Tag: life onboard

Hopes that coral reefs might escape climatic devastation Corals may be better placed to cope with the gradual acidification of the world's oceans than previously thought -- giving rise to hopes that coral reefs might escape climatic devastation.In new research published in the journal Nature Climate Change, an international scientific team has identified a powerful internal mechanism that could enable some corals and their symbiotic algae to counter the adverse impact of a more acidic ocean.As humans release ever-larger amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, besides warming the planet, the gas is also turning the world's oceans more acidic -- at rates thought to far exceed those seen during past major extinctions of life. This has prompted strong scientific interest in finding out which species are most vulnerable, and which can handle the changed conditions.In groundbreaking research, a team of scientists from Australia's ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, at the University of Western Australia and France's Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, has shown that some marine organisms that form calcium carbonate skeletons have an in-built mechanism to cope with ocean acidification -- which others appear to lack."The good news is that most corals ...

Marine life in deep oceans investigation The two-and-a-half-year TARA OCEANS expedition finishes on 31 March when the ship and crew reach Lorient, France. The arrival completes a journey of 60 000 miles across all the world's major oceans to sample and investigate microorganisms in the largest ecosystem on the planet, reports Eric Karsenti in an editorial published in Molecular Systems Biology."Life and evolution started in the oceans, yet we know very little about the distribution of marine biodiversity," said Karsenti, senior scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, and Co-Director of the TARA OCEANS project."If it were not for these microorganisms we would not exist. First, we are their evolutionary descendants and second they generate the atmosphere of the Earth."The scientists taking part in the TARA OCEANS expedition want to understand how the populations of microscopic organisms that make up 98% of life in the oceans interact with the environment and how these complex systems have evolved over time."It is an interplay between the different species and each species affects the environment," explained Karsenti in a live interview with Molecular Systems Biology. "Oceans are very heterogeneous both geographically and at different depths - each water mass has ...

Oil from Macondo well devastated corals living about 7 miles away After months of laboratory work, scientists say they can definitively finger oil from BP's blown-out well as the culprit for the slow death of a once brightly colored deep-sea coral community in the Gulf of Mexico that is now brown and dull.In a study published Monday, scientists say meticulous chemical analysis of samples taken in late 2010 proves that oil from BP PLC's out-of-control Macondo well devastated corals living about 7 miles southwest of the well. The coral community is located over an area roughly the size of half a football field nearly a mile below the Gulf's surface.The damaged corals were discovered in October 2010 by academic and government scientists, but it's taken until now for them to declare a definite link to the oil spill.Most of the Gulf's bottom is muddy, but coral colonies that pop up every once in a while are vital oases for marine life in the chilly ocean depths. The injured and dying coral today has bare skeleton, loose tissue and is covered in heavy mucous and brown fluffy material, the paper said."It was like a graveyard of corals," said Erik Cordes, a ...

The time for oceans has come In my 36 years of work in conservation, I have never before witnessed as much attention and concern being paid to the deteriorating health of our oceans, and the resulting consequences of that deterioration for people everywhere. Ocean issues have grown from being a concern of environmental organizations to an urgent topic in corporate boardrooms and the offices of heads of state -- an important shift in attitude that gives me reason for hope.From the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos in January to The Economist's World Oceans Summit I attended last month in Singapore, the concerns are palpable. With the world's population expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050 -- doubling the demand for food, energy and water -- corporations and governments are looking to the oceans for answers.Oceans generate more than half of the oxygen we breathe, provide essential nutrition to over 1 billion people and generate hundreds of millions of jobs through tourism, fisheries and aquaculture. Coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs protect our coastlines from the devastating impacts of storms and tsunamis. Mangroves, seagrass beds and salt marshes are amongst the most efficient ecosystems at absorbing ...

Study shows that 50 percent of marine life in Gulf reduced due to the oil exposure Crabs, insects and spiders, hit by the huge 2010 oil spill from the rig Deepwater Horizon, surprisingly recovered within a year if their host plants remained healthy, a study reveals.Brittany McCall, University of Houston graduate student and biology professor Steven Pennings, her adviser, sampled arthropods and marine invertebrates in coastal salt marshes at the time of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a year later.Both of them gathered samples in areas where relatively low levels of oil were present but the plants still appeared healthy and undamaged, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reported.They found that in these areas, the numbers of crabs, insects and spiders were reduced by up to 50 percent because of the oil exposure, according to a university statement."This study demonstrates that appearances can be deceiving," Pennings said. "Arthropods are quite vulnerable to oil exposure. These results are very important because they show that we can't assume that the marsh is healthy just because the plants are still alive."However, the fact that some plant life remained intact in these areas apparently was key to ...

Oceanographer Paul Snelgrove shares the results of a ten-year project re life in the oceans

Marine species have been on the move Marine protected areas (MPAs) may turn out to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As a result of changing conditions, marine species have been on the move with observed shifts of as much as three kilometres per year over the past 50 years, and forecasts of shifts of as much as 300 kilometres in the coming 50 years.Decisions on where to put MPAs weren't always made with a changing climate in mind. That has researchers asking how these areas-meant to protect biodiversity-can stand the test of time.Static MPAs, or limited areas, may not work as ocean conditions change and as species shift their distribution in response to climate change. These changes will require our design and management of these ecologically rich zones to be more flexible, and will require greater collaboration and foresight.At the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Brad deYoung of Memorial University of Newfoundland will present a review of technological advances in ocean modelling and observing, and show how integration of these new tools and greater collaboration will make MPAs more effective today and in the future."While climate change adds ...

This 3-minute video explores the sustainability of our ocean through Marine Protected Areas

Ships' propellers emit sound in the same frequency range that some whales use for communicating Noise from ships stresses whales nearby, researchers have shown.Ships' propellers emit sound in the same frequency range that some whales use for communicating, and previous studies have shown the whales change their calling patterns in noisy places.Now, researchers have measured stress hormones in whale faeces, and found they rose with the density of shipping.The species studied in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, the North Atlantic right whale, is listed as endangered.It had been thought that hunting by the Basque people a few hundred years ago brought a robust population down to barely sustainable levels.But recent research suggests the big population decline happened much earlier, for reasons that are unclear.Dr Rosalind Rolland of the New England Aquarium in Boston, US, who led the new study, said the population was now up to an estimated 490 individuals from about 350 a decade ago.North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) roam up and down the east coast of North America, coming to the Bay of Fundy typically in late summer to feed.Aquarium scientists have been studying them in the bay since 1980.But the new study, reported in the ...

Sigrid Luber, President of OceanCare, lives in hope Ocean Noise Pollution (ONP) is a source of marine pollution in the form of acoustic energy that has garnered international recognition in recent years. In fact, a number of fora including the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), International Maritime Organization, Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas, Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area and International Whaling Commission, have by now acknowledged that ONP is capable of negatively impacting on marine ecosystems and marine living resources.The diversity of the sources of ONP, which include shipping and seismic airguns used in the exploration of offshore oil and gas resources, let alone military activities, is arguably the main reason why no mitigation measures have been agreed by states so far. Indeed, it is difficult to envisage a one size fits all approach when it comes to the impacts of ONP. For instance, a number of scientific studies have shown that noise generated by shipping produces behavioural deviations in bluefin tuna schools, affecting the accuracy of their migrations to spawning and feeding grounds, with potentially significant effects on their fitness ...