All Marine Science articles – Page 4
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NewsThe impact of microplastics on ocean carbon uptake
Scientists who collected phytoplankton data from various climate zones around the world determined the extent to which growth is limited by microplastics. They have then used this data to calculate the average impact that a certain concentration of microplastics will have on algae in different regions or climate zones, as well as on a global scale.
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NewsRevealing the invisible: a new baseline for Salish sea diatoms answers a global call
Diatoms are powerful in driving roughly 20% of global photosynthesis and forming the very base of marine food webs. Scientists have published a new checklist of 924 diatom taxa alongside a curated dataset of 11,469 records, providing a long-needed foundation for environmental monitoring across the Salish Sea bioregion.
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NewsTiny ocean life helps scientists estimate whale prevalence off the California coast
Using an innovative alternative method, researchers examined microbial “ecological habitats” as highly accurate predictors of how many filter-feeding whales were occupying the California coast between 2014 and 2020 from San Diego to Morro Bay.
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NewsHidden viruses reshape one of Earth’s largest carbon systems, study finds
Viruses play a far more active role in Earth’s carbon cycle than previously understood, according to new research that reveals how they infect and control microbes responsible for carbon production in some of the planet’s largest, darkest ecosystems.
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NewsStudy provides detailed assessment of shifts in toxin producing phytoplankton abundance
Researchers in the UK have shown how the distributions of two phytoplankton groups – known to produce natural toxins that can halt shellfish harvesting – have changed in the North East Atlantic over the last six decades.
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NewsFrom ocean to gut: The bacteria that shape both human health and marine carbon cycling
A group of researchers has discovered that Akkermansia bacteria are not unique to our guts, but can also be found in the ocean. In both habitats they use similar skills to ensure their survival and success. They seem to carry an old and widespread survival toolkit.
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NewsAlgal bloom crisis shows climate risks need evaluative governance
Identifying and analysing climate risks is a necessary function of governments, but researchers argue such processes will not lead to effective action without taking additional steps to understand which risks are considered unacceptable by the community and prioritising responses accordingly.
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News Researchers unveil new AI-driven system set to transform coral reef restoration
Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind bespoke AI system designed to assess coral health and detect early stress. BlueBiome is reimagining coral reef care by applying the same principles of preventive, precision health commonly used in human gut health.
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News‘Not just hot water’: marine heatwaves can create toxic relationship between seagrasses and microbes
Heat stress from marine heatwaves can create a toxic relationship between seagrasses and a hidden ecosystem of bacteria, transforming a previously beneficial co-existence between marine plants and microbes into a harmful one, a study has found.
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NewsNutrient imbalance may drive coral disease more than heat stress, new study suggests
New research shows that an imbalance of nutrients in seawater can cause coral disease – possibly to a greater extent than that from heat stress of warming oceans. Disruption of the delicate nutrient balance of the sea can destabilise microbial communities that live in harmony with corals.
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NewsCrab shell by-products could help regulate the marine lifetime of biodegradable plastics
Researchers show that crab shell by-products can reduce the breakdown rate of biodegradable plastics in seawater by altering the microbial communities that colonize their surfaces, known as the plastisphere.
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NewsLost millennium of Galápagos deep-sea corals linked to major Pacific climate shift
Scientists have discovered that deep-water corals in the Galápagos region vanished for more than 1,000 years before eventually recovering. The findings reveal that deep-water coral ecosystems may be more susceptible to climate change than previously thought.
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NewsResearchers come up with novel strategies for coral restoration
Scientists have discovered a new way to help lab-grown baby corals survive through the early life stage. If young mountainous star corals are grown on cement tiles formulated with sodium carbonate, which raises the alkalinity of the water, they survive much better than the average lab-grown corals.
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NewsHow tiny cave shrimps grazing on microbes power the underworld of the Yucatan
Because they convert microbial growth in sinkholes beneath the Yucatan Peninsula into animal biomass, Typhlatya shrimps act as “keystone species”, introducing essential nutrients into the cave’s food web. They serve as a crucial initial link that larger subterranean predators feed on.
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NewsAndes volcanoes – the missing link between algae blooms, whales and climate millions of years ago
Record volcanic eruptions in the Andes could explain the mysterious death of dozens of whales about 5 to 8 million years ago, according to a study. A significant increase in volcanic activity in the Andes peaking between eight and four million years ago likely delivered a significant pulse of nutrients to the Southern Ocean.
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NewsSeasonal cycles - even in the depths - sustain ocean microbial biodiversity
Oceanographers discovered that microbial communities–from the sunlit surface to extreme depths–in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre exhibit robust seasonal cycles. The study provides new insight into how high levels of biodiversity are maintained in the open ocean.
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NewsViruses found in Antarctic air, including some new to science
It may seem stark and lifeless, but the air around the remote sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia contains viruses, including some that are new to science. Using metagenomics, researchers discovered that South Georgia harbours a diverse and dynamic airborne viral community.
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NewsThe giants of the reef: New citizen science project races to document centennial corals
Coral reefs hide “scientific treasures” that have survived for centuries, yet many of these giant, ancient organisms remain largely unknown to science. A new study introduces a pioneering citizen-science initiative to find these giant coral colonies before they are lost to escalating global pressures.
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NewsMBL scientist Alexandra Z. Worden honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship
Alexandra Z. Worden, Senior Scientist in the Bay Paul Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory and a Professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship this week, in recognition of her groundbreaking research in ocean biogeochemistry.
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NewsStudy reveals hidden damage in stony corals using 3D imaging and AI
Researchers investigating how disease affects coral structure turned to X-ray microcomputed tomography which generates detailed 3D reconstructions down to microscopic pores, which reveal internal skeletal features, including porosity, thickness and structural orientation, in a non-destructive way.