Suchergebnisse

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552 ; The study was funded by a 2003-2004 INTERREG project between Catalonia Languedoc Rouissillon "Pirineus Mediterrànis: La muntanya que uneix"' of the CSIC and CNRS, of the 2009-2013 European project LIFE+ INDEMARES "Inventario y designación de la red natura 2000 en áreas marinas del estado español" (LIFE07/NAT/E/000732) of the European Union, and by a PRIN 2010-2011 project (prot. 2010Z8HJ5M) on "Coastal bioconstructions: structure, function and management" Italian Ministry of Education, Univeristy and Research. ; Gorgonian species show a high morphological variability in relation to the environment in which they live. In coastal areas, parameters such as temperature, light, currents, and food availability vary significantly with depth, potentially affecting morphology of the colonies and the structure of the populations, as well as their connectivity patterns. In tropical seas, the existence of connectivity between shallow and deep populations supported the hypothesis that the deep coral reefs could potentially act as (reproductive) refugia fostering re-colonization of shallow areas after mortality events. Moreover, this hypothesis is not so clear accepted in temperate seas. Eunicella singularis is one of the most common gorgonian species in Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, playing an important role as ecosystem engineer by providing biomass and complexity to the coralligenous habitats. It has a wide bathymetric distribution ranging from about 10 m to 100 m. Two depth-related morphotypes have been identified, differing in colony morphology, sclerite size and shape, and occurrence of symbiotic algae, but not in mitochondrial DNA haplotypes. In the present study the genetic structure of E. singularis populations along a horizontal and bathymetric gradient was assessed using microsatellites and ITS1 sequences. Restricted gene flow was found at 30-40 m depth between the two Eunicella morphotypes. Conversely, no genetic structuring has been found among shallow water populations within a spatial scale of ten kilometers. The break in gene flow between shallow and deep populations contributes to explain the morphological variability observed at different depths. Moreover, the limited vertical connectivity hinted that the refugia hypothesis does not apply to E. singularis. Re-colonization of shallow water populations, occasionally affected by mass mortality events, should then be mainly fueled by larvae from other shallow water populations.

20 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, supporting information https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160678.-- We have obtained the GenBank Accession numbers for all the sequences used in the work (GenBank from KX051564 to KX051577 and from KX002245 to KX002255) ; Gorgonian species show a high morphological variability in relation to the environment in which they live. In coastal areas, parameters such as temperature, light, currents, and food availability vary significantly with depth, potentially affecting morphology of the colonies and the structure of the populations, as well as their connectivity patterns. In tropical seas, the existence of connectivity between shallow and deep populations supported the hypothesis that the deep coral reefs could potentially act as (reproductive) refugia fostering re-colonization of shallow areas after mortality events. Moreover, this hypothesis is not so clear accepted in temperate seas. Eunicella singularis is one of the most common gorgonian species in Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, playing an important role as ecosystem engineer by providing biomass and complexity to the coralligenous habitats. It has a wide bathymetric distribution ranging from about 10m to 100 m. Two depth-related morphotypes have been identified, differing in colony morphology, sclerite size and shape, and occurrence of symbiotic algae, but not inmitochondrial DNA haplotypes. In the present study the genetic structure of E. singularis populations along a horizontal and bathymetric gradient was assessed using microsatellites and ITS1 sequences. Restricted gene flow was found at 30-40 m depth between the two Eunicella morphotypes. Conversely, no genetic structuring has been found among shallow water populations within a spatial scale of ten kilometers. The break in gene flow between shallow and deep populations contributes to explain the morphological variability observed at different depths.Moreover, the limited vertical connectivity hinted that the refugia hypothesis does not apply to E. singularis. Re-colonization of shallow water populations, occasionally affected by mass mortality events, should then be mainly fueled by larvae from other shallow water populations ; AG was funded by a I3P contract of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Ref. I3P-BPD2005). SR wants to thank the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya to MERS (2014 SGR-1356) and the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship (ANIMAL FOREST HEALTH, project number 327845). The study was funded by a 2003-2004 INTERREG project between Catalonia-Languedoc Rouissillon ''Pirineus Mediterrànis: La muntanya que uneix'' of the CSIC and CNRS, of the 2009-2013 European project LIFE+ INDEMARES ''Inventario y designación de la red natura 2000 en áreas marinas del estado español'' (LIFE07/NAT/E/000732) of the European Union, and by a PRIN 2010-2011 project (prot. 2010Z8HJ5M) on 'Coastal bioconstructions: structure, function and management' Italian Ministry of Education, Univeristy and Research ; Peer Reviewed

10 pages, 6 figures ; Ongoing sea temperature increase threatens reefs worldwide. In this study we experimentally examined for the first time the response of the early life stages of a long-lived structural gorgonian, the Mediterranean species Paramuricea clavata (Risso 1826), to the highest summer temperature recorded so far in the study area (25°C; the Medes Islands, Northwestern Mediterranean). This temperature also simulates the end-of-century predicted warming (+3°C) over the temperature maxima recorded during the species' reproductive period. The results showed a severe negative impact of constant thermal stress on the viability of P. clavata embryos and larvae, resulting in reduced survivorship, completely abnormal embryonic development and impaired metamorphosis. The deteriorating effect was rapid for embryos (after 7 h), whereas the impact on larvae became evident after 10 d of stress. Larval modifications started 7 d earlier under elevated temperature conditions, but the appearance of spherical, aberrant shapes prevented an assessment of whether metamorphosis was initiated but abnormal, or deterred altogether. The apparent higher sensitivity of embryos suggests that thermal stress during embryonic development may be the most critical factor for the viability of P. clavata larvae. In the context of an ongoing warming trend, the reduced viability of early life stages would jeopardize the persistence of P. clavata, which relies on successful recruitment for replenishment of its populations. Further research into the effects of thermal stress on the reproduction of structural invertebrate species and the viability of their early life stages will improve our understanding of the long-term consequences of environmental global change in marine benthic communities ; We thank J. M. Fortuño for assistance with scanning electronic microscopy, the Medes Islands MPA Staff for their continuous support, and O. Ross and M. Buklijas Caleta for help in image editing. We further thank the 3 anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. S.K. acknowledges Research Fellowship 2009-11 from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Biorock project ref. CTM2009−08045), Juan de la Cierva and Ramon y Cajal contracts to C.L. and Beatriu de Pinós contract to N.T. This is a contribution from the Medrecover research group, funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan government) ; Peer reviewed

3 páginas, 1 tabla. ; The gorgonian Paramuricea clavatais a benthic organism often included in conservation management plans since it creates complexity in the ecosystems and is extremely vulnerable to disturbances. Eight microsatellite markers isolated from an enriched genomic library were characterized in a total of 50 individuals from two northwestern Mediterranean populations. All loci were polymorphic and the number of alleles per locus ranged between 2 and 14. Significant genetic differentiation was observed between populations. The polymorphic markers presently isolated will allow for the assessment of the spatial genetic structure between and within populations of this umbrella species of the Mediterranean Sea. ; This research was supported by projects 119/2003 and CTM2007-66635 (CICYT) from the Spanish Government. ; Peer reviewed

9 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables ; Increase in seawater temperature is one of the major effects of global climate change that affects marine organisms, including Cnidaria. Among them, gorgonians from the NW Mediterranean Sea, such as the species Eunicella singularis, have suffered spectacular and extensive damage. We thus investigated in a controlled laboratory experiment the response of E. singularis to a long-term increase in temperature and we took a special interest in its photosynthetic and calcification response to the stress. Two populations collected at 15 and 35 m depths were studied in order to determine whether there was a difference in sensitivity to thermal stress between living depths. Our results show: (a) that calcification and photosynthesis were impacted only when gorgonians were maintained for more than two weeks at 26°C, and (b) that colonies of E. singularis living in shallow waters were less tolerant than those living in deep waters. Because E. singularis is a symbiotic species, we have also discussed the potential role of symbiosis in the thermotolerance response. ; This research was supported by the Government of the Principality of Monaco and the Medchange project (www.medchange.org) funded by the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR). ; Peer reviewed

7 pages, 3 figures, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3118 ; In the Mediterranean Sea, gorgonians are among the main habitat-forming species of benthic communities on the continental shelf and slope, playing an important ecological role in coral gardens. In areas where bottom trawling is restricted, gorgonians represent one of the main components of trammel net bycatch. Since gorgonians are long-lived and slow-growing species, impacts derived from fishing activities can have far-reaching and long-lasting effects, jeopardizing their long-term viability. Thus, mitigation and ecological restoration initiatives focusing on gorgonian populations on the continental shelf are necessary to enhance and speed up their natural recovery. Bycatch gorgonians from artisanal fishermen were transplanted into artificial structures, which were then deployed at 85 m depth on the outer continental shelf of the marine protected area of Cap de Creus (north-west Mediterranean Sea, Spain). After 1 year, high survival rates of transplanted colonies (87.5%) were recorded with a hybrid remotely operated vehicle. This pilot study shows, for the first time, the survival potential of bycatch gorgonians once returned to their habitat on the continental shelf, and suggests the potential success of future scaled-up restoration activities ; This study was developed within the frame of the ShelfReCover project (Ecological restoration of benthic ecosystem engineers on the Mediterranean continental shelf project) funded by the Fundación BBVA. Funding was also provided by the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 689518 (MERCES). This output reflects only the authors' views, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein. M. Montseny was founded by an FPU 2014 research grant (FPU2014_06977) from the Spanish government. A. Gori received funding from a Beatriu de Pinos 2013 research grant (BP‐B00074) from the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Marie Curie Fellowship from the EU‐funded project Ithaca, as well as from a Juan de la Cierva 2015 research grant (IJCI‐2015‐23962) from the Spanish government ; Peer Reviewed

19 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables, supporting information http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126253 ; The yellow octocoral Eunicella cavolini is one of the most common gorgonians thriving in Mediterranean hard-bottom communities. However, information regarding its distribution and ecology in several parts of the Mediterranean is lacking, while population trends and conservation status remain largely unknown. We investigated 19 populations of E. cavolini over three representative geographic regions: the NW Mediterranean, CE Adriatic, and N Aegean. Focusing on the upper bathymetric range of the species (30 cm). The CE Adriatic displayed intermediate densities, with well-structured populations, and continuous recruitment. In the N Aegean, most populations presented low densities, high proportion of large colonies, but low number of small colonies, signifying limited recruitment. Disturbance levels, as a function of extent and type of injury, are discussed in relation to past or present human-induced threats. This work represents geographically the most wide ranging demographic study of a Mediterranean octocoral to date. The quantitative information obtained provides a basis for future monitoring at a Mediterranean scale. © 2015 Sini et al. ; MS research activity has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds (Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs managing authority) through the Operational Program >Education and Lifelong Learning> of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funding Program: Heracleitus II. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund. SK received funding provided by the Croatian Ministry of Culture through the grant allocated to Marine Explorers Society –"20,000 leagues" in 2009 and by the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education (project 119-0362975-1226) ; Peer Reviewed

10 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables ; The white gorgonian, Eunicella singularis, is thriving in Mediterranean hard-bottom communities; however, data regarding its distribution and ecology remain absent and insufficient, particularly in the southern Mediterranean Sea. In this study, the population structure and disturbance levels of the most common gorgonian in Tunisia were assessed for the first time. During two years (2015-2016), a total of 818 colonies of E. singularis were surveyed in five coastal sites, by scuba diving, between 7 to 40 m depth. Collected data included density, colony height, and extent of injury. Mean population density was 11.91 ± 7.42 colonies per m2 (mean ± SD). Mean and maximum colony heights were 16.49 ± 5.59 cm and 51 cm, respectively. Among populations, mean extent of tissue injury differed considerably, ranging from 12.47% to 58.88% and most affected colonies showed old necrosis. These data regarding the demographic structure and level of injuries are needed to provide insights into the conservation status of the Tunisian population of E. singularis. Indeed, data on the amount of necrosis could highlight the strength of the colonies' exposure to mechanical impacts and are consequently crucial to study changes in their demographic structure over time. In fact, the size, structures, and the high level of tissue necrosis of the colonies suggest a low conservation status of the studied Tunisian populations ; With funding from the Spanish government through the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) ; Peer reviewed

Stochastic perturbations can trigger major ecosystem shifts. Marine systems have been severely affected in recent years by mass mortality events related to positive thermal anomalies. Although the immediate effects in the species demography affected by mortality events are well known, information on the mid- to long-term effects at the community level is much less documented. Here, we show how an extreme warming event replaces a structurally complex habitat, dominated by long-lived species, by a simplified habitat (lower species diversity and richness) dominated by turf-forming species. On the basis of a study involving the experimental manipulation of the presence of the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata, we observed that its presence mitigated the effects of warming by maintaining the original assemblage dominated by macroinvertebrates and delaying the proliferation and spread of the invasive alga Caulerpa cylindracea. However, due to the increase of sediment and turf-forming species after the mortality event we hypothesize a further degradation of the whole assemblage as both factors decrease the recruitment of P.clavata, decrease the survival of encrusting coralligenous-dwelling macroinvertebrates and facilitate the spreading of C. cylindracea ; Financial support has been provided by a Spanish Ministry Project ANIMA (CGL2016-76341-R), OAPN project (CORCLIM 759S/2012 and 766S/2012) and European Union's Horizon 2020 (grant agreement No. 689518) MERCES Project

Este artículo contiene 11 páginas, 7 figuras, 2 tablas. ; Stochastic perturbations can trigger major ecosystem shifts. Marine systems have been severely affected in recent years by mass mortality events related to positive thermal anomalies. Although the immediate effects in the species demography affected by mortality events are well known, information on the mid- to long-term effects at the community level is much less documented. Here, we show how an extreme warming event replaces a structurally complex habitat, dominated by long-lived species, by a simplified habitat (lower species diversity and richness) dominated by turf-forming species. On the basis of a study involving the experimental manipulation of the presence of the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata, we observed that its presence mitigated the effects of warming by maintaining the original assemblage dominated by macroinvertebrates and delaying the proliferation and spread of the invasive alga Caulerpa cylindracea. However, due to the increase of sediment and turf-forming species after the mortality event we hypothesize a further degradation of the whole assemblage as both factors decrease the recruitment of P.clavata, decrease the survival of encrusting coralligenous-dwelling macroinvertebrates and facilitate the spreading of C. cylindracea. ; Financial support has been provided by a Spanish Ministry Project ANIMA (CGL2016-76341-R), OAPN project (CORCLIM 759S/2012 and 766S/2012) and European Union's Horizon 2020 (grant agreement No. 689518) MERCES Project. This output reflects only the authors' view and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. J.V. has been funded by a IFUdG2016 grant. Managers of ACNP are acknowledged for sampling permissions. We also thank to David Díaz, Eneko Aspillaga, Pol Capdevila, Bernat Hereu and Fiona Tomas for their collaboration in fieldwork. J.V., C.L. and E.C. are members of the Marine Conservation Research Group (www.medrecover.org; 2017 SGR 1521) and R.C. is part of the Marine Biogeochemistry and Global Change Research Group (2017SGR1011) from the Generalitat de Catalunya. ; Peer reviewed

[Abstract] The four new briarane diterpenoids 2-butyryloxybriarane B-3 (2), 9-acetylbriarenolide S (3), briarenolide W (4), and 12-isobriarenolide P (5), along with briarane B-3 (1) and the five known diterpenes 6–10 were isolated from the gorgonian coral Briareum asbestinum collected from the Mexican Caribbean Sea. The structures were elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR and MS measurements. Since the structure of briarane B-3 (1) was only suggested and published without any spectroscopic support, it was herein confirmed, and the supporting data are now provided. In addition, 1 provided the opportunity to explore the sensitivity of vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) to determine the configuration of a single stereogenic center in the presence of eight other stereogenic centers in a molecule possessing a highly flexible ten-member ring. A single-crystal X-ray diffraction study, in which the Flack and Hooft parameters of 1 were determined, further confirmed that briarane B-3 is (1S,2S,6S,7R,8R,9S,10S,11R,17R)-1. This paper reports for first time the use of VCD in briarane diterpenes and with the presence of chlorine atoms. Biological evaluation of seven isolated compounds evidenced a moderate anti-inflammatory activity for compounds 6 and 9 but it did not show any cytotoxic, antiviral, antibacterial, and topoisomerase inhibitory activity. ; This work was supported by Grants RTI2018-093634-B-C22 (AEI/FEDER, EU) from the State Agency for Research (AEI) of Spain, co-funded by the FEDER Programme from the European Union. We thank to Xunta de Galicia for the support of Grants GRC2018/039 and ED431E 2018/03 for CICA-INIBIC strategic group and BLUEBIOLAB (o474_BLUEBIOLAB_1_E, Programme INTERREG V A of Spain-Portugal (POCTEP). JR, CJ, and D.P.-P. acknowledge CESGA for the use of the computational facilities. PJ-N acknowledges partial financial support from CONACYT-Mexico Grant No. 284194. D.P.-P. received a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) of Mexico. The work was also supported by UIDB/50006/2020 with funding from FCT/MCTES through national funds ; Xunta de Galicia; GRC2018/039 ; Xunta de Galicia; ED431E 2018/03 ; México. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología; 284194 ; Portugal. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; UIDB/50006/2020

Este artículo contiene 10 páginas, 4 figuras. ; Understanding the resilience of temperate reefs to climate change requires exploring the recovery capacity of their habitat-forming species from recurrent marine heatwaves (MHWs). Here, we show that, in a Mediterranean highly enforced marine protected area established more than 40 years ago, habitat-forming octocoral populations that were first affected by a severe MHW in 2003 have not recovered after 15 years. Contrarily, they have followed collapse trajectories that have brought them to the brink of local ecological extinction. Since 2003, impacted populations of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) and the red coral Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758) have followed different trends in terms of size structure, but a similar progressive reduction in density and biomass. Concurrently, recurrent MHWs were observed in the area during the 2003–2018 study period, which may have hindered populations recovery. The studied octocorals play a unique habitat-forming role in the coralligenous assemblages (i.e. reefs endemic to the Mediterranean Sea home to approximately 10% of its species). Therefore, our results underpin the great risk that recurrent MHWs pose for the long-term integrity and functioning of these emblematic temperate reefs. ; We acknowledge the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' (CEX2019–000928-S) funding, the MCIU/AEI/FEDER [HEATMED; RTI2018-095346-B-I00], Interreg-Med Programme (5216 | 5MED18_ 3.2_M23_007 and 1MED15_3.2_M2_337), Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco [MIMOSA], the TOTAL-Foundation [Perfect] and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant nos. 689518 and SEP-210597628). D.G.-G. is supported by a FPU15/05457 grant. C.L. acknowledges the support of ICREA. J.B.L is supported by the strategic Funding [UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020]. N.T. received funding by the French National Research Agency-Make Our Planet Great Again [4Oceans-MOPGA and ANR-17-MPGA-0001]. D.K.K. is supported by a IJCI-2017- 31457. D.G.-G., C.L., J.B.L., E.C., P.L.-S., D.K.K. and J.G. are part of the Medrecover group [2017 SGR 1521]. ; Peer reviewed

10 pages, 4 figures, supplemental material https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/suppl/10.1098/rspb.2021.2384.-- Data accessibility: All data and code supporting the results are available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.18931zczk ; Understanding the resilience of temperate reefs to climate change requires exploring the recovery capacity of their habitat-forming species from recurrent marine heatwaves (MHWs). Here, we show that, in a Mediterranean highly enforced marine protected area established more than 40 years ago, habitat-forming octocoral populations that were first affected by a severe MHW in 2003 have not recovered after 15 years. Contrarily, they have followed collapse trajectories that have brought them to the brink of local ecological extinction. Since 2003, impacted populations of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) and the red coral Corallium rubrum (Linnaeus, 1758) have followed different trends in terms of size structure, but a similar progressive reduction in density and biomass. Concurrently, recurrent MHWs were observed in the area during the 2003–2018 study period, which may have hindered populations recovery. The studied octocorals play a unique habitat-forming role in the coralligenous assemblages (i.e. reefs endemic to the Mediterranean Sea home to approximately 10% of its species). Therefore, our results underpin the great risk that recurrent MHWs pose for the long-term integrity and functioning of these emblematic temperate reefs ; We acknowledge the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' (CEX2019–000928-S) funding, the MCIU/AEI/FEDER [HEATMED; RTI2018-095346-B-I00], Interreg-Med Programme (5216 | 5MED18_3.2_M23_007 and 1MED15_3.2_M2_337), Foundation Prince Albert II Monaco [MIMOSA], the TOTAL-Foundation [Perfect] and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant nos. 689518 and SEP-210597628). D.G.-G. is supported by a FPU15/05457 grant. C.L. acknowledges the support of ICREA. J.B.L is supported by the strategic Funding [UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020]. N.T. received funding by the French National Research Agency-Make Our Planet Great Again [4Oceans-MOPGA and ANR-17-MPGA-0001]. D.K.K. is supported by a IJCI-2017-31457. D.G.-G., C.L., J.B.L., E.C., P.L.-S., D.K.K. and J.G. are part of the Medrecover group [2017 SGR 1521] ; Peer reviewed

none ; 0 ; Authors: Santangelo, G., Cupido, R., Cocito, S., Bramanti, L., Priori, C., Erra, F., Iannelli, M. ; Over the last years, several marine populations suffered a drastic mortality increase of different origins; assessing the changes occurring in the demographic structure of such populations will allow evaluating their future trends and their ultimate fate. The aim of our research was to assess main demographic descriptors and related dynamics in populations of the Mediterranean gorgonians Paramuricea clavata and Corallium rubrum (the "precious red coral") both subject to increased mortality, by life-history tables and Leslie-Lewis transition matrices. Gorgonian populations have been generally been considered to have low recruitment and low dynamics. Here, we test whether these features change when mortality rises and if such populations can reach new equilibria? Our findings show large differences between the two species examined, with lower recruitment and adult colony density, shorter life-span but over-abundant reproductive output in P. clavata. Recruitment density dependence was found in crowded populations of both species, albeit with different trends. Populations of both species tend to recover even after drastic mortality increase and P. clavata reaches a new equilibrium at lower densities than at pristine values, and this in a few years time. The findings in this review could shed some light on the poorly understood dynamics occurring in deep-water dwelling, affected populations of long-lived and slow-growing gorgonian corals. © 2015, European Union. ; none ; 10840/7040 ; Cupido, R. ; Cupido, R.

Viral infections are one of the main human health problems in recent decades and the cancer remains one of the most lethal diseases worldwide. The development of new antiviral drugs for the treatment of human adenovirus (HAdV) infections continues to be a challenging goal for medicinal chemistry. There is no specific antiviral drug approved to treat infections caused by HAdV so far and the off-label treatments currently available show great variability in their effectiveness. In relation to cancer, most of the available drugs are designed to act on specific targets by altering the activity of involved transporters and genes. Taking into account the high antiviral and antiproliferative activity against tumor cell lines displayed by some marine natural products reported in the literature, sixty five marine organisms were selected: 51 sponges (Porifera), 13 ascidians (Chordata), and 1 gorgonian (Cnidaria), collected from Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, to evaluate their antiviral activity against human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV5) and their anticancer properties against five human tumor cell lines, namely human lung carcinoma (A549), human skin melanoma (A2058), hepatocyte carcinoma (HepG2), breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7), and pancreas carcinoma (MiaPaca-2). Eleven extracts displayed anti-HAdV activity being the organic extracts of Dysidea sp., Agelas citrina, Chondrilla sp., Spongia tubulifera, and Monanchora arbuscula the five most active ones. On the other hand, 24 extracts showed antiproliferative activity against at least one tumor cell line, being the extracts of the ascidian Eudistoma amanitum and the sponge Haliclona (Rhizoniera) curacaoensis the most active ones. This work constitutes the first wide antiviral and antiproliferative screening report of extracts from the marine sponges, ascidians, and a gorgonian collected from the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. ; This work was supported by Grants RTI2018-093634-B-C22 and RTC-2016-4611-1 (AEI/FEDER, EU) from the State Agency for Research (AEI) of Spain, both co-funded by the FEDER Programme from the European Union, BLUEBIOLAB (0474_BLUEBIOLAB_1_E), Programme INTERREG V A of Spain-Portugal (POCTEP). The study was also funded by projects GRC2018/039 and Agrupación Estratégica CICA-INIBIC ED431E 2018/03 (Consejería de Educación, Universidad y Formación Profesional de la Junta de Galicia) from the Xunta de Galicia (autonomous government of the region). DP-P received a fellowship from the program National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) of Mexico and the Secretariat of Research, Innovation and Higher Education (SIIES) of Yucatan (Mexico). Also supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD16/0016/0009) – co-financed by "A way to achieve Europe" ERDF, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Proyectos de Desarrollo Tecnológico en Salud (DTS17/00130 and PI18/01191), and the Spanish Adenovirus Network (AdenoNet, BIO2015/68990-REDT).