News by Subject Biology

The Great Barrier Reef is suffering through its worst bleaching event. This is the third bleaching within the space of five years.

A new minimally invasive technique greatly enhances the ability to measure neonate turtle sex ratios. This is the first time that differences in sex-specific protein expression patterns have been identified in blood samples of hatchlings with temperature-dependent sex determination. The technique is a crucial step in assessing the impact of climate change on imperiled turtle species and will enable more accurate estimates of hatchling sex ratios at a population level and on a global scale.

Since the 1980s, a mountaintop mine in West Virginia has been leaching selenium into nearby streams at levels deemed unsafe for aquatic life. Now, even though the mine is closed, a Duke University-led study finds high concentrations of selenium in emerging stream insects and the spiders that eat them along the banks, an indication that the contaminant moves from water to land as it moves up the food chain.

As the human race continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have found that the planet's insects are also facing a crisis after accelerating rates of extinction have led to a worldwide fall in insect numbers.

A new study examine how artificial light during the polar night disrupts Arctic fish and zooplankton behavior down to 200 meters in depth, which could affect fish counts.

Marine microorganisms play a very important role in global cycles such as of the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, little is known about how they function. New approaches by an international research team with the participation of the GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany are for the first time laying the foundation for a more detailed genetic investigation of some key phytoplankton organisms, as reported in the international journal Nature Methods today.

Nuclear bomb tests during the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s have helped scientists accurately estimate the age of whale sharks, the biggest fish in the seas, according to a Rutgers-led study. It's the first time the age of this majestic species has been verified. One whale shark was an estimated 50 years old when it died, making it the oldest known of its kind. Another shark was an estimated 35 years old.