In Hotter Climate, 'Zombie' Urchins Are Winning And Kelp Forests Are Losing
Kelp forests along Northern California have almost vanished. Divers and scientists are racing to stop purple sea urchins from taking over critical habitat.(Image credit: Steve Lonhart / NOAA MBNMS) (Source: NPR Health and Science)
Source: NPR Health and Science - March 31, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Lauren Sommer Source Type: news
How Industrial Fishing Creates More CO2 Emissions Than Air Travel
It’s been well established by now that the agricultural systems producing our food contribute at least one fifth of global anthropogenic carbon emissions—and up to a third if waste and transportation are factored in. A troubling new report points to a previously overlooked source: an industrial fishing process practiced by dozens of countries around the world, including the United States, China, and the E.U.
The study, published today in the scientific journal Nature, is the first to calculate the carbon cost of bottom trawling, in which fishing fleets drag immense weighted nets along the ocean floor, scraping ...
Source: TIME: Science - March 17, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Aryn Baker Tags: Uncategorized embargoed study Explainer Londontime overnight TIME 2030 Source Type: news
The collapse of Northern California kelp forests will be hard to reverse
(University of California - Santa Cruz) Satellite imagery shows that the area covered by kelp forests off the coast of Northern California has dropped by more than 95 percent, with just a few small, isolated patches of bull kelp remaining. Species-rich kelp forests have been replaced by 'urchin barrens,' where purple sea urchins cover a seafloor devoid of kelp and other algae. A new study documents this dramatic shift in the coastal ecosystem and analyzes the events that caused it. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - March 5, 2021 Category: Biology Source Type: news
A dynamic forest floor
(University of California - Santa Barbara) Walk along the beach after a winter storm and you'll see a shore littered with wracks of giant kelp, some 30 to 40 feet long -- evidence of the storm's impact on coastal kelp forests. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - February 22, 2021 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Fishing the seas for new vegan ideas
(Flinders University) Putting innovative Australian marine bioproducts into tasty vegan food ideas is the goal of a new project at the Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development, Flinders University. " In South Australia, we've worked with the Australian Kelp Products for over a decade, developing new products and processes to put beach-cast seaweeds into value-added commodities, " says CMBD director Professor Wei Zhang, director, who is also Leader / Research Director of the Marine Bioproducts CRC (MB-CRC) Bid. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - February 22, 2021 Category: Biology Source Type: news
New research to explore seaweed for ocean, economic health
(Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences) A nearly $900,000 grant awarded to Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences will be used to explore how kelp aquaculture can remediate negative effects of climate change. The newly funded project will lay the scientific foundations for a new tool to help restore ocean health and productivity. The international project is funded by World Wildlife Fund with support from the Bezos Earth Fund. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - February 3, 2021 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Could kelp help relieve ocean acidification?
(Stanford University) A new analysis of California's Monterey Bay evaluates kelp's potential to reduce ocean acidification, the harmful fallout from climate change on marine ecosystems and the food they produce for human populations. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - November 19, 2020 Category: Biology Source Type: news
My Octopus Teacher Became a Viral Sensation on Netflix. Its Human Star Craig Foster Wants the Film to Inspire Change
The dense kelp forest off the southern tip of South Africa is home to an unparalleled diversity of sea animals including sharks, rays, and, once upon a time, a common octopus that has just had an uncommon run as the star of the new Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher.
Her onetime den lies a couple of dozen feet off the coast of Cape Town suburb Simon’s Town. The Octopus is long gone—octopuses rarely survive more than 18 months in the wild—but her co-star and “student,” filmmaker Craig Foster, still visits her former home in daily dives that are as much about pilgrimage as they are about sc...
Source: TIME: Science - November 10, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Aryn Baker / Cape Town Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
Keystone predators govern the pathway and pace of climate impacts in a subarctic marine ecosystem
Predator loss and climate change are hallmarks of the Anthropocene yet their interactive effects are largely unknown. Here, we show that massive calcareous reefs, built slowly by the alga Clathromorphum nereostratum over centuries to millennia, are now declining because of the emerging interplay between these two processes. Such reefs, the structural base of Aleutian kelp forests, are rapidly eroding because of overgrazing by herbivores. Historical reconstructions and experiments reveal that overgrazing was initiated by the loss of sea otters, Enhydra lutris (which gave rise to herbivores capable of causing bioerosion), an...
Source: ScienceNOW - September 9, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Rasher, D. B., Steneck, R. S., Halfar, J., Kroeker, K. J., Ries, J. B., Tinker, M. T., Chan, P. T. W., Fietzke, J., Kamenos, N. A., Konar, B. H., Lefcheck, J. S., Norley, C. J. D., Weitzman, B. P., Westfield, I. T., Estes, J. A. Tags: Ecology reports Source Type: news
Marine Biologist John Pearse Dies
The retired University of California, Santa Cruz, professor was known for his work on invertebrate reproduction, kelp ecology, and Antarctic marine life. (Source: The Scientist)
Source: The Scientist - August 18, 2020 Category: Science Tags: News & Opinion Source Type: news
The Methuselah tree and the secrets of Earth ’s oldest organisms
The 5,000-year-old bristlecone pine in California is a vivid example of how resourceful and resilient life can beAs old-timers go, the Methuselah tree in California ’s White Mountains takes some beating. According to research released last week, this ancient bristlecone pine will be 4,851 years old this year. Not a bad performance when it comes to avoiding the Grim Reaper.Nor is the Methuselah on its own in making recent headlines about longevity. Researchers announced last week they had found beds of kelp off Shetland, and in Irish and French Atlantic waters, that had survivedfor16,000 years. A day later, an internation...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - August 2, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Robin McKie Science editor Tags: Trees and forests Science Environment Genetics Biology Focus Source Type: news
BioScience Impact Continues to Increase
The 2019 Journal Citation Reports® (Source Clarivate, 2020) have been released and the American Institute of Biological Sciences and Oxford University Press are excited to reveal that the Impact Factor for BioScience has risen to 8.282, up from 6.591 last year. This is the 4th highest Impact Factor among biology journals.
“This is a great reflection of the important scientific research, education, and science policy content published in the journal every month. We thank the dedicated work of our editorial staff, editorial board members, peer-reviewers, production staff, and of course the many scientists from around...
Source: AIBS News - July 10, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Cascading social-ecological costs and benefits triggered by a recovering keystone predator
Predator recovery often leads to ecosystem change that can trigger conflicts with more recently established human activities. In the eastern North Pacific, recovering sea otters are transforming coastal systems by reducing populations of benthic invertebrates and releasing kelp forests from grazing pressure. These changes threaten established shellfish fisheries and modify a variety of other ecosystem services. The diverse social and economic consequences of this trophic cascade are unknown, particularly across large regions. We developed and applied a trophic model to predict these impacts on four ecosystem services. Resu...
Source: ScienceNOW - June 10, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Gregr, E. J., Christensen, V., Nichol, L., Martone, R. G., Markel, R. W., Watson, J. C., Harley, C. D. G., Pakhomov, E. A., Shurin, J. B., Chan, K. M. A. Tags: Ecology, Economics reports Source Type: news
Satellite data boosts understanding of climate change's effects on kelp
(Oregon State University) Tapping into 35 years of satellite imagery, researchers have dramatically enlarged the database regarding how climate change is affecting kelps, near-shore seaweeds that provide food and shelter for fish and protect coastlines from wave damage. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - March 5, 2020 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Marine heat waves threaten kelp forests
(Source: ScienceNOW)
Source: ScienceNOW - February 5, 2020 Category: Science Authors: Arafeh-Dalmau, N., Schoeman, D. S., Montano-Moctezuma, G., Micheli, F., Rogers-Bennett, L., Olguin-Jacobson, C., Possingham, H. P. Tags: letters Source Type: news
