Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: Rather, it’s a reasoned assessment of the stage we have reached in the process of searching for life, and where we’re likely to get to with the new generation of space telescopes that are currently at various stages of planning, construction, or early operation, including the (alias JWST or simply ‘Webb’), more on which later. The paper in Nature that I mentioned above is focused on formulating a policy for reporting possible evidence of alien life. The authors highlight the complementary problems of false positives and false negatives. The former involve concluding that some observation is evidence for life when in fact it’s not; the latter involve failing to detect life on a planet when it’s actually there. They particularly stress their concern about the likely sensationalization in the popular media of results that turn out to be false positives, and I think they are right to do so. Their approach to avoiding – or at least reducing – such problems is to develop a scale of the quality of possible evidence of alien life, and to make clear where on this scale any particular finding falls. This way, a hint of possible life shouldn’t be mistaken for a certainty. In 1960. This was a search for radio signals from alien civilizations, conducted using the Astronomy Observatory, now the Observatory, in West Virginia. Of course, the search for alien intelligence is only one part of the search for life. Nevertheless, from the 1960s onwards, both astrobiology in general and SETI in particular have evolved side by side in a much more continuous way than did the search for life before the second half of the twentieth century. of Telescopes It’s a long way from Galileo’s tiny telescope of 1610 to today’s large ground-based instruments such as Chile’s VLT (Telescope), and their space-based counterparts such as Hubble and Webb. I’ll now look at a few selected milestones along this evolutionary journey. If you’d like a bit more detail than I can give in just a few pages on the functioning and/or history of telescopes, I can recommend CottrellCottrell’s 2016 book Telescopes: A Introduction. Before examining milestones in the evolution of telescopes, it’s worth reminding ourselves of why, from an astrobiological perspective, they are collectively important.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: decreased (Eichner et al. , 2014). Also, an increase in temperature from 16 to 18–20 ∘C led to an earlier peak of cyanobacteria, while the biomass of cyanobacteria, especially that of nitrogen-fixer Dolichospermum sp. declined (Berner et al. , 2018). Further, in mesocosm studies an increase of pCO2 (from 360 to 2030 µatm) coupled with an increase in water temperature (from 16. 6 to 22. 4 ∘C) had a negative impact on the biomass of the diazotrophic cyanobacteria Nodularia spumigena (in 1400 L mesocosms, 28 d) (Paul et al. , 2018). Another experimental study (using 75 mL cell culture flasks), investigating the effects of increased temperature (from 12 to 16 ∘C), decreased salinity (from 7 to 4) and elevated pCO2 (from 380 to 960 ppm), found that only temperature had an effect on biovolume and photosynthetic activity of Nodularia spumigena and Aphanizomenon sp. (Karlberg and Wulff, 2013). The two species however had antagonistic effects on each other: biovolumes were lower when grown together than when grown separately, indicating species interactions. If the biomasses of Nodularia sp. and Dolichospermum decrease due to increased acidification, nitrogen input into the and carbon export to heterotrophic bacteria via cyanobacteria might decline (Eichner et al. , 2014; Berner et al. , 2018). This could however be balanced by the potential increase of Cyanothece, which is also a nitrogen fixer (Eichner et al. , 2014). To sum up, there are species-specific responses to climate change and associated oceanographic parameters within cyanobacteria. Several field and modelling studies suggest that the climate-induced increase in temperature and stratification, together with increasing hypoxia and release of phosphorus from the sediments, has increased cyanobacteria biomass and will also continue to favour cyanobacteria blooms in the future. However, the results of certain empirical and experimental studies give a more multifaceted picture of cyanobacteria response to climate change.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Planting a single species of tree in large areas, like monoculture forestry, is more beneficial to the ecosystem than maintaining biodiversity. [SEP] Text: l251: litterfall as index of ANPP: This seems okay for one important issue; does it include disintegrating twig/branch material from girdled trees on the girdled plots? That would NOT be appropriate as a component of current ANPP -- would lead to overestimation of post-treatment ANPP for a few years as canopy structure breaks up! l288-90: Back to question about cutting pine and hardwoods; in the logged plot, doesn't difference represent MORE than contribution of hemlock (i. e. , that of other trees cut)? l300-301: Yes, but that heterotrophic respiration is likely to be enhanced by breakdown of roots of killed trees in experimental plots? l343-344: 'increased abruptly. . remained stable' This is not visually evident for both logged plots; one instance COULD be interpreted this way; the other looks pretty gradual to me with increase continuing in the last sample interval l410-424: This is an example of over-description; I'd suggest reducing amount of verbal retelling of what's clear from tables/figures -- especially when there's no meaningful pattern relative to hypotheses/predictions. . . l448-449: It might be possible to draw some something from literature on response to beech bark disease mortality on this front. . . l522; this 'pulse' should be interpreted as related to increased ANPP as implied by the foregoing sentence; it's a transient loss fo a biomass reservoir and that should be clearly distinguished. . . 2: There needs to be an in-graph legend matching treatment to color. Cite this review as (2013) #1 of "Foundation species loss affects vegetation structure more than ecosystem function in a northeastern USA forest (v0. 1)". PeerJ Reviewer 2 · Nov 29, 2012 Basic reporting So, let me think about this. logged a stand and removed big trees, what would I expect? Let's see - decreased basal area, decreased cover, more CWD on the ground from felling the trees, less litterfall (because there are fewer big trees), lower soil C and N flux because of decreased litter input but slowly recovering as the canopy closed and litterfall recovered. And if I girdled trees but left them standing? Smaller changes in the above properties. This is what this experiment demonstrated. So what new things have we learned?

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: Telescopes of Galileo’s day were great for astronomy – especially when compared with the naked eye – but they weren’t much use for astrobiology. In contrast, today’s telescopes have the capability of addressing hypotheses about alien life. For example, we can now use telescopes to examine the atmospheres of distant exoplanets. We can search for signs of oxygen, which is regarded as a biosignature. In particular, it may be a signature of photosynthesis by microbes and plants. It’s true that oxygen may come to exist in planetary atmospheres by abiotic means. However, as we’ll see in 3. 7 centimetres, Newton’s (in 1668) 2. 5 centimetres. They’re not directly comparable because Galileo’s was a refractor (a telescope that uses lenses) while Newton’s was a reflector (a telescope that uses mirrors), but they were both tiny by current standards. Today’s large telescopes have mirrors with diameters measured in metres rather than centimetres. For example, the Canarias, situated on the Spanish island of La Palma, has an aperture of 10. 4 metres. The increase in telescope size has been continuous from the 1600s to the 2000s, though it has speeded up significantly since 1900. The largest telescope in the world at the end of the nineteenth century was the Leviathan of Parsonstown in County Offaly, Ireland, which had a diameter of 1. 83 metres. This size was exceeded in 1917 with the construction of the on in southern California, with a diameter of 2. 5 metres. So the last 100 years have seen the largest increase – more than 8 metres between the early twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. However, these measurements in metres don’t quite suffice to explain just how much more powerful modern telescopes are than their ancient forerunners. The light-collecting capability of a telescope scales not with the diameter of its primary mirror but with its surface area. So, in terms of functionality, a 10-metre mirror is not 10 times as good as a 1-metre mirror; rather it’s better by a factor of 100.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: The past increase in cyanobacteria is not as obvious as might be expected, responses vary from species to species, and processes affecting the amount of cyanobacteria in the can be modified, counteracted or amplified by various environmental processes and food web interactions. 4. 3 mesozooplankton species originate either from marine or freshwater environments, and some are typically found in brackish water. It is therefore plausible that they respond to long-term variations in oceanographic parameters. Several field studies have confirmed that marine copepod species (e. g. , Pseudocalanus spp. and Temora longicornis) declined during the 1980s and 1990s, while smaller-sized euryhaline and limnetic copepod species (Acartia spp. and Eurytemora spp. ) increased in abundance (Suikkanen et al. , 2013; Hänninen et al. , 2015), and the decline of marine taxa has usually been proposed to be linked to a decrease of salinity (Suikkanen et al. , 2013; Hänninen et al. , 2015). It has also been experimentally shown that respiration of copepods (Acartia longiremis) increases and feeding rate decreases (in 610 mL bottles, 24 h experiments) close to the physiological tolerance limit for salinity (below 7 psu), indicating a disruption of the energetic balance under low salinity (Dutz and Christensen, 2018). Environmental impacts on the physiology of the more sensitive species may also affect the reproductive success of zooplankton (Möller et al. , 2015). The increase of euryhaline taxa has been directly or indirectly attributed to the temperature increase (Mäkinen et al. , 2017). It has also been suggested that species that reside in the upper water layers, such as the copepod Acartia sp. , are mostly affected by temperature-driven increase in food availability, whereas species inhabiting the deep layers, such as older stages of Pseudocalanus acuspes, are more dependent on salinity and predation pressure (Otto et al. , 2014a, b; Mäkinen et al. , 2017). The effects of climate-driven variations in temperature and ocean acidification (OA) on zooplankton have been studied experimentally. sp.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: Review 26. DOI: 10. 35841/fisheries-research. 1. 1. 15-27 Visit for more related 1. Structurally sound coral reef at 30 m. depth, Roatan, Honduras, 1977. These reefs were coral dominated while algae were a minor component of this ecosystem [2,14]. Figure 2. Healthy coral, outer bank reef at depth of 20 m (65 ft. ), West Coast, Barbados, 1988/89 (Top) & Questrelles Point, St. Vincents, 1989 (Bottom). Photo taken by DeGeorges & Reilly [2]. This is not an issue for corals without zooxanthellae, called ahermatypic corals that are not limited by light, and which grow at great depths and are mostly small, solitary, and slow growing. But they can form large colonies in deep or cold waters, for example in the Gorgonian soft corals shown from Peninsula, Dakar, Senegal, in (Figure 3). Figure 3. Typical ahermatypic Gorgonian soft corals, Peninsula, Senegal, 1984. Photo taken by DeGeorges et al. in 1984 [14]. & the Demise of Excessive nutrient concentrations from pollution can lead to demise of the hermatypic coral reef community as the result of phytoplankton blooms, decreased light penetration and photosynthesis of zooxanthellae, thus reducing coral productivity. Reduced light penetration from algal blooms and coastal sedimentation also reduces photosynthesis of sea grass beds, causing their demise. But the greatest impact of high nutrients comes from benthic macro-algae (epiphytic) blooms that directly smother and kill corals; a competition with hard corals which they have lost. Thus, there can be a change in community structure from a hard coral dominated to an algaldominated system [2]. Thus, the habitat for the fisheries is degraded if not destroyed (Figure 4). Figure 4. Porites porites “finger coral” being smothered by macroalgae, Dictyota sp. , from inappropriate septic tanks, Beach Grenada, 1988. Similar patterns are seen around densely populated coastal areas and tourism areas worldwide [2,14].

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: Given that Galileo’s tiny telescope allowed him to see the moons of Jupiter, and discern individual stars in the ‘milk’ of the Milky Way, the capabilities of today’s telescopes are truly amazing. But, for astrobiology, size is not enough. There are several other developments that we need to understand. First, so obvious that it hardly needs to be said, the advent of photography in the 1800s, and its later coming together with telescopes in the form of astrophotography. Second, Earth’s atmosphere is a major cause of distortion in the business of seeing clearly into space. As is well known, stars don’t twinkle – they only seem to do so because of atmospheric effects. The main exoplanet-detecting telescopes have been placed above the atmosphere so that this distortion is avoided. These are the Kepler and TESS space telescopes (more on which in 2021. Another will be a future space telescope, which, at the concept stage, was called an acronym of Large Ultra-Violet, Optical, and Infra-Red (telescope). This design survived NASA’s 2020 decadal survey, which produced its report in late 2021 due to the Covid pandemic. However, it was scaled down in size for reasons of cost. The primary mirror will be of a smaller diameter than was originally envisaged. When constructed, the diameter will be about 6 metres – still a considerable size for a space telescope. Its final name will probably be different. In the immediate aftermath of the decadal survey, some astronomers jokingly suggested simply losing the L (large) and calling it UVOIR, but a better name will almost certainly be found. The ability to see across the boundary between visible and infrared light that characterizes both and means that they will be ideally placed to see oxygen biosignatures. This point brings us to the other important development in telescopes that we need to examine: the use of a technique called spectroscopy. Here’s the basic idea behind this technique, as applied in space telescopes for astrobiological purposes. You look at light from a distant source – say a star that has an orbiting planet. In fact, you look at it twice, once when the planet is behind the star or a long way off to one side, and once when it is transiting – i. e. in front of its star from our perspective.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: , warming decreased egg viability, nauplii development and adult survival (in 1. 2 L bottles, during 60 h) (Vehmaa et al. , 2013). In other experiments, both warming (Garzke et al. , 2015) and OA (Vehmaa et al. , 2016) had negative effects on adult female size. This suggests that the projected warming combined with ocean acidification may have negative effects on the populations of these copepods in the future Baltic Sea. Changes in zooplankton functional groups, such as a shift from raptorial and suspension-feeding copepods and cladocerans to a dominance of small filter-feeding rotifers and cladocerans, have also been shown as results of warming (Suikkanen et al. , 2013; Jansson et al. , 2020). OA also promoted the growth of suspension-feeding cladocerans because of a CO2-driven increase in cyanobacteria (Lischka et al. , 2017). Furthermore, a switch from predominantly herbivorous feeding by copepods to predation on ciliates has been observed in a field study in the southern and central during cyanobacterial blooms (Loick-Wilde et al. , 2019). This was caused by decomposing of the otherwise unpalatable filamentous cyanobacteria and an associated increase of the bacteria, nanoflagellates and ciliates (Hogfors et al. , 2014). Warming may also increase zooplankton grazing on medium to large algae, which could contribute to a change towards smaller-sized phytoplankton species (Klauschies et al. , 2012; Paul et al. , 2015). It is therefore possible that the dominant traits of zooplankton communities will change if climate-induced warming and reduced salinity trends continue. It has also been suggested, from experimental (mesocosm) evidence, that warming speeds up the growth of copepods but leaves phytoplankton unaffected, which shortens the time lag between phytoplankton and zooplankton. This may lead to a larger and earlier zooplankton peak and increase the possibility of zooplankton controlling phytoplankton, which may lead to a reduced phytoplankton biomass under warm temperature (Paul et al. , 2016).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: Recommended water quality standards to protect hermatypic coral reefs from nutrient pollution and common macro-algae impacting coral reefs when these standards are exceeded can be found in DeGeorges, et al. [14] (Figure 4). Observations of Quality in the by the author are contained in the Table 1. The importance of traditional knowledge by fishers in understanding what is causing the demise of a coral reef or fishery cannot be over-emphasized [18]. In the case of Belize (See observations by fishermen in Table 1), this insight was critical, where the virgin coral reefs the author had dived upon as a Volunteer in the mid-1970s, had turned into algal-covered reefs by the late 1980s: -Bridgetown -West and (major tourism areas) -Activated sludge -Hotels on septic systems or package plants with short outfalls -Note: Deep water outfall planned for Bridgetown and -Major odor problems, short outfall degrading surrounding environment. -Fringing reefs 99% dead, outer bank reefs beginning to show signs of algal overgrowth, near shore fishing on a decline, beach erosion accelerating. -Reef mostly dead from inappropriate sewage and apparently high sedimentation associated with steep-sloped agriculture. -Barbados reefs are eutrophic, but because there is high parrotfish grazing the algae are made of short turfs rather than fleshy macrophytes, but the dead coral is still algae covered. -St. Georges ------------------------ -Bay -Raw sewage outfall. ---------------------------------- -Three tourist hotels on septic systems, Medical school on septic system. Private homes? -Did not dive area, but outfall appeared too short in relation to currents, risking to contaminate near shore waters – 400 m outfall – real question is degree of offshore currents in region of outfall to dilute and carry pollution out to sea ---------------------------------- -High incidence of eye, ear and skin infections & High percentage of the Porites sp. coral dead and overgrown with Dictyota sp. algae Table 1 (cont. ) Typical sewage treatment systems and impacts on coral reefs observed by principal author in the Caribbean (1989-1990) : Horseshoe and World’s -Up to 140 boats a day anchors in the vicinity of these reefs during the winter months, none of which have holding tanks.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: You compare graphs of amount of light received versus wavelength for the two occasions (Figure 1. 1). Dips in the amount of light at particular wavelengths when the planet is in front of the star are interpreted as resulting from absorption of light by gases in the planet’s atmosphere. Since different gases have different characteristic patterns of absorption, you can identify them. Figure 1. 1 Detecting gases in exoplanet atmospheres. Left: amount of light received by a space telescope when the planet is ‘off to one side’ from our perspective. Right: amount of light received when the planet is in a direct line between its host star and the Earth. Note the dip in the amount of light received at a particular wavelength in the right-hand panel. If instead of looking at this graph you were looking at the light itself, after it had been split into its various colours by a prism, you would see a dark band at the wavelength (= colour) concerned. Such a dip (or band) is interpreted as the result of absorption by a particular gas in the planet’s atmosphere, and is known as an absorption band. Since different gases have different patterns of absorption centred on different wavelengths – in other words different ‘signatures’ – they can be identified. Some gases, notably oxygen, are regarded as biosignatures. As we will see later (in 2020. It gave its name to the famous Arecibo message broadcast by it into space in 1974. There are also large arrays of radio telescopes – for example ASKAP (Pathfinder), located about 700 kilometres north of the city of Perth, which started observing the sky in 2012. A of are about to feel the multidisciplinary nature of the search for extraterrestrial life that I mentioned at the outset, because we are about to move from the astronomical realm to its biological counterpart. In particular, we are going to move from the telescopes used in the search for habitable planets – and ultimately the life that’s on some of them – to the search for a workable definition of life. How can we search for life if we can’t define it? And yet the task of defining life is not an easy one – even in the restricted context of planet Earth (are viruses alive? ). It’s more difficult again to attempt a definition that will work in a cosmic context. But an imperfect definition is better than nothing – so here goes.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: Sufficient supply of essential compounds such as amino acids (AA) produced by phytoplankton and cyanobacteria is essential for the growth and productivity of zooplankton grazers. A field study performed in the shows that, during a warm summer, thermophilic rotifers and cladocerans (e. g. Bosmina spp. ) acquired ample AA through filter feeding on the abundant diazotrophic cyanobacteria, whereas the temperate copepods (e. g. copepods Temora longicornis and Pseudocalanus spp. ) avoided the warm surface layer and acquired AA mainly through sinking organic matter and/or via grazing on chemoautotroph-based microbial food web in the suboxic zone (Eglite et al. , 2018). Mesocosm experiments have also demonstrated that a high bacterial production can maintain copepod production (Lefébure et al. , 2013) but that increased heterotrophy leads to a decreased fatty acid content and lower individual weight of copepods (Dahlgren et al. , 2011). This may imply that thermophilic zooplankton species, such as rotifers and certain cladocerans gain more AA than copepods in a future warmer Baltic Sea. Little is known about the adaptation capabilities of zooplankton against physicochemical stress, but some degree of temperature adaptation has been demonstrated experimentally for the copepod Eurytemora affinis (Karlsson and Winder, 2020). Interestingly, the adaptability was better in populations reared in warm temperatures (≥17 ∘C), which suggests that southern populations can better cope with increasing temperatures than the northern ones and that the adaptation capability of all (surviving) populations may improve with proceeding climate change. To sum up, a shift towards smaller-sized zooplankton and a stronger linkage between mesozooplankton and the microbial food web is probable in a warmer Baltic Sea. A decline in certain marine species has also been projected, but this will depend on the future velocity of salinity decline, patterns of stratification, realised time lag between phytoplankton and zooplankton peaks, predation pressure by fish, and the possible adaptation of zooplankton species to the subtle changes in salinity. 4.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: -Additional pollution is believed to come from inappropriate sewage disposal on the islands of Petite St. and Palm. -Approximately 99% of the elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) dead but still standing -Approximately 30-40% of Porites sp. Dead -Overall state of reef degraded, much of dead coral covered in light purple coralline algae and the Bay lying between -----------------------Kingstown -Hotels on septic systems -Large number of sail boats with no holding tanks --------------------------------- Central collection system pumping raw sewage into -Coral reef around and mainland hotels mostly dead -Large areas of dead elkhorn and Porites sp. Elkhorn alive in the early 1980s ------------------------------------- Park: -Point. Shallow star coral shows signs of bleaching. Deeper portions of reef - star and other coral in reasonable condition -most of reef algal covered -near industrial park, mostly dead algal-covered Porites sp. -just north of industrial park, most of coral appears healthy, lots of deep water star coral, Montastre annularis. ---------------------------- Anse Chastinet, -Sewage collection, preliminary treatment dumped into harbor ----------------------------------- -Hotel on septic system -Town? Septic systems -Water quality and marine benthos study by Institute showed area to be very eutrophic. --------------------------------- -Some of best reef in the Windward Islands. -Watershed a protected rainforest – low human population ----------------------------- Villages ----------------------------- Other -Up to ten raw sewage outfalls ----------------------------------- -Community pit latrines right on the edge of the sea ----------------------------------- -Many people dump chamber pots into streams. -Dangleben’s Reef. Shallower than 30 feet coral smothered in Dictyota sp. algae. Below 40 feet depth, algae cover falls off and living coral becomes more dominant. -wall covered in silt -area covered in Dictyota sp. Algae -Scottshead area some good reef, but heavily algal covered -Fou reef walls nice but coral heavily covered in algae treatment level Observed ecological impacts heavily built out for tourism, hotels on septic systems or package plants. -Forces divers as part of warn Antigua government that its reefs are rapidly degrading from sewage and sedimentation. -Shallow offshore reefs on high-energy zone at appear degraded. ST.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: One way of looking at a definition is as an abstract generalization about a class of entities that’s based on prior knowledge of many concrete individual entities of the sort concerned. So, let’s start with a list of ‘concrete’ living entities – organisms – on our home planet. Not a complete list, of course, for that would include more than a million names. But we don’t need a complete list, nor even a particularly lengthy one. A short one will suffice, and indeed is preferable, in terms of not drowning in detail. Here it is: humans, snails, whales, trees, toadstools, and bacteria. A definition of ‘X’ – in this case ‘life’ – only works if we also have entities that we know are ‘not X’, which in this case means ‘not life’, or alternatively ‘inert objects’. Here’s a short list of such objects, all of which are generally agreed not to be living things: rocks, clouds, cars, smoke, and water. Of course, some of these entities might contain life forms – for example a cloud might contain airborne microbes – but that’s not the same thing as a cloud actually being a living organism itself. And in one case – cars – they’re made by life forms, but again that’s something different. So, the question is this: how do we word an abstract definition of life so that it includes all of the things that we think of as living and none of those that we think are not? There are different ways of doing this, and I have no intention of surveying them all. That would be both boring and pointless. Instead, I will focus on the definition that I think works best. I call it the RIM definition of life. These letters stand for the following three attributes of life forms: Reproduction, Inheritance, Metabolism. So, an entity that has all three RIM attributes is alive, while an entity with none of them is not. We’ll get to the annoying grey area in the middle shortly. Now is the moment for a warning about the risk of infinite regress. To define life, it’s necessary to define reproduction, inheritance, and metabolism. This could lead to a need to define words that occur in these definitions, and so on indefinitely.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: 4 Bacteria and the microbial food web Bacteria are key components of the ecosystem, as they decompose organic material and serve as food for heterotrophic nanoflagellates and the associated microbial food web. They affect the nutrient and carbon dynamics of the marine ecosystem, and it is therefore possible that climate impacts on bacteria may radiate to the structure and functioning of the entire ecosystem. The effects of climate-induced changes in environmental factors to pelagic bacteria and the other components of the microbial food web have been studied experimentally. The effects of projected ocean acidification (OA) on bacteria have been studied alone and also in combination with other abiotic variables, such as temperature (OAW) and salinity (OAS). OA alone had a limited impact on spring bloom microbial communities (sampled from the sea area around the island Öland in the and kept in 100 L mesocosms for 21 d), but when combined with increased temperature, certain bacterial phylotypes, such as betaproteobacteria, increased. It was suggested that synergistic effects of increased temperature and acidification selectively promote growth of specific bacterial populations (Lindh et al. , 2013). In the southern (Kiel Bight) the impact of OA was studied in 1400 L indoor mesocosms for 21–24 d. Acidification only affected a few operational taxonomic units (OTUs), such as Bacteroidetes “NS3a marine group”, as the bacterial community mainly responded to temperature and phytoplankton succession. Depending on studied season and temperature treatment, Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Alphaproteobacteria and/or Gammaproteobacteria increased under OA (Bergen et al. , 2016). In an OAS experiment (4 L aquaria, 12 d) using a natural summer microplanktonic community, the biovolume of heterotrophic bacteria declined when pCO2 was increased (from 380 to 960 µatm) and salinity was decreased (from 6 to 3 psu) (Wulff et al. , 2018). In experiments done in the (NW Gotland Sea, 25 L microcosms for 23 d), where temperature was increased (from 16 to 18–20 ∘C) and salinity reduced (from 6. 9 to 5. 9 PSU), the microbial community showed mixed responses.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts.End-to-end encryption ensures that messages are only readable by the sender and the recipient, not by third parties or service providers. [SEP] Text: ------------------------------ Refinery ------------------------------ Hotels -No sewage or collection system, sewage flushed into during rain events ---------------------------------- -Dumps untreated waste into ----------------------------------- -Package treatment plants into lagoons, one discharging into Atlantic and the other to the Caribbean side, newer hotels treatment discharge unknown -USAID sponsored environmental study found that most of the reefs south of Basseterre were degraded and algal covered. U. S. treatment and septic systems? Personal communication between the author and natural resources planner from islands associated with of Foundation, leads the author to believe that there is heavy coral reef degradation. treatment level Observed ecological impacts known treatment systems! Raw sewage direct or through groundwater seepage contains severely degraded coral smothered by Dictyota sp. algae. by airport reef appears healthy. : Deepwater outfall planned? -Trickling filter plant is being bypassed dumping 3. 0 million gallons/day of raw sewage into 200 m upstream from where it enters -Some hotels on septic systems and package plants -Two major rivers with small-scale farmers using inappropriate soil conservation resulting in heavy siltation Coral reef over the entire bay is mostly dead and algal/silt covered. treatment level Observed ecological impacts -------------------------------- Ambergris Cay, Park -------------------------------- -------------------------------- Placencia -------------------------------- __________________ Impacts (cont. ): -Other possible causes linked to land-based pollution, noted by local fishermen are rivers & streams that now run dirty from watershed degradation linked to U. S. citrus companies, and refugees practicing slash and burn agriculture in Belize. Fishermen also claim that “dirty” water from the deforested Gulf of Honduras flows over the reef during the rainy season. -Reef off Placencia – maybe 1-2 km offshore heavy epiphytic algae cover -Oxidation ponds with near shore outfall ------------------------------------ -Septic tanks at most hotels ----------------------------------- -Four-inch raw sewage outfalls --------------------------------- -Fishing village, maybe one resort? ------------------------------- -No sewage, Virtually undeveloped ________________________ Impacts (cont. ) -(cont. ): In the shallow backwater areas, boulder coral (mountainous star coral) alive along the edges but smothered with algae on the top similar to at Ambergris Cay. -Fishermen claim that in the late 1970s a hurricane hit and a fertilizer ship ran aground on Lighthouse Reef.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: You’ll be pleased to know that I’m absolutely not going to go down that road. However, I am going to briefly consider each of the three components of RIM. Since these three things are crucial in allowing us to distinguish life forms from inert entities – potentially throughout the universe – it simply won’t work if we’re fuzzy about their meanings. This point was brought home to me when I was reading the Introduction to astrobiology written by the planetary scientist David C. Catling in 2013. With regard to metabolism, Catling says the following: ‘All life metabolizes but so does my car. ’ I don’t agree with him, but I see what he means. The burning of a fuel such as petrol powers a car in much the same way as the burning of a fuel such as glucose powers a living organism. is right to see a parallel. But he’s wrong – in my view – to equate automotive and biological ‘metabolism’. I have an instinctive feeling that the two are different in some fundamental way, and perhaps you do too. But what is it? Of course, the fuels are different, but that’s not the best approach to this issue, because we can’t guarantee that the fuel of alien life is glucose. Here’s a better approach. A life form metabolizes right from the start; a car doesn’t. An organism is not simply a collection of cells, membranes, vesicles, filaments, and so on, that is inert until some point in its life when it gets fired up with an infusion of glucose or some other fuel. In contrast, a car is an object of precisely this latter sort. It’s a collection of metal and plastic parts that gets built in stages and hasn’t a whiff of ‘metabolism’ until after it’s complete – or has reached its ‘adult’ stage, to stretch the use of that term – and someone turns on the ignition. So, to be a life form from a metabolic perspective you need to be metabolizing right from the start. Even the very first cell of a new human or other animal – the zygote – metabolizes. An organism is an intrinsically metabolizing thing. Its default state is to metabolize.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: OA does not have a negative effect on MZP, probably because estuarine MZP are adapted to a large natural variability in pCO2 (Horn et al. , 2016). The abundance of the mixotrophic ciliate Mesodinium sp. even increased in mesocosms with OA because of increase of its prey and food, e. g. picoeukaryotes, at higher CO2 levels (Lischka et al. , 2017). In addition, warming improved the growth rate of MZP, and their biomass peaked earlier in warm mesocosm treatments. This led to a reduced time lag between MZP and phytoplankton peaks, inducing a better food supply to microzooplankton in warm conditions (Horn et al. , 2016). The same applied to the MZP-copepod link: at low temperatures MZP escaped from predation by slower growing copepods, whereas at higher temperatures especially small-sized ciliates were more strongly controlled by copepod predation. To sum up, different components of the microbial food web show very variable responses to climate-induced changes in temperature, salinity and pH. Bacteria growth is generally favoured by increasing temperature, but mixed effects are common, and indirect processes affecting decay and availability of organic matter and abundances of species predating on bacteria are also important. This highlights the importance of considering the effects of abiotic factors and the delicate indirect food web effects on the dynamics of the microbial food web and the pelagic ecosystem in general. 4. 5 Macroalgae and vascular plants Long-term changes in macroalgae and charophytes have mostly been explained by combined or synergistic effects of changes in salinity, wind exposure, nutrient availability and water transparency (Gubelit, 2015; Blindow et al. , 2016; et al. , 2020; Rinne and Salovius-Laurén, 2020) and by biotic interactions (Korpinen et al. , 2007). For the brown alga bladderwrack Fucus spp. , light availability, which may also be affected by partly climate-driven changes in eutrophication, affects their local coverage (Lappalainen et al. , 2019). A documented long-term decrease in water transparency in 1936 to 2017 has reduced favourable sea floor areas for Fucus spp.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: Fertilizer never removed, and a freak red tide killed off many of the fish that are algal grazers, especially parrotfish whose populations have never recovered. These events could be linked and need further investigation. -Coral reefs dived by author along Belize’s 240-250 km barrier reef appear to be highly degraded and have high algal cover. -This includes the outer atolls such as Lighthouse and Blue Hole, though they are less degraded than the barrier reef along two Cayes. -Obvious other factors coming into play, but sewage believed to be major cause of degradation. -In vicinity of annual production of sewage equivalent of dumping 6,500 fifty-pound sacks of 20/10/10 (N/P/K) fertilizer onto barrier reef. -Cay Caulker: structurally intact dead Elkhorn corals, Acropora palmata, at the very top of the barrier reef. In the cut, large areas of massive leaf coral, Agaricia agaricites var. danai, smothered in algae. coral covered in coralline algae also seen intact at depths of 15 ft. Observations by DeGeorges in the late 1988-1990, while USAID's for the Caribbean, (REMS/C), in DeGeorges & Reilly [2]. Table 1. Typical sewage treatment systems and impacts on coral reefs observed by principal author in the Caribbean (1989-1990). “However, fishermen agreed that where the “rock” (that is coral) died, the lobster left. As one fisherman put it, “when the lobster’s house gets dirty he leaves”. Many fishermen began observing changes in the structure of the coral community, some placing these at seven to eight years earlier (1981/1982) while others estimated that changes started taking place four to six years earlier (1983-1985). The change observed by the fishermen was an increase in algal cover locally known as morasse and a gradual dieback of the Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata), known locally as pantia or moose coral. They said that when the Elkhorn coral dies, the lobster does not come back! This could have been from a combination of the “white band” disease that is known to have killed Acropora spp. and pollution resulting in high algal cover” [2,19].

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: However, to call life forms perpetually metabolizing things would be a step too far. We’re all familiar with hibernation – in hedgehogs, for example. This is a state of reduced metabolic activity in cold weather. And there’s the related phenomenon of aestivation – reduced metabolic activity in hot dry weather, as is found in some Mediterranean snails. But these two states are eclipsed by a more extreme one called cryptobiosis (‘hidden life’), in which metabolism may be reduced to zero, or very nearly so. The best example of animals exhibiting cryptobiosis are the tiny invertebrates called tardigrades, or water bears. These have played an interesting role in astrobiology, as we’ll see later. So it’s appropriate that they should feature in our discussion here of the definition of life. When environmental conditions become too extreme for a tardigrade to maintain normal, active, rapidly metabolizing life, it converts itself into a static, low-or-zero metabolizing structure called a tun. Both this state and the normal active state are shown in Figure 1. 2. When conditions improve again, it can convert back from a tun into an active, mobile, metabolizing tardigrade. But this fact doesn’t really cause us difficulties of definition. As long as we stick with a view of organisms as ‘intrinsically metabolizing’ rather than ‘perpetually metabolizing’, then we’re ok. Figure 1. 2 Two forms of the tiny invertebrate called a tardigrade or water bear. Upper right: how the animal looks under benign environmental conditions, when it is active. Lower left: a tardigrade tun, which is a resistant, non-metabolizing form that the animal converts itself into under extreme environmental conditions such as very low temperatures or lack of water. If conditions become less extreme, the tun can revert to the active form. That was a quick look at ‘metabolism’. Now, what about reproduction? Cars don’t reproduce. Neither do rocks or clouds of smoke. Organisms do. Perhaps this is more straightforward, then, than the case of metabolism? Well, not entirely. Regrettably, not all adult humans can reproduce. But those who can’t are no less alive than those who can.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: by 45 % (Sahla et al. , 2020), and resulted in a halving of the depth range of F. vesiculosus in the Åland Islands (et al. , 2020). For many shallow coastal ecosystems of the Baltic Sea, it has been concluded that eutrophication is the most important pressure affecting the ecosystem structure and functioning (Olsson et al. , 2015). This is plausible because of the strong influence of anthropogenic nutrient loading in coastal areas (Vigouroux et al. , 2021), especially those that are prone to hypoxia due to complex topography (Virtanen et al. , 2019), and which often are affected by internal loading of phosphorus from the sediment (Puttonen et al. , 2014, 2016). The effects of anthropogenic eutrophication on macroalgae may however be amplified or counteracted by climate-induced changes in environmental parameters. Such interactions are reviewed below. The direct effects of climate-induced changes in temperature, salinity and ocean acidification (OA) on bladderwrack Fucus vesiculosus have been investigated by a number of experimental studies. OA appears to have a relatively small effect on macroalgae (Al-Janabi et al. , 2016a; Wahl et al. , 2019), while temperature effects may be significant. The impacts of increasing temperature are not linear however. Growth or photosynthesis is not impaired under temperatures of 15 to 17. 5 ∘C but at extreme temperatures, simulating heatwaves of 27 to 29 ∘C, photosynthesis declines, growth ceases and necrosis starts (Graiff et al. , 2015; Takolander et al. , 2017b). Necrosis is also enhanced by low salinity (4 PSU) (Takolander et al. , 2017b), and under very low salinity (2. 5 PSU) the sexual reproduction of F. vesiculosus ceases (Rothäusler et al. , 2018, 2019). The timing of temperature stress is however important for the damage experienced by algae.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: & Pollution in the Ocean in the 1990s The following observations by the author are contained in Tables 2 and 3: Site & % % % Silt % Species 1990 National Park, near lighthouse 100 0 0 0 - National Park, 1 km off of Service camp, 70-80 20-30 0 0 - 100 m off shore 95 5 0 0 - 1 km offshore from Treatment Plant, in vicinity of outfall 5 95 Minimal, Colloids in water column 95 Sargassum spp. Brilliant Point, off lagoon outlet, just off of and before 10-15 85-90 40 40 Sargassum spp. Ile Cachée, St. 70 30 0 ≤ 30 Turbinaria spp. Ile Moyenne, St. ≥ 95 ≤ 5 0 ≤ 5 Shallows (≤ 5 ft) dominated by Turbinaria spp. Methodology: Method. Principal author laid out five randomly placed 15 m transects per site, 1/2 m2 quadrat laid down every three meters along marked chain and percent/live dead coral estimated and recorded on an underwater slate. The percent live/dead coral averaged for each site. Underwater video also made and viewed to verify underwater observations [14] Table 2. Underwater survey observations, Mahé & marine park, the Seychelles, 1990. 1990 99% 1 km offshore fringing island. Reef near port & new tourism hotels shows signs of algal cover Kilifi, Kenya, in front of sisal plant, 1991 99% Coral reefs below sisal plant discharge dead & smothered in sediment from directly discharged plant effluent, 3 km up coast from Kilifi sisal plant 99% Low density tourism homes – corals healthy, though at low tide, local fishermen walk on shallower coral reef to catch fish 1991 99% Very little development in the watershed Maurice (Mauritius) 21, 1990, NW/N Coast 95-98% & Covered with Macro-Watershed covered with tourist hotels, and no or improper sewage treatment & disposal. Inland watershed covered in sugar cane and some tea with one of the highest rates of pesticide application/km2 anywhere in the world. , 45 min up coast from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, off Hotel, December 1997.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: In bees and ants, there are whole castes that can’t reproduce – workers, for example. These are no less alive than reproductive drones and queens. Also, cases are known where two species occasionally interbreed, producing offspring that are typically sterile – such as the mule, a hybrid between a horse and a donkey. So, we have to use reproduction as a characteristic of a species rather than of every individual, in our attempts to draw a line between life and non-life. Now we come to the third attribute included in the RIM definition of life – inheritance. This applies to all life forms on Earth, though in different ways to some than to others. We humans are most familiar with the sort of inheritance that is associated with sexual reproduction, in which, as we can plainly see, offspring tend to resemble one or both parents more than they do other members of the overall population. Most other animal species have sexual reproduction, so the same phenomenon applies, even though, for example, we humans find it hard to distinguish degrees of similarity among different individual houseflies. Inheritance still applies in the world of asexual reproduction, which is much more common in bacteria and other microbes than it is in animals. A population of a particular kind of bacterium that reproduces in this way can be thought of us a collection of clones. Each parent, on its own, produces progeny that are genetically identical to itself, so the within-clone variation is zero at the level of the gene (unless a mutation occurs), and may be quite small at the level of the organism. In contrast, the between-clone variation is greater. Since clones are to all intents and purposes families, the situation regarding inheritance is broadly the same. Finally, we must be equally careful in deciding what entity to apply inheritance to, as we were in using the term reproduction. Inheritance applies to the relationship between generations, not to individual organisms taken alone. Of the three RIM attributes, metabolism is the only one that can be applied to individuals considered in isolation from other members of their family, population, or species. In summary, the RIM definition of life can be constructed something like this.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: Experiments done with bladderwrack Fucus vesiculosus (in 1500 L tanks in Kiel, in the western Baltic Sea) showed that in the early and late summer warming of 1 to 5 ∘C above ambient had mostly beneficial effects on bladderwrack, whereas in midsummer a similar warming had negative effects (Wahl et al. , 2021). During midsummer, the heatwaves surpassed the physiological tolerance limits of the species, with detrimental effects on growth. Ocean acidification combined with warming (OAW) may also act in concert with hypoxia in areas where upwellings bring hypoxic water close to the surface. In a 3 d experiment simulating an upwelling event, hypoxic water caused severe mortality of Fucus germlings if they were already stressed by OAW (Al-Janabi et al. , 2016b). Climate-induced decline in salinity may affect communities via its direct effect on the physiology of individual populations and species. A retreat towards the south–south-west has been predicted for marine species such as bladderwrack and eelgrass and for species affiliated to them (Vuorinen et al. , 2015). Species distribution modelling studies have suggested that this mainly salinity-induced decrease of bladderwrack will cause habitat fragmentation with large effects on the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of the shallow water communities of the northern (Takolander et al. , 2017a; Jonsson et al. , 2018; Kotta et al. , 2019). It is not certain to what degree Fucus vesiculosus can adapt to the anticipated changes. It has been suggested that Baltic marine species have, due to local adaptation, isolation and genetic endemism, diminished potential for adaptation, and they therefore have an increased risk of local extinction (Johannesson et al. , 2011). For example, F. vesiculosus has a long generation time and relatively restricted dispersal, and therefore the dispersal rate of locally adapted genotypes may not keep pace with the projected velocity of salinity decline (Jonsson et al. , 2018). However, a growing body of evidence from experimental studies shows that F. vesiculosus has phenotypic plasticity and tolerance against salinity change (Rothäusler et al. , 2018; Rugiu et al.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: 5 Dives 99% Low volume development in watershed with a few hotels Pemba, Mozambique, March/April and December 1998, four dives off 50-70% macro-algae covered coral reefs Pemba has human population of 88,000 & no sewage. People defecate on the beach; the case all along the coast of Province. (Shallow Place) 1990, 50 km (31 mi. ) off of Maputo and 10 km (6. 2 mi. ) N/NW off Inhaca Island, 1990 40% Physically damaged, possibly from dynamite fishing or trawlers dragging nets Inhaca Island, off Maputo, Mozambique, 1990 60-80% Visibility low, high algal cover on reefs – signs of pollution from capital city & refugee camps on Inhaca Methodology: DeGeorges swims randomly over reef recording overall impressions. The uniqueness of this data is that one person (important as a means of providing reasonable precision) had the opportunity to make observations of coral reef quality over a large area of the Ocean just before the 1998 ocean warming event [14]. Table 3. Other observations in the Ocean, 1990-1997 Estimates of pollutants from municipal wastewater in the Ocean are contained in Table 4. (tonnes/year Country BOD (1 Nitrogen (2 Phosphorous (2 Estimated volume of municipal wastewater (m3/day Comoros 489 1,063 212 26 168 Kenya 2,744 3,889 802 97 145,500 Madagascar 2,962 6,869 1,417 172 Mauritius 598 1,388 286 35 130,420 (173,500 after extension of system Mozambique 1,137 1,203 108 26 29,149 Seychelles 541 1,254 259 31 4,922 (10,372 after extension of system 39,502 30,478 4,518 2,259 255,000 (offshore, 1° treatment) 46,300 (surf zone, 2° treatment) 31,500 (estuaries, 2° treatment Tanzania 21,741 50,413 10,398 1,260 37,912 • Demand (BOD) is a measure of oxygen depleting organic material •Not indicated in which form estimate is made (e. g.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: An entity is alive if (1) it has intrinsic metabolism; (2) it belongs to, or is descended from, a group (species) that reproduces sexually, asexually, or through a mixture of the two; and (3) there is inheritance of organismic features from one generation to the next. If it has none of these features, it is not alive. Now we get to the grey area mentioned above. What happens if an entity has one or two of these attributes, rather than zero or three? I’m quite confident that most entities on planet Earth can be classified as living or non-living on the basis of the RIM definition, as given above. However, there is an important exception: viruses. Are these entities tiny subcellular organisms, or very large and complex, but non-living, molecules? Most people think of them as being alive, but is this intuitive feeling justified? Viruses have no metabolism. At its simplest, a virus is a piece of hereditary material made of nucleic acid (sometimes DNA, sometimes RNA) wrapped in a protein coat. Its size is orders of magnitude less than that of a single cell. Viruses operate by entering host cells and hijacking their molecular machinery to make offspring viruses. It’s clear from this brief description that viruses have the R and the I of RIM, but not the M. So they possess two out of the three attributes of life. However, this statement has to be qualified in an important way. Viruses can’t reproduce outside of a living cell of their host organism, be it an animal, a plant, a fungus, or a microbe. So their reproduction, and hence their inheritance, is not intrinsic. Perhaps we could conclude that they score half, half, and zero on the RIM scale, thus giving them an overall score of one rather than two. Whatever exact score we give them, the conclusion is inescapable: viruses inhabit a grey area between life and non-life. A of searches for alien life in general, and intelligent alien life in particular, are very different endeavours. We’ve already seen that they involve different wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum, and consequently different designs of telescope. Searching for signatures of oxygen is centred on the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: , 2018a, b), and genetic studies show that different sibling groups of F. vesiculosus have different responses to environmental change, including OAW (Al-Janabi et al. , 2016a, b). There may also be population-specific responses to different stressors, especially if populations are genetically isolated. In a study performed in the Danish Straits, certain populations of F. vesiculosus were only slightly affected by a salinity decline, while others displayed clearer responses; one population even showed severe stress symptoms and stopped growing (Kinnby et al. , 2020). It has also been shown that Fucus radicans, an endemic congener of F. vesiculosus, which is tolerant to low salinity, might be able to occupy the niche of F. vesiculosus in the northernmost Baltic if salinity declines (Rugiu et al. , 2018a). If F. radicans can replace the ecological functions of its congener, its increase may potentially delay or modify the most drastic consequences of climate change on the invertebrate and fish species dependent on bladderwrack belts. Changes in species interactions involved in climate-induced environmental changes are however very difficult to project. Some studies project a decrease of grazers of Fucus spp. in the northern areas (Kotta et al. , 2019), while others predict an increase (Leidenberger et al. , 2015). Similar experiments on climate change effects to those done with bladderwrack have also been made with other macroalgae and certain vascular plants. In field mesocosm experiments, OA increased the growth of the opportunistic green alga Ulva intestinalis in the Kõiguste Bay, Gulf of Riga, Estonia (Pajusalu et al. , 2013, 2016). This suggests that OA could favour such fast-growing species and induce an overgrowth of Fucus sp. by annual green algae. Salinity decline is projected to decrease the distributional ranges of the marine eelgrass Zostera marina and the red alga Furcellaria lumbricalis (Torn et al. , 2020). The changing environment poses an evolutionary risk for populations that live close to the limits of their geographical ranges (Johannesson et al. , 2011), including Z. marina (Billingham et al. , 2003).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: as P or P04, N or N03) Source: UNEP/[20], in DeGeorges et al. [14] Table 4. Representative estimated loads pollutants & volumes of municipal wastewater into coastal areas of the Ocean. Industrial effluents appear to be primarily oxygen-consuming organic materials as measured by Demand (BOD) from agro-industries in Ocean countries (Table 5). Country/of[20] Agro- industries Significant, small compared to domestic waste Same as BOD - - - - Kenya UNEP/ 2009 [20] Cashew nut and sisal processing High from sisal wastes High from sisal wastes 15,330 & 8,400 tonnes/yr. respectively - - Mauritius UNEP/ [20] Ahamada et al. [23] 31 industries 1,117 tonnes/yr. - 2,306 tonnes/yr. - - - 17 tonnes/yr. Coral reefs degraded by sediment & nutrients 81 tonnes/yr. - - - Mozambique UNEP/[20] 137 Industries around Maputo, Matola & Beira: textile, paper, tyre, brewery; discharging untreated wastewater 79,388/yr. in 1996 - - - - Unquantified heavy metals Seychelles Agro-industries 17. 7% of total 6. 7% of total - - -[20] Food processing (slaughter houses, dairy, beverages) & soap) Various industries in Stone Town. 15 tonnes/yr. - 16 tonnes/yr. - - - - - - - - Significant levels of aluminium & cadmium in macroalgae from Chapwani & off Zanzibar Abbrevitions: BOD: Demand, Total P: as P Source: in DeGeorges et al. [14] Table 5. Industrial pollutants, western Indian Ocean. Top-Downers, Blaming the Fishermen versus Bottom- Pollution for Demise of There are major debates as to which is more important to the demise of coral reefs, land-based pollution (“Bottom-Uppers”) or over-fishing ("Top-Downers"). Many coral reef biologists believe overfishing of herbivores is of greater importance than nutrients in driving algae overgrowth of reefs, though most publications supporting this “top-down” hypothesis lack nutrient water quality data.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: Among the primates, the great apes stand out, and among these, of course, humans represent an apex. Rather than pretend that it’s possible to create a cross-species numerical scale of intelligence, let’s simply acknowledge five broad-brush levels: zero (e. g. sponges), little if any (e. g. worms), some (e. g. jumping spiders), a lot (e. g. octopuses, crows, most mammals), and ‘high’ (humans). Counterparts of these may well eventually be found among the life forms of other planets, though there may also be a further category (‘very high’) on some of them, the nature of which we can only dimly conjecture. Now let’s poke further into the ‘high’ category here on Earth. Human tool-making is thought to have originated about three million years ago – in the form of stones fashioned for hammering and chopping. That was a significant milestone. Wheels and writing – two further important milestones – were invented thousands rather than millions of years ago. Telescopes were invented a few hundred years ago – around 1600, as we’ve already seen. And radio transmission was achieved in the years around 1900, with the Italian scientist being a key figure. Here’s an important caveat. The pattern of increasing sophistication of human inventions over time can’t be mapped directly to a pattern of increasing intelligence in time. Human brain size reached its present level more than 100,000 years ago. Brain size is a very blunt instrument, but even when more subtle aspects of the brain, such as its shape, are taken into account, the brains of members of our species – Homo sapiens – seem to have reached something resembling the present-day condition by about 50,000 years ago. Not only that, but the Neanderthals alive at that time had brains that were at least as big as ours. So humans of 50,000 years ago probably had an intelligence level not dissimilar to that of an average human alive today.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: Indeed, mesocosm studies have indicated that, while OA has little effect on the eelgrass Zostera marina (Pajusalu et al. , 2015), they suffer from heatwaves in summer (Ehlers et al. , 2008) and elevated temperatures in winter-spring period (Sawall et al. , 2021). On the other hand, the viability of eelgrass beds also strongly depends on water clarity. A study performed for the southernmost coupled biogeochemical and species distribution modelling to assess how projected wind fields, hydrodynamic conditions and nutrient abatement scenarios affect the distribution of eelgrass Z. marina in the future (2062–2066). It was concluded that nutrient reductions that fulfil the of the () will lead to an expansion of eelgrass coverage, despite potentially harmful effects on eelgrass distribution caused by the climate change (Bobsien et al. , 2021). Certain species may be favoured by the projected climate change. Lowering of salinity generally favours vascular plants originating from freshwater, and temperature increase favours thermophilic species, such as charophytes (Torn et al. , 2020). In mesocosm studies made in Kõiguste Bay, photosynthesis of charophytes (Chara aspera, C. tomentosa and C. horrida) increased under high pCO2 treatments (Pajusalu et al. , 2015), which suggests that they may be favoured by ocean acidification. To sum up, recent studies suggest that changes in species composition of macroalgae and vascular plants are likely due to temperature, pH and salinity changes. Climate change, in conjunction with other environmental changes (especially eutrophication) may also influence carbon storage in both macroalgae and vascular plants in the (Röhr et al. , 2016; Takolander et al. , 2017a; Jonsson et al. , 2018; Salo et al. , 2020; Bobsien et al. , 2021). It has been projected that macroalgae will decline in hard bottoms and vascular plants increase in the more sheltered soft-bottom areas (Torn et al. , 2020). Because algae and plants mostly occupy different habitats, the possible increase of vascular plants or charophytes cannot counteract the negative effects of the disappearance of macroalgae from hard-bottom areas.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: “Top-Downers” suggest the solution is to stop fishing. If this were the limiting factor in reefs, herbivorous fish populations would crash as fisheries intensified, causing reef algae to proliferate, so preventing fishing should cause corals and fish to recover. But in fact, these patterns were not seen in the Caribbean: overfishing long preceded coastal tourism over-development, while sewage effluents and algae proliferation increased simultaneously whenever new tourism areas were developed, and fish populations changed from being carnivore dominated (the preferred choice of fishermen) to becoming almost entirely herbivore dominated as algae became the only abundant food source. It has been found that a reduction in herbivory from overfishing may enhance the likelihood of inorganic/organic pollution causing a coral-algal phase shift, but a reduction in herbivory in the absence of eutrophication can also lead to the proliferation of algae [14]. While the debate continues, if land-based pollution and overfishing are not addressed, the creation of marine parks will not save the coral reefs nor the fisheries, and any hope of expanding the concept of CBNRM to coastal fisheries will be lost. Until massive coral bleaching and die-off due to recent ocean warming events starting in the 1980s, a major cause of coral die-off globally had been and continues to be nutrient pollution. Coral bleaching is the whitening of corals that occurs when the zooxanthellae are lost from coral tissues or the amount of photosynthetic pigment in the zooxanthellae is sharply decreased. Because corals can only survive in a limited range of conditions, a slight temperature increase over a prolonged period can result in bleaching. Stresses from pollution (e. g. nutrients, sedimentation), high levels of light, infections, excess shade and fluctuations in salinity levels are also associated with incidents of coral bleaching. If the sea surface temperature (SST) increased 1°C for a month or longer above the long-term average for the warmest months/season, the period was termed “a hot spot” and usually resulted in mass bleaching of coral reefs. If these conditions last only one month and it then cools down, almost all corals will gradually recover.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: Marconi’s ability to send radio signals across the Atlantic in the early twentieth century was probably not so much a consequence of human evolution in the last 50,000 years as it was a consequence of being able to build on a wide range of discoveries and inventions that had taken place in previous history, and on the prediction of radio waves by the Scottish physicist Maxwell in the 1860s. It’s important to keep in mind this point that the mapping of the level of technology of a society to the level of intelligence of its members is complex. However, it’s also important to be pragmatic when trying to come up with a working definition. I’m going to use the ability to send and receive radio waves as indicating that a certain threshold of intelligence has been reached, because searches of a SETI type are largely conducted using radio, and the only beings we’ll detect by conducting these searches are those who can send out powerful signals (radio or possibly laser) into space. The relevant intelligence threshold may have been reached thousands of years earlier, but that’s not important from a practical perspective. Questions We’ve now considered what we’re looking with – telescopes plus various associated techniques including spectroscopy. And we’ve also thought carefully about what we’re looking for – both life in general, as defined by reproduction, inheritance and metabolism, and intelligent life with advanced technology in particular, as defined by the ability to send and receive radio signals. Our final job, before venturing out into the cosmos to take its measure, is to be clear about the key questions we’re asking in our endeavour to understand what has sometimes been called ‘the biological universe’. There are two of these questions, or perhaps more accurately two groups of questions, as follows. First, a group that I think of as being about the geography of alien life. These are questions about distribution in space. For example: Is life only found on planets orbiting stars, or might it be found in other places too, such as rogue planets (which don’t orbit anything) or moons, which orbit planets? Where is the closest life – and the closest intelligent life – to us? How many inhabited bodies are there, at various levels of spatial scale from the solar system through the galaxy to the universe as a whole? Are there planetary systems in which more than one planet is inhabited?

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: Consequently the invertebrates, fish and birds benefiting from habitats formed by macroalgae also will suffer from the climate change. As with other species groups, projecting the fate of macroalgae and vascular plants is challenging. This is caused by the uncertainties in projections concerning salinity and stratification (Lehmann et al. , 2022), discrepancy on which physicochemical factors determine the distribution of invertebrates, unknown adaptation capabilities of algae and plants, and uncertainties concerning future trophic interactions within macroalgae and vascular plant communities. 4. 6 Benthic invertebrates Soft-bottom benthic communities are dependent on several hydrographic and biogeochemical variables, and parameters that change with climatic variations have been shown to drive the long-term progression of zoobenthic communities (Weigel et al. , 2015; Rousi et al. , 2019; Ehrnsten, 2020). In the SW coast of Finland, a drastic community change took place, with amphipods being replaced by Baltic clam Limecola balthica and the non-indigenous polychaete Marenzelleria spp. This major community change was explained by an increase in near-bottom temperature and by fluctuations in salinity and oxygen (Rousi et al. , 2013). In the Åland Islands (northern Baltic Sea), zoobenthos variations in 1983–2012 were associated with salinity decline, and environmentally driven shifts in the links between zoobenthos and benthic-feeding fish assemblages were recorded (Snickars et al. , 2015). Long-term climate-induced shifts in zoobenthos and other trophic levels have also been described in various parts of the (Törnroos et al. , 2019; Forsblom et al. , 2021). In all these cases, interactions between the physicochemical climate-affected parameters and secondary impacts (mainly eutrophication and/or hypoxia) have been identified. Many marine invertebrates will directly and indirectly suffer from decreasing salinity. In experiments simulating projected changes in temperature and salinity, the survival of the isopod Idotea balthica decreased, albeit with differences between and within regions (Rugiu et al. , 2018c). In addition, effects of warming on invertebrates are often non-linear, with stress effects being manifested after a certain threshold.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. End-to-end encryption ensures that messages are only readable by the sender and the recipient, not by third parties or service providers. [SEP] Text: If excessively hot surface water conditions persist for two to three months or if surface water temperatures reach 2°C or 3°C above average for one month, coral mortality becomes significant. In the Caribbean, once seawater temperatures reach about 30°C for a few weeks, corals can begin experiencing “bleaching”, the degree of bleaching appearing to increase with the length of period of elevated surface water temperatures. In 1982-1983, 70-95% of the corals in the off of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and the Galápagos Islands died because of bleaching caused by the warm waters brought by El Niño (ENSO - El Niño–Southern Oscillation, irregularly periodic variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, bleaching became a regular and pervasive problem in the Caribbean and began to appear in the Pacific and -- often related to El Niño events. During the El Niño of 1997- 1998, bleaching began in the eastern Pacific but then expanded to an unprecedented, alarmingly broad region across the from Kenya to Indonesia and in the from Australia to Polynesia [2]. The consequences of coral die-off, be it from land-based pollution or ocean warming are similar; dead reefs, increased beach erosion, decreased fishery habitat, public health issues, declining tourism and ultimate loss of key economic sectors. One might challenge the importance of land-based pollution when the consequences of ocean warming events on coral die-off were as much as 10 times that from other causes in the Seychelles and much of the Ocean (e. g. sediment from land or dredging, algae overgrowth, tourist and anchor damage, storm waves, or coral-eating crown of thorns starfish), resulting in 75- 99% loss of live coral. However, corals have begun recovering from this ocean warming event. Recovery can be enhanced by diminishing stresses like land-based pollution. Ocean warming must be dealt with through long-term international negotiations, but land-based pollution can be dealt with immediately at regional and local levels [14] (Figure 5). Figure 5. Coral bleaching, West Coast, Barbados, 1988/1989; zooxanthellae giving, coral color, have been extruded, but coral is still alive [2].

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: Second, a group of questions that I think of as being about the biology of alien life. These are questions about the nature of life forms, wherever they are found. For example: Is life usually (or always) based on carbon? Is it usually dependent on water? Is life usually made of cells or cell-like units? Are large life forms common, and do they usually arise from the evolution of multicellularity rather than by some other means? Are there features of large multicellular life forms that are to be expected to occur widely across multiple planets, for example skeletons? How does intelligent life arise from unintelligent beginnings, and are there parallels in the evolution of intelligence from one planet to another? Although these two groups of questions are reasonably distinct from each other, they are not without overlap and interaction, as I mentioned earlier. For example, by now we are fairly sure that, Earth aside, there are no multicellular life forms in the solar system, even though the possibility of microbial life having evolved on some local body – for example Jupiter’s moon Europa or Saturn’s moon Enceladus – remains a possibility, as we’ll see in 5. In contrast, it seems highly probable that there are plenty of rocky bodies scattered across our galaxy that have large life forms as well as microbes. Some authors have argued against this – notably the American scientists in their 2000 book Rare Earth. These authors argued that Earth possessed a combination of unique features that was unlikely to be replicated elsewhere. However, that was before the discovery of Earth-like exoplanets, and their argument no longer seems tenable. As we proceed, these two groups of questions – about the geography and biology of alien life – will always both be at least in the background. In particular 1. 1 Detecting gases in exoplanet atmospheres. Left: amount of light received by a space telescope when the planet is ‘off to one side’ from our perspective. Right: amount of light received when the planet is in a direct line between its host star and the Earth. Note the dip in the amount of light received at a particular wavelength in the right-hand panel. If instead of looking at this graph you were looking at the light itself, after it had been split into its various colours by a prism, you would see a dark band at the wavelength (= colour) concerned.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: In experiments, respiration and growth of the isopod Idotea balthica first increased until 20 ∘C and then decreased at 25 ∘C (Ito et al. , 2019). Heatwaves, which have been projected to increase in frequency (Meier et al. , 2019a), may therefore pose a severe threat to sublittoral invertebrates (Pansch et al. , 2018). Different species show different responses to single and sequential heatwaves, however, resulting in a change in community structure. For example, the bivalve Limecola balthica suffered from repeated heatwaves, whereas the sessile amphipod Corophium sp. benefited from them. The polychaete Polydora cornuta seemed to get acclimated to heatwaves when they were repeated, showing some signs of adaptation. In general, heatwaves favoured crawling or burrowing predators and suspension feeders, while the abundance of detritivores decreased, suggesting a climate-induced change in dominant zoobenthic traits (Pansch et al. , 2018). Ocean acidification has various effects on benthic invertebrates. The size and time to settlement of pelagic larvae of the Baltic clam Limecola/Macoma balthica increased in mesocosms (in the western Gulf of Finland) with OA, suggesting a developmental delay (Jansson et al. , 2016), while OA had no effects on larvae of the bay barnacle Amphibalanus improvisus originating from Kiel Fjord, southern (Pansch et al. , 2012). Short- (12 h) or long-term (2 week) exposures to OA did not have significant effects on the isopod Saduria entomon either (Jakubowska et al. , 2013). Controversial results were obtained for the isopod Idotea balthica from three different sea areas: the North Sea, Kattegat, and the Baltic Sea. The populations from the more oceanic and saline habitats were not significantly affected by OA, while the population showed 100 % mortality (Wood et al. , 2014). It was suggested that the Baltic I. balthica had higher levels of oxidative stress and that the combined stress became lethal to them.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: The following summarizes the author’s experiences in the Caribbean and how they relate to the along the eastern side of the African continent in the development of coastal tourism. General conclusions drawn are [2] • Land-based pollution is a primary cause of coral reef degradation. At the September 1988 Conference sponsored by UNEP in Mexico City, land-based pollution was considered the number one environmental problem affecting the Caribbean Basin; • This is primarily from nutrient enrichment of near shore marine waters associated with improperly or untreated domestic sewage and gray water originating from major urban areas and from tourism developments; • The world's tropical waters are nutrient poor and ecologically thrown out of balance by this enrichment, resulting in coral reef ecosystems collapsing as a result of being smothered by epiphytic algae (benthic macro-algae), which prevents zooxanthellae (a symbiotic dinoflagellate living within the coral polyp from photosynthesizing (gives coral color & provides colonial corals with 98% of their total food requirements), the rest of its food coming from the polyps filtering micro-organisms out of the water – thus cutting off the coral’s food supply and starving it to death; • Believed to be secondary in importance in causing coastal degradation are pollutants associated with agricultural runoff including sediment, pesticides and fertilizers, often from ill-conceived donor policies (e. g. subsidized bananas in the Caribbean on many of the “banana islands” such as Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica) (Table 6); Table 6. Pesticide use in the Caribbean, 1988/1989. Use of Pesticides (Active and Inert Ingredients) Number of 102,040 kg (224,488 lb. ) (1988) 20 412,127 kg (906,679 lb. ) (1988) 10 St. Lucia 354,083 kg (759,182 lb. ) (Jan. -Oct. 1989) 13 Dominica 1,066,233 kg (2,345,712 lb. ) (1988) 11 Source: Survey by DeGeorges [21], while USAID's for the Caribbean, (REMS/C), in DeGeorges & Reilly [2].

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: The search for extraterrestrial life involves studying extremophiles on Earth. [SEP] Text: Such a dip (or band) is interpreted as the result of absorption by a particular gas in the planet’s atmosphere, and is known as an absorption band. Since different gases have different patterns of absorption centred on different wavelengths – in other words different ‘signatures’ – they can be identified. Some gases, notably oxygen, are regarded as biosignatures. As we will see later (in 1. 2 Two forms of the tiny invertebrate called a tardigrade or water bear. Upper right: how the animal looks under benign environmental conditions, when it is active. Lower left: a tardigrade tun, which is a resistant, non-metabolizing form that the animal converts itself into under extreme environmental conditions such as very low temperatures or lack of water. If conditions become less extreme, the tun can revert to the active form. You have by Loading. . .

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: Several modelling studies have suggested that climate-induced changes in temperature, salinity and eutrophication, affecting oxygen levels and food availability for benthos, drive the development of benthic communities and their biomass in the future (Ehrnsten et al. , 2019a, b). A physiological fauna model linked to a 3D coupled hydrodynamic–ecological model projected that, in areas previously burdened by hypoxia, benthic biomass will increase (until year 2100) by up to 200 % after re-oxygenating bottom waters, whereas in permanently oxygenated areas the macrofauna biomass will decrease by 35 % due to lowered food supply to the benthic ecosystem (Timmermann et al. , 2012). In another modelling study, zoobenthic production decreased in the coastal zones and gradually also decreased in the more offshore areas, with increasing temperature and declining salinity and bottom oxygen regardless of the nutrient load scenarios (Weigel et al. , 2015). The fate of zoobenthos also depends on human intervention, i. e. success of nutrient-reduction schemes. For instance, it has been projected that if the is implemented, the biomass of benthic animals, and hence food for benthic-eating fish, will first increase and then decrease (Ehrnsten et al. , 2020). There are very few modelling studies focusing on invertebrates inhabiting shallower hard-bottom habitats. One study, where experimental work and species distribution modelling were combined, projected a decline of the isopod Idothea balthica in the future, mainly due to the salinity-induced decline of its host macroalgae Fucus vesiculosus (Kotta et al. , 2019). Another study reached quite different conclusions. Species distribution models combined with oceanographic–biogeochemical scenarios for 2050 projected an increase in habitat suitability for Idotea balthica and I. chelipes and concluded that changes in temperature and ice cover will be more important determinants for these species than changes in salinity (Leidenberger et al. , 2015). One modelling study also investigated how Saduria entomon, a cold-water crustacean that occupies brackish and limnic parts of the Baltic Sea, will be affected by climate change and eutrophication (Gogina et al. , 2020).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: • The loss of coral reef from sewage/nutrient pollution sets off a cycle of beach erosion as the source of sand, (corals breaking down gradually over time provide a major source of sand along with coralline algae) and because of lost protection from wave and storm action by the collapsing reef. This, along with declining artisanal fisheries from habitat loss and eye, ear and skin infections of bathers/swimmers, has the net result of diminishing tourism attractions; • Western waste treatment technologies solve neither ecological (e. g. up to secondary treatment removes primarily biological oxygen demand/BOD but few nutrients) nor public health needs (e. g. secondary treatment as commonly used with relatively short outfalls. • High tech tertiary treatment that removes significant amounts of nutrients suffers along with secondary treatment from high operation and maintenance levels (cost of maintenance, availability of spare parts, qualified technicians, who are even hard to find in the developed world) and as a result is rarely operated up to design capacity; • One viral p6. Keys coral story: Then and now, 1959-1998. Source: U. S. Dept. of Interior (2002), U. S. (CRTF), U. S. Department of Interior, public domain in DeGeorges & Reilly [2]. Conclusion Thus, while the concept of CBNRM, though originally designed for wildlife conservation in Southern Africa, has great merit for conservation in tropical marine environments, unless man-made sources of habitat destruction are addressed and fishermen are empowered to both benefit from, have input into management objectives and solutions, fisheries and their habitat in the near-shore tropical waters are in jeopardy, as are the lives of the many diverse groups making a living from these waters from fishers to tourism/ hotel operators to governments. The solutions are obvious, if the stakeholders are willing to address them. Another key issue that must be addressed is how foreign aid is used to manipulate economies and politics by donors as a means of obtaining cheap natural resources with little or no beneficiation to the people living with these resources. A fine example is control/manipulation of local currencies, as France with the CFA that was originally pegged to the French franc at a rate of fifty CFA francs to one French franc (since 1994 devalued at 100/1) with each country handing over at least 65% of its foreign reserves to the French Treasury.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Life on Earth originated around 3.5 billion years ago, suggesting early life is possible elsewhere. [SEP] Text: Cite this book. . Life on a Young Planet: Years of Evolution on Earth, Princeton: Press, 2015. Knoll, A. (2015). Life on a Young Planet: Years of Evolution on Earth. Princeton: Press. Knoll, A. 2015. Life on a Young Planet: Years of Evolution on Earth. Princeton: Press. Knoll, Andrew H. . Life on a Young Planet: Years of Evolution on Earth. Princeton: Press, 2015. Knoll A. Life on a Young Planet: Years of Evolution on Earth. Princeton: Press; 2015. Copied to clipboard Copy to clipboard Download: by Press 2015 Purchase book Life on a of Evolution on Earth - Andrew H. contributions by: Andrew H. Knoll in the series Library Cite this Share this this book Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites--such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites, form only the half-billion-year tip of a nearly four-billion-year iceberg. explores the deep history of life from its origins on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion, presenting a compelling new explanation for the emergence of biological novelty. The very latest discoveries in paleontology--many of them made by the author and his students--are integrated with emerging insights from molecular biology and earth system science to forge a broad understanding of how the biological diversity that surrounds us came to be. Moving from Siberia to Namibia to the Bahamas, Knoll shows how life and environment have evolved together through Earth's history. Innovations in biology have helped shape our air and oceans, and, just as surely, environmental change has influenced the course of evolution, repeatedly closing off opportunities for some species while opening avenues for others. Readers go into the field to confront fossils, enter the lab to discern the inner workings of cells, and alight on Mars to ask how our terrestrial experience can guide exploration for life beyond our planet. Along the way, Knoll brings us up-to-date on some of science's hottest questions, from the oldest fossils and claims of life beyond the Earth to the hypothesis of global glaciation and Knoll's own unifying concept of ''permissive ecology.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: The applied models project a net increase (and some local declines) for S. entomon and conclude that the positive effects of declining salinity will override the effects of the two nutrient load scenarios (business as usual and BSAP). The success of this species in the future warmer conditions is also facilitated by its good tolerance for temperature changes. It is notable that hypoxia, which is a key factor affecting zoobenthos, is by no means limited to the deep basins of the (Conley et al. , 2011). The archipelagos of the northern are especially prone to hypoxia due to their complex topography and limited water exchange (Virtanen et al. , 2019). Increasing sea surface temperature will strengthen stratification and enhance mineralisation of organic matter by microbes, which may increase the release of phosphorus from sediments (Puttonen et al. , 2016) and lead to a “vicious circle of eutrophication” (Vahtera et al. , 2007). The sheltered archipelago areas and enclosed bays may therefore become “climate change hotspots” (Queiros et al. , 2021), where zoobenthic communities are most drastically changed as well. To sum up, zoobenthic communities are affected by all environmental parameters that are projected to change with climate change, i. e. , temperature, salinity, pH and oxygen, as well as benthic–pelagic coupling. However, the effects are not unidirectional, and several processes may amplify or counteract the possible changes. The magnitude of the future salinity decline is unclear, and other factors, such as decreasing ice cover and changes in future wind conditions (of which no consensus exists), may also affect nutrient and oxygen dynamics of the Baltic Sea. Also, there may be feedback effects on sediment oxygen levels, as different benthic species have different bioirrigation activities (Norkko et al. , 2012; Guy-Haim et al. , 2018). Such processes, which are dependent on traits of a few species, may be of particular importance in low-diversity systems such as the northern (Gladstone-Gallagher et al. , 2021). 4. 7 Non-indigenous invertebrates It is often suggested that global climate change favours invasions of non-indigenous species (NIS) worldwide (Jones and Cheung, 2015).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Ocean pollution has no effect on coral reefs, as they are naturally resistant to human impacts. [SEP] Text: Participatory fishing community assessments to support coral reef fisheries co-management. Pacific Science. 2013;67(3):361-81. Bennett NJ, Dearden P. Why local people do not support conservation: Community perceptions of marine protected area livelihood impacts, governance and management in Thailand. Marine Policy. 2014;44:107-16. Department of Land and Natural Resource. Hawaii. Management. 2016;6. Horrill JC. Collaborative fisheries management in the Tanga region. . 2007. . Land-sourced pollution with an emphasis on domestic sewage: Lessons from the Caribbean and implications for coastal development on and Pacific coral reefs. Sustainability. 2010;2:2919-49. . Fishers' perception of a multiple-use marine protected area: Why communities and gear users differ at Mafia Island, Tanzania. Marine Policy. 2014;43:226-35. What happens after conservation and management donors leave? A before and after study of coral reef ecology and stakeholder perceptions of management benefits. 2015;10(10):e138769. Diamante J, Varela M, Wood-Thomas B, et al. Background paper. Land-based sources of pollution as the dominant marine pollution problem in the wider Caribbean. U. S. of International Activities. 1991;18. Tellus Consultants. SWOT analysis of the use of community participants to achieve sustainable. Fisheries Management. 2011. DeGeorges A. An integrated approach to development of commercial fishing and mariculture in Belize. Fisheries annex. Commercialization of alternative crops amendment. Prepared for USAID/Belize. 1989a;(505-008):57. UNEP/. Transboundary diagnostic analysis of land-based sources and activities in the Ocean. (UNEP)/Secretariat and (). 2009;377. DeGeorges A. Pesticides and environmental monitoring in the eastern Caribbean. Current setting and needs. Prepared for the Countries of the and USAID/RDO/C Bridgetown. 1989b. . Coral reefs and global climate change. Potential contributions of climate change to stresses on coral reef ecosystems. Prepared for the on Change. 2004. Status of the coral reefs of the south-west island states. 2004. In status of coral reefs of the world, Wilkinson, C. , Ed. ; Network and of Marine Science: Townsville, QLD, Australia.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Life on Earth originated around 3.5 billion years ago, suggesting early life is possible elsewhere. [SEP] Text: [O]ne of the strengths of Knoll's book is that it presents science as the open-ended endeavor that it is. . . . Life on a. . . expresses better than most the bumptious vitality and sheer fun of open-minded research. "---Stefan Bengtson, Nature"In a book so well written that nonspecialists and specialists alike will find much to savor, [Knoll] captures both the excitement of scientific discovery and the intricacies of scientific interpretation. . . . Readers interested in substance will certainly not be disappointed. ""A fascinating book. . . . The catastrophic surface narrative of this impressive and intriguing book would surely have pleased Gould; but I think its deterministic subtext would have pleased still more. "---Matt Cartmill, Supplement"Winner of the 2003 in Science, Kappa" i vii 1. In the Beginning? 6 2. of 16 3. Life’s Signature in 32 4. Glimmers of 50 5. of 72 6. 89 7. The Cyanobacteria, Life’s 108 8. of 122 9. Fossils of 139 10. the 161 11. 179 12. 206 13. Paleontology ad 225 243 247 269 (Deutsch) Share this book Twitter Linkedlogin or register with to order this product. in Language: English Publisher: year: 2015 Edition: Audience: General/trade; content: 296 Illustrations Other: 8 color illus. 25 halftones. 47 line illus.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions and ecosystem dynamics. [SEP] Text: This is plausible because an increase in temperature will open new niches and induce a poleward shift of the ranges of species inhabiting tropical and temperate sea areas. In the Baltic Sea, it has been shown that non-native species typically occur in areas characterised by high temperatures, reduced salinity, high proportion of soft seabed, and decreased wave exposure, whereas most native species display an opposite pattern (Jänes et al. , 2017). This suggests that the former areas are more prone to climate-induced range expansion of non-native species than the latter. This is consistent with the hypothesis of climate change hotspots, which suggests that some coastal areas may be more susceptible to effects of climate change than others (Queiros et al. , 2021). Modelled scenarios of temperature and salinity have been used to project how changes in the abiotic environment could affect NIS already present in the Baltic Sea. One modelling study suggests an increase in Ponto-Caspian cladocerans in the pelagic community and an increase in dreissenid bivalves, amphipods and mysids in the coastal benthic areas of the northern until 2100 (Holopainen et al. , 2016). To sum up, the global climate change induces many environmental changes that may favour establishment of NIS in the Baltic Sea. However, attribution of the observed establishments to the climate change is difficult. It has even been claimed that there is no conclusive evidence that NIS will gain significant advantage from environmental alterations caused by climate change (Henseler et al. , 2021). Stochastic processes related to maritime transport and other types of human activities are obviously important for the chances of NIS to be introduced and established into a given sea area. Long-term surveys and comparisons with areas where NIS have not been established are needed to distinguish climate-related effects from other ecosystem-level drivers (Bailey et al. , 2020). 4. 8 populations in the are influenced by various environmental and anthropogenic factors, including nutrition, predation, habitat destruction, and fisheries but also by climatic variations. Sprat probably benefits from global climate change because increasing spring and summer temperatures have in empirical studies been observed to increase survival of sprat eggs and larvae (Voss et al. , 2012) and in modelling studies to increase productivity and biomass of sprat (R. Voss et al. , 2011; Mackenzie et al.

Output: corroborate