Feature Channels: Marine Science

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Nutrient cycling of stream ecosystems dependent on portion of salmons’ lifecycle.

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Soft corals at three sites in the U.S. Virgin Islands were able to recover from the destructive effects of nearly back-to-back Category 5 storms in 2017, but research by a UB marine ecologist puts that seemingly good news in the context of an ecosystem that is dramatically changing.

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Researchers from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences have discovered that ocean acidification impacts the ability of some oysters to pass down “memories” of environmental trauma to their offspring.

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The ability of crocodiles to survive mass extinctions could be in part due to their more hands-on approach to parenting, say scientists at the University of Bath's Milner Centre for Evolution.

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In the kelp forests of Tierra del Fuego, at the southernmost tip of South America, the relative abundance of kelp, sea urchins, and sea stars has not changed significantly since 1973.

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Climate change could threaten the survival and development of common whelk – a type of sea snail – in the mid-Atlantic region, according to a study led by scientists at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. The common, or waved, whelk (Buccinum undatum) is an important commercial species that has been harvested for decades in Europe and Canada for bait and human consumption. Its habitat within the mid-Atlantic region is one of the Earth’s fastest warming marine areas and annual fluctuations in the bottom temperature are among the most extreme on the planet due to unique oceanographic conditions.

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Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reveal how microorganisms could survive in rocks nestled thousands of feet beneath the ocean floor in the lower oceanic crust.

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New international research by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and colleagues has found a marked change in the Indian Ocean’s surface temperatures that puts southeast Australia on course for increasingly hot and dry conditions.

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More than half of the planet’s fresh water is in Antarctica. While most of it is frozen in the ice sheets, underneath the ice pools and streams of water flow into one another and into the Southern Ocean surrounding the continent. Understanding the movement of this water, and what is dissolved in it as solutes, reveals how carbon and nutrients from the land may support life in the coastal ocean.

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The biggest impacts on the sea life in Swansea Bay, Wales, come from waves and tides rather than human activity, a wide-ranging new study - encompassing over 170 species of fish and other sea life such as crabs, squid and starfish - has revealed.

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New research from the National University of Singapore showed that between 1996 and 2016, substantial mangrove forests have been converted to agricultural use in Myanmar.

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DHS S&T SVIP, in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), is looking for start-ups to develop or adapt a language translator that functions in a maritime operational environment.

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DHS S&T SVIP is looking for start-ups to develop or adapt a system to more clearly mark and track objects in the water.

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Professor Rob Hale of William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science is lead author of a new "Grand Challenges" paper commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the American Geophysical Union, the world's largest association of Earth and space scientists with more than 60,000 members in 137 countries.

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In the last decade there has been rapid expansion in the area of ocean designated as a Marine Protected Area (MPA).

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When our sun belches out a hot stream of charged particles in Earth's general direction, it doesn't just mess up communications satellites.

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New research shows that nations in the tropics are especially vulnerable to the loss of fish species due to climate change. But none of the 127 international fisheries agreements have language that prepares countries for the exits of stock, climate change or range shifts.

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A secret to survival amid rising global temperatures could be dwelling in the tidepools of the U.S. West Coast. Findings by University of California, Irvine biologists studying the genome of an unusual fish residing in those waters offer new possibilities for humans to obtain dietary protein as climate change imperils traditional sources.

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Changes in DNA methylation patterns during a coral's lifetime can be passed down to their progeny.

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The Garver Black Hilyard Family Foundation awarded a $250,000 grant to HARC (Houston Advanced Research Center) to optimize marine debris removal efforts in local waterways.

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Policies regulating fishing in international waters do not sufficiently protect officials who monitor illegal fishing, the prohibited dumping of equipment, or human trafficking or other human rights abuses, finds a new analysis by a team of environmental researchers.

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The combined effects of chemical contamination by road salt and invasive species can harm native amphibians, according to researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

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The tropical region of South America is one of the world's hot spots when it comes to animal diversity.

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Toxic and invisible oil spread well beyond the known satellite footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel school of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

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The Gulf of Mexico Alliance released the 2019 Gulf Star Program annual report. It showcases the successful results of the regional public-private partnership. Gulf Star funds projects related to seafood, habitat, water resources, and much more.

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There are no limits specific to airborne concentrations of microcystins (blue-green algae) or inhalation guidelines. Little is known about recreational and occupational exposure to these toxins. New research provides evidence of aerosol exposure to microcystins in coastal residents. Researchers detected microcystin in the nasal passages of 95 percent of the participants; some who reported no direct contact with impacted water. Results also showed higher concentrations among occupationally exposed individuals and demonstrated a relationship between nasal and water microcystin concentrations.

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The separation between sky and sea is only one millimeter at its thickest and, yet, this sea-surface microlayer plays a major role in global phenomena. Dr. Aarthi Sekaran is taking a deeper look into how flow instabilities in this microlayer affects weather patterns and prediction.

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The sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, an eatable species of great commercial interest found in the Mediterranean and North-East Atlantic, is more vulnerable than so far believed.

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A study of East African coral reefs has uncovered an unfolding calamity for the region: plummeting fish populations due to overfishing, which in turn could produce widespread food insecurity.

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Hundreds of years ago, colossal oysters were commonplace across much of Florida's northern Gulf Coast. Today, those oysters have disappeared, leaving behind a new generation roughly a third smaller - a massive decline that continues to have both economic and environmental impacts on a region considered by many to be the last remaining unspoiled coastlines in the Gulf.

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A nuclear war that cooled Earth could worsen the impact of ocean acidification on corals, clams, oysters and other marine life with shells or skeletons, according to the first study of its kind.

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Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have identified a new species of thalattosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 200 million years ago.

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A new study from the University of Delaware found high concentrations of microplastics in so-called convergence zones, the areas where the fresher water from the Delaware River meets the saltier water of the Atlantic Ocean and the surface currents converge. They found the distribution of plastics also depends on the force of the winds.

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The profound threat of future climate change to biodiversity demands that scientists seek ever more effective ways to identify the most vulnerable species, communities, and ecosystems. In a new study, published in Nature Climate Change, an international team of scientists has shown that the most biodiverse regions on Earth are among the most vulnerable to future climate change.

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Drifting algae in the Austral Ocean can bring invasive species to the Antarctic coasts, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology have linked microplastics in China’s Beibu Gulf with heavy fishing activities.

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A combination of climate change, extreme weather and pressure from local human activity is causing a collapse in global biodiversity and ecosystems across the tropics, new research shows.

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Irvine, Calif., Jan. 27, 2020 – A neural network-driven Earth system model has led University of California, Irvine oceanographers to a surprising conclusion: Phytoplankton populations in low-latitude waters will expand by the end of the 21st century. The unexpected simulation outcome runs counter to the longstanding belief by many in the environmental science community that global climate change will make tropical oceans inhospitable to phytoplankton, which form the base of the aquatic food web.

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We all know we should fly less as a way to reduce our individual and collective effect on the global climate. But transforming that vague understanding into concrete reasons for action can be difficult -- until now.

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A new report from researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reveals for the first time the unseen—and somewhat surprising—benefits that people receive from the ocean’s twilight zone. Also known as the “mesopelagic,” this is the ocean layer just beyond the sunlit surface.

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Using a new “non-targeted” approach, University of Washington and UW Tacoma researchers screened samples from multiple regions of Puget Sound to look for potentially harmful compounds that might be present.

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Four new species of tropical sharks that use their fins to walk are causing a stir in waters off northern Australia and New Guinea.

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Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is the most significant infectious disease affecting sea turtle populations worldwide. FB leads to tumors on the turtles’ eyes, flippers and internal organs and is widespread in warmer climates like Florida. A large-scale study evaluated tumor score, removal and regrowth in rehabilitating green sea turtles with FP in the southeastern U.S. from 2009 to 2017, and found that 75 percent did not survive following admission into a rehabilitation facility, irrespective of whether or not tumor regrowth occurred after surgery.

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Arctic sea ice cannot "quickly bounce back" if climate change causes it to melt, new research suggests.

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How did the monstrous giant squid - reaching school-bus size, with eyes as big as dinner plates and tentacles that can snatch prey 10 yards away -- get so scarily big?

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A newly developed method can detect even low-dose human exposure to microcystins and nodularin in human urine. During harmful algal blooms (HABs), species of cyanobacteria release toxic peptides, including microcystins and nodularin into waterways, impacting wildlife and humans living in these marine environments. These findings are the first to report microcystin concentrations directly from exposed residents impacted by cyanobacteria in Florida, and is a critical step in developing and interpreting clinical diagnostic tests for HABs exposure worldwide.

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In this week's issue of Science, marine scientists make the case for the United Nations to include mobile marine protected areas in the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, now being updated since its last signing in 1982.

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The essential roles that microbes play in deep-sea ecosystems are at risk from the potential environmental impacts of mining.

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When nearly one million common murres died at sea and washed ashore from California to Alaska in 2015 and 2016, it was unprecedented — both for murres, and across all bird species worldwide. Scientists from the University of Washington, the U.S. Geological Survey and others blame an unexpected squeeze on the ecosystem's food supply, brought on by a severe and long-lasting marine heat wave known as "the blob."

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Unprecedented numbers of common murres—North Pacific seabirds—died between 2015 and 2016. A new analysis lays out the scope of this event and suggests a potential culprit: severely reduced food supplies resulting from unusually elevated sea temperatures.