Feature Channels: Marine Science

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Carbon dioxide pumped into the air since the Industrial Revolution appears to have changed the way the coastal ocean functions, according to a new analysis published this week in Nature. A comprehensive review of research on carbon cycling in rivers, estuaries and continental shelves suggests that collectively this coastal zone now takes in more carbon dioxide than it releases. The shift could impact global models of carbon’s flow through the environment and future predictions related to climate change.

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In the first global assessment of its kind, a science team led by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has produced a landmark report on the impact of fishing on a group of fish known to protect the health of coral reefs. The report, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences), offers key data for setting management and conservation targets to protect and preserve fragile coral reefs.

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The mating roar of a male harbor seal is supposed to attract a partner, not a predator. Unfortunately for the seals, scientists have found evidence that marine-mammal-eating killer whales eavesdrop on their prey. Previous research had shown mammal-eating killer whales are nearly silent before making a kill, neither vocalizing nor using their echolocation. The likely reason, researchers say, is the excellent hearing of the seals, porpoises, and other animals the whales stalk.

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A new study by scientists from Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Save Our Seas Shark Research Centre and Cornell University published in final form today in the journal BMC Genomics now undertakes the first large-scale exploration of the great white shark’s genetic repertoire, and comes up with unexpected findings.

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It’s not every day that fishermen catch the world’s largest fish species in their nets, but this is what recently happened in Indonesia’s Karimunjawa National Park, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.

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Ocean conditions like current directions and water temperature play a huge role in determining the behavior of young migrating salmon as they move from rivers and hit ocean waters for the first time. How the fish fare during their first few weeks in the ocean has a profound impact on their ability to survive.

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Scientists have confirmed that humpback whales in the southern Gulf of Maine are spending more feeding time on the ocean floor than in any of their known feeding behaviors, putting them at risk for entanglement in bottom-set fishing gear like lobster traps.

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A species of humpback dolphin previously unknown to science is swimming in the waters off northern Australia, according to a team of researchers working for the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and numerous other groups that contributed to the study.

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An ambitious new study that includes Lisa Levin of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego describes the full chain of events by which ocean biogeochemical changes triggered by manmade greenhouse gas emissions may cascade through marine habitats and organisms, penetrating to the deep ocean and eventually influencing humans.

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WACO, Texas (Sept. 23, 2013) — Baylor University professors Stephen Trumble, Ph.D., and Sascha Usenko, Ph.D., have developed a novel technique for reconstructing contaminant and hormone profiles using whale earplugs, determining—for the first time—lifetime chemical exposures and hormone profiles—from birth to death—for an individual whale, information that was previously unattainable. (VIDEO IS AVAILABLE.)

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Many ancient crustaceans went extinct following a massive collapse of reefs across the planet, and new University of Florida research suggests modern species living in rapidly declining reef habitats may now be at risk.

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A team of scientists from Canada and Australia has discovered that a decline in shark populations is detrimental to coral reefs. “Where shark numbers are reduced due to commercial fishing, there is also a decrease in the herbivorous fishes which play a key role in promoting reef health,” said Jonathan Ruppert, a recent University of Toronto PhD graduate. Ruppert was part of a team engaged in long-term monitoring of reefs off Australia's northwest coast.

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As Earth’s temperature climbs, stony corals are in decline. Less discussed, however, is the plight of gorgonian corals — softer, flexible, tree-like species. Divers have noted that gorgonians seem to be proliferating in parts of the Caribbean, and a new study will look to quantify this phenomenon.

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Oceanographers for the first time recorded an enormous wave breaking miles below the surface in a key bottleneck for global ocean circulation.

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A University of Iowa researcher says that although microbes living in the so-called “dark ocean”—below a depth of some 600 feet where light doesn’t penetrate—may not absorb enough carbon to curtail global warming, they do absorb considerable amounts of carbon and merit further study.

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Recent reports that lobster shell disease has turned up along the coast of Maine have Kathy Castro worried. The URI fisheries scientist has led a 15-year international effort to understand what causes the disease that has, until recently, been confined primarily to the waters of southern New England and Long Island Sound.

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University of Michigan researchers and their University of Hawaii colleagues say they've solved the longstanding mystery of how mercury gets into open-ocean fish, and their findings suggest that levels of the toxin in Pacific Ocean fish will likely rise in coming decades.

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A Florida State University research ship has returned from its first extended voyage, collecting more than 400 fishes in the northeastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on marine life.

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If history’s closest analog is any indication, the look of the oceans will change drastically in the future as the coming greenhouse world alters marine food webs and gives certain species advantages over others.

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Research conducted in six bays of Long Island, NY, and led by scientists from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University (SBU) showed that local populations of winter flounder are inbred, which is a situation that is not usually considered in marine fisheries management.

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A team of researchers from the University of Rhode Island, Brown University and Roger Williams University are working to identify the cause of a disease that is killing starfish from New Jersey to Maine.

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University of Adelaide marine biologists have found that reducing nutrient pollution in coastal marine environments should help protect kelp forests from the damaging effects of rising CO2.

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Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Western Australia have found that Fiji’s largest marine reserve contains more sharks than surrounding areas that allow fishing, evidence that marine protected areas can be good for sharks.

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Recent research documents a dramatic, 40-year drop in a number of key fish species and a change in their community structure, according to a new study led by Eric Miller of MBC Applied Environmental Sciences (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and John McGowan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

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Ocean experts had predicted a large “dead zone” area in the Gulf of Mexico this year, and according to the results from a Texas A&M University researcher just back from studying the region, those predictions appear to be right on target.

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Collecting sediment spanning the past 30,000 years, Dal’s Markus Kienast and an international team of scientists have presented the first global synopsis of available sedimentary nitrogen isotope records from throughout the world’s oceans. Their research provides a bigger picture on the interplay between climate change and ocean biogeochemistry.

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A McGill-led international research team has now completed the first global study of changes that occurred in a crucial component of ocean chemistry, the nitrogen cycle, at the end of the last ice age. The results of their study confirm that oceans are good at balancing the nitrogen cycle on a global scale. But the data also shows that it is a slow process that may take many centuries, or even millennia, raising worries about the effects of the scale and speed of current changes in the ocean.

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Genetic research published June 12 in Nature by scientists from the University of Delaware and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reveals active bacteria, fungi and other microbes living in 5 million-year-old ocean sediment.

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Climate is greatly influenced by the flow of heat energy carried by ocean currents. But precisely quantifying the mixing between the ocean and the atmosphere is hampered by a lack of detail in models of the ocean and of the water cycle. And in both models, knowing the salt content of the water is essential.

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Scientists hope to learn more about how life thrives in these harsh environments

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Coral reef fish species have proven invaluable for experimental testing of key concepts in social evolution and already have yielded insights about the ultimate reasons for female reproductive suppression, group living, and bidirectional sex change.

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Ocean frontier explorer and world-renowned filmmaker James Cameron has been named by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego as the recipient of the 2013 Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest. Cameron will deliver a presentation on his record-setting DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition and exploration of the frontiers of the deep sea on Friday, May 31, on the UC San Diego campus. Although the event is sold out, more information is available at: http://nierenberg.eventbrite.com/#

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Using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy to examine crystals from the bodies of small marine organisms called sea squirts, scientists have solved the mystery of the crystal structure of the mineral called vaterite.

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For much of Asia, the pace of life is tuned to rhythms of monsoons. The summer rainy season is especially important for securing the water and food supplies for more than a billion people. Its variations can mean the difference between drought and flood. Now a Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego-led study reports on a crucial connection that could drastically improve the ability of forecasters to reliably predict the monsoon a few months in advance.

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New research shows that many US marine mammal populations -- especially some seals and sea lions--have rebounded since 1972, because of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

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With ocean life facing unprecedented threat from climate change, overfishing, pollution, invasive species and habitat destruction, a University of Florida researcher is helping coordinate national efforts to monitor marine biodiversity.

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Study of world-famous Stingray City finds human interaction drastically alters stingray behavior.

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Oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill acted as a catalyst for plankton and other surface materials to clump together and fall to the sea floor in a massive sedimentation event that researchers are calling a “dirty blizzard.”

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Satellite tracking tags used to elucidate the migratory path of American eels from the St. Lawrence River to the Sargasso Sea prematurely detached from the specimens leading investigators to suspect significant predation during the eels' journey. Data from the tags revealed stomach temperatures and dive patterns consistent with porbeagle sharks. In addition to data collected by the satellite tags, only 4% of acoustically tagged eels were detected migrating into the Atlantic Ocean via the Cabot Strait (a major migratory pathway between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland). The study precedes the recent vote by CITES to more strictly enforce protection of five shark species including porbeagle sharks as well as recent international studies on the worldwide decline of sharks.

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The world’s shark populations are experiencing significant declines with perhaps 100 million – or more - sharks being lost every year, according to a study published this week in Marine Policy.

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Spiders that live along lake shorelines are good predictors of mercury pollution in and around bodies of water, according to a recent study by researchers at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

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Nova Southeastern U. Professor Jim Thomas leads international expedition in Papua New Guinea that finds new species of sea slugs, feather stars and amphipods, a shrimp-like animal.

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Changes in the amount of fish caught does not necessarily reflect the number of fish in the sea.

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As the nations of the world prepare to vote on measures to restrict international trade in endangered sharks in early March, a team of researchers has found that one of these species – the oceanic whitetip shark – regularly crosses international boundaries.

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Using underwater video cameras to record fish feeding on South Pacific coral reefs, scientists have found that herbivorous fish can be picky eaters – a trait that could spell trouble for endangered reef systems.

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, Andrew Bass, professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University, is available to discuss the Plainfin Midshipman – a vocalizing fish that hums love songs to attract its female counterpart to den-like nests beneath rocks.

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Shark attacks in the U.S. reached a decade high in 2012, while worldwide fatalities remained average, according to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File report released today.

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NSU researchers study the bacteria of a shark’s mouth to improve medical treatment for shark bite victims

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A hole in the Antarctic ozone layer has changed the way that waters in the southern oceans mix, a situation that has the potential to alter the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and eventually could have an impact on global climate change.

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A study by University at Buffalo researchers finds that damaged coral colonies can take years to recover their reproductive prowess.