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ISOLATION, SYNTHESIS, AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF APHROCALLISTIN, AN ADENINE-SUBSTITUTED BROMOTYRAMINE METABOLITE FROM THE HEXACTINELLIDA SPONGE APHROCALLISTES BEATRIX.
Get PDFA new adenine-substituted bromotyrosine-derived metabolite designated as aphrocallistin (1) has been isolated from the deep-water Hexactinellida sponge Aphrocallistes beatrix. Its structure was elucidated on the basis of spectral data and confirmed through a convergent, modular total synthetic route that is amenable toward future analogue preparation. Aphrocallistin inhibits the growth of a panel of human tumor cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 7.5 to \u3e100 μM and has been shown to induce G1 cell cycle arrest in the PANC-1 pancreatic carcinoma cell line. Aphrocallistin has been fully characterized in the NCI cancer cell line panel and has undergone in Vitro ADME pharmacological profiling
HBOI TECHNICAL REPORT 108: RESULTS OF THE DEEP-WATER BENTHIC VIDEO SURVEY OF THE COLOMBIA-FLORIDA EXPRESS 1 (CFX-1 BC1) TELECOM CABLE ROUTE
Get PDFCharacterization of benthic habitat and biota with documentation of hard/live bottom habitat along the CFX-1 cable route within U.S. Federal waters from the Florida State 3-nm boundary to the U.S.-Bahamas EEZ boundary off eastern Florid
ECOSYSTEM-BASED FISHERIES MANAGEMENT OF SEAMOUNT AND DEEP-SEA CORAL REEFS IN U.S. WATERS: CONCEPTUAL MODELS FOR PROACTIVE DECISIONS.
Get PDFCommercial fishing activities, primarily bottom trawling, have severely damaged vulnerable sea-floor communities such as undersea coral gardens and the summits of seamounts. Recreational fishing can also affect ecosystems adversely. The United States Ocean Commission (2004) recommended that fisheries be managed to protect marine ecosystems and their functions. The eight regional fisheries management councils in the United States under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service lack a sufficiently detailed understanding of ecosystem structure and function and of the target stocks and managed fisheries for making decisions that protect the stocks and ecosystems while allowing fisheries to proceed. Because the development of such detailed understanding is time consuming, we suggest that conceptual diagrammatic models can be used to express the generally known structures and functions of ecosystems so that precautionary management decisions can be made while more sophisticated models of marine ecosystems and fisheries are developed. This will protect resources while knowledge is gathered to enable exploitation that increases rather than degrades the overall value of the services provided by the ecosystem. Here we provide examples of such conceptual diagrammatic models for three US deep-sea coral ecosystems: (I) Aleutian gorgonian garden ecosystems, (2) Corner Rise Seamount, NW Atlantic, and (3) Oculina coral ecosystem off the Florida Atlantic coast, all of which have been established as Essential Fish Habitat and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (EFH-HAPC). We also suggest how such models might be used by managers, scientists, and stakeholders
IMPACTS OF BOTTOM TRAWLING ON A DEEP-WATER OCULINA CORAL ECOSYSTEM OFF FLORIDA.
Get PDFIn 1984, a portion of the deep-water Oculina coral reef ecosystem off eastern Florida was protected as the Oculina Habitat Area of Particular Concern (OHAPC), prohibiting bottom trawls, longlines, dredges, and anchors. Unfortunately, the northern two thirds of the reef system remained open to these gear until 2000 when the OHAPC boundaries were expanded to 1029 km2. In the 1970s, the Oculina reefs were teeming with large spawning aggregations of grouper and snapper. By the early 1990s, commercial and recreational fishing had decimated the fish populations, and the coral had been severely impacted by bottom trawling for rock shrimp. Historical photographic transects, taken in the 1970s with the Johnson-Sea-Link submersibles, provide crucial evidence of the status and health of the reefs prior to heavy fishing and trawling activities. Quantitative analyses of photographic images by point count reveal drastic loss of live coral cover between 1975 and 2001. Six coral reef sites had nearly 100% loss of live coral, whereas only two reefs which were within the boundaries of the original OHAPC since 1984 survived and were not impacted by trawling. Management and conservation plans for deep-sea coral reef ecosystems worldwide must be based on sound scientific understanding as well as adequate surveillance and enforcement; this study will help build a foundation for this understanding
LONG TERM MONITORING OF A DEEP-WATER CORAL REEF: EFFECTS OF BOTTOM TRAWLING.
Get PDFThe deep-water Oculina coral reef ecosystem is unique and exists solely off the east coast of central Florida. Oculina varicosa forms azooxanthellate colonies up to 2 m in diameter which coalesce into dense thickets on 20-m tall mounds that are thousands of years old. Recently restored videotapes that were made in the 1970s with the Johnson-Sea-Link submersibles show large breeding aggregations of grouper associated with the coral habitat. Historical photographic surveys provide evidence of the status and health of the reefs prior to heavy fishing and trawling activities of the 1980s and 1990s. Recent quantitative analyses by point count of photographic images reveal drastic loss of live coral cover between 1975 and present. Submersible and ROV surveys conducted from 2001 to 2006 suggest that much of the Oculina habitat has been reduced to rubble by bottom trawling which unfortunately is a trend for deep-water reefs worldwide. In 1984, the Oculina reefs were the first deep-water coral reefs in the world to be designated a marine protected area (MPA). Unfortunately, the northern two-thirds of the reef system remained unprotected and was legally open to bottom trawling until the year 2000 when the boundaries were expanded to 1029 km2 (300 nm2) from the original 315 km2 (92 nm2). However, portions of the original reserve are still healthy and signs indicate improving grouper populations. In 2006, a high resolution multibeam map was completed which details the hundreds of pinnacles and ridges making up the reef system. Many new reef features were discovered both inside and outside the designated MPA
FINAL REPORT- SURVEY OF FISH ASSEMBLAGES AND BENTHIC HABITAT AT PULLEY RIDGE, S.W. FLORIDA SHELF; PART 1- CHARACTERIZATION OF BENTHIC HABITAT AND BIOTA WITH DOCUMENTATION OF HARD/LIVE BOTTOM. REPORT TO NOAA FISHERIES.
Get PDFSeven sites were surveyed with the NOAA Superphantom II ROV on Pulley Ridge. A single ROV dive (~1 hr) was completed at each of the seven sites. Video/photographic transects were used to document and characterize the benthic habitat and biota and allowed for quantitative estimates of densities and sizes of biota. The primary protocol was to document the presence or absence of hard-bottom habitat. Qualitative estimates of size of habitat features and size of benthic invertebrates were made from videotapes and digital images using the cameras’ parallel 10 cm lasers. During the transects the ROV was kept close to the bottom (\u3c 0.5 m) whenever possible. The video and digital still cameras were ~0.5 m off the bottom and angled down ~45o during the transects. Periodically (~1/ minute) the ROV was stopped and the digital still camera was turned down 90o for quantitative photos. Depending on the cameras’ degree of zoom, the field of view ranged from 25 cm to ~2 m but can be determined by the lasers in the image. The observer’s field of view which was limited by visibility of the water column and available light from the ROV was approximately 30-40 ft. Throughout each dive the Investigator (JR) made verbal notes on the videotapes and detailed written notes describing all aspects of the habitat and benthic biota. The log form included time, depth, photo number and description of each photograph, habitat description (substrate, shape and height of feature), and description of density and size of benthic invertebrates
NOVEL STEROIDAL SAPONINS, SCH 725737 AND SCH 725739, FROM A MARINE STARFISH, NOVODINIA ANTILLENSIS.
Get PDFBioassay-guided fractionation of an active fraction from an extract of a marine starfish, Novodinia antillensis, led to the isolation and identification of two new saponins, Sch 725737 (1) and Sch 725739 (2). Compound 1 was identified as the NaV1.8 inhibitor with IC50 of _9 lM. The purification and the structure elucidation of these two saponins are described
FINAL OCULINA EVALUATION TEAM REPORT, OCULINA EXPERIMENTAL CLOSED AREA (OECA).
Get PDFThe Council established the Oculina Evaluation Team (OET) as part of its Evaluation Plan for the Oculina Experimental Closed Area (OECA). The team -- comprising law enforcement representatives, research scientists, resource managers, commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, outreach experts, and non-governmental organization representatives -- was charged with reviewing and providing recommendations for the ongoing research and monitoring, outreach, and law enforcement components of the Evaluation Plan. These recommendations will assist the Council in completing a required 3-year size and configuration evaluation and a 10-year complete evaluation of the OECA. The OET convened for the first time August 21-23, 2006 in Port Canaveral, Florida to address the following topics and questions: (1) What has been accomplished so far on research and monitoring, information and education projects, and law enforcement strategies and timelines? (2) What has been the effectiveness of research and monitoring, outreach, and law enforcement efforts and how do these need to be improved before the Council’s deadline to make a decision on whether or not to continue the regulations in their 10-year review (2014)? (3) Review and evaluate the current size and configuration of the OECA and provide recommendations to the Council. (4) Provide recommendations to assist the Council in their 10-year evaluation of research and monitoring, law enforcement and outreach efforts supporting fishing regulations. The OECA review is scheduled for 2014
NEOPELTOLIDE A NEW MACROLIDE FROM A LITHISTID SPONGE OF THE FAMILY NEOPELTIDAE.
Get PDFA new marine-derived macrolide designated as neopeltolide (1) has been isolated from a deep-water sponge of the family Neopeltidae. Its structure was elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data interpretation. Neopeltolide (1) is a potent inhibitor of the in vitro proliferation of the A-549 human lung adenocarcinoma, the NCI-ADR-RES human ovarian sarcoma, and the P388 murine leukemia cell lines, with IC50’s of 1.2, 5.1, and 0.56 nM, respectively. Neopeltolide (1) also inhibited the growth of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.62 íg/mL
DEEPSEA CORAL COLLECTION PROTOCOLS: A SYNTHESIS OF FIELD EXPERIENCE FROM DEEP-SEA CORAL RESEARCHERS, DESIGNED TO BUILD OUR NATIONAL CAPACITY TO DOCUMENT DEEP-SEA CORAL DIVERSITY.
Get PDFAround the time that the thirteen original Atlantic colonies were fighting for independence from Britain, there existed little agreement among naturalists as to the nature of corals. Were they inanimate (stones), plants, animals, or intermediate between the latter two (zoophytes)? This diversity of definition and opinions undoubtedly produced considerable confusion and disagreement among naturalists interested in such things. The symbiotic nature of algal cells in the tissues of some corals was also not well understood. It was not until the Darwinian period in the nineteenth century that little doubt remained, and therefore it was generally agreed, that corals were actually animals – heterotrophic living organisms that prey on other organisms for nutrition and do not produce their own food.
In the past fifty years the basic goals and tenets of deep-sea coral collection, curation, and taxonomy have changed little. On the other hand, the techniques and tools of this particular avenue of research have changed significantly. Regarding the collection of material in the field, some aspects remain fundamentally the same. The use of research vessels, bottom trawls, and naturalist’s dredges are still frequently used for deep water research. In shallow water collecting, improvements in SCUBA diving equipment and new innovations, such as Trimix gas and Nitrox diving, have allowed divers to work at greater depths with longer bottom times. Pressure independent dive suits have permitted researchers to attain depths not possible in traditional wet or dry suits. In the past four decades, advances in optics, electronics, and robotic technology have allowed for a rapid sophistication and a broader scope of possibilities regarding manned submersibles, remotely operated vehicles (ROV’s), and more recently, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV’s). Great strides have been made since the early 1990’s in the technological aspects of the collection and photography of the deep water benthos