The atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide (p(CO(2))) will almost certainly be double that of pre-industrial levels by 2100 and will be considerably higher than at any time during the past few million years. The oceans are a principal sink for anthropogenic CO(2) where it is estimated to have caused a 30% increase in the concentration of H(+) in ocean surface waters since the early 1900s and may lead to a drop in seawater pH of up to 0.5 units by 2100 (refs 2, 3). Our understanding of how increased ocean acidity may affect marine ecosystems is at present very limited as almost all studies have been in vitro, short-term, rapid perturbation experiments on isolated elements of the ecosystem. Here we show the effects of acidification on benthic ecosystems at shallow coastal sites where volcanic CO(2) vents lower the pH of the water column. Along gradients of normal pH (8.1-8.2) to lowered pH (mean 7.8-7.9, minimum 7.4-7.5), typical rocky shore communities with abundant calcareous organisms shifted to communities lacking scleractinian corals with significant reductions in sea urchin and coralline algal abundance. To our knowledge, this is the first ecosystem-scale validation of predictions that these important groups of organisms are susceptible to elevated amounts of p(CO(2)). Sea-grass production was highest in an area at mean pH 7.6 (1,827 (mu)atm p(CO(2))) where coralline algal biomass was significantly reduced and gastropod shells were dissolving due to periods of carbonate sub-saturation. The species populating the vent sites comprise a suite of organisms that are resilient to naturally high concentrations of p(CO(2)) and indicate that ocean acidification may benefit highly invasive non-native algal species. Our results provide the first in situ insights into how shallow water marine communities might change when susceptible organisms are removed owing to ocean acidification.

Mud volcanoes, mudpots and fumaroles are remarkable geological features characterized by the emission of gas, water and/or semi-liquid mud matrices with significant methane fluxes to the atmosphere (10(-1) to 10(3) t y(-1)). Environmental conditions in these areas vary from ambient temperature and neutral pH to high temperatures and low pH. Although there are strong indications for biological methane consumption in mud volcanoes, no methanotrophic bacteria are known that would thrive in the hostile conditions of fumaroles (temperatures up to 70 degrees C and pH down to 1.8). The first step in aerobic methane oxidation is performed by a soluble or membrane-bound methane mono-oxygenase. Here we report that pmoA (encoding the beta-subunit of membrane-bound methane mono-oxygenase) clone libraries, made by using DNA extracted from the Solfatara volcano mudpot and surrounding bare soil near the fumaroles, showed clusters of novel and distant pmoA genes. After methanotrophic enrichment at 50 degrees C and pH 2.0 the most distant cluster, sharing less than 50% identity with any other described pmoA gene, was represented in the culture. Finally we isolated an acidiphilic methanotrophic bacterium Acidimethylosilex fumarolicum SolV belonging to the Planctomycetes/Verrucomicrobia/Chlamydiae superphylum, 'outside' the subphyla of the Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria containing the established methanotrophs. This bacterium grows under oxygen limitation on methane as the sole source of energy, down to pH 0.8--far below the pH optimum of any previously described methanotroph. A. fumarolicum SolV has three different pmoA genes, with two that are very similar to sequences retrieved from the mudpot. Highly homologous environmental 16S rRNA gene sequences from Yellowstone Park show that this new type of methanotrophic bacteria may be a common inhabitant of extreme environments. This is the first time that a representative of the widely distributed Verrucomicrobia phylum, of which most members remain uncultivated, is coupled to a geochemically relevant reaction.

In this meta-analysis, electrotherapy and acupuncture after total knee arthroplasty were associated with reduced and delayed opioid consumption.

In January 2002, Nyiragongo volcano erupted 14–34 × 106 m3 of lava from fractures on its southern flanks. The nearby city of Goma was inundated by two lava flows, which caused substantial socioeconomic disruption and forced the mass exodus of the population, leaving nearly 120,000 people homeless. Field observations showed marked differences between the lava erupted from the northern portion of the fracture system and that later erupted from the southern part. These observations are confirmed by new 238U and 232Th series radioactive disequilibria data, which show the presence of three different phases during the eruption. The lavas first erupted (T1) were probably supplied by a residual magma batch from the lava lake activity during 1994–1995. These lavas were followed by a fresh batch erupted from fissure vents as well as later (May–June 2002) from the central crater (T2). Both lava batches reached the surface via the volcano's central plumbing system, even though a separate flank reservoir may also have been involved in addition to the main reservoir. The final phase (T3) is related to an independent magmatic reservoir located much closer (or even beneath) the city of Goma. Data from the January 2002 eruption, and for similar activity in January 1977, suggest that the eruptive style of the volcano is likely to change in the future, trending toward more common occurrence of flank eruptions. If so, this would pose a significant escalation of volcanic hazards facing Goma and environs, thus requiring the implementation of different volcano‐monitoring strategies to better anticipate where and when future eruptions might take place.