With the completion of a single unified classification, the Systema Porifera (SP) and subsequent development of an online species database, the World Porifera Database (WPD), we are now equipped to provide a first comprehensive picture of the global biodiversity of the Porifera. An introductory overview of the four classes of the Porifera is followed by a description of the structure of our main source of data for this paper, the WPD. From this we extracted numbers of all ‘known’ sponges to date: the number of valid Recent sponges is established at 8,553, with the vast majority, 83%, belonging to the class Demospongiae. We also mapped for the first time the species richness of a comprehensive set of marine ecoregions of the world, data also extracted from the WPD. Perhaps not surprisingly, these distributions appear to show a strong bias towards collection and taxonomy efforts. Only when species richness is accumulated into large marine realms does a pattern emerge that is also recognized in many other marine animal groups: high numbers in tropical regions, lesser numbers in the colder parts of the world oceans. Preliminary similarity analysis of a matrix of species and marine ecoregions extracted from the WPD failed to yield a consistent hierarchical pattern of ecoregions into marine provinces. Global sponge diversity information is mostly generated in regional projects and resources: results obtained demonstrate that regional approaches to analytical biogeography are at present more likely to achieve insights into the biogeographic history of sponges than a global perspective, which appears currently too ambitious. We also review information on invasive sponges that might well have some influence on distribution patterns of the future.

Currently, between one-third and two-thirds of marine species may be undescribed, and previous estimates of there being well over one million marine species appear highly unlikely. More species than ever before are being described annually by an increasing number of authors. If the current trend continues, most species will be discovered this century.

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Marine lakes are unique ecosystems that contain isolated populations of marine organisms. Isolated from the surrounding marine habitat, many lakes house numerous endemic species. In this study, microbial communities of sponges inhabiting these lakes were investigated for the first time using barcoded pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. Our main goals were to compare the bacterial richness and composition of two sponge species (Suberites diversicolor and Cinachyrella australiensis) inhabiting both marine lakes and adjacent open coastal systems. Host species and habitat explained almost 59% of the variation in bacterial composition. There was a significant difference in composition between both host species. Within S. diversicolor, there was little discernible difference between bacterial communities inside and outside lakes. The bacterial community of this species was, furthermore, dominated (63% of all sequences) by three very closely related alphaproteobacterial taxa identified as belonging to the recently described order Kiloniellales. Cinachyrella australiensis, in contrast, hosted markedly different bacterial communities inside and outside lakes with very few shared abundant taxa. Cinachyrella australiensis in open habitat only shared 9.4% of OTUs with C. australiensis in lake habitat. Bacteria were thus both highly species specific and, in the case of C. australiensis, habitat specific.

In this article, the variability of physical settings of anchialine systems in Indonesia is discussed together with the consequences these settings have for the environment and biota within the systems. Exploration in two karstic areas (Berau, East Kalimantan and Raja Ampat, West Papua) has resulted in the discovery of 20 previously unknown anchialine systems in Indonesia. Based on parameters such as bathymetry, size, coastline, salinity, water temperature, pH, degree of connection to the sea, and the presence-absence of selected key taxa we distinguish three types of (non-cave) anchialine systems in the Indo-Pacific: (1) Marine lakes with large and deep basins containing brackish to almost fully marine waters. Marine lakes show a range in the degree of connection to the sea with the result that the higher the connection the more the lake resembles a lagoon in both water chemistry and biota, while the more isolated lakes have brackish water and contain unique species that are rarely found in the adjacent sea. (2) Anchialine pools with small and shallow basins containing brackish water and low diversity of macrofauna. (3) Blue pools in chasms that contain water with a clear halocline and are possibly connected to anchialine caves. Study of the many unique features of anchialine systems will enhance our understanding of the physical and ecological processes responsible for diversification in tropical shallow marine environments.

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Sponge assemblages were investigated in the Spermonde Archipelago, southwestern Sulawesi, Indonesia. In this study spatial patterns of sponge similarity among sites were significantly related to remotely sensed environmental variables, the degree of human settlement and depth, but not to the distance between sites. Both oviparous and viviparous species groups responded to similar environmental constraints, and differences in similarity were unrelated to the distance between sites. The degree of human settlement, however, was significantly related to variation in the composition of viviparous, but not oviparous species. Our results demonstrate, most importantly, the utility of remotely sensed data in predicting the spatial turnover of diverse species assemblages such as sponges. Secondly, they show that patterns of human settlement in the Spermonde Archipelago appear to be affecting patterns of sponge beta diversity. These results highlight the need to assess and protect marine areas in biodiversity hotspots such as Indonesia.

Extracts of the marine sponge Niphates digitalis collected in Dominica showed strong activity in a cell-based assay designed to detect antagonists of the androgen receptor (AR) that could act as lead compounds for the development of a new class of drugs to treat castration recurrent prostate cancer (CRPC). Assay-guided fractionation showed that niphatenones A (3) and B (4), two new glycerol ether lipids, were the active components of the extracts. The structures of 3 and 4 were elucidated by analysis of NMR and MS data and confimed via total synthesis. Biological evaluation of synthetic analogues of the niphatenones has shown that the enantiomers 7 and 8 are more potent than the natural products in the screening assay and defined preliminary SAR for the new AR antagonist pharmacophore, including the finding that the Michael acceptor enone functionality is not required for activity. Niphatenone B (4) and its enantiomer 8 blocked androgen-induced proliferation of LNCaP prostate cancer cells but had no effect on the proliferation of PC3 prostate cancer cells that do not express functional AR, consistent with activity as AR antagonists. Use of the propargyl ether 44 and Click chemistry showed that niphatenone B binds covalently to the activation function-1 (AF1) region of the AR N-terminus domain (NTD).