total amounts of plastics and other man-made debris in the ocean and on the shore, temporal trends in these amounts under exponentially increasing production, as well as degradation processes, vertical fluxes, and time scales are largely unknown. Present ocean circulation models are not able to accurately simulate drift of debris because of its complex hydrodynamics. In this paper we discuss the structure of the future integrated marine debris observing system (IMDOS) that is required to provide long-term monitoring of the state of this anthropogenic pollution and support operational activities to mitigate impacts on the ecosystem and on the safety of maritime activity. The proposed observing system integrates remote sensing and in situ observations. Also, models are used to optimize the design of the system and, in turn, they will be gradually improved using the products of the system. Remote sensing technologies will provide spatially coherent coverage and consistent surveying time series at local to global scale. Optical sensors, including high-resolution imaging, multi-and hyperspectral, fluorescence, and Raman technologies, as well as SAR will be used to measure different types of debris. They will be implemented in a variety of platforms, from hand-held tools to ship-, buoy-, aircraft-, and satellite-based sensors. A network of in situ observations, including reports from volunteers, citizen scientists and ships of opportunity, will be developed to provide data for calibration/validation of remote sensors and to monitor the spread of plastic pollution and other marine debris. IMDOS will interact with other observing systems monitoring physical, chemical, and biological processes in the ocean and on shorelines as well as the state of the ecosystem, maritime activities and safety, drift of sea ice, etc. The synthesized data will support innovative multidisciplinary research and serve a diverse community of users.

BackgroundIn recent years, several types of molecular markers and new microscale skeletal characters have shown potential as powerful tools for phylogenetic reconstructions and higher-level taxonomy of scleractinian corals. Nonetheless, discrimination of closely related taxa is still highly controversial in scleractinian coral research. Here we used newly sequenced complete mitochondrial genomes and 30 microsatellites to define the genetic divergence between two closely related azooxanthellate taxa of the family Caryophylliidae: solitary Desmophyllum dianthus and colonial Lophelia pertusa.ResultsIn the mitochondrial control region, an astonishing 99.8 % of nucleotides between L. pertusa and D. dianthus were identical. Variability of the mitochondrial genomes of the two species is represented by only 12 non-synonymous out of 19 total nucleotide substitutions. Microsatellite sequence (37 loci) analysis of L. pertusa and D. dianthus showed genetic similarity is about 97 %. Our results also indicated that L. pertusa and D. dianthus show high skeletal plasticity in corallum shape and similarity in skeletal ontogeny, micromorphological (septal and wall granulations) and microstructural characters (arrangement of rapid accretion deposits, thickening deposits).ConclusionsMolecularly and morphologically, the solitary Desmophyllum and the dendroid Lophelia appear to be significantly more similar to each other than other unambiguous coral genera analysed to date. This consequently leads to ascribe both taxa under the generic name Desmophyllum (priority by date of publication). Findings of this study demonstrate that coloniality may not be a robust taxonomic character in scleractinian corals.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0654-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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The cosmopolitan solitary deep-water scleractinian coral Desmophyllum dianthus (Esper, 1794) was selected as a representative model species of the polyphyletic Caryophylliidae family to (1) examine phylogenetic relationships with respect to the principal Scleractinia taxa, (2) check population structure, (3) test the widespread connectivity hypothesis and (4) assess the utility of different nuclear and mitochondrial markers currently in use. To carry out these goals, DNA sequence data from nuclear (ITS and 28S) and mitochondrial (16S and COI) markers were analyzed for several coral species and for Mediterranean populations of D. dianthus. Three phylogenetic methodologies (ML, MP and BI), based on data from the four molecular markers, all supported D. dianthus as clearly belonging to the “robust” clade, in which the species Lophelia pertusa and D. dianthus not only grouped together, but also shared haplotypes for some DNA markers. Molecular results also showed shared haplotypes among D. dianthus populations distributed in regions separated by several thousands of kilometers and by clear geographic barriers. These results could reflect limited molecular and morphological taxonomic resolution rather than real widespread connectivity. Additional studies are needed in order to find molecular markers and morphological features able to disentangle the complex phylogenetic relationship in the Order Scleractinia and to differentiate isolated populations, thus avoiding the homoplasy found in some morphological characters that are still considered in the literature.

Scleractinia Symbiosis and Coloniality Evolution shallow zooxanthellate coral communities, highlighting the uniqueness of shallow and deep species and the need to preserve them.

Microsatellite loci were isolated for the first time for the deep-sea coral Desmophyllum dianthus, using 454 GS-FLX Titanium pyrosequencing. We developed conditions for amplifying 24 markers in 10 multiplex reactions. Three to 16 alleles per locus were detected across 25 samples analyzed from Santa Maria di Leuca coral province (Mediterranean Sea). For the 24 polymorphic loci, observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.211 to 0.880 and 0.383 to 0.910, respectively; 3 loci deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, after null allele and sequential Holm-Bonferroni corrections. These newly isolated microsatellites are very useful genetic markers that provide data for future conservation strategies. Cross-amplification of these microsatellites, tested in 46 coral species, representing 40 genera, and 10 families of the phylum Cnidaria, produced informative allelic profiles for 1 to 24 loci. The utility of extending analyses to cross-species amplifications is also discussed.

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Recent explorations of rocky habitats from 40 to about 6,000 m depth disclosed the role of gorgonian and scleractinian corals as habitat formers in tropical, temperate, and polar deep waters. Deep biogenic habitats host high species richness and complexity and their conservation requires a profound understanding of biological and ecological features of sessile species inhabiting them, such as the habitat-forming corals. In sessile species, earliest life history stages and larval processes (e.g., reproduction mode, larval development, behavior, and feeding mode) ensure the exchange of individuals within and among subpopulations, supporting species and habitat resistance and resilience. Genetic studies allow investigating larval processes when direct observations cannot be used. Parameters such as genetic connectivity, gene flow, and levels of genetic diversity are essential to monitor health and resilience of populations under current and future scenarios of anthropogenic environmental changes. In this chapter a review of studies on genetic connectivity of temperate and cold-water habitat-forming corals and associated invertebrate species will be presented. Among them, two case studies, Desmophyllum dianthus, a deep-sea worldwide-distributed scleractinian, and Corallium rubrum, a harvested Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic alcyonacean with a wide bathymetric distribution, will be discussed in detail. This chapter will also show how these studies contributed to develop, implement, and recommend future conservation strategies and management plans. Existing gaps in literature on genetic connectivity of habitat-forming corals and other invertebrates have been also stressed and discussed. Finally, a conceptual framework for optimizing and planning effective studies on genetic connectivity is provided, including general recommendations on sampling design, key species and new molecular markers to use with a special emphasis on the "nextgeneration" DNA sequencing technologies.