University of South Florida St. Petersburg

Oxygen is fundamental to life. Not only is it essential for the survival of individual animals, but it regulates global cycles of major nutrients and carbon. The oxygen content of the open ocean and coastal waters has been declining for at least the past half-century, largely because of human activities that have increased global temperatures and nutrients discharged to coastal waters. These changes have accelerated consumption of oxygen by microbial respiration, reduced solubility of oxygen in water, and reduced the rate of oxygen resupply from the atmosphere to the ocean interior, with a wide range of biological and ecological consequences. Further research is needed to understand and predict long-term, global- and regional-scale oxygen changes and their effects on marine and estuarine fisheries and ecosystems.

Mass mortalities due to disease outbreaks have recently affected major taxa in the oceans. For closely monitored groups like corals and marine mammals, reports of the frequency of epidemics and the number of new diseases have increased recently. A dramatic global increase in the severity of coral bleaching in 1997–98 is coincident with high El Niño temperatures. Such climate-mediated, physiological stresses may compromise host resistance and increase frequency of opportunistic diseases. Where documented, new diseases typically have emerged through host or range shifts of known pathogens. Both climate and human activities may have also accelerated global transport of species, bringing together pathogens and previously unexposed host populations.

For open ocean and coastal waters, a multiband quasi-analytical algorithm is developed to retrieve absorption and backscattering coefficients, as well as absorption coefficients of phytoplankton pigments and gelbstoff. This algorithm is based on remote-sensing reflectance models derived from the radiative transfer equation, and values of total absorption and backscattering coefficients are analytically calculated from values of remote-sensing reflectance. In the calculation of total absorption coefficient, no spectral models for pigment and gelbstoff absorption coefficients are used. Actually those absorption coefficients are spectrally decomposed from the derived total absorption coefficient in a separate calculation. The algorithm is easy to understand and simple to implement. It can be applied to data from past and current satellite sensors, as well as to data from hyperspectral sensors. There are only limited empirical relationships involved in the algorithm, and they are for less important properties, which implies that the concept and details of the algorithm could be applied to many data for oceanic observations. The algorithm is applied to simulated data and field data, both non-case1, to test its performance, and the results are quite promising. More independent tests with field-measured data are desired to validate and improve this algorithm.

Significance Satellite altimetry has shown that global mean sea level has been rising at a rate of ∼3 ± 0.4 mm/y since 1993. Using the altimeter record coupled with careful consideration of interannual and decadal variability as well as potential instrument errors, we show that this rate is accelerating at 0.084 ± 0.025 mm/y 2 , which agrees well with climate model projections. If sea level continues to change at this rate and acceleration, sea-level rise by 2100 (∼65 cm) will be more than double the amount if the rate was constant at 3 mm/y.

Ocean acidification may have severe consequences for marine ecosystems; however, assessing its future impact is difficult because laboratory experiments and field observations are limited by their reduced ecologic complexity and sample period, respectively. In contrast, the geological record contains long-term evidence for a variety of global environmental perturbations, including ocean acidification plus their associated biotic responses. We review events exhibiting evidence for elevated atmospheric CO(2), global warming, and ocean acidification over the past ~300 million years of Earth's history, some with contemporaneous extinction or evolutionary turnover among marine calcifiers. Although similarities exist, no past event perfectly parallels future projections in terms of disrupting the balance of ocean carbonate chemistry-a consequence of the unprecedented rapidity of CO(2) release currently taking place.

Time-resolved satellite gravimetry has revolutionized understanding of mass transport in the Earth system. Since 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has enabled monitoring of the terrestrial water cycle, ice sheet and glacier mass balance, sea level change and ocean bottom pressure variations, as well as understanding responses to changes in the global climate system. Initially a pioneering experiment of geodesy, the time-variable observations have matured into reliable mass transport products, allowing assessment and forecast of a number of important climate trends, and improvements in service applications such as the United States Drought Monitor. With the successful launch of the GRACE Follow-On mission, a multi-decadal record of mass variability in the Earth system is within reach. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission, launched in 2002, allows monitoring of changes in hydrology and the cryosphere with terrestrial and ocean applications. This Review Article focuses on its contribution to the detection and quantification of climate change signals.

Growth rates of corals on Holocene reefs indicate that carbonate platforms should easily keep pace with long-term subsidence and sea-level changes, yet drowned reefs and platforms are common in the geologic record. Recognition of the negative influence of nutrients on reef communities provides a clue to that paradox. The primary carbonate-sediment producers of the coral reef community are highly adapted to nutrient-deficient environments. Input of nitrates and phosphates stimulates growth of plankton, which reduces water transparency, limiting depth ranges of zooxanthellate corals and calcareous algae and thereby reducing carbonate production. Higher nutrient concentrations and plankton densities also stimulate growth of fleshy algae and ahermatypic suspension-feeding animals in the benthos. Besides displacing hermatypic algae and corals, many of these fastgrowing competitors are bioeroders that actively destroy thze reefal structure. Because rates of carbonate production and bioerosion are similar, even modest increases in nutrient availability can shift a reef community from net production to net erosion. In the geologic record, drowned reefs and carbonate platforms typically exhibit evidence of nondeposition, bioerosion, and reduced redox potential, which indicate excess nutrient availability during drowning. Drowned reefs overlain by shales are possible victims of nutrients in terrestrial runoff that suppressed reef growth before arrival of siliciclastic sediments. Other drowned platforms may have succumbed during rapid pulses of sea-level rise that flooded previously subaerial platforms. Nutrients in the soils of the flooding platform were mixed into surface waters, suppressing reef growth. The reef drowned if submergence proceeded beyond the critical depth before the excess nutrients were exported from the system. Other mechanisms for reef drowning by excess nutrients include changes in local or regional upwelling patterns or mid-ocean overturn.

A new empirical algorithm is proposed to estimate surface chlorophyll a (Chl) concentrations in the global ocean for Chl ≤ 0.25 mg m −3 (∼78% of the global ocean area). The algorithm is based on a color index (CI), defined as the difference between remote‐sensing reflectance ( R rs , sr −1 ) in the green and a reference formed linearly between R rs in the blue and red. For low‐Chl waters, in situ data showed a tighter (and therefore better) relationship between CI and Chl than between traditional band ratios and Chl, which was further validated using global data collected concurrently by ship‐borne and Sea‐viewing Wide Field‐of‐view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Aqua instruments. Model simulations showed that for low‐Chl waters, compared with the band‐ratio algorithm, the CI‐based algorithm (CIA) was more tolerant to changes in chlorophyll‐specific backscattering coefficient and performed similarly for different relative contributions of nonphytoplankton absorption. Simulations using existing atmospheric correction approaches further demonstrated that the CIA was much less sensitive than band‐ratio algorithms to various errors induced by instrument noise and imperfect atmospheric correction (including sun glint and whitecap corrections). Image and time series analyses of SeaWiFS and MODIS/Aqua data also showed improved performance in terms of reduced image noise, more coherent spatial and temporal patterns, and better consistency between the two sensors. The reduction in noise and other errors is particularly useful to improve the detection of various ocean features such as eddies. Preliminary tests over Medium‐Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and Coastal Zone Color Scanner data indicate that the new approach should be generally applicable to all past, current, and future ocean color instruments.

In earlier studies of passive remote sensing of shallow-water bathymetry, bottom depths were usually derived by empirical regression. This approach provides rapid data processing, but it requires knowledge of a few true depths for the regression parameters to be determined, and it cannot reveal in-water constituents. In this study a newly developed hyperspectral, remote-sensing reflectance model for shallow water is applied to data from computer simulations and field measurements. In the process, a remote-sensing reflectance spectrum is modeled by a set of values of absorption, backscattering, bottom albedo, and bottom depth; then it is compared with the spectrum from measurements. The difference between the two spectral curves is minimized by adjusting the model values in a predictor-corrector scheme. No information in addition to the measured reflectance is required. When the difference reaches a minimum, or the set of variables is optimized, absorption coefficients and bottom depths along with other properties are derived simultaneously. For computer-simulated data at a wind speed of 5 m/s the retrieval error was 5.3% for depths ranging from 2.0 to 20.0 m and 7.0% for total absorption coefficients at 440 nm ranging from 0.04 to 0.24 m(-1). At a wind speed of 10 m/s the errors were 5.1% for depth and 6.3% for total absorption at 440 nm. For field data with depths ranging from 0.8 to 25.0 m the difference was 10.9% (R2 = 0.96, N = 37) between inversion-derived and field-measured depth values and just 8.1% (N = 33) for depths greater than 2.0 m. These results suggest that the model and the method used in this study, which do not require in situ calibration measurements, perform very well in retrieving in-water optical properties and bottom depths from above-surface hyperspectral measurements.

Most humans are in contact with animals in a way or another. A zoonotic disease is a disease or infection that can be transmitted naturally from vertebrate animals to humans or from humans to vertebrate animals. More than 60% of human pathogens are zoonotic in origin. This includes a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, parasites, and other pathogens. Factors such as climate change, urbanization, animal migration and trade, travel and tourism, vector biology, anthropogenic factors, and natural factors have greatly influenced the emergence, re-emergence, distribution, and patterns of zoonoses. As time goes on, there are more emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases. In this review, we reviewed the etiology of major zoonotic diseases, their impact on human health, and control measures for better management. We also highlighted COVID-19, a newly emerging zoonotic disease of likely bat origin that has affected millions of humans along with devastating global consequences. The implementation of One Health measures is highly recommended for the effective prevention and control of possible zoonosis.

Members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) and interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) superfamily share an intracytoplasmic Toll-IL-1 receptor (TIR) domain, which mediates recruitment of the interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase (IRAK) complex via TIR-containing adapter molecules. We describe three unrelated children with inherited IRAK-4 deficiency. Their blood and fibroblast cells did not activate nuclear factor kappaB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and failed to induce downstream cytokines in response to any of the known ligands of TIR-bearing receptors. The otherwise healthy children developed infections caused by pyogenic bacteria. These findings suggest that, in humans, the TIR-IRAK signaling pathway is crucial for protective immunity against specific bacteria but is redundant against most other microorganisms.

Arctic feedbacks accelerate climate change through carbon releases from thawing permafrost and higher solar absorption from reductions in the surface albedo, following loss of sea ice and land snow. Here, we include dynamic emulators of complex physical models in the integrated assessment model PAGE-ICE to explore nonlinear transitions in the Arctic feedbacks and their subsequent impacts on the global climate and economy under the Paris Agreement scenarios. The permafrost feedback is increasingly positive in warmer climates, while the albedo feedback weakens as the ice and snow melt. Combined, these two factors lead to significant increases in the mean discounted economic effect of climate change: +4.0% ($24.8 trillion) under the 1.5 °C scenario, +5.5% ($33.8 trillion) under the 2 °C scenario, and +4.8% ($66.9 trillion) under mitigation levels consistent with the current national pledges. Considering the nonlinear Arctic feedbacks makes the 1.5 °C target marginally more economically attractive than the 2 °C target, although both are statistically equivalent.

We present an extension of the Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence (MIxS) standard for reporting sequences of uncultivated virus genomes. Minimum Information about an Uncultivated Virus Genome (MIUViG) standards were developed within the Genomic Standards Consortium framework and include virus origin, genome quality, genome annotation, taxonomic classification, biogeographic distribution and in silico host prediction. Community-wide adoption of MIUViG standards, which complement the Minimum Information about a Single Amplified Genome (MISAG) and Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MIMAG) standards for uncultivated bacteria and archaea, will improve the reporting of uncultivated virus genomes in public databases. In turn, this should enable more robust comparative studies and a systematic exploration of the global virosphere.

The number and diversity of viral sequences that are identified in metagenomic data far exceeds that of experimentally characterized virus isolates. In a recent workshop, a panel of experts discussed the proposal that, with appropriate quality control, viruses that are known only from metagenomic data can, and should be, incorporated into the official classification scheme of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Although a taxonomy that is based on metagenomic sequence data alone represents a substantial departure from the traditional reliance on phenotypic properties, the development of a robust framework for sequence-based virus taxonomy is indispensable for the comprehensive characterization of the global virome. In this Consensus Statement article, we consider the rationale for why metagenomic sequence data should, and how it can, be incorporated into the ICTV taxonomy, and present proposals that have been endorsed by the Executive Committee of the ICTV.

Maintenance of the microbiological quality and safety of water systems used for drinking, for recreating, and in the harvesting of seafood is imperative, as contamination of these systems can exact high risks to human health as well as result in significant economic losses due to closures of beaches and shellfish harvesting areas. Waters contaminated with human feces are generally regarded as a greater risk to human health, as they are more likely to contain human-specific enteric pathogens, including Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, Shi-gella spp., hepatitis A virus, and Norwalk-group viruses. Ani-mals can also serve as reservoirs for a variety of enteric patho-gens (e.g., various serotypes of Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Cryptosporidium spp.). Understanding the origin of fecal pollution is paramount in assessing associated health risks as well as the actions necessary to remedy the problem while it

Marine humic and fulvic acids were concentrated from about 1,400 liters of seawater from the Gulf of Mexico, and specific absorption coefficients were measured for each from 240 to 675 nm. Spectral absorption coefficients were then calculated for Gulf of Mexico stations where earlier data on humic and fulvic acid concentrations were available. Marine humic and fulvic acid values have low molecular weights consistent with extrapolations from soil#x2010;derived curves of their specific absorption coefficients vs. molecular weight. Marine fulvic and humic acids appear to account for most if not all water color or Gelbstoff in the offshore regions of the Gulf of Mexico. Based on a remote#x2010;sensing reflectance model, it appears that the increase in the Gelbstoff: chlorophyll ratio for waters adjacent to and downstream from regions of high primary productivity accounts for much of the deviation found for such waters from the global chlorophyll algorithm of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner.

The discovery of a living coelacanth specimen in 1938 was remarkable, as this lineage of lobe-finned fish was thought to have become extinct 70 million years ago. The modern coelacanth looks remarkably similar to many of its ancient relatives, and its evolutionary proximity to our own fish ancestors provides a glimpse of the fish that first walked on land. Here we report the genome sequence of the African coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae. Through a phylogenomic analysis, we conclude that the lungfish, and not the coelacanth, is the closest living relative of tetrapods. Coelacanth protein-coding genes are significantly more slowly evolving than those of tetrapods, unlike other genomic features. Analyses of changes in genes and regulatory elements during the vertebrate adaptation to land highlight genes involved in immunity, nitrogen excretion and the development of fins, tail, ear, eye, brain and olfaction. Functional assays of enhancers involved in the fin-to-limb transition and in the emergence of extra-embryonic tissues show the importance of the coelacanth genome as a blueprint for understanding tetrapod evolution. Genome sequencing and phylogenomic analysis show that the lungfish, not the coelacanth, is the closest living relative of tetrapods, that coelacanth protein-coding genes are more slowly evolving than those of tetrapods and lungfish, and that the genes and regulatory elements that underwent changes during the vertebrate transition to land reflect adaptation to a new environment. The African coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) attracted international attention when a specimen was netted off the South African coast in 1938, as coelacanths were thought to have gone extinct 70 million years ago. Now its genome has been sequenced. Phylogenomic analysis resolves the long-standing question of which lobe-finned fish is the closest living relative of the land vertebrates — it is the lungfish, and not the coelacanth. The protein-coding genes of the coelacanth are slowly evolving, which perhaps explains how similar today's coelacanth looks to its 300-million-year-old fossil ancestors. Examination of changes in genes and regulatory elements shows the importance of factors including brain and fin development, immunity and nitrogen excretion in the adaptation of vertebrates to land.

BACKGROUND: It is believed that BRCA1 and BRCA2 germline mutations account for the majority of hereditary ovarian carcinomas; however, to the authors' knowledge, there are scant data on the prevalence and spectrum of mutations, genotype/phenotype correlations, tumor histology, and family history characteristics. To address this gap, the authors conducted a population-based study of 232 incident epithelial ovarian carcinomas in the Tampa Bay area. METHODS: Genetic testing for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes was performed through full sequencing and BRCA1 rearrangement testing. RESULTS: Of 209 women with invasive ovarian carcinoma, 32 women (15.3%) had mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2, including 20 BRCA1 mutations and 12 BRCA2 mutations. Of the BRCA2 mutations, 58% were outside the "ovarian cancer cluster region" (OCCR). Variants of uncertain significance were detected in 8.2% of women with invasive ovarian carcinoma. No mutations were identified in women with borderline or invasive mucinous tumors. Among the BRCA mutation-positive women, 63% had serous tumors. A family history of breast and/or ovarian carcinoma was reported in 65%, 75%, and 43.5% of relatives of BRCA1 carriers, BRCA2 carriers, and non-BRCA1/BRCA2 carriers, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The data from this study suggested that 1) previous studies may have underestimated the frequency of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in ovarian carcinomas, especially outside the OCCR; 2) it may be reasonable to offer genetic counseling to any woman with an invasive, nonmucinous epithelial ovarian tumor; and 3) among patients with invasive ovarian carcinoma, family history is not sufficiently accurate to predict mutation status.

ABSTRACT A critical decision problem for top management, and the focus of this study, is whether the CEO (chief executive officer) and CIO (chief information officer) should commit their time to formal planning with the expectation of producing an information technology (IT)‐based competitive advantage. Using the perspective of the resource‐based view, a model is presented that examines how strategic IT alignment can produce enhanced organizational strategies that yield competitive advantage. One hundred sixty‐one CIOs provided data using a postal survey. Results supported seven of the eight hypotheses. They showed that information intensity is an important antecedent to strategic IT alignment, that strategic IT alignment is best explained by multiple constructs which operationalize both process and content measures, and that alignment between the IT plan and the business plan is significantly related to the use of IT for competitive advantage. Study results raise questions about the effect of CEO participation, which appears to be the weak link in the process, and also about the perception of the CIO on the importance of CEO involvement. The paper contributes to our understanding of how knowledge sharing in the alignment process contributes to the creation of superior organizational strategies, provides a framework of the alignment‐performance relationship, and furnishes several new constructs.

Deciphering the evolution of global climate from the end of the Last Glacial Maximum approximately 19 ka to the early Holocene 11 ka presents an outstanding opportunity for understanding the transient response of Earth's climate system to external and internal forcings. During this interval of global warming, the decay of ice sheets caused global mean sea level to rise by approximately 80 m; terrestrial and marine ecosystems experienced large disturbances and range shifts; perturbations to the carbon cycle resulted in a net release of the greenhouse gases CO(2) and CH(4) to the atmosphere; and changes in atmosphere and ocean circulation affected the global distribution and fluxes of water and heat. Here we summarize a major effort by the paleoclimate research community to characterize these changes through the development of well-dated, high-resolution records of the deep and intermediate ocean as well as surface climate. Our synthesis indicates that the superposition of two modes explains much of the variability in regional and global climate during the last deglaciation, with a strong association between the first mode and variations in greenhouse gases, and between the second mode and variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.