Understanding how “marine snow” acts as a carbon sink
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 14-May-2026 10:15 ET (14-May-2026 14:15 GMT/UTC)
Hitchhiking bacteria dissolve essential ballast in “marine snow” particles, which could counteract the ocean’s ability to sequester carbon, according to a new study.
As any diver knows, oceans can be cloudy places. Even on sunny days, snow-like particles drift through the water column, obscuring the aquatic world below.
Scientists have long known that this “marine snow” carries inorganic calcium carbonate – the building block of shells – but couldn’t explain how the mineral dissolves in the upper part of the ocean.
New research from Rutgers University-New Brunswick points to the culprit: bacteria.“Think of marine particles as the megacities of the ocean,” said Benedict Borer, an assistant professor of marine and coastal sciences at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and lead author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Within these tiny spaces, there are huge amounts of microbial activity. It’s here where calcium carbonate dissolves.”
Narrow-ridged finless porpoises were long assumed to be mostly solitary species with little allomaternal interaction. In a new study, researchers from Kindai University found four infant porpoises swimming with non-mother adults. The functions of these interactions are unclear. It is possible that they reduce swimming effort for infants and help young females learn to interact with infants before having their own offspring. These findings are valuable for wildlife conservation and rehabilitation of abandoned infant porpoises.
How is carbon metabolized and processed in different ecosystems? In a recent study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers led by Joely Maak, the study’s first author and researcher in the Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface”, examined the carbon cycle in a unique marine ecosystem.
An interim update to the landmark State of the World’s Migratory Species of 2024 warns that 49% of migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are declining, up 5% in just two years, and 24% of species face extinction, up 2%. The new warnings will be presented to the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP15), a legally-binding UN treaty, in Campo Grande Brazil March 23-29.
The compilation of academic studies provides a timely examination of new tools, collaborations, and discoveries that have furthered understanding of the role and ecosystem impact of marine diseases — and how to manage them.
gathering in unusually large groups and engaging in mating behaviour.
The footage, gathered between 2019 and 2023, provides one of the most detailed records of harbour porpoise mating behaviour ever documented in UK waters.
Scientists from across Scotland and Shetland residents worked on the project and reported their findings in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association.Why does a Caribbean angelfish sometimes resemble its Indo-Pacific cousin, even though they have never lived in the same ocean? Why do coral reefs harbour such a wide range of stripes, spots and patterns? A study conducted by the University of Liège reveals that this explosion of colour patterns is not the result of chance. The more species a reef is home to, the more varied the patterns, and fish from different oceans often end up looking alike, guided by the same deep biological constraints.
A research team led by Prof. XU Yigang from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Prof. DENG Chenglong from the CAS Institute of Geology and Geophysics conducted a study of the Yanshan Scientific Drilling Project (YSDP-4) drill core, with a drill depth of 1497.5 meters. The core was recovered from the lacustrine Jiufotang Formation in northeastern China.