More Ocean Sustainability – Page 2
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NewsTiny diatoms, big climate impact: How microscopic skeletons rapidly shape ocean chemistry
Researchers have found that diatoms’ intricate, silica-based skeletons transform into clay minerals in as little as 40 days. Until the 1990s, scientists believed that this enigmatic process took hundreds to thousands of years.
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News Sea stars show surprising resilience after disease outbreak
A decade after sea star wasting disease devastated ochre sea star populations along the U.S. West Coast, new research suggests that the epidemic shifted populations from a stable, adult-dominated state to one marked by fluctuations in sea star sizes and ages.
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NewsUpwelling promotes N-fixing symbiont of Sargassum algae - giving it an edge
An international research team has uncovered the main mechanism behind the algae blooms of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. Identification of the climatic conditions that facilitate this phenomenon allows them to predict future stranding events of Sargassum.
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NewsStudy unravels Black Sea nitrous oxide conundrum
A new study unravels the ’Black Sea nitrous oxide conundrum’, investigating why large amounts of nitrous oxide are mainly produced in ocean areas that lack oxygen, yet the Black Sea - the world’s largest anoxic basin - appears to emit only little N2O.
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NewsNew approach expands possibilities for studying viruses in the environment
A new method vastly improves on the existing approach for single-cell genetic sequencing, enabling scientists to read the genomes of individual cells and viral particles in the environment more quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.
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NewsHow algae help corals bounce back after bleaching
A $1.1 million project will uncover how reefs regain life-giving algae after suffering from heat stress. The three-year project will use advanced imaging and living experimental systems to learn what’s happening on a cellular level when algae return to bleached reefs.
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NewsUnprecedented decline in marine viruses in the western Mediterranean linked to climate change revealed
Researchers have described a sustained and unprecedented decrease in the abundance of marine viruses in the northwestern Mediterranean over the last two decades. The findingis based on the longest-known time series data on marine viruses to date.
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NewsBacteria reveal how climate-damaging nitrous oxide forms in the ocean
Marine microorganisms produce large amounts of nitrous oxide, a highly potent greenhouse gas. Researchers investigated the exact processes involved during an expedition to the Pacific. The results are important for climate modeling.
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NewsFats provide clues to life at its limits in the deep sea
Extreme conditions on the ocean floor include high pressures and salinities, as well as extreme pH values and a limited supply of nutrients. A team of researchers has now been able to detect microbial life in two newly discovered mud volcanoes with very high pH values.
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NewsResearchers to investigate moisture-driven Antarctic ice sheet growth during past warm climates
Investigating how increased moisture transport to Antarctica, and under what temperatures and sea ice conditions moisture transport occurs, is required to understand the mechanisms that can lead to increased ice accumulation.
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NewsNutritional supplements boost baby coral survival
Feeding coral larvae a coral ’baby food’ can dramatically increase their chances of survival, offering a new avenue for reef restoration as climate change continues to threaten coral ecosystems, a new study finds.
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NewsTiny ocean organisms missing from climate models may hold the key to Earth’s carbon future
The ocean’s smallest engineers, calcifying plankton, quietly regulate the Earth’s thermostat by capturing and cycling carbon. However, a new review finds that these organisms are oversimplified in the climate models used to predict our planet’s future.
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NewsFunctional extinction of Florida’s reef-building corals following the 2023 marine heatwave
The record-breaking 2023 marine heatwave has killed nearly all of Florida’s critically endangered Acropora coral colonies, marking the species’ functional extinction in Florida’s Coral Reef (FCR), researchers report.
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NewsUnderwater thermal vents may have given rise to the first molecular precursors of life
A new study shows that, without the presence of enzymes, natural gradients of pH, redox potential, and temperature present in underwater hydrothermal vents could have promoted the reduction of carbon dioxide to formic acid and the subsequent formation of acetic acid.
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NewsMarine algae use unique pigment to shield photosynthesis from excess light
Researchers have discovered that marine algae have evolved unique pigments not only to capture the green-blue light available underwater but also to enhance their resilience against excessive sunlight.
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NewsArtificial ocean carbon recycling system converts seawater CO2 into valuable chemicals
Researchers have developed an artificial ocean carbon recycling system that captures CO2 from seawater and uses microbes to directly convert it into succinic acid.
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NewsImportant algal phenomenon discovered in the Arctic – could boost marine life
The shrinking sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is, overall, a disaster. But paradoxically, the melting of the ice can also fuel the engine of the Arctic food chains: algae. A new study indicates there will probably be more of it in the future than previously thought.
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NewsMicrobes at Red Sea vents show how life and geology shape each other
A new study led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST; Saudi Arabia) Professor Alexandre Rosado has revealed an unusual microbial world in the Hatiba Mons hydrothermal vent fields of the central Red Sea, a site first discovered by one of his co-authors and colleagues, Assistant Professor Froukje ...
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NewsHydrothermal plumes - and microbes - revealed as invisible transport pathways for iron
A new review highlights how hydrothermal vents on the seafloor shape iron availability and influence the global oceanic element cycles.
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NewsSurprising bacteria discovery links Hawaiʻi’s groundwater to the ocean
A new species of bacteria has been discovered off the coast of Oʻahu, shedding light on how unseen microbial life connects Hawaiʻi’s land and sea ecosystems.