Tag: marine biology
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How Algae Help Corals Bounce Back After Bleaching
Introduction: A Race Against Coral Bleaching When sea temperatures spike, corals often shed the tiny algae that live within their tissues. This loss, called bleaching, leaves the corals pale or white and severely compromises their ability to feed and grow. In recent years, bleaching events have intensified, threatening reef ecosystems that support thousands of species…
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How Algae Help Corals Bounce Back After Bleaching: UC Riverside’s Recovery Research
Bleaching and the Coral-Algae Bond As ocean temperatures rise, coral reefs face a brutal stress test. Bleaching occurs when corals under heat stress expel the symbiotic algae that live within their tissues. Those algae, called zooxanthellae, provide most of the coral’s food through photosynthesis and give corals their vibrant colors. When the relationship breaks down,…
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Blue Jellyfish Invades Japan’s Warming Seas Coast Trend
Warming Seas Bring a Remarkable Visitor to Japan As ocean temperatures rise and currents shift, the seas around Japan are welcoming visitors that once would have remained far offshore. A blue, balloon-like jellyfish has drawn the attention of scientists and coastal communities alike, not only for its striking appearance but for what its arrival signals…
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Warming Seas Bring a Strikingly Dangerous Jellyfish to Japan’s Coast
Introduction: A new threat on Japan’s shores As ocean temperatures rise, the seas around Japan are growing more dynamic and unpredictable. Warm currents are inching northward, transporting marine life that once stayed much farther south. Among the newcomers is a remarkably vivid jellyfish, a creature so striking that scientists have paused to study it closely.…
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Warming Seas Bring a Dazzling Yet Dangerous Jellyfish to Japan’s Coast
Introduction: A Northward Drift in the Seas The oceans around Japan are undergoing rapid changes as waters grow warmer and currents shift. A strikingly vivid jellyfish has appeared farther north and closer to the coast than many scientists expected. Its arrival is more than a curiosity; it is a visible sign of how climate-driven changes…
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A New Microscopy Breakthrough Reveals the Oceans’ Invisible Life
Introduction: A Collaboration That Survived a Pandemic When the COVID-19 pandemic upended many scientific plans, a surprising outcome emerged from a Zoom call that linked researchers across continents. EMBL Group Leader Gautam Dey spoke with Omaya Dudin, then leading a study group at EPFL, about adapting an imaging technique that could peer into the ocean’s…
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A Pandemic Collaboration Breaks Open the Ocean’s Hidden Life with New Microscopy
Overview: A Breakthrough Born in a Time of Crisis The world’s oceans conceal countless living processes that remain unseen by conventional microscopy. A recent breakthrough in imaging technology, forged during the COVID-19 pandemic through a collaboration between EMBL and EPFL, now promises to illuminate these hidden marine worlds. By adapting a novel imaging method to…
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Tiny Ocean Engineers: Coccolithophores and the Ocean’s Carbon Clock
Introduction: Tiny organisms with a global footprint Invisible to the naked eye, coccolithophores are a group of microscopic marine algae that pull carbon from the atmosphere and lock it away in their intricate calcium carbonate shells. These tiny ocean engineers vary in shape and surface texture—from plated and porous to spiky exterior designs—but they all…
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Marine Sponges Resilient to Nitrogen Run-Off, But Not All Species Across Niches
New findings on how nitrogen runoff affects marine sponges A recent study led by researchers from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington sheds light on how nitrogen fertilizer runoff may influence marine sponges. The international collaboration examined seven sponge species—three from New Zealand’s Wellington coast and four from Lough Hyne, a protected marine reserve in…
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Nitrogen Run-off and Marine Sponges: Tolerance and Troubled species
New Insights into How Nitrogen Run-off Affects Marine Sponges Researchers from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington have taken a close look at how elevated nitrogen levels, primarily from agricultural run-off, could influence marine sponges. The study examined seven sponge species from two geographic regions—three species along Wellington’s coast in New Zealand and four from…