Ancient trans-Atlantic swarm brought locusts to the New World
Somewhere between three and five million years ago, a massive swarm of locusts took off from the west coast of Africa and made an unlikely voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to colonize the New World, says an international team of researchers....... Using genetic evidence from more than 20 species of locusts, scientists from the Universities of Toronto, Arizona, Maryland, Cornell University and the...... ... Marine geologist Dr Chris MacLeod, School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences said: "This discovery is like an open wound on t...Climate changes, Cod collapse have altered North Atlantic ecosystems
Ecosystems along the continental shelf waters of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, from the Labrador Sea south of Greenland all the way to North Carolina, are experiencing large, rapid changes, reports a Cornell oceanographer in the Feb. 23 issue of Science. ... While some scientists have pointed to the decline of cod from overfishing as the main reason for the shifting ecosystems, the article empha...New study links western wildfires to Atlantic Ocean surface temperatures
... States like Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and South Dakota all had an increased prevalence of wildfires in recent centuries when a phenomenon known as the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation -- similar but longer in du...Arctic Meltdown, Global Effects: Transatlantic Research Conference
... The conference features leading scientists, such as Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Peter Agre of Duke University, p...Study provides first-ever look at combined causes of North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean freshening
WOODS HOLE, MA -- A new analysis of 50 years of changes in freshwater inputs to the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic may help shed light on what's behind the recently observed freshening of the North Atlantic Ocean. In a report, published in the August 25, 2006 issue of the journal, Science, MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) senior scientist Bruce J. Peterson and his colleagues describe a first...Microbes hitchhike across Atlantic on desert dust
ORLANDO May 24, 2006 -- Bacteria and fungi, some with the potential to cause disease in plants or animals, may be finding their way from Africa to the Americas by hitchhiking on microscopic dust particles kicked up by storms in the Sahara, according to research presented today at the 106th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Orlando, Florida.... ..."This study presents e...A dichotomy in migration patterns found for sea turtles in east Atlantic
Studying members of a large population of loggerhead sea turtles that nest on the Cape Verde islands off of West Africa, researchers have found an unexpected dichotomy in turtle behavior: While some turtles leave the nesting grounds to feed on bottom-dwelling sea life in shallow coastal waters, others leave Cape Verde to roam the much deeper open ocean along the African coast and exhibit a distin...Brazil creates buffer zone around coral reefs off Atlantic coast
The Brazilian government has created an official buffer zone around the Abrolhos National Marine Park to protect the biologically richest coral reefs in the South Atlantic....... The buffer zone, created by Brazil's Institute of Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA), encompasses nearly 95,000 square kilometers an area larger than Portugal and protects the entire Abrolhos region off Brazil's...How satellite tracking revealed the migratory mysteries of endangered Atlantic loggerhead turtles
Their journeys are among the longest in the animal kingdom and they have largely remained a mystery until now. ...An international team of scientists led by the University of Exeter have uncovered the migratory secrets of endangered loggerhead turtles in West Africa and the results could have huge implications for strategies to protect them....... In a paper in the journal Current Biology, Dr Bre...Diverse sea 'bugs' revealed on landmark Atlantic cruise to census zooplankton
Census of Marine Life scientists trawled rarely explored tropical ocean depths between the southeast US coast and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to inventory and photograph the variety and abundance of zooplankton small sea "bugs" that form a vital link in the ocean food chain and other life forms. ... ...Though relatively few in number compared with the uppermost ocean layer, scientists were amazed b...Duke scientists explain gaps in nutrient availability within North Atlantic
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University oceanographers have developed an explanation for why a vast North Atlantic circulation zone can have a large variability in nutrient supplies needed to sustain ocean plants and, by extension, support the food web of marine life. ......The circulating zone in the North Atlantic Ocean, known as a "subtropical gyre," swirls in a clockwise direction between the Gulf S...Satellites spot mighty Mississippi - in the Atlantic
Scientists using satellite imagery found that at least 23 percent of the water released from the mouth of the Mississippi River from July through September 2004 traveled quite a distance - into the Gulf of Mexico, around the Florida Keys, and into the Atlantic Ocean....... The researchers combined data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua sat...North Atlantic right whales headed toward extinction
ITHACA, N.Y. -- One of the world's most endangered whales, the North Atlantic right whale ( ), is on a path toward extinction due to collisions with ships and entanglements in fishing gear, according to Cornell University whale expert Christopher Clark. ... (July 22, 2005) urges emergency measures, such as reducing boat speeds, rerouting shipping lanes around the whales' migratory paths and mod...Endangered North Atlantic right whale study says population in crisis
Ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are threatening the survival of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered whales with an estimated population of about 350. With eight recorded deaths in the past 16 months and a population growth rate that has declined since 1980, scientists say that unless emergency management actions are taken the population will face a catastroph...FSU scientist warns North Atlantic right whale facing extinction
TALLAHASSEE, FL-The North Atlantic right whale's future looks grim if the current mortality rates continue, according to Florida State University assistant professor of oceanography Douglas Nowacek and a group of fellow scientists from across the nation.... ...They have co-authored a paper titled "North Atlantic Right Whales in Crisis" that appears in the July 22 edition of the journal Science...Atlantic sturgeon researchers to release new information on hatchery stock
Linking Chesapeake Bay's past with the present, scientists have gained new insights to aid with future Atlantic sturgeon restoration efforts. Once abundant in the Bay, sturgeon populations have been experiencing a drastic decline for nearly a century. On Monday, scientists will announce preliminary findings from recent maturity and sexing tests of several sturgeons being housed in finfish hatch...Researchers drill historic hole in Atlantic Ocean floor
COLLEGE STATION, Apr. 28, 2005 - Researchers from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) have drilled into sections of the Earth's crust for the first time ever, and their findings could provide new insights about how Earth was formed....... Scientists aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution, of which Texas A&M University serves as the chief contractor, took almost three months to dril...Migration study finds that sweeping management changes are needed to protect Atlantic bluefin tuna
A team of marine scientists has mapped the undersea journeys of Atlantic bluefin tuna and concluded that tighter restrictions should be placed on commercial fishing to protect the feeding and breeding grounds of this top migratory predator--one of the most commercially valuable fish in the sea. ......Researchers from Stanford University and the Monterey Bay Aquarium say that their new study, publ...University of Vermont heads translatlantic cardiovascular research network
BURLINGTON, Vt. A new $6 million grant will help researchers at the University of Vermont College of Medicine direct an innovative transatlantic network linking scientists who study blood-clotting disorders at three U.S. and three European universities.... ...The five-year grant is among the first four Transatlantic Networks of Excellence in Cardiovascular Research to be funded by Fondation Le...