Feature Channels: Marine Science

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Scientists have long believed that ocean viruses always quickly kill algae, but Rutgers-led research shows they live in harmony with algae and viruses provide a “coup de grace” only when blooms of algae are already stressed and dying. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, will likely change how scientists view viral infections of algae, also known as phytoplankton – especially the impact of viruses on ecosystem processes like algal bloom formation (and decline) and the cycling of carbon and other chemicals on Earth.

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Florida State University has appointed Joel Trexler as the next director of the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory, a research laboratory and base camp for field studies located in St. Teresa, Florida.

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A new study puts an economic value on the benefit of research to improve knowledge of the biological carbon pump and reduce the uncertainty of ocean carbon sequestration estimates.

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An international team of scientists has identified at least 11 species of fish suspected to have land-walking abilities.

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Ocean warming is paradoxically driving bottom-dwelling invertebrates – including sea scallops, blue mussels, surfclams and quahogs that are valuable to the shellfish industry – into warmer waters and threatening their survival, a Rutgers-led study shows. In a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers identify a cause for the “wrong-way” species migrations: warming-induced changes to their spawning times, resulting in the earlier release of larvae that would then be pushed into warmer waters by ocean currents.

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Researchers from Florida State University found no evidence that nitrate from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River System is mixing across the Northern Gulf shelf into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The findings are consistent with recent modeling work by fellow scientists that indicates 90 percent of Mississippi River nutrients are retained in the near-shore ecosystem, which implies that nutrients from the Mississippi River do not leave the Gulf.

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If you have any children in your life, imagine for a moment that they don't look anything like their parents, they don't eat anything humans normally eat, and they're active only while adults sleep.

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A new species of freshwater Crustacea has been discovered during an expedition of the desert Lut, known as the hottest place on Earth.

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The scaffolds that help hold together the world’s tropical reefs are at risk from acidification due to increased carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans, according to geoscientists at the University of Sydney.

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Researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters have detected indigo denim microfibers not only in wastewater effluent, but also in lakes and remote Arctic marine sediments.

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In a world-first, the extent of human development in oceans has been mapped. An area totalling approximately 30,000 square kilometres – the equivalent of 0.008 percent of the ocean – has been modified by human construction, a study led by Dr Ana Bugnot from the University of Sydney School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science has found.

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The world's strongest ocean currents, which play key roles in fisheries and ocean ecosystems, will experience more intense marine heatwaves than the global average over coming decades, according to a paper published today in Nature Communications by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes at the University of Tasmania and CSIRO.

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An international team of scientists has succeeded in using the signature whistles of individual bottlenose dolphins to estimate the size of the population and track their movement.

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Scientists have long suspected that ocean acidification is affecting corals’ ability to build their skeletons, but it has been challenging to isolate its effect from that of simultaneous warming ocean temperatures, which also influence coral growth. New research from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reveals the distinct impact that ocean acidification is having on coral growth on some of the world’s iconic reefs.

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The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech) are teaming up to make WHOI’s unique mix of resources available through the D’Works Marine Technology Initiative to accelerate the pace of marine technology innovation.

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A research team led by Florida State University found that sea turtles in the U.S. will have less suitable nesting habitat in the future because of climate change and coastal development. Researchers found areas that will remain or become suitable for sea turtle nesting in the future because of climatic changes and sea-level rise will be exposed to increased coastal development, hindering the ability of turtles to adapt to these disturbances.

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A study is the first long-term, in-depth analysis of the elasmobranch community in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon and develops capacity to understand how these species may respond to further environmental changes. From 2016 to 2018, researchers caught 630 individuals of 16 species, including two critically endangered smalltooth sawfish. Results showed that many elasmobranchs use the southern Indian River Lagoon throughout their life histories and the area may serve as an important nursery habitat for multiple species.

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Palaeontologists from the Natural History Museums in Luxembourg and Maastricht have discovered a previously unknown species of brittle star that lived in the shallow, warm sea which covered parts of the present-day Netherlands at the end of the Dinosaur Era

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Plastic waste in the ocean is an increasing problem for wildlife, including seabirds who frequently mistake it for food.

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The size of salmon returning to rivers in Alaska has declined dramatically over the past 60 years because they are spending fewer years at sea, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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When stony corals have their renowned mass spawning events, in sync with the moon’s cycle, colonies simultaneously release an underwater “cloud” of sperm and eggs for fertilization. But how do the sperm and eggs survive several hours as plankton, given threats from predators, microbes and stresses such as warming waters? A Rutgers-led team has discovered some surprising features in coral sperm and eggs (collectively called gametes), according to a study in the journal PeerJ.

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Researchers are developing a comprehensive sensing and information visualization package that will augment Florida’s existing monitoring programs for Lake Okeechobee, the second largest lake within the contiguous U.S. It will expand water, sediment, and biological measurements using innovative harmful algal bloom detection and environmental characterization technologies to allow pinpointing problem areas prior to or early on when harmful algal blooms are emerging in Lake Okeechobee. These harmful blooms are annual occurrences due to favorable environmental conditions.

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A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, Aug. 17, at 1 p.m. Eastern time online at www.acs.org/fall2020pressconferences.

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A press conference on this topic will be held Tuesday, Aug. 17, at 12 p.m. Eastern time online at www.acs.org/fall2020pressconferences.

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When plastic breaks down, tiny fragments can get into the environment. Scientists now report that they are among the first to examine micro- and nanoplastics in human organs and tissues. They will present their results today at the American Chemical Society Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo.

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Little is known about how ocean microbes affect climate. Now, scientists report that pollution can change molecules released to the atmosphere by ocean microbes. They present their results today at the American Chemical Society Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo.

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If you could dive down to the ocean floor nearly 540 million years ago just past the point where waves begin to break, you would find an explosion of life--scores of worm-like animals and other sea creatures tunneling complex holes and structures in the mud and sand--where before the environment had been mostly barren.

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Scientists at the University of Adelaide have found growing evidence that marine ecosystems will not cope well with rising sea temperatures caused by climate change.

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African fish called mormyrids communicate using pulses of electricity. New research from biologists at Washington University in St. Louis shows that a time-shifted signal in the brain helps the fish to ignore their own pulse. This skill has co-evolved with large and rapid changes in these signals across species.

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New research out today highlights the future effects of climate change on important fish stocks for south-west UK fisheries.

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New research has revealed a surprise twist in the symbiotic relationship between a type of salamander and the alga that lives inside its eggs.

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Researchers examined toxins in tissue concentrations and pathology data from 83 stranded dolphins and whales from 2012 to 2018. They looked at 11 different animal species to test for 17 different substances. The study is the first to report on concentrations in blubber tissues of stranded cetaceans of atrazine, DEP, NPE and triclosan. It also is the first to report concentrations of toxicants in a white-beaked dolphin and in Gervais’ beaked whales.

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Ten years after the Tohoku-oki earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, radiation levels have fallen in all but the waters closest to the plant. But a new hazard exists and is growing every day in the number of storage tanks on land surrounding the power plant that hold contaminated wastewater.

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The Acoustical Society of America continues to host virtual events in August as part of the International Year of Sound. The ASA Student Council will host Virtual Student Summer Talks for science students to present their research on topics ranging from acoustical oceanography to speech communication and Andrew Morrison will discuss how the acoustical physics of the steelpan helps machine learning algorithms process large datasets. All events are open to the public, and admission is free.

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Clean-up devices that collect waste from the ocean surface won't solve the plastic pollution problem, a new study shows.

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Angel sharks are sharks, but with their peculiarly flat body they rather resemble rays. An international research team led by Faviel A. López-Romero and Jürgen Kriwet of the Institute of Palaeontology has now investigated the origin of this body shape. The results illustrate how these sharks evolved into highly specialised, exclusively bottom-dwelling ambush predators and thus also contribute to a better understanding of their threat from environmental changes.

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Researchers examined the outcome of an entangled bottlenose dolphin calf with monofilament fishing line wrapped tightly around its upper jaw. It was successfully disentangled and immediately released it back into its natural habitat. Surviving only two years, results showed long-term severe damage due to this entanglement including emaciation. There are about 1,000 bottlenose dolphins that live in the Indian River Lagoon, which also is a very popular location for recreational fishing.

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A new study led by researchers at McGill University finds that people who get their news from social media are more likely to have misperceptions about COVID-19.

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Whale-watching season is delighting the viewing public along the east Australian coast but while it's a boon for the tourism industry, for the majestic humpback whale it's potentially a time of less optimal health.

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Deep-sea anglerfishes employ an incredible reproductive strategy. Tiny dwarfed males become permanently attached to relatively gigantic females, fuse their tissues and then establish a common blood circulation. Now scientists have figured out why female anglerfishes so readily accept their male mates. Their findings are published July 30 in Science.

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The first landmark study using next-generation technology to comprehensively examine contaminants in oysters in Myanmar reveals alarming findings: the widespread presence of human bacterial pathogens and human-derived microdebris materials, including plastics, kerosene, paint, talc and milk supplement powders.

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Researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology have studied the transport of 29 PFAS into and out of the Arctic Ocean, detecting a newer compound for the first time in Arctic seawater.

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Researchers reporting in Environmental Science & Technology have shown that mussels form weaker attachments in iron-deficient seawater, revealing a possible consequence of altered iron bioavailability in oceans.

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Animal patterns - the stripes, spots and rosettes seen in the wild - are a source of endless fascination, and now researchers at the University Bath have developed a robust mathematical model to explain how one important species, the zebrafish, develops its stripes.

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The Simons Foundation has awarded Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) two grants totaling $2.7 million to study key processes that help fuel the health of our ocean and planet.

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The discovery of the first active methane seep in Antarctica is providing scientists new understanding of the methane cycle and the role methane found in this region may play in warming the planet.

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Though many people find them intimidating, menacing or just plain scary, sharks are vital to the health of the world's oceans.

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In two separate studies, the University of Delaware’s Kathryn Coyne is looking at why one species of algae has some strains that can cause fish kills and others that are non-toxic, while examining an algicidal bacterium found in Delaware’s Inland Bays that could provide an environmentally-friendly approach to combatting algae blooms.

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A citizen science program that began over a decade ago has confirmed the use of dragonflies to measure mercury pollution, according to a study in Environmental Science & Technology.