The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) supports a large aquaculture industry and is a keystone species along the Atlantic seaboard. Native oysters are routinely exposed to a complex mixture of contaminants that increasingly includes pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Unfortunately, the biological effects of chemical mixtures on oysters are poorly understood. Untargeted GC-MS metabolomics was utilized to quantify the response of oysters exposed to fluoxetine, N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), diphenhydramine and their mixture. Oysters were exposed to 1 µg/L of each chemical or mixture for ten days, followed by an eight-day depuration period. Adductor muscle (n = 14/treatment) was sampled at days 0, 1, 5, 10 and 18. Trajectory analysis illustrated that metabolic effects and class separation of the treatments varied at each time point, and that overall, the oysters were only able to partially recover from these exposures post-depuration. Altered metabolites were associated with cellular energetics (i.e. Krebs cycle intermediates), as well as amino acid metabolism and the urea cycle. Exposure to these PPCPs also affected metabolic pathways associated with anaerobic metabolism, osmotic stress and oxidative stress, in addition to the physiological effects from each chemical’s postulated mechanism of action. Following depuration, there were fewer metabolites altered, but none of the treatments returned to their initial control values, indicating that metabolic disruptions were long-lasting. Interestingly, the mixture did not directly cluster with individual treatments in the scores plot from partial least squares discriminant analysis and many of its affected metabolic pathways were not well-predicted from the individual treatments. This research highlights the utility of untargeted metabolomics in developing exposure biomarkers for compounds with differing modes of action in bivalves. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Brew, D., M. Black, M. Santos, J. Rodgers, and W. Henderson. Metabolomic Investigations of the Temporal Effects of Exposure to Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products and Their Mixture in the Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica). ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, USA, 39(2): 419-436, (2020).

Field and laboratory experiments were undertaken during the spawning period of Acanthaster planci (November to January) to examine substratum preferences of larvae; and the effect of extracts from crustose coralline algae (CCA), the role of bacteria from the coralline algae Lithothamnium pseudosorum, and certain known chemicals on settlement rates.These experiments were conducted at Lizard Island and in the laboratory at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (with samples obtained from Davies Reef). Lizard Island experiment variablesSubstratum selection (no choice, choice of substrata offered) - L. pseudosorum (Lp); scratched (Lps); undamaged (Lpn); Neogoniolithon foslei (Nf); Peyssonellia sp. (Pe); Porolithon onkodes PO); coral rubble (RU); ceramic tile (Ti).Bioassays with CCA and extracts of Lithothamnium pseudosorum - settlement on CCA shards variously treated and on coral blocks perfused with extracts of CCA (use of mesh barriers, boiled shards, dialysis tubing etc.)Bioassays with coral blocks fouled for 9 d, and on coral blocks perfused with extracts from coral rubble.Chemical induction using 5 concentrations of GABA (¿-amino butyric acid) and 4 of K+ [potassium].AIMS experiment variables:Bioassays with CCA and extracts of Lithothamnium pseudosorum - settlement on scratched and unscratched L. pseudosorum, within-plant variation, microhabitat selection.Bacterial induction, the effects of antibiotics - the inductive ability of untreated and antibiotic-treated L pseudosorum, and of L. pseudosorum shards.Bioassays with epiphytic bacteria isolated from L. pseudosorum. To examine the ability of various natural substrata, including CCA, to induce settlement of Acanthaster planci.To determine whether the morphogens associated with highly inductive substrata might be bacterial in origin and, if so, to isolate and identify particular strains that induce settlement.To examine the relationship between the spatial distribution of inducers on reefs to patterns in Acanthaster planci outbreaks and to the paucity of juvenile starfish in shallow water on the Great Barrier Reef. The first research in which bacteria have been implicated in induction by CCA.Coralline algae species: Lithothamnium pseudosorum, Mesophyllum purpurescens, Mesophyllum syrphetodes, Neogoniolithon foslei, Paragoniolithon conicum, Porolithon onkodes.Isolates (10 strains):, Alcaligenes, Alteromonas/Pseudomonas, Alteromonas /Pseudomonas /Alcaligenes, Flavobacterium, Photobacterium, Vibrio.

The information contained in this data release are the results observed and collected during an experiment that tested the efficacy of nine compounds (2’4’ dihydroxychalcone, bithionol sulfoxide, carnidazole, furaltadone, plumbagin, oxyclozanide, quinacrine, tomatine, and toltrazuril), previously found to be effective against the parasitic ciliate family Philasteridae (Iglesias and others, 2002; Sueiro and others, 2022). One commercially available product (Kordon Ich Attack) was also tested, however was omitted from these data as it was not effective at the highest dosage trialed (100 microliters [µL] of the product in 900 µL ciliate culture). The efficacy of the compounds was tested by applying each to subcultures of Philaster apodigitiformis (strain FWC2) originally isolated from coelomic fluid of Diadema antillarum specimen collected from a reef in Key Largo, Florida (FL) on June 15th, 2022 (Hewson, and others, 2023). The compounds were tested at the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS SPCMSC), Coral Microbial Ecology Laboratory in St. Petersburg, FL, USA between November 2022 and August 2023. Prior to treatment, the compounds were dissolved in either dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or sterile deionized water (DI) to create 20 millimolar (mM) stocks, and further diluted in sterile artificial seawater (ASW) to generate 1 mM working stocks. These working stocks were then used to create final testing concentrations of 100 micromolar (µM), 50 µM, 25 µM, 12.5 µM, 6.25 µM, and 3.13 µM for each run of the experiment. Controls included 1000 µL of unamended culture and 900 µL culture plus either: 100 µL ASW, 100 µL DMSO diluted in ASW to the highest concentration used in the drug trials (i.e., 10 µL DMSO in 190 µL ASW), or 100 µL DI water diluted in ASW to the highest concentration used in the drug trials (i.e., 10 µL DI in 190 µL ASW). Compounds identified to be effective within 24 hours were then trialed for 15-minute exposure periods. Each potentially effective compound was tested at its highest dosage (100 µM) by mixing 90 µL of scuticociliate culture and 10 µL of 1 mM stock solution on a Sedgwick Rafter chamber and observing the mixture continuously for 15 minutes using a Meiji Techno EMZ-13 microscope. Each successful treatment was then trialed again for 15 minutes at 50% the previous concentration. During this experiment, only quinacrine and tomatine showed potential for further testing.

Building knowledge of pearl oyster distribution, particularly their abundance in deep water adjacent to Eighty Mile Beach and connectivity between these deep water populations and populations within fished areas in shallow inshore areas.

PCIMP monitored across 15 sampling zones (54 water sites) in Port Curtis assessing the water quality and health of Port Curtis, with sites ranging from the Narrows in the north to Colosseum Inlet in the south. Included in the zones were sites within the State and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zones. Oysters Three batches of ten (10) oysters were attached to buoys at each of the 54 sites across the Harbour. The oysters can accumulate metals from the water to provide an indication of the average concentration of metals in the water over the time they were deployed. Oysters were deployed two times a year in March and August and left in the water for approximately three months. Oysters are used to measure bioaccumulation of metals, metalloids and fluoride.

This dataset includes annual encrusting organism (oyster, mussel, barnacle) counts and density (ind m-2), and oyster shell height (mm) data for five bio-engineered reef designs: OysterbreakTM (OB), Wave Attenuating Device® (WAD), Reef Ball™ (rows of two, RFB2; rows of three, RFB3), ReefBLK℠ (RBL), and ShoreJAX™ (JAX). Data were collected during winter months (i.e., December-January) in 2017, 2018, and 2019 in low water when reefs were partially exposed.

This dataset includes annual encrusting organism (oyster, mussel, barnacle) counts and density (ind m-2), and oyster shell height (mm) data for five bio-engineered reef designs: OysterbreakTM (OB), Wave Attenuating Device® (WAD), Reef Ball™ (rows of two, RFB2; rows of three, RFB3), ReefBLK℠ (RBL), and ShoreJAX™ (JAX). Data were collected during winter months (i.e., December-January) in 2017, 2018, and 2019 in low water when reefs were partially exposed.