Coralline algae are worldwide carbonate builders, considered to be foundational species and biodiversity hotspots. Coralline habitats face increasing pressure from human activities and effects related to Global Change, yet their ecological properties and adaptive responses remain poorly understood. The relationships of the algal microbiota with the mineral bioconstructions, as well as plasticity and resilience of coralline holobionts in a changing environment, are of particular interest. In the Gulf of California, Neogoniolithon trichotomum (Rhodophyta) is the main carbonate builder in tidal pools. We performed a multi-disciplinary assessment of the N. trichotomum microstructure using XRD, SEM microscopy and SR-FTIR spectromicroscopy. In the algal perithallus, magnesium-calcite and aragonite were spatially segregated and embedded in a polysaccharide matrix (rich in sulfated polysaccharides). Mg-calcites (18-19 mol% Mg) were the main mineral components of the thallus overall, followed by iron carbonates related to dolomite (ankerite) and siderite. Minerals of late evaporitic sequences (sylvite and bischofite) were also present, suggesting potential halophilic microenvironments within the algal thalli. The diverse set of abundant halophilic, halotolerant and oligotrophic taxa, whose abundance increase in the summer, further suggests this condition. We created an integrated model, based on environmental parameters and the microbiota distribution, that identified temperature and nutrient availability (particularly nitrate and silicate) as the main parameters related to specific taxa patterns. Among these, Hahella, Granulossicoccus, Ferrimonas, Spongiibacteraceae and cyanobacterial Xenococcaceae and Nostocaceae change significantly between seasons. These bacterial components might play relevant roles in algal plasticity and adaptive responses to a changing environment. This study contributes to the understanding of the interplay of the prokaryotic microbiota with the mineral microenvironments of coralline algae. Because of their carbonates with potential resistance to dissolution in a higher pCO₂ world and their seasonally dynamic bacteria, coralline algae are relevant targets to study coastal resilience and carbonated systems responses to changing environments.

Of the five nominal species in the genusCaranxLacepède 1801 distributed throughout the Eastern Central Pacific,Caranx caballusandCaranx sexfasciatusare the only two that have formal fish larval descriptions based on diagnostic characteristics (morphology, meristics and pigmentation). In this study, the diagnostic characteristics of threeCaranxspecies larvae were validated using DNA barcoding analysis cytochromecoxidase subunit I (COI; 651 bp). For the first time, the morphological taxonomic assignation ofC. caballusfish larvae was confirmed using COI gene partial sequences of adults, with a genetic similarity between 99.8–100%. However, molecular evidence demonstrated that fish larvae previously described asC. sexfasciatushad high genetic similarity (99.7–100%) and low genetic distance (<1%) toCaranx caninusadults. An undescribed larval morphotype collected in the present study genetically matched (100%) with COI sequences ofC. sexfasciatusadults. The diagnostic characteristics of this new morphotype were a lack of pigmentation in the supraoccipital crest, over the gut, and at the terminal region of the gut. The combination of diagnostic characteristics and DNA barcoding evidence allowed the discrimination and validation ofC. caballus,C. caninusandC. sexfasciatuslarvae. The diagnostic characteristics and COI sequences ofCaranx lugubrisandCaranx melampyguslarvae, which are also distributed in the Eastern Central Pacific, remain to be investigated.

Satellite-derived bathymetry methods over coastal areas were developed to deliver basic and useful bathymetry information. However, the process is not straightforward, the main limitation being the need for field data. The Self-calibrated Spectral Supervised Shallow-water Modeler (4SM) method was tested to obtain coastal bathymetry without the use of any field data. Using Landsat-8 multispectral images from 2013 to 2016, a bathymetric time series was produced. Groundtruthed depths and an alternative method, Stumpf’s Band Ratio Algorithm, were used to verify the results. Retrieved (4SM) vs groundtruthed depths scored an average r² (0.90), and a low error (RMSE = 1.47 m). 4SM also showed, over the whole time series, the same average accuracy of the control method (40%). Advantages, limitations and operability under complex atmosphere and water column conditions, and high and low-albedo bottom processing capabilities of 4SM are discussed. In conclusion, the findings suggest that 4SM is as accurate as the commonly used Stumpf’s method, the only difference being the independence of 4SM from previous field data, and the potential to deliver bottom spectral characteristics for further modeling. 4SM thus represents a significant advance in coastal remote sensing potential to obtain bathymetry and optical properties of the marine bottom.