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Categories: Ecology: General, Ecology: Sea Life
Published Urgent need for action now for increasing threat from invasive alien species
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Urgent action now is needed to tackle the major and growing global issue of invasive alien species, says a team of 88 experts from 47 countries. The paper follows the (IPBES) thematic assessment report on invasive alien species and their control. The experts say co-developing management actions with multiple stakeholders including government and private sector stakeholders, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities will be critical to achieving success in addressing biological invasions.
Published Fungus breaks down ocean plastic
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A fungus living in the sea can break down the plastic polyethylene, provided it has first been exposed to UV radiation from sunlight. Researchers expect that many more plastic degrading fungi are living in deeper parts of the ocean.
Published How sharks survived a major spike in Earth's temperature
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The sharks we know today as the open ocean's top predators evolved from stubby bottom dwellers during a dramatic episode of global warming millions of years ago.
Published Researchers call for return of Sumas Lake following devastating 2021 floods
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new proposal has emerged in response to the November 2021 floods that swept Sumas Prairie in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, causing mass evacuations and millions in damages. Instead of rebuilding the dykes to manage water flows and prevent future floods, scientists, along with members of the Sumas First Nation and other research partners, suggest an alternative: let Sumas Lake, which was drained in the early 1920s and converted into the farmland known as Sumas Prairie, return to its natural state. This can be done by buying out properties on the lakebed -- a solution that is projected to cost around $1 billion, less than half of the estimated $2.4 billion cost of repairing the dykes and installing a new pump station.
Published New coral disease forecasting system
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research has led to a new tool for forecasting coral disease that could help conservationists step in at the right times with key interventions. Ecological forecasts are critical tools for conserving and managing marine ecosystems, but few forecasting systems can account for the wide range of ecological complexities in near-real-time.
Published People are altering decomposition rates in waterways
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Humans may be accelerating the rate at which organic matter decomposes in rivers and streams on a global scale, according to a new study. That could pose a threat to biodiversity in waterways around the world and increase the amount of carbon in Earth's atmosphere, potentially exacerbating climate change. The study is the first to combine a global experiment and predictive modeling to illustrate how human impacts to waterways may contribute to the global climate crisis.
Published Novel virus identified in zebrafish from the pet trade causes disease in laboratory fish
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Zebrafish in the pet trade are asymptomatic carriers of previously undescribed microbes, including a novel virus that causes hemorrhaging in infected laboratory fish, researchers report.
Published Antibiotic pollution disrupts the gut microbiome and blocks memory in aquatic snails
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Antibiotics prevent snails from forming new memories by disrupting their gut microbiome -- the community of beneficial bacteria found in their guts.
Published Researchers improve satellite surveillance of emperor penguins
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New phenological and behavioral models will help scientists collect more accurate counts of emperor penguins. Emperor penguins are at the top of the food web. They are a reflection of how lower levels of the marine food web are being impacted by climate change. Systematic data collection on the biological component of ecosystems is still in its infancy, especially in harsh environments, in which consistent and repeatable research is particularly hard to achieve.
Published Some species may tolerate climate change better than expected
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new model reassesses the proportion of terrestrial and marine species threatened with extinction by climate change. While the forecasts of traditional models estimate that the diversity of terrestrial species in tropical areas could decrease by 54% between now and 2041-2060, this model is more moderate, predicting a decrease of 39%. Nevertheless, this proportion remains alarming and confirms the importance of taking urgent measures to mitigate climate change and its impact on biodiversity.
Published Marine Protected Areas don't line up with core habitats of rare migratory fish, finds new research
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source 62% of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) designated to protect rare migratory fish species are outside of their core habitats, according to a new modeling study.
Published The secret sex life of coral revealed
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Corals play an essential role in ocean ecosystems, and like many organisms, they are under threat from climate change and other human activities. To better protect coral, it's first necessary to understand them, in particular their reproductive life cycle, which only happens once a year. For the first time, researchers have produced a model for coral spawning, based on various environmental factors. They achieved this by tapping an often overlooked source of aquatic knowledge, an aquarium.
Published Global activity of seafloor biodiversity mapped
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A team of scientists has used artificial intelligence (AI) to map the activities of seafloor invertebrate animals, such as worms, clams and shrimps, across all the oceans of the world.
Published Warmer wetter climate predicted to bring societal and ecological impact to the Tibetan Plateau
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source According to a paper, climate and weather predictions of increased rainfall will lead to an exponential expansion of land-locked lakes on the Tibetan Plateau, resulting in major land loss and related economic, environmental and climatic impacts.
Published Designing a better nest to help endangered turtles
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source With Ontario's eight species of turtles considered at risk, a new nest designed by researchers has the potential to significantly bolster their struggling populations. The habitat is the first designed for turtles in rock barren landscapes, such as the research site around Georgian Bay. It uses moss and lichen. The researchers found that the design provided a more stable environment for incubating eggs compared to natural sites, where the probability of an egg hatching was only 10 per cent compared to 41 per cent in the created site.
Published Constantly on the hunt for food: Harbor porpoises more vulnerable than previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Constantly on the hunt for food: Harbor porpoises more vulnerable than previously thought to the disturbances from humans. The small whales spend more than 60 percent of their day hunting small fish to stay warm in the cold waters. New research shows that harbor porpoises spend little energy on this hunting strategy, but that it makes them vulnerable to human disturbance.
Published Sexual parasitism helped anglerfish invade the deep sea during a time of global warming
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Members of the vertebrate group including anglerfishes are unique in possessing a characteristic known as sexual parasitism, in which males temporarily attach or permanently fuse with females to mate. Now, researchers show that sexual parasitism arose during a time of major global warming and rapid transition for anglerfishes from the ocean floor to the deep, open sea.
Published Future climate impacts put whale diet at risk
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study predicts future climate change impacts could disrupt the krill-heavy diet that humpback whales in the southern hemisphere consume.
Published Smoke covered 70% of California during biggest wildfire years
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source As much as 70 percent of California was covered by wildfire smoke during parts of 2020 and 2021, according to a new study.
Published New insights into the degradation dynamics of organic material in the seafloor
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Many processes in the deep sea are not yet well understood, and the role of microbial communities in particular is often a big unknown. This includes, for example, how organic material that sinks from the water surface to the ocean floor is metabolised -- an important building block for a better understanding of the global carbon cycle.