EurekAlert! - Science News: Marine Science Portal

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.

Public Release: 28-Jun-2013

Environmental Research Letters
Major changes needed for coral reef survival
To prevent coral reefs around the world from dying off, deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions are required, says a new study from Carnegie's Katharine Ricke and Ken Caldeira. They find that all existing coral reefs will be engulfed in inhospitable ocean chemistry conditions by the end of the century if civilization continues along its current emissions trajectory.

Public Release: 28-Jun-2013

Marine Ecology Progress Series
Boat noise stops fish finding home
Boat noise disrupts orientation behavior in larval coral reef fish, according to new research from the Universities of Bristol, Exeter and Liège. Reef fish are normally attracted by reef sound but the study, conducted in French Polynesia, found that fish are more likely to swim away from recordings of reefs when boat noise is added.

Public Release: 28-Jun-2013

PLOS ONE
Survival of the Galapagos sea lion
The study shows that Galapagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) are more prone to starvation because of exposure to human influences like pets and pollution. These can impair the level of their immunity, making them less able to hunt and more likely to go hungry when food is scarce.

Public Release: 27-Jun-2013

PLOS ONE
Cattle grazing and clean water are compatible on public lands
New study finds cattle grazing is compatible with environmental goals on national forest lands.

USDA Forest Service

Public Release: 27-Jun-2013

Environmental Science & Technology
Scientists discover thriving colonies of microbes in ocean 'plastisphere'
Scientists have discovered a diverse multitude of microbes colonizing and thriving on flecks of plastic that have polluted the oceans -- a vast new human-made flotilla of microbial communities that they have dubbed the "plastisphere."

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 27-Jun-2013

Journal of Experimental Biology
Sea lampreys turning up the heat
Research by a team of Michigan State University scientists found that male sea lampreys have a secondary sex characteristic that creates heat when they get near a female lamprey, something the females find hard to say no to.

Public Release: 27-Jun-2013

Journal of Experimental Biology
Some like it hot: The role of heat in sea lampreys' sex lives
How do you attract a mate? Male sea lampreys resort to an intricate dance to lure in females where they rub a small bump -- rope tissue -- on their backs onto the underbelly of the female. But what does this bump do? Yu-Wen Chung-Davidson from Michigan State University, USA, found out it's actually a heat generating tissue. So hotness is attractive!

Great Lakes Fishery Commission, US National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Public Release: 26-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Chapman University unearths data in animal habitat selection that counters current convention
Scientists have long presumed that animals settle on breeding territories according to the ideal free model. But settlement data often show that, in fact, animals do not select high quality habitat. Indeed, here we report that young common loons have a striking tendency to settle on breeding lakes that resemble their natal lake in terms of both size and pH.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 26-Jun-2013

International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna's Working Group
Bluefin tuna experts dispute assessment of fish populations
Leading Bluefin tuna researchers at the universities of Massachusetts and Maine issued a rebuttal to a "fact sheet" they say is an "irresponsible distortion of the information available" issued by the Pew Charitable Trusts this week, as the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna's expert working groups meet in Montreal beginning today to discuss tuna stocks.

Public Release: 26-Jun-2013
Pufferfish neurotoxin may serve as treatment for cancer therapy related pain
Researchers at the Brain and Spine Institute at John Theurer Cancer Center at HackensackUMC, one of the nation's 50 best hospitals for cancer, are studying a possible alternative to side effect-ridden opioid-based medications to treat cancer-related pain. The active ingredient for the treatment is Tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin found in pufferfish.

Public Release: 26-Jun-2013
Sea level along Maryland's shorelines could rise 2 feet by 2050, according to new report
A new report on sea level rise recommends that the State of Maryland should plan for a rise in sea level of as much as 2 feet by 2050. Led by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the report was prepared by a panel of scientific experts in response to Governor Martin O'Malley's Executive Order on Climate Change and "Coast Smart" Construction. The projections are based on an assessment of the latest climate change science and federal guidelines.

Public Release: 24-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Resourceful microbes reign in world's oceans
Using cutting-edge technology on a large scale for the first time, researchers led by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences have discovered that marine microbes are adapted to narrow and specialized niches, a finding pivotal to detecting and mitigating human impacts in the ocean. High-throughput single cell genomics was used read genetic information from microbes that were previously inaccessible to scientific investigation, opening a new chapter in exploring the microbial life that dominates marine ecosystems.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 24-Jun-2013

Nature Geoscience
Migrating animals add new depth to how the ocean 'breathes'
Research begun at Princeton University found that animals ranging from plankton to small fish consume vast amounts of what little oxygen is available in the deep ocean, and may reveal a crucial and unappreciated role that animals have in ocean chemistry on a global scale.

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Princeton Carbon Mitigation Initiative

Public Release: 24-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Genetic survey sheds light on Oceans' lean, mean microbial machines: UBC research
A Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study is the first direct evidence of widespread genome reduction -- organisms evolving to cast off superfluous genes and traits in favor of simpler, specialized genetic make-ups optimized for rapid growth.

Tula Foundation, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Public Release: 24-Jun-2013

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
It's all in the genes -- including the tracking device
According to the article published today in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences: "This study in the Snake River basin is one of the first large-scale implementations of PBT in salmonids and lays the foundation for adopting this technology more broadly, thereby allowing the unprecedented ability to mark millions of smolts and an opportunity to address a variety of fisheries-based research and management questions."

Public Release: 20-Jun-2013

Geology
Geology: The deeper the rock the colder? Lava flow over snow? Plus other conundrums
These ten new Geology articles confront geologic conundrums and capture evidence toward answering even the most difficult questions on topics such as strain localization; atmospheric CO2; ultra-high pressure metamorphism; white chalk cliffs; lithospheric dripping; retreating trenches; microbial diversity beneath glaciers and ice-sheets; salt-marsh ecosystems; New Zealand glaciers -- biggest well before Europe's Little Ice Age; rock mechanics; tsunami hazards; and tracking the impact of the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake.

Public Release: 20-Jun-2013
New Moore Foundation funding supports UCSB Ecology Synthesis Center embarking on a new era
Whether it's illuminating the causes of California's exceptional plant diversity, dispelling the myth that jellyfish blooms are increasing throughout the world's oceans, or identifying key pathways for introduction of non-native forest pests into the US, UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis is always at the expanding frontier of ecology research.

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Public Release: 20-Jun-2013

Progress in Oceanography
Changing ocean temperatures, circulation patterns affecting young Atlantic cod food supply
Changing ocean water temperatures and circulation patterns have profoundly affected key Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf zooplankton species in recent decades, and may be influencing the recovery of Atlantic cod and other fish stocks in the region. NOAA researchers have found that zooplankton species critical for the survival of Atlantic cod larvae have declined in abundance in the same areas where Atlantic cod stocks have struggled to rebuild after an extended period of overfishing.

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service

Public Release: 20-Jun-2013

Angewandte Chemie
Lab reproduction of a marine compound with antibiotic properties
Chemists at IRB Barcelona synthesize baringolin, a substance isolated from the depths of the sea by the pharmaceutical company BioMar S.A. At very small doses this compound inhibits the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Natural underwater springs show how coral reefs respond to ocean acidification
Ocean acidification due to rising carbon dioxide levels reduces the density of coral skeletons, making coral reefs more vulnerable to disruption and erosion.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013
'Waterlust' whets appetite of Florida outdoor writers
University of Miami Applied Marine Physics graduate student and creator/director of Waterlust, Patrick Rynne is the 2013 recipient of the Florida Outdoor Writers Association (FOWA) Scholarship for Outdoor Communicators. Waterlust explores how people relate to water for recreation, scientific research and creative inspiration. Devan Coffaro, a junior at the University of Central Florida Nicholson School of Communication also won a FOWA scholarship for her work.

Florida Outdoor Writers Association

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013

Polar Biology
Scientists use DNA from a museum specimen to study rarely observed type of killer whale
In a scientific paper published in the journal Polar Biology, researchers report using DNA from tissues samples collected in 1955 to study what may be a new type of killer whale (Orcinus orca).

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013

166th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America
Dr. W. Steven Holbrook selected as 2013 recipient of the Walter Munk Award
Dr. Steve Holbrook has been selected as the 2013 recipient the Walter Munk Award for Distinguished Research in Oceanography Related to Sound and the Sea. Dr. Holbrook is Professor of Geophysics at the University of Wyoming, and Adjunct Scientist in the Physical Oceanography Department of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The Munk Award is presented jointly by The Oceanography Society, the Office of Naval Research and the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy.

Office of Naval Research

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013
Microbial diversity course designated as a 'Milestones in Microbiology' site
The Microbial Diversity Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, has been named a Milestones in Microbiology site by the American Society for Microbiology. The ASM Milestones in Microbiology program recognizes institutions and the scientists who worked there that have made significant contributions toward advancing the science of microbiology.