A unique feature of the benthic habitat in the Aleutian Islands is the presence of a highly diverse and abundant coral and sponge community. These communities likely provide important habitat for a variety of fish and invertebrate species. Summaries of historical data and recent direct observations with a submersible indicate that the Aleutian Islands may harbour the highest diversity and abundance of coldwater corals in the world. There are 69 documented taxa (species and subspecies) of coral in the Aleutians of which 25 are endemic. Within the Aleutian Islands, there is an increase in diversity of corals west of about longitude 169°W. This shift in diversity is consistent with the hypothesis of an ecological boundary in the vicinity of Samalga Pass. Given the endemism and high diversity and abundance of corals in the Aleutians, there is evidence that this region is the evolutionary centre of origin for some taxa of coldwater corals.

Background:Preterm birth (PTB) rates (11.4% in 2013) in the United States remain high and are a substantial cause of morbidity. Studies of prenatal exposure have associated particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) and other ambient air pollutants with adverse birth outcomes; yet, to our knowledge, burden and costs of PM2.5-attributable PTB have not been estimated in the United States.Objectives:We aimed to estimate burden of PTB in the United States and economic costs attributable to PM2.5 exposure in 2010.Methods:Annual deciles of PM2.5 were obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We converted PTB odds ratio (OR), identified in a previous meta-analysis (1.15 per 10 μg/m3 for our base case, 1.07–1.16 for low- and high-end scenarios) to relative risk (RRs), to obtain an estimate that better represents the true relative risk. A reference level (RL) of 8.8 μg/m3 was applied. We then used the RR estimates and county-level PTB prevalence to quantify PM2.5-attributable PTB. Direct medical costs were obtained from the 2007 Institute of Medicine report, and lost economic productivity (LEP) was estimated using a meta-analysis of PTB-associated IQ loss, and well-established relationships of IQ loss with LEP. All costs were calculated using 2010 dollars.Results:An estimated 3.32% of PTBs nationally (corresponding to 15,808 PTBs) in 2010 could be attributed to PM2.5 (PM2.5 > 8.8 μg/m3). Attributable PTBs cost were estimated at $5.09 billion [sensitivity analysis (SA): $2.43–9.66 B], of which $760 million were spent for medical care (SA: $362 M–1.44 B). The estimated PM2.5 attributable fraction (AF) of PTB was highest in urban counties, with highest AFs in the Ohio Valley and the southern United States.Conclusions:PM2.5 may contribute substantially to burden and costs of PTB in the United States, and considerable health and economic benefits could be achieved through environmental regulatory interventions that reduce PM2.5 exposure in pregnancy.Citation:Trasande L, Malecha P, Attina TM. 2016. Particulate matter exposure and preterm birth: estimates of U.S. attributable burden and economic costs. Environ Health Perspect 124:1913–1918; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1510810

Pulsed resources create an influx of energy that can provide individual and population level benefits to their consumers. As consumers, Sablefish Anoplopoma fimbria experience strong seasonal pulses in prey resources during their critical period of juvenile growth in the nearshore marine environment. This study described temporal patterns in diet composition of Sablefish (N = 1,081) ranging in size from 226 to 455 mm FL during July and September in St. John Baptist Bay, Alaska. Juvenile Sablefish exploited a large variety of prey taxa characteristic of a generalist predator and experienced significant diet shifts among sampling periods revealing seasonal and interannual variation in resource use. Diets appeared more diverse in 2012 when more invertebrate taxa were consumed compared with 2013 when diets were dominated by herring and salmonid offal. In September of both years, spawning Pink Salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha were observed within the study area and juvenile Sablefish capitalized on this high energy subsidy, and salmon carcasses were among the top contributors to their diets by weight. However, Sablefish also exploited in situ prey of lower energy, such as benthic invertebrates, suggesting that Sablefish are not entirely reliant on seasonally pulsed, high‐energy prey. This study further emphasizes the significance of salmon as a vector of energy across ecosystems and is one of the first to document a marine teleost species scavenging on adult salmon carcasses in coastal marine waters.