Latest Biological oceanography Stories
One of the main objectives of marine biology is to understand the trophic food chains involving microbian plankton. That is, to study the sequence of organisms in relation to their nutrition, given that live organisms can be classified from the perspective of nutrition. In this classification each organism is at one level and all these levels are united one to the other, forming a chain. In this succession of stages or levels an organism feeds itself and is devoured. The structure of this...
What constitutes fish food is a matter of debate. A high-profile study a few years ago suggested that fish get almost 50 percent of their carbon from trees and leaves, evidence for a very close link between the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.But new research from the University of Washington shows this is not likely to be true. Algae provide a much richer diet for fish and other aquatic life, according to research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...
Drifters designed to provide new knowledge about marine protected areas, harmful algal blooms, oil spillsIn an effort to plug gaps in knowledge about key ocean processes, the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s division of ocean sciences has awarded nearly $1 million to scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. The Scripps marine scientists will develop a new breed of ocean-probing instruments. Jules Jaffe and Peter Franks will spearhead an effort to design and...
Nutrients in the AtlanticLarge-scale distributions of two important nutrient pools "“ dissolved organic nitrogen and dissolved organic phosphorus (DON and DOP) have been systematically mapped for the first time over the Atlantic Ocean in a study led by Dr Sinhue Torres-Valdes of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. The findings have important implications for understanding nitrogen and phosphorus biogeochemical cycles and the biological carbon pump in the Atlantic Ocean.Tiny...
Michigan State University scientists developing biomimetic probesNature inspires technology for an engineer and an ecologist teamed up at Michigan State University. They're developing robots that use advanced materials to swim like fish to probe underwater environments."Fish are very efficient," explained Xiaobo Tan, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. "They can perform very efficient locomotion and maneuvering in the water."Robotic fish "“...
Eutrophication of the seas may have an impact on genetic variation in algae, research at the University of Gothenburg shows.Phytoplankton provide the basis for the whole marine food chain. These microscopic organisms are common in coastal areas, all the way from the polar regions to the Equator, and multiply through cell division. If cells are present in the water mass in large numbers an algal blood develops - a recurrent problem in Swedish seas and along Swedish coasts. Causes of algal...
Scientists at the University of Leeds have proved that acid in the atmosphere breaks down large particles of iron found in dust into small and extremely soluble iron nanoparticles, which are more readily used by plankton.This is an important finding because lack of iron can be a limiting factor for plankton growth in the ocean - especially in the southern oceans and parts of the eastern Pacific. Addition of such iron nanoparticles would trigger increased absorption of carbon dioxide from the...
Trichodesmium has important role in nitrogen cycle and carbon sequestrationA new study of microscopic marine microbes, called phytoplankton, by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of South Carolina has solved a ten-year-old mystery about the source of an essential nutrient in the ocean.Roughly a decade ago scientists discovered a rare form of organic phosphorus in marine organic matter. Not only were the researchers surprised to find this form of...
Predicting harmful algal blooms, or HABs, in the Great Lakes is now a reality as NOAA announces an experimental HAB forecast system in Lake Erie. HABs produce toxins that may pose a significant risk to human and animal health through water recreation and may form scum that are unsightly and odorous to beach visitors, impacting the coastal economy. Forecasts depicting current and future locations of blooms, as well as intensity, will alert scientists and managers to possible threats to the...
The French sailing yacht Tara is set to embark on an 81,000-nautical mile, three-year journey of the world's oceans, tracing out the route that revolutionary evolutionist Charles Darwin sailed between 1831-1836, and assaying the effects of climate change on some of the ocean's most primitive forms of life.Darwin's voyage "” and particularly his time in South America "” served as the inspiration for his now iconic work On the Origins of Species, which still stands as the foundation of...
Latest Biological oceanography Reference Libraries
Ocean acidification is the name that was given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of Earth’s oceans, a cause of the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. About 30 to 40 percent of the carbon dioxide that is released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into the lakes, oceans, and rivers. To maintain the chemical equilibrium, some of it reacts with the water to create carbonic acid. Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to provide a...
A salp is a barrel-shaped, free-floating tunicate (any living organism which has a saclike body enclosed in a thick membrane or tunic with two openings or siphons for the ingress and egress of water). It moves by contracting which pumps water through its body. The salp strains the water with internal feeding filters as it goes through the body. It consumes phytoplankton that are strained from the water. Salps are common throughout equatorial, temperate, and colder seas. They are most...
The South American pilchard, Sardinops sagax, is a sardine of the Family Clupeidae, the only member of the genus Sardinops, found in the indo-Pacific oceans. Their length is up to 15.75 in (40 cm). It has a number of other common names: Australian pilchard, Blue pilchard, Blue-bait, Californian pilchard, Chilean sardine, Japanese pilchard, Pacific sardine, and Southern African pilchard. The South American pilchard is a coastal species that forms large schools. Coloration is blue green on...
