oceanbites

Fixin’ to lose: Trichodesmium reacts to climate change

Nitrogen is vital for all life on the planet. One of the main global sources for nitrogen, the bacteria Trichodesmium,…

Biodiversity

Linking marine and human health in Hispaniola

Biodiversity is often associated with higher standards of human livelihood, but researchers have yet to draw a direct line between…

Plastic Pollution

Important oyster-producing region of British Columbia swamped with microplastics

If you grew up in the developed world, chances are you have an intimate relationship with plastic. Your lunch…

Climate Change Physical oceanography Sea Ice

Sea Ice Drives Global Circulation

A recent study uses observational data from the Antarctic to show that sea ice processes help drive the global current…

Sharkbites Saturday

Saving Sawfish: Using local knowledge to study critically endangered species in remote areas

What if I told you sharks have cousins that are so morphologically distinct, they swim around sporting a toothy, chainsaw-like…

Fisheries

Ocean to Table Mercury: a Rising Risk

For fish eaters, mercury consumption is an ever-present worry but often pushed to the backs of our minds. But the…

Biological oceanography Climate Change Physical oceanography

Turn Up The Heat, Turn Down the Productivity

What happens if we do not curb carbon emissions? In a recent study, Moore and co-authors (2018) predict the implications of…

Behavior

Bite or Flight: How Seaweed Can Shape Feeding Behavior in Fish

What is a forest without trees or a coral reef without coral? Neither a forest nor a coral reef. Entire…

Behavior Biology

The Efficiency of Nautili

Imagine if you could function just as well at the top of Mt. Everest (where the air is super thin)…

Behavior

Not Just Hanging Out: The Importance of Humpback Whale Mother Calf-Area Use in Hawaii

Continue to celebrate Mother's Day before May ends by exploring the amazing bond between humpback whale mothers and their calves.…

Biological oceanography Ecology Harmful Algal Bloom Remote Sensing

Cyanobacteria invasions… from space?

They may not come from space, but they can be seen from up there! Learn how microscopic plants called cyanobacteria…

Fisheries

Big Momma: bigger fish are better moms

What makes a fish a good mom? Read here to see why scientists now think that big fish moms are…

Behavior

Power by the numbers: tiny shrimp generate turbulence in the ocean

Imagine hundreds of thousands of tiny shrimp swimming in the ocean. Believe it or not, the combined swimming action of…

Biological oceanography

Arctic Lights

We often think of the Arctic as a cold, dark place. But as sea ice continues to recede in the…

Biogeochemistry Climate Change Ocean Acidification

Gassing Earth Out of the Ice Age: the North Pacific

Enhanced upwelling and CO2 degassing from the North Pacific during a warm climate event 14,000 years ago may have helped…

Biogeochemistry Climate Change Physical oceanography

Predicted Change to the Southern Ocean Silicate Front

The Southern Ocean Silicate Front (SF) is an important boundary separating waters that are silicate-rich and waters that are silicate-poor.…

Climate Change

Seaweed may be a winner in a warming world

Have you ever thought about ocean critters that might benefit from climate change? Hernández et al. collected six species of…

Physical oceanography

Circulation running amok? Scientists think it could be happening in the North Atlantic

Check out this oceanbites take on two recent articles that suggest Atlantic circulation is slower now than it has been…

Sharkbites Saturday

A Race for Recovery: can reef shark populations recover in no-take marine protected areas?

In this article we discuss the use of marine protected areas in relation to an apex predator of the ecosystem,…

Fisheries

Heavy Metal Presence in Fish from Fresh and Coastal Waters of Ghana

Heavy metal: it’s not just an intense genre of rock music, but also an element high in density that can…