New approach expands possibilities for studying viruses in the environment
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-Dec-2025 17:11 ET (3-Dec-2025 22:11 GMT/UTC)
The study showcases an innovative and effective approach for large-scale genomic research of individual cells and viral particles, highlighting the abundance of marine viruses with unusual DNA chemistry.
An international study led by CEAB-CSIC and published in Nature Communications presents the first global assessment of blue carbon accumulated in the living parts of seagrass plants. According to the results, their leaves, rhizomes and roots store up to 40 million tonnes of carbon worldwide. To this figure must be added the carbon stored in the seabed, which can remain sequestered for thousands of years, as long as the meadow persists. The data confirm that, despite covering a very small area, these ecosystems play a key role in absorbing atmospheric CO₂, transforming it, and retaining it.
Microorganisms in the Black Sea can produce large amounts of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). However, this gas never reaches the atmosphere because it is swiftly consumed by other microorganisms, which convert it to harmless dinitrogen gas (N2). Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology have now investigated this process and identified the key players involved.
An adult great white shark has just one predator: the orca. Until recently, orcas have only been observed regularly preying on these sharks in South Africa, where they usually prefer to hunt larger adults, which provide more food once caught. But now scientists have observed a specialist shark-hunting pod in the Gulf of California repeatedly targeting juvenile white sharks, flipping them upside-down and taking out their energy-rich livers to share with the pod. They could be taking advantage of a local shark nursery to hunt younger, less experienced individuals which are easier to catch and subdue.