Methane Deep In Ocean Crust Could Feed Chemical-Hungry Microorganisms
...e nutrients in what is called "layer three" of the oceanic crust. Located at a depth of about two and a half...l of layer three, which makes up 60 percent of the oceanic crust. Even though the rock of layer three may contain only minute bubbles of methane, the amount b...Subtle Biotic Changes Have Big Environmental Impact
...ould fertilization of the oceans and alteration of oceanic food webs affect global carbon cycles? In fact, runoff from land is now enriching coastal oceans to unprecedented levels, and industrial fishing is causing massive changes in marine food webs. So the global experiment is underway," said Carpent......arbor Branch. Salinitywas raised to replicate the oceanic environment and to facilitate floatation andtank collection of fertile eggs. Four females and one male were implanted withhormonal pellets and began tank spawning 12 days post implantation and continuedto yield fertile spawns for a period of 14 days...New Long-Term Ecological Research Site Funded For Plum Island Sound Ecosystems Study
...aterial they receive from borderingterrestrial and oceanic systems. "But human activities in rivers and watershedshave enormously altered such estuarine ecosystems through inputs of materialssuch as water, sediments, nutrients, and organic matter," says Scott Collins,director of NSF's LTER program. "An imp......ia divided the Earth into several areas, including oceanic and otheraquatic environments, the soil, the subsu...at majority ofbacteria are in sea water, soil, and oceanic and soil subsurface and so began toexamine these habitats further. Numerous direct measurem...USGS Finds Sea Otters At Risk From Killer Whales In A Changing Ocean
...ontrast, the killer whale is a top predator in the oceanic ecosystems. Byshifting to the sea otter as a food source, the whale makes a fourth level inthe sea otter's coastal system, and upsets the balance in the coastal food web,Estes said. "The coastal events we've observed appear to be driven by events out...Fossil Eggshells Hold Clues To Major Animal Extinctions As Reported In Science
..., and extreme in the Americas, Australia, and many oceanic islands. However, in recent decades, agreement as to why the megafaunal extinctionsoccurred has been as non-existent as the long-gone giant sloth. Parts of theQuaternary were periods of rapid and extensive climatic change that could havebeen capable...Ancient Volcanic Cataclysms Discovered In The Indian Ocean
... of an ancientcontinent were incorporated into the oceanic environment of Elan Bank will havesignificant impact on our understanding of the approximately 130-million-year-old break-up of Australia, India and Antarctica." A surprising finding at three drill sites was evidence for large-scaleexplosive ...NSF-Funded Researcher Plucks Four Unknown Fish Species From Antarctic Waters
...cebreaker of the NSF's polar research fleet. "The oceanic waterssurrounding the continent are a natural evolutionary laboratory comparable tothe Hawaiian Islands or Lake Baikal in Russia." Eastman said his research indicates the waters appear to have been thesite of geologically recent "adaptive radiation"...Seabed Silt In Indian Ocean Consists Of Remains Of Summer Plankton
... dependent on the monsoon climate, the analysis of oceanic sediments provides insight into climatic changes in the past. Only the toughest parts of the plankton are preserved, for example flocs of resistent organic material and the tiny skeletons of the organisms. Most of the other material is recycled near...Understanding Earth's Underwater Forests: Kelp Demography Off The Coast Of California
...ers can gain a muchmore realistic understanding of oceanic ecosystems," says Dayton. Although their research found that small-scale events in coastal zones driven bylocal processes (e.g. competition, disturbance and dispersal) were important,Dayton et al have concluded that the most lasting effects on the k......more precisely the specific effects oflatitude and oceanic feedback, as compared with biospheric feedback, on thetiming of the event....Discovery sheds new light on species diversity in the ocean
...eir discovery goes one step farther by showingthat oceanic temperature at a depth of 50, 100, or 200 meters predicts diversitynearly as well, suggesting that temperatures at the sea surface are highlycorrelated to the structure of the water column beneath the surface. The scientists explain their res...Trouble for the world's turtles
...ortoise Specialist Group. "Many giant tortoises on oceanic islands have already been driven to extinctionover the last three centuries because of human exploitation. So far, freshwaterturtles have come through this century with the documented extinction of justone subspecies -- a small mud turtle from Mexico...USGS finds elevated levels of organochlorine pesticides in Aleutian bald eagles
... These contaminants appear to be traveling through oceanic or atmospheric currents to regions believed t...chipelago via physical processes of atmospheric or oceanic currents, or possibly biologically in the fat layers of migratory seabirds that nest at th...El Niño's dramatic impact on ocean biology and carbon dioxide captured by unique monitoring system
... had an unprecedented roller-coaster effect on the oceanic food chain across a vast swath of the Pacific, plu...oplankton (microscopic algae) form the base of the oceanic food chain. The researchers were again surprised in mid-1998 when chlorophyll levels skyrocketed, r......e complementary studies of other species and other oceanic settings. But for the first time, we know the fish come home."...Most highly endowed promotion prize for fourteen scientists and scholars
... as "Black Smokers", which are found in and around oceanic rift basins; his work on these systems has made a ...est Pacific, and was able to identify pure gold in oceanic floor sulphides for the first time. Prof. Dr. Reinhard Jahn (48), Cell Biology, Max Planck Inst...Millenium bug found by CSIRO scientists
...subtropical regions of the world and occur on many oceanic islands. Relatives are the only insects to inhabit the surface of the open oceans. "This new genus includes four species, of which three, including the Millennium Bug, are new to science," says Mr Weir. "These bugs have an interesting adaptation of t...INEEL microbiologist joins Japanese on expedition to tap marine-methane deposits
...onditions that accurately reflect real life in the oceanic subsurface. "A 10-degree temperature drop might correlate to as much as 300 meters in real life, and we certainly can't make a 400-meter-long bioreactor," said Delwiche. One of the first steps will be to count the numbers of microorganisms in the sa...