EurekAlert! - Science News: Marine Science Portal

Public Release: 8-Jul-2013

Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Harvard researchers warn of legacy mercury in the environment
Environmental researchers at Harvard University have published evidence that significant reductions in mercury emissions will be necessary just to stabilize current levels of the toxic element in the environment. So much mercury persists in surface reservoirs (soil, air, and water) from past pollution, going back thousands of years, that it will continue to persist in the ocean and accumulate in fish for decades to centuries, they report.

National Science Foundation, Electric Power Research Institute

Public Release: 8-Jul-2013

Nature Physics
Buckling up to turn
Marine microbes change swimming direction via a high-speed mechanical instability.

Public Release: 8-Jul-2013

Marine Ecology Progress Series
Study shows 'dead zone' impacts Chesapeake Bay fishes
A 10-year study of Chesapeake Bay fishes by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science provides the first quantitative evidence on a bay-wide scale that low-oxygen "dead zones" are impacting the distribution and abundance of "demersal" fishes -- those that live and feed near the Bay bottom.

Virginia Marine Resources Commission

Public Release: 7-Jul-2013

Nature Geoscience
Mesoscale ocean eddies impact weather
Not only large-scale ocean currents impact weather but also relatively small eddies, as a new study by scientists at ETH Zurich reveals. The researchers therefore recommend to account for these eddies in weather prediction models.

Public Release: 5-Jul-2013

PLOS ONE
In subglacial lake, surprising life goes on
Lake Vostok, buried under a glacier in Antarctica, is so dark, deep and cold that scientists had considered it a possible model for other planets, a place where nothing could live. However, work by Dr. Scott Rogers, a Bowling Green State University professor of biological sciences, and his colleagues has revealed a surprising variety of life forms living and reproducing in this most extreme of environments.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture

Public Release: 5-Jul-2013

Society for Experimental Biology 2013 Annual Meeting
Flipping fish adapt to land living
Researchers have found that the amphibious mangrove rivulus performs higher force jumps on land than some other fishes that end up on land. This new study shows that unlike the largemouth bass, which makes very few excursions on land, the mangrove rivulus, which can live out of water for extended periods, has a strong jumping technique on land to locate new food resources, avoid predators, escape poor water conditions and also to return to the water.

Public Release: 5-Jul-2013

Society for Experimental Biology 2013 Annual Meeting
Treating oil spills with chemical dispersants: Is the cure worse than the ailment?
Treating oil spills at sea with chemical dispersants is detrimental to European sea bass. A new study, to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Valencia on July 6, suggests that although chemical dispersants may reduce problems for surface animals, the increased contamination under the water reduces the ability for fish and other organisms to cope with subsequent environmental challenges.

Public Release: 4-Jul-2013

Dissertations and Features
Boat owners can fight barnacles with new eco-friendly method
A new eco-friendly method to fight the accumulation of barnacles on the hulls of boats and ships has been developed by Emiliano Pinori in cooperation with colleagues at the University of Gothenburg and the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden in Borås.

Public Release: 4-Jul-2013

Society for Experimental Biology 2013 Annual Meeting
It smells fishy: Copper prevents fish from avoiding danger
Fish fail to detect danger in copper-polluted water. A new study, to be presented at the meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology on July 5, shows that fish cannot smell a danger odor signal emitted by other fish in waters contaminated with copper.

Public Release: 4-Jul-2013

Society for Experimental Biology 2013 Annual Meeting
Seeing starfish: The missing link in eye evolution?
A study has shown for the first time that starfish use primitive eyes at the tip of their arms to visually navigate their environment. Research headed by Dr. Anders Garm at the Marine Biological Section of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, showed that starfish eyes are image-forming and could be an essential stage in eye evolution.

Public Release: 4-Jul-2013

Society for Experimental Biology 2013 Annual Meeting
Jumping snails leap over global warming
Snails in the Great Barrier Reef literally jump for their life to avoid predators. But will they be able to maintain these life-saving jumps, with rising sea temperatures? A new study, to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Valencia on July 5, shows that the snails will indeed be able to keep on jumping, even at temperatures which will kill fish.

Public Release: 3-Jul-2013

Movement Ecology
Powerful animal tracking system helps research take flight
Call it a bird's eye view of migration. Scientists have created a new animal tracking system using a big data approach.

Public Release: 3-Jul-2013
NASA satellite sees Dalila become a hurricane in Eastern Pacific
The tropical storm that has been hugging the southwestern coast of Mexico moved toward open ocean and strengthened into a hurricane on July 2.

NASA

Public Release: 3-Jul-2013

Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Military sonar can alter blue whale behavior
Some blue whales off the coast of California change their behavior when exposed to the sort of underwater sounds used during US military exercises. The whales may alter diving behavior or temporarily avoid important feeding areas, according to new research.

US Navy

Public Release: 3-Jul-2013

PLOS ONE
Evidence suggests Antarctic crabs could be native
A new study has cast doubt on the claim that crabs may have disappeared from Antarctica only to return due to warming seas.

Natural Environment Research Council

Public Release: 3-Jul-2013
New book finds Gaia Hypothesis implausible
A new book presents the first detailed and comprehensive analysis of the famous Gaia Hypothesis, and finds it to be inconsistent with modern evidence.

Public Release: 3-Jul-2013

PLOS ONE
Genetic factors shaping salamander tails determine regeneration pace
Researchers have found that salamanders' capacity to regrow a cut tail depends on several small regions of DNA in their genome that impact how wide the tail grows. The results are published July 3 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Randal Voss and colleagues from the University of Kentucky.

See financial disclosure

Public Release: 2-Jul-2013
NASA sees Tropical Storm Rumbia hit China with heavy rainfall
Typhoon Rumbia had weakened to a tropical storm and moved over southern China when NASA's TRMM satellite flew above on July 2, 2013 at 0316 UTC and measured its rainfall rates.

NASA

Public Release: 2-Jul-2013

Nature Geoscience
Greenhouse gas likely altering ocean foodchain
Climate change may be weeding out the bacteria that form the base of the ocean's food chain.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and others

Public Release: 2-Jul-2013

Geophysical Research Letters
AGU journal highlights -- 2 July 2013
Featured in this release are research papers on the following topics: "Past decade saw unprecedented warming in the deep ocean," " Hurricanes could increase over western Europe as climate warms," " Space traffic may be cause of increase in polar mesospheric clouds," " Tropical storm Sandy was a one-in-700 year event," "German records from 1920s show long-term ocean warming," and "Identifying slow slip events with GNSS."

Public Release: 2-Jul-2013
NASA sees tropical storm dalila weaken, new low pressure area form
NOAA's GOES-15 satellite captured an infrared image of the Eastern Pacific Ocean during the pre-dawn hours on July 2 and noticed Tropical Storm Dalila weakening near the southwestern Mexico coast, while further southwest a new tropical low pressure area called System 97E, had formed.

NASA

Public Release: 2-Jul-2013
ASPIRE prize winner balances ocean conservation and socioeconomic viability
Dr. Carissa Klein of Australia was awarded the APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education, sponsored by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and Elsevier, on Monday by Minister Gusti M. Hatta, Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology.

Public Release: 1-Jul-2013
NASA sees heavy rainfall as Typhoon Rumbia heads for landfall in China
Typhoon Rumbia developed from a low pressure area east of the Philippines and crossed the country from east to west before moving into the South China Sea. NASA's TRMM satellite flew over Rumbia as it nears southeastern China and identified areas of heavy rainfall in the southern quadrant of the storm.

NASA

Public Release: 1-Jul-2013
Satellite shows tropical storm dalila hugging Mexico's southwestern coast
System 96E became a tropical depression and quickly grew into Tropical Storm Dalila on June 30. Dalila has been hugging the coast of southwestern Mexico practically since it formed, and continues to do so on satellite imagery taken on July 1.

NASA

Public Release: 1-Jul-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Breakthrough in El Nino forecasting
Irregular warming of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, dubbed El Niño by Peruvian fishermen, can generate devastating impacts. Being the most important phenomenon of contemporary natural climate variability, it may trigger floods in Latin America, droughts in Australia, and harvest failures in India.