During two consecutive reconnaissance surveys in 2004 and 2005 and a revisit in 2008, the glaciological and meteorological conditions in the vicinity of the new Belgian Princess Elisabeth Station (71857'S; 23820'E) on Utsteinen Ridge were investigated. We set up an automatic weather station, measured the ice thickness around the Utsteinen Ridge, and established a mass balance stake network. The...

Polycaprolactone (PCL) polymers which illustrate both biocompatibility and resorbability for replacement or bulking of damaged or diseased tissue are important in tissue engineering. Cytocompatibilty of these polymers was assessed on two-dimensional PCL disks and threedimensional PCL solid and PCL hollow microspheres using human uterine mixed leiomyosarcoma (SKUT-1) and hamster ductus deferens ...

We investigated if the differences in density and nematode communities of intertidal sediments from two Brazilian sheltered sandy beaches were related to environmental characteristics. The upper tide level (UTL) and the low tide level (LTL) of both beaches were surveyed in January (austral summer) and June 2001 (austral winter) during low-spring tides, by collecting samples of nematodes and sed...

Biofilms play an important role as a settlement cue for invertebrate larvae and significantly contribute to the nutrient turnover in aquatic ecosystems. Nevertheless, little is known about how biofilm community structure generally responds to environmental changes. This study aimed to identify patterns of bacterial dynamics in coral reef biofilms in response to associated macrofouling community...

The Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus (De Haan, 1853) has recently established populations in the North Sea and now occurs within the native ranges of the green crab Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758). To determine potential competitive effects and to assess the progress of the invasion, species-specific population characteristics (numerical abundances, biomasses, and size distributions) of...

The distribution and abundance of Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus serratus and F. vesiculosus were described at four sheltered, rocky shores in the south of the Isle of Man. Canopy removal experiments were performed at mid tide level of one sheltered, canopy dominated shore to investigate the interactions between the dominant canopy alga, Ascophyllum nodosum and the competitively inferior canopy spe...

The selection of spawning depth by Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis was investigated in an experiment using artificial substrata in Lake Constance during the spawning season of 2007. The experiment compared spawning behaviour at substrata between 0.5 and 15 m depth at two sites exposed to different regimes of ship-generated wave action. The total abundance of egg ribbons did not differ signific...