Biology News Net - Environment

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.

Ocean acidification may contribute to global shellfish decline

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:13:16 -0500

Relatively minor increases in ocean acidity brought about by high levels of carbon dioxide have significant detrimental effects on the growth, development, and survival of hard clams, bay scallops, and Eastern oysters, according to researchers at Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. In one of the first studies looking at the effect of ocean acidification on shellfish, Stephanie Talmage, PhD candidate, and Professor Chris Gobler showed that the larval stages of these shellfish species are extremely sensitive to enhanced levels of carbon dioxide in seawater. Their work will be published in the November issue of the journal Limnology and Oceanography and is now online at http://www.aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_54/issue_6/index.html.

Eutrophication affects diversity of algae

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:34:11 -0500

Eutrophication of the seas may have an impact on genetic variation in algae, research at the University of Gothenburg shows.

Algae and pollen grains provide evidence of remarkably warm period in Antarctica's history

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:40:32 -0500

For Sophie Warny, LSU assistant professor of geology and geophysics and curator at the LSU Museum of Natural Science, years of patience in analyzing Antarctic samples with low fossil recovery finally led to a scientific breakthrough. She and colleagues from around the world now have proof of a sudden, remarkably warm period in Antarctica that occurred about 15.7 million years ago and lasted for a few thousand years.