Researchers have traced the journey of a plastic bottle cap recovered near the waters of southern Japan by combining data from the label, chemical clues in tiny shells, and ocean current simulations. They found 307 organisms, including a polychaetae worm not found in Japanese waters before. The findings, published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, show that when species that significantly shape their environments (ecosystem engineers) colonize plastic debris, entire micro-communities can be transported over extended periods, with implications for invasive species risk and marine biodiversity conservation. 

A collaborative team of biologists led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, MIT Sea Grant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Center for Coastal Studies has discovered that the invasive Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum, has established itself along the northwestern Atlantic coastline — the last place in the northern hemisphere to have remained Manila-clam free. The team’s findings, published in Biological Invasions, document an exceedingly rare moment when an invasive species first takes hold in a new environment and begins to spread.

Why do some coral reefs weather marine heatwaves better than others? A new study published in Scientific Reports shows that the answer may lie not only in local ocean conditions, but also in climate patterns that span entire ocean basins. By combining long-term ocean observations with chemical records preserved in coral skeletons, the researchers reveal how large-scale climate oscillations regulate the natural cooling that can help protect coral reefs during marine heatwaves. First author Dr. Hana Camelia and Dr. Thomas Felis from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen lead the study.

Scientists from HSE University, MSU, and Tallinn University of Technology have studied a fossil species of ancient brachiopods that lived in a warm sea in what is now northern Estonia more than 445 million years ago. These ancient brachiopods developed a cup-shaped shell with a protective 'cap' that shielded them from overgrowth by other marine organisms. The study has been published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Through new research, experts at the University of Plymouth aimed to provide the first assessment of the extent and diversity of the brachyuran land crab trade on a global level. They believe knowing the extent to which various species are traded will allow conservationists and policymakers to make informed decisions regarding legislation that monitors global imports and exports, and the wild catch of such species.

Overfishing by trawlers, especially bottom trawlers which damage the seabed, can destroy ecosystems. Now a new study has shown that bottlenose dolphins in the northern Adriatic Sea, the only dolphin species that continues to live in this heavily overfished area, may have become dependent on the fish scooped up by these trawlers. The scientists suspect that this is because there aren’t enough fish left for the dolphins to hunt as they normally would. 

Southern right whales appear to be more flexible in what they eat than scientists had realised, potentially helping the whales to adapt as climate change alters the availability of their preferred prey in the Southern Ocean.