News by Subject Biology

A team of highly trained scientific divers -- led by researchers from the California Academy of Sciences -- explored Pacific and western Atlantic reefs to test a widely held hypothesis that climate-stressed life from shallow reefs can take refuge at mesophotic depths (100-500 feet beneath the ocean's surface). The results are clear: deep and shallow reefs are different systems with their own species, and deep reefs are just as threatened by climate impacts, storms, and pollution.

The bluegill on your dinner plate might have been more social than the rest of its group, according to a new study from the University of Illinois, and its removal from the lake could mean major changes for the remaining population.

The American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology featured research by Carla Ng, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, on the cover of its June 19 issue. Dr. Ng tracked the presence of a class of synthetic flame retardants called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which were once a popular additive to increase fire resistance in consumer products such as electronics, textiles, and plastics.

Illuminating fishing nets with low-cost lights could reduce the terrible impact they have on seabirds and marine-dwellers by more than 85 percent, new research has shown.

A large group of international researchers have just published a scientific article in which they encourage environmental authorities across the globe to rethink the idea of removing oil rigs, wind turbines and other installations in the sea when they are worn out.

Fish that 'farm' their own patches of seaweed alter their 'cropping' practices under high CO2 conditions, researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia have found.

Preserving a 300,000 square km area in Patagonian waters could improve the conservation of 20 percent of the population of sea birds in their natural habitat, according to a study published in the journal Conservation Biology and led by the expert Francisco Ramírez, researcher from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio).

Biologists from the University of Freiburg identify a gene controlling left-right asymmetry in the brain and sleep-wake cycles.

Fisheries scientists from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and international colleagues have studied the response of fish in the Mediterranean Sea to spearfishing. The fish are able to finely discriminate if divers carry a speargun or not. They adjust their escape behavior and keep a safe distance outside the shooting range. This is good for the fish and a challenge for the spearfisher.