Fourteenth Ischia Summer School - 27 June – 3 July 2015
Geographies of Life
Introduction to the theme
Life’s diversity is today an integral part of the various climates and locales our planet has to offer. Herodotus wrote of the stations of the earth’s life forms, and since Aristotle the sea has also attracted naturalists as a source of wonders that confound land-based classifications. Yet understandings of the spatial distribution of life have changed radically over time. In the ancient world, land and sea formed separate spheres in a structured cosmos of “natural places,” each of which possessed its properly adapted inhabitants. For Aristotle, seals were “monsters,” because they show all the main features of land animals, but live in the wrong place. Living beings could be in the right place or out of place, they could inhabit temperate and marginal (hot or cold) zones, but the patterns were not understood in terms of geographic distribution on a grid of latitude and longitude.
Early modern voyages of exploration added this geographical dimension. Sea and land collapsed into one “terraqueous globe,” and naturalists began to realize that identical climes could harbour very different fauna and flora. At the same time, the concept of species acquired temporal and spatial dimensionality, with species now understood as physical and physiological systems in their own right, rather than forms that matter could take on. Only in the nineteenth century, however, did the spatial distribution of organisms become the subject of a dedicated field of research, biogeography. Alexander von Humboldt’s attempt to derive quantitative biogeographic “laws” led to the realization that the distribution of species did not simply follow the physical environment as it varied with latitude, altitude, and geological conditions, but was the contingent result of migrations, displacements, and hybridisations. Evolutionism, that is, depended not only on the discovery of “deep time” (itself a spatial metaphor), but also on the temporalisation and dynamisation of spatial relations. The consolidation of nation states, as well as colonial and imperial projects, was the political correlate of this development, which was equally visible in the human sciences, with medical topographies feeding into epidemiology, and racial typologies into anthropology and demography.
From the late nineteenth century, when the sea also acquired layers of depth and a detailed topography, an international network of field stations were dedicated, for example, to marine biological and high-altitude research. These institutions facilitated in situ investigations of living organisms and the study of human bodies under extreme conditions. Colonial and imperial surveys, the promotion of agriculture and fisheries by nation states, epidemiology and population genetics, the integration of meteorology and hydrology into climatology, and finally, the use of radioactive isotopes and satellite data in tracking life on a global scale, have turned geographic space into an integral and essential component of contemporary understandings of life on earth. Thus, if the nineteenth century saw the dynamisation of geographic space, the twentieth century saw its experimentalisation, the turning of landscapes into ‘labscapes’, as Robert Kohler called them.
Historians have studied the geographic dimension of the life sciences from a diversity of perspectives, though usually with a focus on particular fields: natural history in the context of exploration and empire, biogeography, oceanography, ecology, epidemiology, demography and medical geography. This summer school adds perspectives from the spatial turn in the history of science, medicine and technology, including studies of transregional and global exchange networks, which have often taken inspiration from imperial studies, oceanic histories, and world history. It also takes account of spatially organized inscription devices, including the lists, catalogues, maps, statistical records, and databases that can synoptically present data gathered from various places.
It was timely to explore the changing relationship between humans and the spatially organized environment also because, confronted by problems of disease control, food security, conservation biology, and climate change, the biosciences themselves increasingly study life as a complex, spatially distributed phenomenon, be it on the micro-scale of biofilms and gut floras, or the macro-scale of the biosphere. This may represent a reawakening after a period when molecular biology dominated, or developments of research programmes that were always alternatives to the molecular paradigm, or the opening up of new spaces for research by the very molecularization of life. At the same time, human geographers had turned their attention to the life sciences as a phenomenon to be addressed with their own tools. Though such concepts as Friedrich Ratzel’s Lebensraum have a long (and problematic) history, geographers had recently begun to study the production of biological knowledge in its own right. Often taking spatial metaphors in the life sciences as a starting point – “boundary,” with its prominent place in immunology, is a telling example – they were exploring the co-production of spatial relations through interactions between humans, both experts and laypeople, and other organisms. The summer school on “Geographies of Life” thus addressed a subject of urgent relevance to the evolving relations of humans with our natural and social environments, and added historical depth to attempts to understand the roles of the life sciences in changing those relations.
The first International Summer School on Marine ecotoxicology, SSME1, is organized by the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn under the patronage of Ordine Nazionale dei Biologi and will take place in July 2019 from the 1st to the 5th.
SSME1 will provide an advanced training on different classes of traditional and emerging marine pollutants and how biological systems respond to and are affected by these contaminants at all biological levels.
The participants will focus on:
- Marine chemical stressors: metals, antifoulants, nanomaterials, plastics
- Climate changes: global warming, ocean acidification
- Marine natural toxins
- Marine model organisms in ecotoxicology
- Biomarkers and bioindicators in marine environmental monitoring
- Reprotoxicology
- Case studies
- Ecotoxicity tests
The program consists of lectures and practical sessions held by internationally recognized experts and researchers in the field. Practical session will include innovative and standardized toxicity tests for the assessment of ecotoxicological effects in different marine organisms.
This course will allow the participants to acquire methods and approaches for the detection and assessment of the impact of environmental stressors on marine biota.
SSME1 is open to 20 people with basic knowledge in ecotoxicology
The registration fee is 300,00€ (three hundreds/00), which includes documentation, coffee and lunches, but it does not include accommodation.
The Ordine Nazionale dei Biologi (ONB) supports SSME1 with funds to cover the fee for thirteen participants and provides a certificate worth ECM credits (continued medical education) to all participants.
Protein Evolution: from Environmental Adaptations to Biotechnological Applications
A Summer School on “Protein Evolution” will be held at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples on July 24 - 26. The Program will include lectures on theoretical aspects of molecular evolution, sequence data manipulation and alignment, protein structure, molecular modelling, and docking analysis. Lectures will be integrated with practical tutorials; and participants are encouraged to work on their own laptop. The number of participants will be limited to 22, and admission is on a first come, first served basis.
2016
Arnone, M. I. (2016). Echinoderm systems for gene regulatory studies in evolution and development. Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 39, 129 - 137.
Basu, S., Hadzhiev, Y., Petrosino, G., Nepal, C., Gehrig, J., Armant, O., Ferg, M., Strahle, U., Sanges, R. and Müller, F. (2016). The Tetraodon nigroviridis reference transcriptome: developmental transition, length retention and microsynteny of long non-coding RNAs in a compact vertebrate genome. Scientific Reports 6, 33210.
Berenshtein, I., Rousseau, M., Scata, G., Fiorito, G. and Shashar, N. (2016). Observed and modelled camouflage response of European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) to different substrate patch sizes during movement. Frontiers in Physiology 7, 671.
Bevilacqua, S. and Terlizzi, A. (2016). Species surrogacy in environmental impact assessment and monitoring: extending the BestAgg approach to asymmetrical designs. Marine Ecology Progress Series 547, 19-32.
Boni, R., Gallo, A., Montanino, M., Macina, A. and Tosti, E. (2016). Dynamic changes in the sperm quality of Mytilus galloprovincialis under continuous thermal stress. Mol Reprod Dev 83, 162-73.
Brozovic, M., Martin, C., Dantec, C., Dauga, D., Mendez, M., Simion, P., Percher, M., Laporte, B., Scornavacca, C., Di Gregorio, A. et al. (2016). ANISEED 2015: a digital framework for the comparative developmental biology of ascidians. Nucleic Acids Res 44 (D1), D808-D818.
Castellano, I., Migliaccio, O., D'Aniello, S., Merlino, A., Napolitano, A. and Palumbo, A. (2016). Shedding light on ovothiol biosynthesis in marine metazoans. Sci Rep 6, 21506.
Ciezarek, A. G., Dunning, L. T., Jones, C. S., Noble, L. R., Humble, E., Stefanni, S. S. and Savolainen, V. (2016). Substitutions in the Glycogenin-1 Gene Are Associated with the Evolution of Endothermy in Sharks and Tunas. Genome Biol Evol 8, 3011-3021.
Coppola, U., Annona, G., D'Aniello, S. and Ristoratore, F. (2016). Rab32 and Rab38 genes in chordate pigmentation: an evolutionary perspective. BMC Evol Biol 16, 26.
Costantini, M., Greif, G., Alvarez-Valin, F. and Bernardi, G. (2016). The Anolis Lizard Genome: An Amniote Genome without Isochores? Genome Biol Evol 8, 1048-55.
D'Agostino, Y., Locascio, A., Ristoratore, F., Sordino, P., Spagnuolo, A., Borra, M. and D'Aniello, S. (2016). A Rapid and Cheap Methodology for CRISPR/Cas9 Zebrafish Mutant Screening. Mol Biotechnol 58, 73-8.
De Luca, D., Catanese, G., Procaccini, G. and Fiorito, G. (2016). Octopus vulgaris (Cuvier, 1797) in the Mediterranean Sea: Genetic Diversity and Population Structure. PLoS One 11, e0149496.
Fortunato, A., Boni, R., Leo, R., Nacchia, G., Liguori, F., Casale, S., Bonassisa, P. and Tosti, E. (2016). Vacuoles in sperm head are not associated with head morphology, DNA damage and reproductive success. Reprod Biomed Online 32, 154-161.
Ferramosca, A., Conte, A., Guerra, F., Felline, S., Rimoli, M. G., Mollo, E., Zara, V. and Terlizzi, A. (2016). Metabolites from invasive pests inhibit mitochondrial complex II: A potential strategy for the treatment of human ovarian carcinoma? Biochemical and biophysical research communications 473(4), 1133-1138.
Fortunato, A., Boni, R., Leo, R., Nacchia, G., Liguori, F., Casale, S., Bonassisa, P. and Tosti, E. (2016a). Vacuoles in sperm head are not associated with head morphology, DNA damage and reproductive success. Reproductive BioMedicine Online 32, 154-61.
Fortunato, A. E., Sordino, P. and Andreakis, N. (2016b). Evolution of the SOUL Heme-Binding Protein Superfamily Across Eukarya. J Mol Evol 82, 279-90.
Gallina, A. A., Palumbo, A. and Casotti, R. (2016). Oxidative pathways in response to polyunsaturated aldehydes in the marine diatom Skeletonema marinoi (Bacillariophyceae). J Phycol. 52, 590–598.
Gallo, A., Boni, R., Buttino, I. and Tosti, E. (2016). Spermiotoxicity of nickel nanoparticles in the marine invertebrate Ciona intestinalis (ascidians). Nanotoxicology, 1-9.
Gallo, A. and Tosti, E. (2016). Adverse Effect of Ocean Acidification on Marine Organisms. J Marine Sci Res Dev 6, e139.
Josef, N., Berenshtein, I., Rousseau, M., Scata, G., Fiorito, G. and Shashar, N. (2016). Size Matters: Observed and Modeled Camouflage Response of European Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) to Different Substrate Patch Sizes during Movement. Frontiers in Physiology 7.
Karaz, S., Courgeon, M., Lepetit, H., Bruno, E., Pannone, R., Tarallo, A., Thouzé, F., Kerner, P., Vervoort, M., Causeret, F., Pierani, A., D'Onofrio, G. (2016). Neuronal fate specification by the Dbx1 transcription factor is linked to the evolutionary acquisition of a novel functional domain. EvoDevo 7, 1-13.
Mao, C. A., Agca, C., Mocko-Strand, J. A., Wang, J., Ullrich-Luter, E., Pan, P., Wang, S. W., Arnone, M. I., Frishman, L. J. and Klein, W. H. (2016). Substituting mouse transcription factor Pou4f2 with a sea urchin orthologue restores retinal ganglion cell development. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 283.
Martella, A., Sepe, R. M., Silvestri, C., Zang, J., Fasano, G., Carnevali, O., De Girolamo, P., Neuhauss, S. C. F., Sordino, P. and Di Marzo, V. (2016). Important role of endocannabinoid signaling in the development of functional vision and locomotion in zebrafish. The FASEB Journal 30, 4275-4288.
Migliaccio, O., Castellano, I., Di Cioccio, D., Tedeschi, G., Negri, A., Cirino, P., Romano, G., Zingone, A. and Palumbo, A. (2016). Subtle reproductive impairment through nitric oxide-mediated mechanisms in sea urchins from an area affected by harmful algal blooms. Scientific Reports 6, 26086.
Moreno-Valcárcel, R., Oliva-Paterna, F. J., Bevilacqua, S., Terlizzi, A. and Fernández-Delgado, C. (2016). Long-term effects of tidal restriction on fish assemblages in east Atlantic coastal marshlands. Marine Ecology Progress Series 543, 209-222.
Pagano, G., Guida, M., Siciliano, A., Oral, R., Kocbas, F., Palumbo, A., Castellano, I., Migliaccio, O., Thomas, P. J. and Trifuoggi, M. (2016). Comparative toxicities of selected rare earth elements: Sea urchin embryogenesis and fertilization damage with redox and cytogenetic effects. Environ Res 147, 453-60.
Perillo, M., Wang, Y. J., Leach, S. D. and Arnone, M. I. (2016). A pancreatic exocrine-like cell regulatory circuit operating in the upper stomach of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus larva. BMC Evol Biol 16, 117.
Pugliese, C., Mazza, R., Andrews, P. L., Cerra, M. C., Fiorito, G. and Gattuso, A. (2016). Effect of Different Formulations of Magnesium Chloride Used As Anesthetic Agents on the Performance of the Isolated Heart of Octopus vulgaris. Frontiers in Physiology 7.
Rizzo, F., Coffman, J. A. and Arnone, M. I. (2016). An Elk transcription factor is required for Runx-dependent survival signaling in the sea urchin embryo. Dev Biol. 416, 173–186.
Romano, G., Costantini, M., Sansone, C., Lauritano, C., Ruocco, N. and Ianora, A. (2016). Marine microorganisms as a promising and sustainable source of bioactive molecules. Mar Environ Res. In press; Available online: 3 May 2016.
Ruocco, N., Costantini, M. and Santella, L. (2016). New insights into negative effects of lithium on sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus embryos. Scientific Reports 6.
Ruocco, N., Costantini, S. and Costantini, M. (2016). Blue-Print Autophagy: Potential for Cancer Treatment. Marine Drugs 14, 138.
Ruocco, N., Costantini, S., Guariniello, S. and Costantini, M. (2016). Polysaccharides from the Marine Environment with Pharmacological, Cosmeceutical and Nutraceutical Potential. Molecules 21.
Ruocco, N., Varrella, S., Romano, G., Ianora, A., Bentley, M. G., Somma, D., Leonardi, A., Mellone, S., Zuppa, A. and Costantini, M. (2016). Diatom-derived oxylipins induce cell death in sea urchin embryos activating caspase-8 and caspase 3/7. Aquat Toxicol 176, 128-40.
Shaw, T. J., Osborne, M., Ponte, G., Fiorito, G. and Andrews, P. L. (2016). Mechanisms of wound closure following acute arm injury in Octopus vulgaris. Zoological Lett 2, 8.
Taddei, L., Stella, G. R., Rogato, A., Bailleul, B., Fortunato, A. E., Annunziata, R., Sanges, R., Thaler, M., Lepetit, B., Lavaud, J., Jaubert, M., Finazzi, G., Bouly, J.P., Falciatore, A. (2016). Multisignal control of expression of the LHCX protein family in the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. J Exp Bot 67, 3939-51.
Tarallo, A., Angelini, C., Sanges, R., Yagi, M., Agnisola, C. and D'Onofrio, G. (2016). On the genome base composition of teleosts: the effect of environment and lifestyle. BMC Genomics 17, 173.
Tarallo, A., Gambi, M. C. and D'Onofrio, G. (2016b). Lifestyle and DNA base composition in polychaetes. Physiological Genomics 48, 883-888.
Tarallo, A., Yagi, M., Oikawa, S., Agnisola, C. and D'Onofrio, G. (2016). Comparative morpho-physiological analysis between Ciona robusta and Ciona savignyi. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 485, 83-87.
Tosti, E., Boni, R. and Gallo, A. (2016). Ion currents in embryo development. Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today 108, 6-18.
Tosti, E. and Menezo, Y. (2016). Gamete activation: basic knowledge and clinical applications. Hum Reprod Update 22, 420-39.
Valero-Gracia, A., Marino, R., Crocetta, F., Nittoli, V., Tiozzo, S. and Sordino, P. (2016a). Comparative localization of serotonin-like immunoreactive cells in Thaliacea informs tunicate phylogeny. Frontiers in Zoology 13.
Valero-Gracia, A., Petrone, L., Oliveri, P., Nilsson, D. E. and Arnone, M. I. (2016b). Non-directional photoreceptors in the pluteus of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 4.
Varrella, S., Romano, G., Costantini, S., Ruocco, N., Ianora, A., Bentley, M. G. and Costantini, M. (2016). Toxic Diatom Aldehydes Affect Defence Gene Networks in Sea Urchins. PLoS One 11, e0149734.
Varrella, S., Romano, G., Ruocco, N., Ianora, A., Bentley, M. G. and Costantini, M. (2016). First Morphological and Molecular Evidence of the Negative Impact of Diatom-Derived Hydroxyacids on the Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus. Toxicol Sci 151, 419-33.
Verde, C., Giordano, D., Bellas, C. M., di Prisco, G. and Anesio, A. M. (2016). Chapter Four-Polar Marine Microorganisms and Climate Change. Advances in Microbial Physiology 69, 187-215.
Books and/or Book Chapters
Lowe, E. K., Cuomo, C. and Arnone, M. I. (2016). A Differential Transcriptomic Approach to Compare Target Genes of Homologous Transcription Factors in Echinoderm Species. In Dynamics of Mathematical Models in Biology: Springer International Publishing.
Martinez-Morales, J. R. and Locascio, A. (2016). Vertebrate Eye Evolution. In Organogenetic Gene Networks, (ed. J. Castelli-Gair Hombría, Bovolenta, Paola (Eds)), pp. 275-298: Springer International Publishing.
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