Biology News Net - Environment

Sponges recycle carbon to give life to coral reefs

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:15:10 -0500

Coral reefs support some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, yet they thrive in a marine desert. So how do reefs sustain their thriving populations?

California's ancient kelp forest

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:27:07 -0500

The kelp forests off southern California are considered to be some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on the planet, yet a new study indicates that today's kelp beds are less extensive and lush than those in the recent past.

Antarctica glacier retreat creates new carbon dioxide store

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:55:03 -0500

Large blooms of tiny marine plants called phytoplankton are flourishing in areas of open water left exposed by the recent and rapid melting of ice shelves and glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula. This remarkable colonisation is having a beneficial impact on climate change. As the blooms die back phytoplankton sinks to the sea-bed where it can store carbon for thousands or millions of years.

Coral reefs inspire rare consensus -- just save them

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:25:38 -0500

One of the first set of studies to examine what tourists and recreation enthusiasts actually think about coral reef ecosystems suggests they are a rare exception to controversies over human use versus environmental conservation – their stunning beauty is so extraordinary that almost everyone wants them protected in perpetuity.

Calm before the spawn: Climate change and coral spawning

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:11:34 -0500

What's the point of setting up marine reserves to protect coral reefs from pollution, ship groundings and overfishing if climate change could cause far more damage? A study published this week in London in Proceedings of the Royal Society B provides the answer.

Deep-sea ecosystems affected by climate change

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:52:51 -0500

The vast muddy expanses of the abyssal plains occupy about 60 percent of the Earth's surface and are important in global carbon cycling. Based on long-term studies of two such areas, a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that animal communities on the abyssal seafloor are affected in a variety of ways by climate change.

North Atlantic fish populations shifting as ocean temperatures warm

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:01:26 -0500

About half of 36 fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, many of them commercially valuable species, have been shifting northward over the last four decades, with some stocks nearly disappearing from U.S. waters as they move farther offshore, according to a new study by NOAA researchers.

A new wrinkle in ancient ocean chemistry

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:20:29 -0500

Scientists widely accept that around 2.4 billion years ago, the Earth's atmosphere underwent a dramatic change when oxygen levels rose sharply. Called the "Great Oxidation Event" (GOE), the oxygen spike marks an important milestone in Earth's history, the transformation from an oxygen-poor atmosphere to an oxygen-rich one paving the way for complex life to develop on the planet.

World interest in Australian fishery impact test

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:54:18 -0500

An Australian method for assessing the environmental impact of marine fisheries has caught the eye of fishery management agencies worldwide.

Snail fossils suggest semiarid eastern Canary Islands were wetter 50,000 years ago

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:54:17 -0500

Fossil land snail shells found in ancient soils on the subtropical eastern Canary Islands show that the Spanish archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa has become progressively drier over the past 50,000 years.