Recruitment via settlement of pelagic larvae is critical for the persistence of benthic marine populations. For many benthic invertebrates, larval settlement occurs in response to surface microbial films. Larvae of the serpulid polychaete Hydroides elegans can be induced to settle by single bacterial species. Until now, only Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea had been subjected to detailed genetic...

Proper estimation of foundation settlement is a crucial factor in designing shallow foundations. Recent literature shows the applicability of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) in predicting the settlement of shallow foundations. However, conventional ANNs have some drawbacks: getting trapped in local minima and a slow rate of learning. Utilization of an optimization algorithm such as Particle S...

As settled juveniles and adults, blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) are nonmigratory inhabitants of kelp and rocky reef habitats along the California coast, USA, and prior to settlement, they possess a pelagic larval and juvenile stage lasting 3–5 months. A previous study of adults revealed two cryptic species within S. mystinus and evidence of reproductive isolation in a region where both crypt...

Like most coral reef organisms, crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster spp.) are expected to be highly vulnerable to predation as they transition from a planktonic larval phase to settling among reef habitats. Accordingly, crown-of-thorns starfish might be expected to exhibit behavioural adaptations which moderate exposure to predation at this critical stage in their life history. Using pairwise...

Marine biofouling poses a severe threat to maritime and aquaculture industries. To prevent the attachment of marine biofouling organisms on man-made structures, countless cost and effort was spent annually. In particular, most attention has been paid on the development of efficient and environmentally friendly fouling-resistant coatings, as well as larval settlement mechanism of several major b...

in present research, 17 centrifuge tests have been conducted to study the effect of various parameters such as the number of piles, the distance between piles, gradation and thickness of the granular layer on the load-settlement behavior of a pile raft system. the results showed the importance of granular layer to reduce the settlement of non-connected pile raft system when the roles of piles a...

Bergquist, Derk C., Urcuyo, Istvan A., & Fisher, Charles R. (2002). Establishment and persistence of seep vestimentiferan aggregations on the upper Louisiana slope of the Gulf of Mexico. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 241, 89-98. The researchers of the Department of Biology at Pennsylvania State University utilized in situ growth rates in addition to relative abundances and size structures of ...

Life-cycle transitions connecting larval and juvenile stages in metazoans are orchestrated by neuroendocrine signals including neuropeptides and hormones. In marine invertebrate life cycles, which often consist of planktonic larval and benthic adult stages, settlement of the free-swimming larva to the sea floor in response to environmental cues is a key life cycle transition. Settlement is regu...

Drained thermokarst lake basins (DTLBs) are ubiquitous landforms on Arctic tundra lowland. Their dynamic states are seldom investigated, despite their importance for landscape stability, hydrology, nutrient fluxes, and carbon cycling. Here we report results based on highresolution Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements using space-borne data for a study area located on th...

The conservation of aquatic plants in river ecosystems should consider the wash-out (away) problem resulting from severe rainfall. The aquatic plant Schoenoplectus gemmifer is an endangered species endemic to Japan. Our previous study reported that the population size of S. gemmifer in Hamamatsu city, Japan, had decreased by one-tenth because many individuals had been washed out by a series of ...