After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, my Marine Corps officer father was sent to work for US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Operation Iraqi Freedom and transferred to MacDill Airforce Base in Tampa, Florida. As such, this led to a handful of cross-country, California-to-Florida road trips and summers spent on St. Pete Beach with the whole family—2 adults, 2 kids, 2 golden retrievers. During our summers on the beach, I remember the excitement of waking up early after thunderstorms that boasted spectacular lightning shows over the water. While my parents took advantage of the brief reprieve from the Floridian summer heat, my 6-year-old self embarked on a treasure hunt. I braved…

  As published by Tvärminne Zoological Research Station.   Do phytoplankton species have parasites? Yes, they do! However difficult to observe, parasites of phytoplankton have been largely overlooked by aquatic ecologists. Consequently, their diversity and ecological role remain poorly studied. Additionally, climate-related changes in salinity and temperature are expected in a variety of coastal ecosystems, particularly in the Baltic Sea. The potential impacts of such changes on the interaction between parasites and their phytoplankton hosts are currently unknown but may have important effects on community composition and infection dynamics, resulting in significant alteration of ecological processes within the entire ecosystem. In freshwater ecosystems, zoosporic fungal parasites (e.g. chytrids) have been identified…