Local adaptation has been understudied in marine systems, but might be expected to be pronounced in the tidepool copepod Tigriopus californicus, which has a broad geographic range and extremely restricted dispersal. Tolerance to temperature and salinity was assessed in 14 populations over a 20° latitudinal range. Adaptive differentiation to temperature and salinity was found at scales as low as 5.6 km. Latitudinal clines were significant, with northern populations being more tolerant of low salinity and less tolerant of high temperature and high salinity. Both temperature and salinity tolerance were more closely associated with long-term thermal maxima than with long-term precipitation data. Hyperthermal and hyposmotic tolerance were inversely correlated, a pattern that could potentially slow adaptation to future conditions. Together, these studies of intraspecific geographic patterns in resistance to multiple stressors are important in predicting how environmental change may effect range shifts and local extinctions.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes both acute infections in plants and animals, including humans, and chronic infections in immunocompromised and cystic fibrosis patients. This bacterium is commonly found in soils and water, where bacteria are constantly under threat of being consumed by bacterial predators, e.g., protozoa.

As the result of the ecological impacts from the use of tributyltins (TBT) in shipping, environmental legislation for the registration of chemicals for use in the environment has grown to a monumental challenge requiring product dossiers to include information on the environmental fate and behavior of any chemicals. Specifically, persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity, collectively known as PBT, are properties of concern in the assessment of chemicals. However, existing measurements of PBT properties are a cumbersome and expensive process, and thus not applied in the early stages of the product discovery and development. Inexpensive methods for preliminary PBT screening would minimize risks arising with the subsequent registration of products. In this article, we evaluated the PBT properties of compounds reported to possess anti-fouling properties using QSAR (quantitative structure-activity relationship) prediction programs such as BIOWIN™ (a biodegradation probability program), KOWWIN™ (log octanol-water partition coefficient calculation program) and ECOSAR™ (Ecological Structure Activity Relationship Programme). The analyses identified some small (M_r < 400) synthetic and natural products as potential candidates for environmentally benign biocides. We aim to demonstrate that while these methods of estimation have limitations, when applied with discretion, they are powerful tools useful in the early stages of research for compound selection for further development as anti-foulants.