UAF scientists discover new marine habitat in Alaska
...red beds. And while corals are animals that filter plankton and other organisms from the water for food, rhodoliths produce energy through photosynthesis. Globally, rhodoliths fill an important niche in the marine ecosystem, serving as a transition habitat between rocky areas and barren, sandy areas. Rhod...Broken arms and collateral damage: clues to predator-driven evolution
...ve feathery arms that they extend to catch bits of plankton or detritus passing by in the current. Like their starfish cousins and other animals in the group known as echinoderms, crinoids are capable of regenerating lost body parts. Because modern day crinoids usually lose---and regenerate---their arms as a...Research shows oceans are becoming more acidic
...predictable. many calcifying organisms, including plankton and corals, and also non-calcifying organisms, would be unable to grow and reproduce effectively at higher CO 2 and lower pH levels. Rising temperatures combined with elevated CO 2 and decreasing pH pose a serious threat to coral reefs, possibly ...Impact of Earth's rising atmospheric carbon dioxide found in world oceans
...evels rise the skeletal growth rates of calcareous plankton will be reduced as a result of the effects of CO 2 on calcification," said Victoria Fabry, a biologist at California State University at San Marcos and a paper co-author. Recent studies have shown that calcification rates can drop by as much as 25 ...When sun's too strong, plankton make clouds
...ake up the bottom of the marine food-chain. Little plankton may be able to change the weather, and longer term...w NASA-funded research confirms an old theory that plankton can indirectly create clouds that block some of the Sun's harmful rays. The study was conducted by D...Melting ice cap gives urgency to new census of marine life project in Arctic Ocean
...layer, and reduction of sea ice will affect algae, plankton and other ocean life, and subsequently the timing and availability of life-sustaining carbon at the sea floor. Those changes will in turn affect higher life forms, like fish, marine mammals and sea birds, impacting "the functioning and biocomplexity ...Pearly mussels: One of North America's natural jewels is disappearing
...hood, pearly mussels act as filter feeders, eating plankton and other small particles of food suspended in the water. Long-lived animals, most species live for decades. Currently, little is known about either mussel diets or the fascinating relationship between larvae and their fish hosts. As mussel beds dec...Biological oceanographers examine 'regime shifts' in complex marine ecosystems
...anges in ocean conditions, such as warming, affect plankton production, an event that easily propagates up the food chain. Changes in ocean conditions can also affect migration patterns, growth rates, and mortality of fish species. Overfishing a species can also force a regime shift, changing the population ...Four new research centers to explore link between oceans and human health
...John Stegeman, will study populations of the toxic plankton Alexandrium in the Gulf of Maine and the relationship of its various genotypes to its toxicity, as well as the hydrodynamic and biological controls on these populations and how they affect shellfish toxicity. The center will also study human pathogen...URI oceanographer awarded NSF grant to study function of jellyfish in coastal ecosystems
...se they are visible to the naked eye are important plankton predators that can strongly affect the numbers of ... of the feeding ecology of the hydromedusae on the plankton community and to quantify when and what they are feeding on. It has been determined that hydromedusa...How many fish in the sea? Census of Marine Life launches first report
... feeding still more species. The 50,000 species of plankton in the light zone are mostly single cell organisms like many algae and protozoa or krill, miniature relatives of shrimps. Plankton capable of photosynthesis, the phytoplankton, is the grass in the oceanic pasture, converting CO2 gas into 300 billion ...NSF awards $31.9 million in grants to study biocomplexity in the environment
...nvestigate mercury in a northern forest landscape; plankton dynamics and carbon cycling in the equatorial Pacific Ocean; and the regulation of metal bioavailability in floodplains. In GENEN, such projects as studies of coral reef genomics, and the oxygen-stress response in organisms that live in extreme envi...Antarctic penguins thrive in ocean 'oases'
...s are open waters, called polynyas, where blooming plankton support the local food chain. The research found a...pulations in the Antarctic and the productivity of plankton in the polynyas. Polynyas are areas of open water or reduced ice cover, where one might expect sea i...Research shows little effect from Arctic offshore oil drilling
...phorous into the ocean. This introduction leads to plankton blooms. Trefry and his team now had a tangible reason for the late growth of these blooms in the Arctic Ocean. Second, they gained a greater understanding of why the ocean was still in near-pristine condition after years of oil-drilling. Trefry said ...Ocean plant life slows down and absorbs less carbon
... shorter, more intense lifecycles. In these areas, plankton quickly dies and can sink to the ocean floor, crea...to the deep ocean. In the high latitudes, rates of plankton growth declined by 7 percent in the North Atlantic basin, 9 percent in the North Pacific basin, and ...Microbes' 'blueprints' promise insights into oceans, more
...egulating marine productivity (photosynthesis) and plankton diversity." "The idea is to let the organisms tell us what dimensions of their environment are important in determining their distribution and abundance. And this will become easier and easier as the genomes of additional strains are sequenced, and t...UNC researcher awarded top prize for oceanography, fresh water studies
... in natural waters, nitrogen and carbon cycles and plankton dynamics, precipitation chemistry, limnology and wetlands ecology, phosphorus and microbes in estuaries. Paerl works at and out of the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City concentrating chiefly on N.C. rivers, estuaries and sounds but a...Summit generates possible solutions to exchange of invasive species in Midwest waterways
...hange of all species and life stages. For example, plankton and species in immature life stages can still cross the barrier. The barrier has a maximum service life of three years; a second barrier will be in place by fall 2004. Members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation, particularly Sen. Richard Durbi...Invasive species summit aims to halt Great Lakes-Mississippi River species exchange
...all invasive species and life stages. For example, plankton and species in immature life stages can still cross the barrier. The barrier has a maximum service life of three years; a second barrier will be in place by fall 2004. But a better long-term solution is necessary. MEALS: Media representatives plann......e to red tides, the darker hue created by both the plankton and the harmful algal blooms made the water appear black when seen from the satellite. When Hu and his colleagues examined the data collected by divers from the dark water area in the Florida Keys, they discovered a 70 percent decrease in stony cora...