climate change
Small but perhaps not so mighty: The second edition of the epaulette shark saga
A sneak peak of more awesome epaulette shark research currently being conducted at the New England Aquarium. We know how these sharks fair with ocean acidification, but what about ocean warming?
Orca vs Narwhal
Orcas are natural predators of narwhals, but they are seasonally kept at bay by Arctic sea ice. As the Arctic becomes increasingly ice-free, killer whales are arriving earlier and hanging out longer in narwhal habitat. How do narwhals fare? Read more to find out!
Spotlight on Constructed Wetlands
Wetlands are one of the world’s powerhouses for ecosystem services, filtering our water, controlling coastal erosion, and providing feeding and nursery habitat for a huge variety of wildlife. They are super productive, containing plant species that grow fast and therefore contribute a huge influx of organic material to the system when they die and start […]
It’s Getting Hot In Here: How Ocean Acidification and Warming Affect Shark Hunting and Behavior
Elasmobranchs such as sharks and rays face physiological and behavioral changes due to ocean acidification and rising ocean temperatures. Read about how these changes influence how sharks hunt and their role in the marine ecosystem.
Stressed-out microbes in an acidifying ocean
The ocean is acidifying in response to carbon dioxide emissions, but we are just beginning to learn how this effects the ocean’s most abundant lifeforms – microbes.
Suffocating crabs and a one-way street for carbon
Seafloor life is in danger of running out of oxygen as the ocean warms, but this may actually help to mitigate climate change.
Sharks and other ocean top predators: unlikely allies in combatting climate change?
Sharks offer more to humans than just pretty toothy grins…check out this article to learn how sharks and other top predators may act to regulate carbon production in marine food webs, which may have implications for climate change dynamics.
A New Tool for Understanding Where Carbon Dioxide Goes
We know that CO2 is being absorbed from the air by the ocean, but how can we measure how much of the carbon in the ocean comes from human activity? By examining carbon data in the Pacific Ocean, scientists show that the ratio of heavy to light carbon atoms in the water can help answer this question.
Small but mighty: Will the epaulette shark survive ocean acidification?
Check out the first installation of Sharkbites Saturday! The epaulette shark is a small egg-laying species native to Australia. In this study, scientists look at the effects that increased carbon dioxide from climate change may have on these interesting reef dwellers.
Methane on the dinner menu
Bacteria in coastal waters can eat methane, a greenhouse gas – but just how much and how fast can they eat?
Take my breath away: Decline in oceanic oxygen levels fifty years in the making
Most marine organisms require dissolved oxygen to sustain their survival. So what is the current status of oceanic oxygen levels? Read on to learn about the oft under appreciated resource of our planet!
Throwing Babies out with the Sea Ice: Ringed Seals Response to Ice Decline
As the Earth warms, sea ice declines. What happens to those animals who rely on the ice? Today’s oceanbites looks at one animal, the ringed seal, and how it may be affected by climate change!
Looking into the crystal ball of statistics, or how number crunching debunks the natural variability argument skeptics love
Have that one relative who always argues that current climate change symptoms are part of natural variability? Check out this article and be prepared with some nifty statistics next time they try to make that claim!
Life Finds a Way: Eelgrass Beds Respond in Surprising Ways to Extreme Warming Events
Article: Reynolds LK, DuBois K, Abbott JM, Williams SL, Stachowicz JJ (2016) Response of a Habitat-Forming Marine Plant to a Simulated Warming Event Is Delayed, Genotype Specific, and Varies with Phenology. PLoS ONE 11(6): e0154532. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154532 Climate change is poised to dramatically alter the make-up and functioning of Earths’ ecosystems, including those in the oceans. […]
It’s a trap! African penguins impacted by climate change
Young penguins living along the southwestern coast of Africa typically follow cool, nutrient rich water to find food as they grow up. This used to lead them to ‘delicious’ fish such as anchovies and sardines. However, in this ecosystem – the Benguela Upwelling Zone – climate change and overfishing have reduced these fish populations. This forces the young penguins to eat less nutritious fish so fewer of them survive to adulthood. This threatens the African penguin’s future. Conservation efforts are needed to ensure this important (and adorable!) species survives.
Oceans absorb more carbon with weaker ocean circulation
A team of researchers investigate why the ocean has been absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere in recent decades, and find ocean circulation could be responsible.
Now we got bad blood: Oxygen binding is not affected by haemoglobin subtype in Atlantic cod
Why do northern and southern populations of Atlantic cod have different haemoglobin subtypes? A recent study upsets over 50 years of theory.
MARPOL-ling in the Right Direction
Posted by Steven Koch Research article: Zetterdahl, M., Jana Moldanov, J., Xiangyu Pei, X., Pathak, R. K., Demirdjian, B. (2016). Impact of the 0.1% fuel sulfur content limit in SECA on particle and gaseous emissions from marine vessels. Elseveir, Atmospheric Environment, 145 (2016) 338-345. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.09.022 Background Air pollution is an important issue that adversely […]
The Bipolar See-Saw: Dansgaard-Oeschger Events and the Antarctic Climate
Within large timescales of glacial and interglacial periods, mini, rapid climate shifts may occur thanks to oceanic circulation processes and balancing global ocean budgets. The events in question originate in the North Atlantic; but, how do they affect the Antarctic?
Funny happenings in the tropical Pacific
Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas made by environmental microbes. In the ocean, microbes making this greenhouse gas live in zones with little to no oxygen. Scientists always thought that Bacteria were making this gas. Recently, a team from the UK set out to explore this hypothesis in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and found that actually a totally different type of microorganism, Archaea, were making the nitrous oxide. These are important findings since global warming and increased human inputs in the ocean are causing low oxygen zones to expand, potentially making even more greenhouse gas!
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