EurekAlert! - Science News: Marine Science Portal

Public Release: 2-Jul-2012

12th International Coral Reef Symposium

Nature Climate Change
Fish learn to cope in a high CO2 world
Some coral reef fish may be better prepared to cope with rising CO2 in the world's oceans -- thanks to their parents. Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies today reported in the journal Nature Climate Change, encouraging new findings that some fish may be less vulnerable to high CO2 and an acidifying ocean than previously feared.

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

Public Release: 2-Jul-2012

Biological Conservation
NOAA researchers see dramatic decline of endangered white abalone
Scientists from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service report a significant decline of endangered white abalone off the coast of Southern California in the journal Biological Conservation.

Public Release: 2-Jul-2012

Nature Nanotechnology
Paints and coatings containing bactericidal agent nanoparticles combat marine fouling
Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany have discovered that tiny vanadium pentoxide nanoparticles can inhibit the growth of barnacles, bacteria, and algae on surfaces in contact with water, such as ship hulls, sea buoys, or offshore platforms. Their experiments showed that steel plates to which a coating containing dispersed vanadium pentoxide particles had been applied could be exposed to seawater for weeks without the formation of deposits of barnacles, bacteria, and algae.

Public Release: 1-Jul-2012

Nature Climate Change
Rising heat at the beach threatens largest sea turtles, climate change models show
Climate change could exacerbate existing threats to leatherback sea turtles and nearly wipe out the population in the eastern Pacific in the 21st century. Deaths of turtle eggs and hatchlings in nests buried at hotter, dryer beaches are the leading projected cause of the potential climate-related decline, according to a new study in the journal Nature Climate Change by a research team from Drexel University, Princeton University, other institutions and government agencies.

Cooperative Institute for Climate Science, Earthwatch Institute, Betz Chair Endowment of Drexel University, Leatherback Trust

Public Release: 30-Jun-2012

Society for Experimental Biology 2012
Acid-wielding worms drill through bones at the bottom of the sea
Tiny "bone-devouring worms," known to both eat and inhabit dead whale skeletons and other bones on the sea floor, have a unique ability to release bone-melting acid, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego have recently discovered.

Austrian Science Fund

Public Release: 29-Jun-2012

Geology
Sandy beaches, hydrocarbon reservoirs, tectonic tilting: It's all about geology
Topics in this new batch of Geology papers posted online 29 June include ecospace utilization; Little Bahama Bank; climatic asynchrony; oceanic crust; sand budgets; the Alpine fault's seismic hazard to New Zealand; volcano behavior; gravity oscillations; chemical weathering in the Critical Zone; giant wave ripples; the location of high peaks as a function of drainage network; and soils as ledgers recording transactions of energy and material between Earth's plants, rocks, water, and atmosphere.

Public Release: 29-Jun-2012

Geophysical Research Letters
AGU journal highlights -- 29 June 2012
Featured in this release are research papers on the following topics: "Section of Atlantic circulation driven by transient southern Africa current," "Prediction system to protect astronauts from solar storms," "Streamflow changes following the 2010 Chile earthquake," "Reanalyses find rising humidity in the Arctic," "Local factors important for water availability," and "Peat-based climate reconstructions run into murky waters?"

Public Release: 29-Jun-2012
NSF funds University of Miami, Navy Postgraduate School research in ocean dynamics
Funded by a grant from the NSF, a study led by University of Miami's Dr. Igor Kamenkovich and Naval Postgraduate School's Dr. Timour Radko will investigate critical oceanic processes involved in Large-Scale Eddy-Driven Patterns (LEDPs). This will offer offer a more complete and realistic description of LEDPs, directly applicable to observations and comprehensive climate models. The project will also help describe the eddy transport of important tracers like heat and carbon caused by the LEDPs.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 29-Jun-2012

Ecotoxicology
New technique could reduce number of animals needed to test chemical safety
A new way of testing the safety of natural and synthetic chemicals has been developed by scientists with funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Their research, published today in the journal Ecotoxicology, could reduce the number of fish needed to test the toxicity of a range of chemicals including pharmaceuticals and environmental pollutants.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Public Release: 29-Jun-2012

Global Change Biology
Britain's urban rivers bounce back
After decades of pollution, typically from poorly treated sewage and industrial waste, rivers in or near Britain's major urban areas are regaining insects such as mayflies and stoneflies that are typical of fast-flowing, oxygen-rich waters.

Public Release: 28-Jun-2012

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Pollutants could pose health risks for 5 sea turtle species
Researchers at the Hollings Marine Laboratory and four partner organizations have measured for the first time concentrations of 13 compounds in five different endangered species of sea turtles that approach the amounts known to cause adverse health effects in other animals.

Public Release: 27-Jun-2012
US research vessel winds down visit to Vietnam as part of joint oceanographic research program
U.S. scientists and Vietnamese researchers will discuss coastal ocean circulation and land-ocean environmental trends this week as the R/V Roger Revelle, an auxiliary general purpose oceanographic research vessel, continues its nine-day port call in the city of Da Nang. Owned by the Office of Naval Research and operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the vessel arrived in Vietnam June 22. Its visit highlights partnership between ONR and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology.

US Office of Naval Research

Public Release: 27-Jun-2012
Pressure testing of new Alvin Personnel Sphere successful
The human-occupied submersible Alvin reached a major milestone in its upgrade project on June 22 when its new titanium personnel sphere successfully completed pressure testing, reports the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the vehicle's operator.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 27-Jun-2012

Dissertations and Features
A nanoscopic look at the estuary's green algae
The pico is a very small unit, even smaller than the nano as it is the equivalent of 10-12. The biologist Aitor Alonso has devoted himself to studying green algae of this imperceptible size existing in the Bilbao estuary, paying particular attention to the area beyond the Nervion estuary. This has enabled him to identify six genera and 11 nano- and picoplanktonic species that until now had not been cataloged in these waters.

Public Release: 26-Jun-2012

Geology
Evidence of oceanic 'green rust' offers hope for the future
"Green rust" played a key role in making the Earth habitable and may now have an equally important role to play in cleaning it up for the future.

Natural Environment Research Council, Danish National Research Foundation, National Science Foundation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada

Public Release: 25-Jun-2012
Ciénega de Santa Clara unchanged after pilot run of Yuma Desalting Plant
Mexico's Ciénega de Santa Clara has not changed since the 2010-11 pilot run of the Yuma Desalting Plant, according to a new report from a University of Arizona-led binational team of researchers. The 15,000-acre ciénega is the largest wetland in the Colorado River Delta.

Central Arizona Water Conservation District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Southern Nevada Water Authority, Mexico Comision Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas and the Instituto Nacional Ecologia

Public Release: 25-Jun-2012

American Mineralogist
Mercury mineral evolution
Mineral evolution posits that Earth's near-surface mineral diversity gradually increased through an array of chemical and biological processes. A dozen different species in interstellar dust particles that formed the solar system have evolved to more than 4500 species today. New work from Carnegie's Bob Hazen demonstrates that the creation of most minerals containing mercury is fundamentally linked to several episodes of supercontinent assembly over the last 3 billion years.

NASA/Astrobiology Institute, National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 25-Jun-2012

12th International Coral Reef Symposium
Topics to be discussed during July International Coral Reef Symposium
The 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, the world's leading coral reef science conference held once every four years, will begin Monday, July 9, in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Daily media briefings will be held for reporters who are in attendance, and accessibility to this information and to coral experts will be provided through an online media portal to journalists worldwide.

Public Release: 25-Jun-2012

Inverse Problems
Maths formula leads researchers to source of pollution
The leaking of environmentally damaging pollutants into our waters and atmosphere could soon be counteracted by a simple mathematical algorithm, according to researchers.

Public Release: 25-Jun-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill exacerbated existing environmental problems in Louisiana marshes
The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill temporarily worsened existing manmade problems in Louisiana's salt marshes such as erosion, but there may be cause for optimism, according to a new study.

Public Release: 24-Jun-2012

Nature Climate Change
Significant sea-level rise in a 2-degree warming world
Even if global warming is limited to two degrees Celsius, global-mean sea level could continue to rise, reaching between 1.5 and four meters above present-day levels by the year 2300, with the best estimate being at 2.7 meters, according to a study just published in Nature Climate Change. However, emissions reductions that allow warming to drop below 1.5 degrees Celsius could limit the rise strongly.

Public Release: 22-Jun-2012

2012 International Conference on Zebrafish Development and Genetics
Zebrafish research shows how dietary fat regulates cholesterol absorption
New research suggests there may be a biological reason why fatty and cholesterol-rich foods, like buttery shrimp, fried eggs and burgers and fries are so appealing together. Researchers presenting at the International Zebrafish Development and Genetics Conference in Madison, Wisc., are using zebrafish to better understand the cellular mechanisms of cholesterol processing and have discovered a surprising link between dietary fat and cholesterol absorption.

Public Release: 22-Jun-2012

Molecular Ecology
First paternity study of southern right whales finds local fathers most successful
The first paternity study of southern right whales has found a surprisingly high level of local breeding success for males, scientists say, which is good news for the overall genetic diversity of the species, but could create risk for local populations through in-breeding.

Public Release: 21-Jun-2012

ESA 97th Annual Meeting
Risks and rewards of quantifying nature's 'ecosystem services'
How much is a stream worth? Can we put a dollar value on a wetland? Some conservation proponents have moved to establish the economic value of "ecosystem services," the benefits that nature provides to people. But not all ecologists are enthusiastic about ecosystem services markets. In a half day symposium at the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting this August, experts will discuss the science underlying ecosystem services and the benefits and pitfalls for conservation.

Public Release: 21-Jun-2012

GSA Bulletin
GSA Bulletin presents studies in Antarctica, Italy, Mexico, Algeria, Mongolia, and more
New GSA Bulletin postings include studies of the geomorphic impact of 19th-century placer mining along the Fraser River, British Columbia; seafloor images around Ross Island, obtained by the Swedish research vessel Oden from 2007-2011; a foray into the fossil record of early Tertiary mammal evolution in Africa via magnetostratigraphic analyses of exposed fossiliferous sequences in Algeria; and a new contribution to the growing volume of published geoscience research for southeastern Mongolia.