Sensing the marine environment using different animal models and levels of complexity

There is no doubt that the natural environment is crucial for our daily life. Since seas and oceans occupy approximately 70% of the global surface, adverse changes in the marine environment sooner or later will have some type of impact on our society. The dynamic powerful marine environment provides us not only with material and concrete benefits, but also with spiritual and emotional treats. All this contributes to maintain and enhance the quality of our lives. Italian and Japanese scientists investigating on marine organisms impacted by polluted environments, anthropogenic factors, and emerging contaminants gathered together in a meeting promoted by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) to report their studies, exchange knowledge and information, and discuss these topics with the belief that their researches might contribute to improve the quality of the marine environment and, by doing that, improve our healthy living on Earth. Several model organisms were the object of the reported studies, including marine mammals, fishes, echinoderms, crustaceans, cnidarians, copepods, diatoms, sponges. Reports ranged from field campaign studies on whole organisms to laboratory experiments. Cellular, biochemical and molecular biology analyses were employed, aimed at understanding the mechanisms involved in the stress response to environmental hazards.