Trawlers threaten ocean's biodiversity
...stocks mean fishing fleets are heading into deeper waters in search of new catches. The boats are increasingly targeting pristine oceanic seamounts, home to highly marketable species such as orange roughy, alfonsino and deep-water redfish. Trawlers are often the first to discover seamounts, which they targe...Genomes of tiny microbes yield clues to global climate change
...cological niche at different depths in the surface waters of the ocean. According to the authors, the Prochlorococcus comparison reveals "dynamic genomes which are constantly changing in response to myriad selection pressures. Although the two strains have 1,350 genes in common, a significant number are not...Microbes' 'blueprints' promise insights into oceans, more
...ced represent numerous strains that populate ocean waters and form the base of the food web," said Gabrielle Rocap, lead author of the Nature paper reporting the genetic blueprints for two Prochlorococcus strains. Rocap, a University of Washington assistant professor of oceanography, earned her doctorate fr...Lake ecosystem critical to East African food supply is threatened by climate change
...ly of nutrients from the deep water to the surface waters of the lake where they help algae grow. The algae, which form the base of Lake Tanganyika'sfood chain, ultimately feed the commercially important fish. Future predictions for this region indicate a roughly 1.5 degreeCelsius rise in air temperature, ...... Aral Sea is the delta of the Amu Darya river. Its waters support environmentally-unique tugai forests found...lopment is disregarded. Starting in the 1960s, the waters of the two rivers feeding the Sea the Amu Darya, seen south, and the Syr Darya to the northwest we...Hydrothermal vent systems could have persisted millions of years, incubated life
...dark minerals precipitating when scalding hot vent waters meet the icy-cold ocean depths. Water venting at Lost City, in comparison, is hot enough to shimmer but not "smoke." Because of the different chemistry, black-smoker vents are a darkly mottled mix of sulfide minerals whereas the Lost City vents are n...New imaging vehicle maps coral reefs to determine health of reef and fisheries
...h is responsible for protecting marine habitats in waters beyond three nautical miles from shore. The team used SeaBED, developed by Singh and his WHOI colleagues, to take a series of 7,000 digital still images of the coral reef habitats. SeaBED conducted nine successful missions at night, when it is easi...OHSU researcher publishes first measurements of 'free-base' nicotine in cigarette smoke
...emistry of organic compounds and metals in natural waters and in the atmosphere, and on the formation and chemistry of smog in urban air....Helping coral reefs survive climate change
...to photosynthesize much of their food, and surface waters that are warmer than normal can "bleach" corals by depleting their photosynthetic pigments or even make them expel their algae. To help conserve coral reefs during climate change, West and Salm assessed factors that may have protected the coral patch...Scientists with Hawaii ocean mixing experiment
... explain how such areas help mix warm low latitude waters and cool polar waters, HOME investigators undertook a comprehensive survey to track the cascade of ocean energy and turbulence. "One of the triumphs of the HOME experiment was being able to measure the cascade from thousands of meters down to centime...Manatee's cousin faces extinction on Tanzanian coast
...rent range within tropical and subtropical coastal waters of the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans, and are listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which bans all trade. In this first nationwide assessment for dugongs in Tanzania, conservationists from WCS, the ...Passing its global sight test leaves MERIS ready for work
...d nutrient-rich water. Exposed to the hot sun, the waters are able to support an abundant population of indi... a high phytoplankton chlorophyll content, oceanic waters are very dark, greenish-brown in colour, whereas they are deep blue when chlorophyll is very low." ...Cold-climate creatures may be the ultimate survivors of global warming, study finds
... temperature than crabs living in the warm coastal waters of Mexico. The study showed that cold-water crabs have a greater capacity to adjust their heat-tolerance thresholds than warm-water crabs," said Stillman, who conducted the experiment at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, Calif. This...Mediterranean fishery recovers, thanks to manmade pollutants
...nutrients from the Nile into Mediterranean coastal waters was reduced by more than 90 percent, and the once productive fishery collapsed. In the 1980s the fishery began a dramatic recovery, coincident with increasing fertilizer use, expanded agricultural drainage, increasing human population, and dramatic e......an sonar to systematically survey the port channel waters that were seeded with mines. Once the sonar images...em to do pure oceanographic science, and to survey waters before amphibious naval operations are conducted. REMUS works until its batteries need recharging a...Volcanologist Richard S. Fiske receives award
...he can be found in a small submersible unit in the waters off the coast of Japan to explore recently active undersea craters. Besides his major research projects, Dr. Fiske finds ways to convey his enthusiasm for volcanoes to the general public. In 1986, he helped arrange the production of the motion pict...Ocean policies haven't kept up with science
...ntury but U.S. policy for managing its territorial waters has lagged far behind the science, experts say, leading to resource depletion, pollution, habitat destruction and political polarization. Recommendations by the Pew Oceans Commission released today (June 4) are the first step toward addressing th...Short-term exposure to estrogen cuts fish fertility
...contraceptives and often finds it way into surface waters through sewer systems. The PNNL study looked at the impact of a synthetic estrogen called ethynylestradiol, which is the chemical in oral contraceptives. Irvin Schultz, PNNL toxicologist who led the study, said the research reinforces that impacts ...Finicky snails provide new clues to the evolution of coastal ecosystems
...ta) - an inch-long snail commonly found in coastal waters from Alaska to California. Whelks are voracious consumers of mussels, despite being much smaller than their prey. ''A whelk drills through the shell of a mussel using its file-like tongue - the radula - and acid secretions,'' said Eric Sanford, lead ......mpus denise Family: Syngnathidae Habitat: Tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean, between 13 and 90 me...s the goby Trimmatom nanus, also found in tropical waters and typically just 10 mm in length. The Biologists Sara Lourie is completing her doctorate on seah...