Ocean Sustainability
Over 70% of the earth is covered in water, which serves as a vital resource human subsistence. Contamination and acidification pose major threats to aquatic health and biodiversity. Microbes offer a promising solution in their ability to breakdown contamination from oil spills and plastics. Applied microbiologists can play a significant part in understanding biodiversity, contributing to solutions, and encouraging stewardship.
Microbial research captured among winning science images
Microbial research features among some of the winning images in Nature’s 2026 Scientist at Work photography competition. Microbiome sampling of whale sharks, algal blooms, and a coral probiotics village feature among five spectacular images showcasing the diversity and challenges of scientific research.
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Scientists just found 4 new species of underwater ‘living pink rocks’ that help to store carbon
Rhodoliths may look like small rocks on the seafloor, but they’re actually living algae that create habitats for marine life and contribute to long-term carbon storage. The deeper ‘low-light’ waters off Japan’s Tanegashima Island harbor a surprisingly distinct and diverse community, including four species completely new to science.
Why plastic lingers: Water chemistry slows nature’s cleanup
In a new study designed to mimic real environmental conditions, researchers found that the chemical makeup of natural waters significantly delays the breakdown of polystyrene, a common plastic used in packaging and food containers. Because sunlight cannot effectively initiate the degradation process, microbes cannot finish the job.
Biologist dives beneath Antarctica sea ice to study the impact of climate change
One biologist is studying the genetic diversity of red algae to see how this vital part of Antarctica’s underwater ecosystem is affected by climate change. Answering that question is becoming increasingly important as Earth’s warming climate causes Antarctica’s sea ice to recede farther with every passing year.
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Researcher efforts to reproduce corals shared with TV cameras
Scientists at Nova Southeastern University are sharing a rare look at a marine mission that aims to pump life back into coral reefs. Researchers waiting for coral-spawning hope the project will be a game-changer in the South Florida ecosystem.
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Researcher discovers single-celled organism that transforms into cannibalistic supergiant
Researchers have discovered a microscopic organism that can transform into a cannibalistic ’supergiant’ that drastically changes size, shape, and behavior, and abandons filter-feeding to hunt and consume their genetically identical relatives.
Arctic river deltas at risk from mounting pressures
Researchers have performed a detailed calculation of the amount of carbon stored in permafrost in Arctic river deltas. In a new study, they point out the risks endangering the storage function of these highly sensitive landscapes due to rapid climate change.
Scientists map the microbes behind a climate-regulating gas in India’s busiest estuary — a first
When bacteria in the water and sediment break dimethylsulfoniopropionate down, they release dimethylsulfide (DMS), a gas that drifts into the atmosphere and helps form clouds by seeding cloud condensation nuclei. A new paper reports the first-ever study of DMSP concentrations and the bacteria that degrade it along the entire length of the Cochin Estuary.
New climate-based tool predicts coral bleaching months in advance
Researchers found that coral bleaching on a Caribbean island occurs when three major climate patterns in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans align in specific ways that intensify ocean warming. They created a new, early-warning tool called the Bleaching Event Early Predictor (BEEP).
Scientists map the ocean’s invisible workforce
A new study identifies a small set of “metabolic niches” — or functional roles — that help explain how marine microbes grow, compete for resources and recycle carbon around the globe. The microbes are incredibly diverse, but their behavior can be grouped into a manageable number of strategies.
Starvation triggers reversible epigenetic changes in fish pathogen
What happens to a bacterial pathogen when food runs out—for several months? A new study reveals that Flavobacterium columnare, a deadly aquatic pathogen responsible for columnaris disease in fish, does not change its DNA sequence during prolonged starvation. Instead, it remodels its epigenetic landscape.
New study suggests fish gut microbe helps regulate ocean health
New research reveals a potential link between the gut microbes of a fish and global ocean processes, offering new insight into how marine ecosystems help regulate ocean chemistry and the marine carbon cycle.
Arctic Ocean food chain disrupted as key tipping point passed
An irreversible shift in the chemical make-up of the Arctic Ocean driven by climate change is disrupting the region’s food chain, a study suggests. Widespread loss of Arctic sea ice has led to a sharp fall in levels of a key nutrient, affecting populations of plankton, fish, seabirds and marine mammals.
Pioneering research sheds new light on what shaped extinction pattern of prehistoric marine life – and size clearly mattered
Scientists have shown conclusively for the first time that tiny marine organisms in polar oceans survived the mass extinction event that wiped out prehistoric dinosaurs because they needed less energy and were more tolerant to darkness.
International award honors microbiology researchers for diatom research
Two microbiology researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are being honored with an international award that recognizes their insights into aquatic microbes that are vital to Earth’s ecosystems.
Scientists discover thriving hard-substrate fauna in Oceania’s deep sea
In the crushing darkness of the hadal zone—deep ocean trenches plunging 6,000 m to nearly 11,000 m—scientists have uncovered a hidden community. A study reports the discovery of a protist-dominated hard-substrate fauna across seven hadal regions in Oceania, highlighting an overlooked yet highly active carbon “hotspot.”
The ocean’s pharmacy: scientists chart a new path for marine peptide drug discovery
A review surveys how new extraction, chromatography, and bioinformatics tools are accelerating the discovery of bioactive peptides from the sea. Researchers provide an integrated overview of how marine bioactive peptides are produced, purified, and evaluated, and how bioinformatics is reshaping the discovery pipeline.
Chemists use sea sponge bacteria to create new molecules for drug discovery
Chemists have synthesized new molecules derived from bacteria found in a Pacific Ocean sea sponge. They are the first to successfully synthesize two new marine natural products: tetradehydrohalicyclamine B and epi-tetradehydrohalicyclamine B.
Genes without borders: coral babies can travel vast distances across the Pacific Ocean
The offspring of a common coral branching species set up a new home up to 100 kilometres or more from their parents in one of the longest dispersal distances ever measured.
Warming oceans can disrupt coral oxygen supply and trigger coral death
A new study shows that marine heatwaves can disrupt microscopic moving structures on the surface of reef-building corals that support their oxygen uptake.
The 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.
Revealing 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.
Tiny 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.