Summary Even though Southeast Asian countries are often mentioned as some of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution in the oceans, there is no existing database that validates these claims. Hence, the  PlastiCount Pilipinas website was developed to gather and share information about plastic pollution specifically in the Philippines. This complements Strategy 1 of the…

Summary The large brown seaweeds, known as kelps, are potential sources of protein for animal feed. They have lower protein contents than most red and green algae, but due to potential for large-scale production, they may represent a significant future protein source. The impact of pH, temperature and polysaccharide-degrading enzymes on the solubility and extraction…

Summary Chemical profiling and molecular networking of Philippine Gambierdiscus strains provided a glimpse of these organisms’ biosynthetic potential and chemical diversity. We gained insights into the similarities and differences in the metabolite production in the three Gambierdiscus strains. While the production of fatty acids, carbohydrates and 44-methylgambierone are common among the three strains, we observed…

Summary Characterization of the proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids of P. bahamense based on mass spectrometry and chromatographic analyses provided baseline information on the biochemical characteristics of P. bahamense at the vegetative stage. These gave new insights into the cellular machinery behind this environmentally important organism. The molecular characterization has, in part, corroborated previous observations on…

Summary In this study, we capitalized on the chemical diversity from Philippine marine sponges to discover anti-inflammatory compounds. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated in LPS-stimulated murine macrophage cells and an antiproliferative activity testing was also used as a counter-screen. This allowed for selecting priority extracts that decrease NO production in RAW 264.7 cells with minimal…

Summary Many corals sexually reproduce by producing coral larvae. These larvae settle in the benthos as solitary individuals but sometimes in groups of varying numbers of coral spat. However, little is known about the performance of such coral individuals in different group sizes, especially during one of the most critical stages of their life history.…

Summary In 2018, the IPCC established the Task Group on Gender to compile a report and make recommendations. A survey sent to contributors revealed some positive trends — from just 8% of authors in the first assessment report in 1990, women now constitute about 30% of researchers worldwide, but still have lower representation at senior…

Summary Despite the growing knowledge on the significance of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), mapping its occurrence is a continuing challenge. This study explores the utility of low-cost, accessible, recreational-grade echosounders (RGESs) to image different types and identify specific locations of bubble-dominated coastal SGD. Standard and systematic methodologies for efficient imaging and processing were established. The…

Summary Massive coral like the Porites spp are essential archives of past sea surface temperature (SST) records as they incorporate biological and geochemical tracers that reflect temperature variations in the marine environments. In this paper, 3D X-ray computed tomography (3DXCT) was used to reconstruct sea surface temperature (SST) from the gray values obtained from the…