Larval settlement in the fouling polychaete Hydroides elegans Haswell (1883) is mediated by natural biofilms, a complex consortium of marine bacteria, benthic diatoms, protozoa, fungi and adsorbed organic matter. Currently, the inductive effect of natural biofilms on larval settlement is attributed to the bacterial component. In this paper, we present results of an investigation of the diatom c...

Metastasis represents a multistep cascade of cancer cell alterations accompanied by structural and functional changes within the tumor microenvironment which may involve the induction of a retrodifferentiation program. Major steps in metastatic developments include (A) cell detachment from the primary tumor site involving epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), (B) migration and invasion into ...

Following a planktonic dispersal period of days to months, the larvae of benthic marine organisms must locate suitable seafloor habitat in which to settle and metamorphose. For animals that are sessile or sedentary as adults, settlement onto substrates that are adequate for survival and reproduction is particularly critical, yet represents a challenge since patchily distributed settlement sites...

The dynamic nature of loads, seasonal variation of soil properties, uneven soil strata below footings or inappropriate design of foundation makes differential settlement inevitable. Differential settlement is largely responsible for developing forces or changing the existing forces in the structure and is often considered as the underlying cause of many structural failures. A structural enginee...

For sessile organisms, dispersal and recruitment are typically spatially stochastic, but there is little understanding of how this variability scales up to influence processes such as competitive coexistence. Here we argue that coexistence of benthic marine animals is enhanced by stochastic differences between species in the spatial distribution of larval settlement. Differentiation of settleme...

Movement of populations and languages in Eurasia has been mathematically modeled. The movements are explained by primarily demographic expansion caused by climatic change in the historic past, ecological factors and the introduction of agriculture from the Near East and Southeast Asia into the neighboring territories. This study use model outputs for the time period 120,000 BC-1,500 BC to inves...

Understanding the causes of fluctuations in population abundance is critical for ecologists and fishery biologists. For marine fishes with life histories in which adults have limited home ranges and larvae are pelagic and advected vast distances from natal sites, an understanding of variability in larval supply to local populations is critical for understanding the mechanisms that produce dynam...

Metamorphosis from a pelagic to a benthic stage is a critical transition in the life cycle of sessile marine invertebrates. The barnacle Semibalanus balanoides attaches permanently during settlement, and once attached, its gross location in the adult habitat is fixed. The partitioning of benthic habitat among barnacles in a recruit cohort is often mediated by settlement timing because early set...

In sessile marine invertebrates, larval settlement is fundamental to population maintenance and persistence. Cues contributing to the settlement choices and metamorphosis of larvae have important implications for the success of individuals and populations, but cues mediating larval settlement for many marine invertebrates are largely unknown. This study assessed larval settlement in two common ...

Coral populations, and the productive reef ecosystems they support, rely on successful recruitment of reef-building species, beginning with settlement of dispersing larvae into habitat favourable to survival. Many substrate cues have been identified as contributors to coral larval habitat selection; however, the potential for ambient acoustic cues to influence coral settlement responses is unkn...