Science Communication
Live from New Orleans, graduate students’ forays into environmental journalism!
Scientists are accustomed to a certain flow of work in daily life. We use logic and reasoning to formulate hypotheses,…
Ecology Fisheries Human impacts Pollution
Cartilaginous Conundrum: Are Sharks and Skates Safe to Eat?
While smooth dogfish may not be on your list of favorite seafood, cartilaginous fish (mainly sharks and skates) may increasingly…
Climate Change Ecology Human impacts Ocean Acidification
Damselfish in distress: on ocean acidification and suicidal reef fish
Fish are rebelling. What's the cause?
Biology Coastal Management Ecology Fisheries Human impacts Policy Pollution
The Ghastly Impacts of Ghost Fishing Gear
Derelict fishing traps, or DFTs, are abandoned traps that may still be actively capturing marine organisms, in a phenomenon known…
Climate Change Hazards
Cyclones move poleward as tropics expand
Tropical cyclones are escaping the hot tropics and intensifying closer towards the poles. The apparent expansion of the tropics helps…
Ecology Fisheries Human impacts
Are MPA’s the best way to conserve the seahorse population?
While Marine Protected Areas do a great job of preserving essential marine habitats, and decreasing fishing pressure, they may not…
Biology Climate Change Ecology Human impacts Physiology Pollution
Keep it Down!: Eels Having Problems Avoiding Predators in Noisy Waters
We don't traditionally think of our ships making noise that will disrupt animal behavior, but this study, looking at eels…
Climate Change Human impacts Pollution
An accidental find: Large quantities of microplastics are in Arctic sea ice!
Multiyear sea ice formation in the Arctic Sea uptakes microplastics from seawater, effectively acting as a sink for these man-made…
Biogeochemistry Chemistry
Understanding nitrogen loss from the ocean: Is it anammox or denitrification? It’s both!
Recent findings from the north east Pacific may have solved a major controversy in scientists' understanding of nitrogen loss from…
Biology Ecology Fisheries
Sunlight and Sex Determination: how environmental cues help shape sex ratios in larval fish
If you are a fish like the California grunion, environmental cues are going to play a role in determining whether…
Biology
Making the best of a bad situation: the upside of squid injury.
Injured squid are more vulnerable to attack from predators but stepping up their defensive behaviors gives them a fighting chance.…
Pollution
Fish don’t need to lineup at Starbucks to get their morning coffee – they’re swimming in it!
Pharmaceuticals, corrosion inhibitors, biocides and stimulants are some of the most frequently detected micropollutants in the aquatic environment. They are…
Coastal Management
How sea turtles with backpacks can help establish highways for ocean health
It is a big scary world out there if you are a migrating ocean animal. However, data-generating backpacks worn by…
Climate Change
Global Warming Hiatus? Blame the Atlantic!
From the early 1990s on, the Earth has been experiencing a global warming hiatus, where the post-industrial warming trend has…
Fisheries
Impostor! How mislabeled seafood affects the amount of mercury you ingest
Seafood mislabeling is a big problem for both consumers and fisheries management. Using genetic data and mercury concentrations, scientists figured…
Biology Chemistry Fisheries Hazards Human impacts Pollution
The Hairy Truth: Using Grizzly Bear hair to study mercury levels
A large portion of the North American Grizzly Bear population call Western Canada home. The diet of these bears ranges…
Book Reviews Science Communication
Deep Blue Reads: The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert
As a novelist writing about oceanography, I spend a decent amount of time parsing scientific studies. Over the past several…
Biology Ecology
Supermom of the depths: octopus guards its eggs for the longest period ever observed
Scientists found an octopus that guards its eggs for the longest period ever recorded. The super mother was filmed for…
Biology Book Review Chemistry Coastal Management Hazards Human impacts Policy Pollution
MAYDAY! MAYDAY! We’ve Run Aground!!…Assessing the early impacts of the Costa Concordia wreck
A week ago, on July 23, 2014, the Costa Concordia was finally towed away from its wreck site near Giglio…
Ecology Fisheries Human impacts
Beware! Shellfish are taking over the fishing industry
Overfishing has created a cascading effect in the marine food web. Once, large apex predators, such as cod, dominated the…