A Reptilian Anachronism: American Alligator Older Than We Thought
University of FloridaFrom climate to the peninsula’s very shape, not much in Florida has stayed the same over the last 8 million years.
From climate to the peninsula’s very shape, not much in Florida has stayed the same over the last 8 million years.
In this study, the researchers designed and conducted a novel experiment to directly measure behavioral impairment and brain chemistry of the Spiny damselfish.
Researchers are now able to capture the cells of animals, sequence their DNA and identify which species were present in water at a point in time. A new University of Washington study is the first to use these genetic markers to understand the impact urbanization has on the environment — specifically, whether animal diversity flourishes or suffers.
By observing how fish swim and use their fins to move seamlessly within the ocean depths, a researcher at FAU is mimicking this movement to increase maneuverability and enhance the motion of underwater vehicles and robotic systems.
Scientists from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography will try to answer that question during an international research expedition off the coast of Japan.
South America was home to a host of unique animals during the 60-some million years the continent was isolated, during most of the Cenozic Period. Details and constructions of mammals ranging from mouse-sized marsupials to elephant-size sloths, with photos of fossil remains and 15 collections sites across the continent are included in a new book.
Study Links Altered Brain Chemistry, Behavioral Impairments in Fish Exposed to Elevated CO2 Research team studied damselfish behavior and physiology under ocean acidification conditions predicted for year 2300
MIAMI, Florida - Mote Marine Laboratory and The Nature Conservancy are partnering on a coral conservation initiative that will enable coral restoration at unprecedented scales throughout the Caribbean and the Florida Keys. The collaboration officially began Sept. 12, 2016, in Miami, with the signing of a one-year memorandum of understanding (MOU), enabling the first steps in a proposed 15-year initiative of joint coral reef restoration and conservation efforts.
A recent University of Washington study sought to understand why shark teeth are shaped differently and what biological advantages various shapes have by testing their performance under realistic conditions. The results appeared in August in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
A world renowned oceanographer and leading phytoplankton researcher will lead Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) as its new executive director.
Global fisheries stand to lose approximately $10 billion of their annual revenue by 2050 if climate change continues unchecked, and countries that are most dependent on fisheries for food will be the hardest hit, finds new UBC research.
With support from NASA, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are exploring whether RNA could have formed on early Earth deep beneath the ocean's surface or deep underground.
Large quantities of fish are consumed in India on a daily basis, which generates a huge amount of fish “biowaste” materials. In an attempt to do something positive with this biowaste, a team of researchers at Jadavpur University in Koltata, India explored recycling the fish byproducts into an energy harvester for self-powered electronics.
Nutrient pollution emptying into seas from cities, towns and agricultural land is changing the sounds made by marine life – and potentially upsetting navigational cues for fish and other sea creatures.
A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will help researchers understand the ways that marine animal larvae use sound as a cue to settle on coral reefs. The study, published on August 23rd in the online journal Scientific Reports, has determined that sounds created by adult fish and invertebrates may not travel far enough for larvae --which hatch in open ocean--to hear them, meaning that the larvae might rely on other means to home in on a reef system.
Lobsters eat jellyfish without harm from the venomous stingers due to a series of physical adaptations. Researchers from Hiroshima University examined lobster feces to discover that lobsters surround their servings of jellyfish in protective membranes that prevent the stingers from injecting their venom. The results are vial for aquaculture efforts to sustainably farm lobsters for diners around the world.
Large swarms of these jellyfish reach the coast when the sea temperature ranges between 28.2 and 30 degrees Celsius and during the full moon, according to a new study from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Haifa. The study reveals, for the first time, the link between sea temperature and the lunar cycle and the arrival of swarms of Jellyfish s along the coast of Israel.
MIAMI--An international team of scientists used a state-of-the-art computer model, a high-powered supercomputer, and five billion 'virtual' coral larvae to test Charles Darwin's 1880 hypothesis that marine species cannot cross the Eastern Pacific's "impassable" marine barrier. The team, which included University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science Associate Professor Claire Paris, found that Darwin's theory still hold true today even under extreme El Niño conditions known to speed up ocean currents.
Increased sea temperatures could dramatically enhance and accelerate radiation-induced DNA effects in marine invertebrates, a new study suggests.
Hitching a ride on fatty molecules, a "sticky" strategy shields sugary molecules from their soluble nature, and may explain the discrepancies between models and actual measurements of sea spray aerosol composition.
Many lower organisms retain the miraculous ability to regenerate form and function of almost any tissue after injury. Humans share many of our genes with these organisms, but our capacity for regeneration is limited. Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, are studying the genetics of these organisms to find out how regenerative mechanisms might be activated in humans.
The amount of sea level rise in the Pacific Ocean can be used to estimate future global surface temperatures, according to a new report led by University of Arizona geoscientists.
Denver native says dragonfish have highly evolved system for detecting water flows
MIAMI—An international team that includes University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science researchers found behavioral evidence that tiger sharks prefer to opportunistically scavenge on dead or weakened green turtles rather than actively hunting healthy individuals despite more opportunities to do so. The study, conducted off the coast of Australia during the turtle nesting season, also found the behavior of healthy green turtles suggests that they do not perceive tiger sharks as a major threat during nesting season.
As coastal ecosystems feel the heat of climate change worldwide, new research shows the humble mussel and marsh grass form an intimate interaction known as mutualism that benefits both partner species and may be critical to helping these ecosystems bounce back from extreme climatic events such as drought.
A deep-water marine sponge collected off of Fort Lauderdale’s coast contains leiodermatolide, a natural product that has the ability to inhibit the growth of cancer cells as well as block cancer cells from dividing using extremely low concentrations of the compound.
The cells that make fin rays in fish play a central role in forming the fingers and toes of four-legged creatures, one of the great transformations required for the descendants of fish to become creatures that walk on land.
Large, carnivorous fish excrete almost half of the key nutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen, that are essential for the survival of coral reefs.
University of Washington biologist Peter Ward's body of research has helped policymakers recognize the impact nautiluses have on ocean ecosystems, as well as how they can — and cannot — replenish their numbers in the face of unrestricted, unregulated fishing. At a CITES meeting in September, Ward and his team hope nautiluses will get much-needed protections from trade and harvesting.
Lobster season has started in Florida
Cell division is a fundamental process of life, producing two cells from one single cell at each cell division. During animal development, a fertilized egg divides many times, increasing the number of cells, which are precisely organized within the animal's body. How many times a cell undergoes cell division and how the two daughter cells are positioned after the division can be critical for shaping the animal. Although the machinery essential for cell division is well characterized and evolutionarily conserved, it remains unknown in most animals how a cell division can become oriented relative to the animal's body axis. The work by Negishi et al., published recently in the electronic journal eLife, has revealed that in the sea squirt (Ciona intestinalis) embryo, the orientation of the cell division machinery in epithelial cells is controlled by a unique cell membrane structure, which we call an "invagination".
Dublin, Ireland, Thursday 11th August, 2016 - Scientists have discovered macabre fossil evidence suggesting that 300 million-year-old sharks ate their own young, as fossil poop of adult Orthacanthus sharks contained the tiny teeth of juveniles. These fearsome marine predators used protected coastal lagoons to rear their babies, but it seems they also resorted to cannibalising them when other food sources became scarce.
Nitrogen-rich agricultural runoff into the Chesapeake Bay presents an ongoing environmental and economic concern for the bay's massive watershed. Pollution from fertilizer application feeds algal blooms that poison humans and marine life, and devastate fisheries.
A research team, led by Emeritus Professor Kazuhiro Nakaya of Japan's Hokkaido University, analyzed world-first footage captured by public broadcaster NHK in which two goblin sharks separately captured prey on a total of five occasions. The research has unraveled a century-old mystery surrounding how the deep-sea shark utilizes its protruding jaws, among other factors, to feed itself.
The Gulf of Maine coastline, historically home to one of the richest shellfish populations in the U.S., is undergoing a dramatic change, with once-flourishing wild blue mussels all but disappearing, according to a study led by University of California, Irvine ecologists.
Florida State University’s Center for Advanced Power Systems has been awarded a five-year $35 million grant by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research to bring together researchers to spur innovation and advance the Navy’s efforts to build an all-electric ship.
A new virus has been identified in association with a die-off of largemouth bass in Pine Lake in Wisconsin’s Forest County. The previously unknown virus was isolated at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s La Crosse Fish Health Center from dead fish collected by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) during an investigation into a May 2015 fish kill in the northeastern Wisconsin lake.
Marine fisheries catches have been drastically under-reported in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, threatening the marine environment and livelihoods of the local community, reveals a recent study published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
Climate change is threatening to expose hazardous waste at an abandoned camp thought to be buried forever in the Greenland Ice Sheet, new research out of York University has found.
Researchers have uncovered previously hidden sources of ocean pollution along more than 20 percent of America’s coastlines. The study, published online Aug. 4 in the journal Science, offers the first-ever map of underground drainage systems that connect fresh groundwater and seawater, and also pinpoints sites where drinking water is most vulnerable to saltwater intrusion now and in the future.
A detailed study of a nearly-complete fossil skull reveals much about the evolution of high-frequency hearing, which plays a key role in echolocation. Researchers at NYIT conclude high-frequency hearing evolved about 27-million years ago, about the same time as echolocation, although some features evolved even earlier.
Climate change has focused attention on burgeoning oxygen minimum zones. Newly discovered SAR11 bacteria deplete nitrogen, an essential life nutrient, with implications for greenhouse gas and nutrient cycles.
Mantis shrimp, often brightly colored and fiercely aggressive sea creatures with outsized strength, use both the ultraviolet reflectance of their color spots and chemical cues when fighting over resources, according to research led by a Tufts University doctoral candidate.
In a study published in Scientific Reports, scientists discovered impressive abundance and diversity among the creatures living on the seafloor in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ)--an area in the equatorial Pacific Ocean being targeted for deep-sea mining. The study, lead authored by Diva Amon, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), found that more than half of the species they collected were new to science, reiterating how little is known about life on the seafloor in this region.
A new study by an international team of scientists reveals the exact timing of the onset of the modern monsoon pattern in the Maldives 12.9 million years ago, and its connection to past climate changes and coral reefs in the region. The analysis of sediment cores provides direct physical evidence of the environmental conditions that sparked the monsoon conditions that exist today around the low-lying island nation and the Indian subcontinent.
Coastal Risk Consulting, a new start-up company formed by an FAU professor, has developed novel technology to assist coastal homeowners, businesses, and government to evaluate and mitigate risks from encroaching seas along Florida’s southeast coast as well as other vulnerable areas in the United States and overseas.
In recent decades, the plight of Atlantic cod off the coast of New England has been front-page news. Since the 1980s in particular, the once-seemingly inexhaustible stocks of Gadus morhua -- one of the most important fisheries in North America -- have declined dramatically.
A new citizen science project uses satellite images to get first-ever, comprehensive count of Weddell seals in Antarctica. Counting seals will help scientists better protect and conserve the pristine Ross Sea and wildlife in the area.
NSU research scientist collaborated with colleague to study the male sexual organ of barnacles, which it turns out is a marine creature that has been studied dating all the way back to Charles Darwin.
Japanese tadpoles can live and grow in natural hots springs, or onsen, with water temperatures as high as 46.1oC (115oF). Living in onsen may benefit the tadpoles' immune systems, speed their growth, and allow the tadpoles to survive on small volcanic islands where there are few other natural sources of fresh water.