Feature Channels: Marine Science

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers found the Florida specific red tide-causing algae thrives in both high and low CO2 concentrations.

• share
• favorite_border

Climate change has taken a toll on many of the world’s fisheries, and overfishing has magnified the problem, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Science today.

• share
• favorite_border

Unexploded munitions may end up washing ashore or being pulled up in a fisherman's net. They represent a danger to coastal recreation and commerce and a new UD study looks at how these devices move underwater in muddy, estuarine environments to better inform the management of sites where unexploded ordnance may be present.

• share
• favorite_border

Eocene-aged sediments of Madagascar contain a previously unknown fauna of sharks and rays, according to a study released February 27, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Karen Samonds of Northern Illinois University and colleagues. This newly-described fauna is the first report of sharks and rays of this age in Madagascar.

• share
• favorite_border

Soils all over the Earth’s surface are rigorously tested and managed. But what about soils that are down in the murky depths? Some scientists are working to get them the recognition and research they deserve.

• share
• favorite_border

Nutrients increasingly moving to the deep ocean with strong climate warming could lead to drastic drops in surface ocean life and fishery yields.

• share
• favorite_border

Annual blacktip shark migration season is in full force along South Florida’s Atlantic coast as thousands of them head south for warmer weather. FAU shark researcher has been tracking the migration patterns of these top predators by air and by sea. Now, the latest addition to his arsenal of tools is providing personal and intimate details about them.

• share
• favorite_border

Florida State researchers have been awarded $8 million to restore Apalachicola Bay and revive the region's imperiled oyster industry thanks to money the state recovered from the BP oil spill.

• share
• favorite_border

The most extensive radio-tracking effort of bottlenose dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon using radio-telemetry reveals new and surprising information about how they use their habitats, how they spend their time, and how they interact with their own species. Researchers conducted radio-tracking by boat, with assistance from a Cessna 172 aircraft, and visually located and followed nine dolphins several times per week. Over the course of 122 hours of observation, they compiled a total of 1,390 scan samples.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study outlines more than a decade of success in reducing seabird bycatch in Alaska’s longline fisheries, and where there’s still room for improvement.

• share
• favorite_border

Total human carbon dioxide emissions could match those of Earth's last major greenhouse warming event in fewer than five generations, new research finds.

• share
• favorite_border

As the oceans warm in response to climate change, fishing boats in the Mid-Atlantic that focus on only one or two species of fish are traveling more than 250 miles farther north than they did 20 years ago, while others catching a wide diversity of species have not changed fishing location, reported Talia Young, a postdoctoral research associate in ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers studying genome of Great White Shark to see what secrets may be applicable to the human condition

• share
• favorite_border

New research has revealed the fascinating adaptation of some Australian sea snakes that helps protect their vulnerable paddle-shaped tails from predators.

• share
• favorite_border

Marine scientists from the University of Queensland, WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and other groups have developed a methodology to assess fish stocks that combines new data with archeological and historical records – some dating back to the 8th Century AD.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study has documented unexpected consequences following the decline of great white sharks from an area off South Africa. The study found that the disappearance of great whites has led to the emergence of sevengill sharks

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at University of Utah Health detailed the function of cone snail insulins, bringing them one step closer to developing a faster-acting insulin to treat diabetes.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of marine scientists from the National University of Singapore had uncovered toxic bacteria living on the surfaces of microplastics (which are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimetres in size) collected from the coastal areas of Singapore. These bacteria are capable of causing coral bleaching, and triggering wound infections in humans. The team also discovered a diversity of bacteria, including useful organisms – such as those that can degrade marine pollutants like hydrocarbons – in the plastic waste.

• share
• favorite_border

Gulf Coast communities now have a new way to access coastal and ocean information about the Gulf of Mexico thanks to a new website developed by the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS).

• share
• favorite_border

Corals lurking in deeper, darker waters could one day help to replenish shallow water reefs under threat from ocean warming and bleaching events, according to researchers.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of Sydney and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science have found that climate change could lead to declines of underwater kelp forests through impacts on their microbiome.

• share
• favorite_border

As the oyster capital of California, Humboldt Bay’s bivalve business is big for the region, with a local economic impact of about $20 million in 2016, according to a survey conducted by Humboldt State University and California Sea Grant researchers.

• share
• favorite_border

The humpback whale calf is so new that its dorsal fin and tail flukes appear soft and flimsy, and its mother is still excreting blood, while sometimes supporting the calf on her back. The rare video minutes after birth was captured by the University of Hawaiii at Manoa's Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) in January 2019.

• share
• favorite_border

The combination of ocean warming and an infectious wasting disease has devastated populations of large sunflower sea stars once abundant along the West Coast of North America in just a few years, according to research co-led by the University of California

• share
• favorite_border

Microplastics have been found in the guts of every marine mammal examined in a new study of animals washed up on Britain's shores.

• share
• favorite_border

Florida State University researchers have found that abrupt variations in the seafloor can cause dangerous ocean waves known as rogue or freak waves — waves so catastrophic that they were once thought to be the figments of seafarers’ imaginations.

• share
• favorite_border

The combination of ocean warming and an infectious wasting disease has devastated populations of large sunflower sea stars once abundant along the West Coast of North America, according to research by Cornell University and the University of California, Davis, in Science Advances.

• share
• favorite_border

Genetic analysis of sticklebacks shows that isolated populations in similar environments develop in comparable ways. The basis for this is already present in the genome of their genetic ancestors. Evolutionary biologists from the University of Basel and the University of Nottingham report these insights in the journal Evolution Letters.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

A new study shows that microplastics are affecting the ability of mussels to attach themselves to their surroundings - potentially having a devastating impact on ocean ecosystems as well as a worldwide industry worth between 3-4 billion US dollars per year.

• share
• favorite_border

Any port in a storm, any anemone when a predator wants to make you dinner. New research reveals insights on coral reef ecosystems and reveals that a surprising number of fish associate with anemones.

• share
• favorite_border

The Earth’s atmosphere and oceans play important roles in moving heat from one part of the world to another, and new research is illuminating how those patterns are changing in the face of climate change.

• share
• favorite_border

Over the past 40 years, there has been a dramatic decline in fishery landings of an iconic Baltic Sea fish: the flounder. In the 1980s, the landings of the flounder fishery in the Gulf of Finland dropped by 90 per cent, a trend that was later confirmed by fishery-independent surveys.

• share
• favorite_border

Commercial octopus farming, currently in developmental stages on multiple continents, would have a negative ripple effect on sustainability and animal welfare, concludes a team of researchers in a newly published analysis.

• share
• favorite_border

In a paper published by Evolution, research led by Swansea University's Dr Catalina Pimiento and co-authored by an international team of scientists from the UK, Europe and the USA examined the biological traits of all sharks and rays before running a series of evolutionary models to seek how gigantism evolved over time.

• share
• favorite_border

Profiled is Jon Poplawsky, a materials scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory who develops and links advanced characterization techniques that improve our ability to see and understand atomic-scale features of diverse materials for energy and information technologies.

• share
• favorite_border

New Zealand and other islands have experienced invasions of rats, Europe has seen the arrival of the spinycheek crayfish, spreading a deadly disease called crayfish plague: invasive species can put native animal and plant species on the brink of extinction. They often go undetected for a long time, or their damaging impacts are not immediately clear.

• share
• favorite_border

Humpback whales overwintering in feeding areas may sing complex, progressive songs which closely resemble those associated with breeding grounds, according to a study published January 23, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Edda E. Magnúsdóttir and Rangyn Lim from the University of Iceland.

• share
• favorite_border

As coral species die off, they may be leaving a death spiral in their wake: Their absence could be sapping life from the corals that survive. In a new study, when isolated from other species, corals got weak, died off or grew in fragile structures. The study shows it is possible to quantify positive effects of coral biodiversity and negative effects of its absence.

• share
• favorite_border

A Kansas State University geologist is studying the ocean floor and underwater volcanoes to learn more about the minerals and microbial life in the Pacific Ocean.

• share
• favorite_border

Most consumers’ exposure to toxic methylmercury occurs when they eat fish. But research just published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology could help clarify why methylmercury concentrations in tuna vary geographically.

• share
• favorite_border

The proposed, multimillion-dollar offshore wind farms industry may benefit from a Rutgers-led study that used sophisticated forecasting to understand sea breezes and make them a more predictable source of energy.

• share
• favorite_border

Rocks in the seabed off the UK coast could provide long-term storage locations for renewable energy production, new research suggests. An advanced technique could be used to trap compressed air in porous rock formations found in the North Sea using electricity from renewable technologies.

• share
• favorite_border

The world of the dinosaurs just got a bit more bizarre with a newly discovered species of freshwater shark whose tiny teeth resemble the alien ships from the popular 1980s video game Galaga.

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time ever, an international research team has shown that fish otoliths record information on fish metabolism. Analyses of old and new otoliths can therefore provide new knowledge about how different species of fish adapt to new conditions, including climate change.

• share
• favorite_border

Emperor penguin chicks hatch into one of Earth's most inhospitable places--the frozen world of Antarctica. Childhood in this environment is harsh and lasts only about five months, when their formerly doting parents leave the fledglings to fend for themselves.

• share
• favorite_border

Justin Bopp, a Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) PhD student, is using a method of acoustic telemetry to track horseshoe crab movements.

• share
• favorite_border

Singing humpback whales from different ocean basins seem to be picking up musical ideas from afar, and incorporating these new phrases and themes into the latest song, according to a newly published study in Royal Society Open Science that’s helping scientists better understand how whales learn and change their musical compositions.

• share
• favorite_border

In newly published research, scientists including Jamie Foster at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences studied the genome of the bobtail squid to find out how the cephalopod’s symbiotic organs evolved. Such findings give them clues about how microbes have helped shape the evolution of animals, she said.

• share
• favorite_border

The ocean has a long memory. When the water in today's deep Pacific Ocean last saw sunlight, Charlemagne was the Holy Roman Emperor, the Song Dynasty ruled China and Oxford University had just held its very first class. During that time, between the 9th and 12th centuries, the earth's climate was generally warmer before the cold of the Little Ice Age settled in around the 16th century. Now, ocean surface temperatures are back on the rise but the question is, do the deepest parts of the ocean know that?