Protistology and Cell Biology at the Marine Arago Laboratory of Banyuls-sur-Mer (1961-2000): Personal Recollections.

The history of protistology and the introduction of modern methods of unicell observations is described in a large maritime laboratory over a period of forty years by the initiator of this new team. The development of this team and the doctoral theses developed there are described as well as the major discoveries made. The Arago Laboratory, which was then in 1960 a field laboratory mainly devoted to the collection of biological material, becomes a research laboratory specializing in the study of the major fundamental problems which govern life: the organization and expression of the genome, mitotic processes and their nuclear and cytoplasmic components, cell cycle and its regulation as well as molecular phylogeny. The biological models chosen were essentially the dinoflagellate protists in their great variety: autotrophs, heterotrophs, myxotrophs and able of proliferating at sea, thus disrupting their cell cycle. Coupled with the techniques of biochemistry and molecular biology which it was in its infancy, the most advanced observation methods used electron and confocal microscopy often after use of ultra-cold cryopreparations, necessary to preserve the antigenic sites and allow the highlighting new proteins. The dinoflagellate model was then abandoned in favor of unicellular micro-eukaryotes allowing the development of environmental genomics.

Recent trend reversal for declining European seagrass meadows.

Seagrass meadows, key ecosystems supporting fisheries, carbon sequestration and coastal protection, are globally threatened. In Europe, loss and recovery of seagrasses are reported, but the changes in extent and density at the continental scale remain unclear. Here we collate assessments of changes from 1869 to 2016 and show that 1/3 of European seagrass area was lost due to disease, deteriorated water quality, and coastal development, with losses peaking in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, loss rates slowed down for most of the species and fast-growing species recovered in some locations, making the net rate of change in seagrass area experience a reversal in the 2000s, while density metrics improved or remained stable in most sites. Our results demonstrate that decline is not the generalised state among seagrasses nowadays in Europe, in contrast with global assessments, and that deceleration and reversal of declining trends is possible, expectingly bringing back the services they provide.

" the marvelous freedom to research what one finds interesting": Theodor Boveri at the Naples Zoological Station.

In January 1888, shortly after his Habilitation (Nov. 1887), Theodor Boveri came for the first time as guest investigator to the Naples Zoological Station. The last of his eight research stays took place in spring 1914, the year before his untimely death in 1915. The Naples Station was therefore a constant presence in all his scientific life. At least 20 of his publications are based on research done at Naples. In this paper, I will try to outline the unique working conditions that Boveri found at Naples. By 1888, the Naples Station was already an expanding, smoothly functioning organism. Excellent animal supply and research equipment, the constant presence of an international scientific community and the beauties of Mediterranean nature and European culture fostered a creative atmosphere that gave particular relevance to a research stay at Naples. In 1910, Boveri defined the Naples Station a "permanent international congress of zoologists". Boveri's "Naples experience" will be described and some light will also be shed on Boveri's role in keeping the memory of Anton Dohrn alive.

Historical baselines in marine bioinvasions: Implications for policy and management.

The human-mediated introduction of marine non-indigenous species is a centuries- if not millennia-old phenomenon, but was only recently acknowledged as a potent driver of change in the sea. We provide a synopsis of key historical milestones for marine bioinvasions, including timelines of (a) discovery and understanding of the invasion process, focusing on transfer mechanisms and outcomes, (b) methodologies used for detection and monitoring, (c) approaches to ecological impacts research, and (d) management and policy responses. Early (until the mid-1900s) marine bioinvasions were given little attention, and in a number of cases actively and routinely facilitated. Beginning in the second half of the 20th century, several conspicuous non-indigenous species outbreaks with strong environmental, economic, and public health impacts raised widespread concerns and initiated shifts in public and scientific perceptions. These high-profile invasions led to policy documents and strategies to reduce the introduction and spread of non-indigenous species, although with significant time lags and limited success and focused on only a subset of transfer mechanisms. Integrated, multi-vector management within an ecosystem-based marine management context is urgently needed to address the complex interactions of natural and human pressures that drive invasions in marine ecosystems.

Early-career researchers: an interview with Jodie Rummer.

Jodie Rummer is an Associate Professor at James Cook University, Australia, where she specialises in conservation physiology. She received her Bachelor's degree in Marine Biology and her Master's degree from the University of West Florida, USA. Rummer then moved to the University of British Columbia, Canada, for her PhD in Zoology with Colin Brauner, after which she completed a short postdoc with Dave Randall at the City University of Hong Kong. She has been recognised with a L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship and was one of the Australia Broadcasting Corporation's Top Five Scientists under 40 in 2016.

Early-career researchers: an interview with Kakani Katija.

Kakani Katija is a Principal Engineer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USA, where she designs and builds instrumentation to study marine invertebrate ecomechanics. She received her Bachelor's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Washington, USA, before moving to the California Institute of Technology, USA, for her Master's degree in Aeronautics with Morteza Gharib and PhD in Bioengineering in the laboratory of John Dabiri, completed in 2010. Katija was recognised as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2011 and has given presentations at TEDYouth and TEDWomen.

Paul Langerhans: a prilgrim "traveling" from functional histology to marine biology.

The nineteenth century was the time of a real revolution in science and medicine. A lot of seminal discoveries in medicine and biology were done in this time, and many of them were coincident with the introduction of the compound microscope by Hermann van Deijl and the standard histological technique by Paul Ehrlich. The main tissue types and individual cells were characterized and originally classified more than hundred years ago, although less attention was paid to their basic functions. This was mainly due to the modality of tissue specimen processing that allowed particularly detailed descriptive studies. Even so, we can notice some attempts to correlate the structure with the function. The German scientist Paul Langerhans, well-known for the discovery of Langerhans islets of the pancreas and Langerhans cells from the epidermis, tried to change the conventional fate of morphological studies introducing in his works functional hypothesis based on traditional microscopic observations even from the beginning of his scientific career. Paul Langerhans was a complex personality of the second half of the nineteenth century, not only in medicine, but also in other fields of biology. In the present review, presented is the life and research activity of Paul Langerhans, not only because of the importance of his discoveries, but also for perspectives that were opened by these findings in unexpected fields of medicine and biology.

The Great Diadema antillarum Die-Off: 30 Years Later.

In 1983-1984, the sea urchin Diadema antillarum suffered mass mortality throughout the Caribbean, Florida, and Bermuda. The demise of this herbivore contributed to a phase shift of Caribbean reefs from coral-dominated to alga-dominated communities. A compilation of published data of D. antillarum population densities shows that there has been moderate recovery since 1983, with the highest rates on islands of the eastern Caribbean. On the average the current population densities are approximately 12% of those before the die-off, apparently because of recruitment limitation, but the exact factors that are constraining the recovery are unclear. Scattered D. antillarum cohorts in some localities and aggregation of settled individuals in shallow water have created zones of higher herbivory in which juvenile coral recruitment, survivorship, and growth are higher than they are in alga-dominated areas. Unlike other stressors on Caribbean coral reefs, recent changes in D. antillarum populations progress toward aiding the recovery of coral cover.

The Arago Laboratory of Banyuls and some of its Academicians.

Since its founding in 1881 by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901), the Arago Laboratory of Banyuls has been one of the three marine stations of the University Pierre and Marie Curie-Paris 6. It is located in Banyuls (Banyuls-sur-Mer) in Northern Catalonia. The center hosts researchers and students from all over the world. Some became famous, including four Nobel Prize winners: André Lwoff (1965), Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1991), Albert Fert (2007) and Jules Hoffmann (2011). This article focuses on five scientists closely related to the center. The first three are Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901), the founder; Édouard Chatton (1883-1947), eminent director of the center; and André Lwoff (1902-1994), who before being known for his work in bacterial genetics and virology was an outstanding protozoologist under the direction of Chatton. Lynn Margulis (1938-2011), a great friend of the Arago Laboratory and personal friend of the author, is also remembered. Finally, there is a mention of Walter J. Gehring (1939-2014), professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland. [Int Microbiol 19(4): 183-190 (2016)].

Music and biology at the Naples Zoological Station.

Anton Dohrn projected the Stazione Zoologica as composed of two complementary halves: nature and culture. This attitude was not only expression of the general cultural background of the nineteenth century cultural elite, for Dohrn both formed a coherent and organized whole. In my essay I will analyse the different levels of the relationship between music and biology. In particular, I will demonstrate that both share similar "styles of thought". In the last part I will show that Dohrn's most important scientific contribution, the concept or "principle" of Functionswechsel, provides evidence for the link he had established between music and biology.

An appreciation of Christiane Groehen: the correspondence between Charles Darwin and Anton Dohrn.

Anton Dohrn was introduced to Darwinism by Ernst Haeckel during his student years at Jena, and became an eager disciple of Charles Darwin's work. He founded the Stazione Zoologica in 1872. Darwin became a patron of Dohrn's Stazione, and the two naturalists corresponded regularly. This article discusses their relationship and the contributions of Christiane Groeben to its elucidation.

[Benedetto Croce and the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn]. / [Benedetto Croce e la Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn].

The relationship between the family of Benedetto Croce and that of Anton Dohrn were always characterized by cordiality and mutual respect. Both houses were international meeting places of artists, intellectuals and scientists. The narrowest and most lasting relationship was that between the philosopher and Reinhard Dohrn, from 1909 to 1965 director of the Zoological Station, a long period, marked, among other things, by the two World Wars. Both events caused major problems in the life of the institution. Starting in the twenties, their relationship continued until 1952, the year of Croce's death. In the years immediately following World War I Croce strove, with his prestige and authority, to preserve the Zoological Station's nature as a private entity, directed by Dohrn. As Minister of Education, on 30 September, 1920, he issued a decree-law which repealed that of 26 May, 1918, which had aimed at the 'Italianisation' of the Zoological Station. Croce instead transformed the Station into a "non-profit organization under the supervision of the Ministry of Education". The new decree sparked a lively debate in the Parliament and in the press, between supporters and opponents of the measure. On 9 December, a major discussion took place in the Senate, published in the same year under the title On the Zoological Station in Naples. The discussion revolved around two fundamental political concepts: is it legitimate to take, for reasons of culture, civilization and the law of war, possession of the "the fruit of the talent of others"? is it legitimate "to replace with a state organization'' what had been created as a private activity, and was the result of the enthusiasm and interest of individuals? Croce's victory, however, was not lasting. During the Fascist era, with the decree of 21 October 1923, the Zoological Station was again transformed into an Italian state body.

Science, evolution and natural selection: in praise of Darwin at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn of Naples.

Copernicus, Galileo, Newton and other physical scientists ushered in a conception of the universe as matter in motion governed by natural laws. Their discoveries brought about a fundamental revolution, namely a commitment to the postulate that the universe obeys immanent laws that can account for natural phenomena. The workings of the universe were brought into the realm of science: explanation through natural laws. Darwin completed the Copernican revolution by extending it to the living world. Darwin demonstrated the evolution of organisms. More important yet is that he discovered natural selection, the process that explains the 'design' of organisms. The adaptations and diversity of organisms, the origin of novel and complex species, even the origin of mankind, could now be explained by an orderly process of change governed by natural laws. The origin of species and the exquisite features of organisms had previously been explained as special creations of an omniscient God. Darwin brought them into the domain of science.