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Categories: Ecology: Sea Life, Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published Due to sea-ice retreat, zooplankton could remain in the deep longer
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Due to intensifying sea-ice melting in the Arctic, sunlight is now penetrating deeper and deeper into the ocean. Since marine zooplankton respond to the available light, this is also changing their behavior -- especially how the tiny organisms rise and fall within the water column. As an international team of researchers has now shown, in the future this could lead to more frequent food shortages for the zooplankton, and to negative effects for larger species including seals and whales.
Published Wastewater pipe dig reveals 'fossil treasure trove'
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new article describes the 266 fossil species as one of the richest and most diverse groups of three-million-year-old fauna ever found in New Zealand. At least ten previously unknown species will be described and named in future research. Fossils of the world's oldest known flax snails, an extinct sawshark spine, and great white shark teeth have all been found in a mound of sand excavated from beneath Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant in 2020.
Published Loss of Antarctic sea ice causes catastrophic breeding failure for emperor penguins
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Emperor penguin colonies experienced unprecedented breeding failure in a region of Antarctica where there was total sea ice loss in 2022. The discovery supports predictions that over 90% of emperor penguin colonies will be quasi-extinct by the end of the century, based on current global warming trends.
Published Scientists solve mystery of why thousands of octopus migrate to deep-sea thermal springs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers used advanced technology to study a massive aggregation of deep-sea octopus gathered at thermal springs near an extinct underwater volcano off the coast of Central California. Warm water from hydrothermal springs accelerates development of octopus embryos, giving young octopus a better chance of survival. The Octopus Garden is the largest known aggregation of octopus on the planet -- the size of this nursery, and the abundance of other marine life that thrives in this rich community, highlight the need to understand and protect the hotspots of life on the deep seafloor from threats like climate change and seabed mining.
Published Ice-free preservation method holds promise to protect reefs
(via sciencedaily.com) An interdisciplinary team of researchers demonstrated that coral can be preserved through a new technique called isochoric vitrification. This process takes the selected coral fragments through the stages of cryopreservation and subsequent revival.
Published Researchers unearth a new process by which algae pass on nurtrients to their coral host
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have identified a new pathway by which sugar is released by symbiotic algae. This pathway involves the largely overlooked cell wall, showing that this structure not only protects the cell but plays an important role in symbiosis and carbon circulation in the ocean.
Published Barnacles may help reveal location of lost Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Geoscientists have created a new method that can reconstruct the drift path and origin of debris from flight MH370, an aircraft that went missing over the Indian Ocean in 2014 with 239 passengers and crew.
Published Newly discovered 'primitive cousins of T rex' shed light on the end of the age of dinosaurs in Africa
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have discovered the fossils of two new abelisaurs in Morocco, showing the diversity of dinosaurs in this region at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Published Vegetarian diet of corals explains age-old mystery dating back to Darwin
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study has revealed why coral reefs can thrive in seemingly nutrient poor water, a phenomenon that has fascinated scientists since Charles Darwin.
Published This fish doesn't just see with its eyes -- it also sees with its skin
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Without a mirror, it can be hard to tell if you're blushing, or have spinach in your teeth. But one color-changing fish has evolved a clever way to keep watch on the parts of itself that lie outside its field of view -- by sensing light with its skin.
Published Scientists zero in on timing, causes of ice age mammal extinctions in southern California
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Radiocarbon dating on bones in the La Brea Tar Pits lead archaeologists to warn that history may be repeating itself.
Published The modern sea spider had started to diversify by the Jurassic, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An extremely rare collection of 160-million-year-old sea spider fossils from Southern France are closely related to living species, unlike older fossils of their kind.
Published World's deepest coral calcification rates measured off Hawaiian Islands
(via sciencedaily.com) In the waters off the Hawaiian Islands, rates of calcification were measured in the deepest coral colonies.
Published Microplastics found embedded in tissues of whales and dolphins
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Microscopic plastic particles have been found in the fats and lungs of two-thirds of the marine mammals in a graduate student's study of ocean microplastics. The presence of polymer particles and fibers in these animals suggests that microplastics can travel out of the digestive tract and lodge in the tissues.
Published Gray whales feeding along the Pacific Northwest coast are smaller than their counterparts who travel farther to forage
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Gray whales that spend their summers feeding off the coast of Oregon are shorter than their counterparts who travel north to the Arctic for food, new research shows.
Published App-based tool quantifies pesticide toxicity in watersheds; identifies mitigation opportunities
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Pesticides are a leading source of chemical hazards in aquatic environments. Researchers have introduced a new tool to help evaluate toxicity at high resolution and suggests that targeting a small number of pesticides in a few watersheds could significantly reduce aquatic toxicity in California's agricultural centers.
Published Top fish predators could suffer wide loss of suitable habitat by 2100 due to climate change
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study of 12 species of highly migratory fish predators -- including sharks, tuna, and billfish such as marlin and swordfish -- finds that most of them will encounter widespread losses of suitable habitat and redistribution from current habitats in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA) and the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) by 2100. These areas are among the fastest warming ocean regions and are projected to increase between 1-6°C (+1-10°F) by the end of the century, a sign of climate-driven changes in marine ecosystems.
Published Protected sex: Grouper mating calls in marine managed areas
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Groupers produce distinct sounds associated with courtship, territoriality or reproduction. An autonomous mobile wave glider and passive acoustics were deployed to survey two marine protected areas on the western shelf of Puerto Rico to locate spawning aggregations of two commercially important species -- the Nassau and red hind groupers. Findings show these sites are critical habitat for both species and multiple previously unknown grouper species, which highlight the importance of expanding existing seasonal regulations.
Published Land-sea relationship is major driver of coral reef health outcomes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research indicates that mitigating both local land and sea-based human impacts, especially in terms of pollutants and over-fishing, provides coral reef ecosystems with the best opportunity to persist under climate change. Along some highly populated areas on the shorelines of Hawai'i, wastewater pollution and urban runoff combine with fishing pressures to put immense stress on coral reefs.
Published Marine protected areas overwhelmingly manage with climate change in mind
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientific findings don't always translate neatly into actions, especially in conservation and resource management. The disconnect can leave academics and practitioners disheartened and a bit frustrated.