Emily Tripp Senior Writer Over the last 32 years, warming in the North Atlantic has dramatically reduced winter sea ice cover in harp seal breeding grounds. According to a new study from Duke University, this has led to a sharp rise in death rates among seal pups. “The kind of mortality we’re seeing in eastern [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer Another outbreak of coral disease has damaged the reefs of Kane’ohe Bay, O’ahu. In March 2010, an outbreak of acute Montipora White Syndrome (MWS) destroyed over 100 colonies of rice coral, Montipora capitata. The same disease has reappeared and is killing corals again in Kane’ohe Bay. To date, the outbreak has [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer A new study has shown how an octopus living in the frigid waters of the Antarctic keeps itself warm. Low temperatures can affect the function of certain proteins that allow the nervous system to send signals. Molecular neurophysiologist Joshua Rosenthal and his graduate student Sandra Garrett of the University of Puerto [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer It is not uncommon for sharks to eat sea birds, but lately, researchers have been finding land birds in the stomachs of tiger sharks living in the Gulf of Mexico. “We’re the first to look this exhaustively at the diet of tiger sharks, as far as I know, and this certainly [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer A study in a marine protected area in Belize has shown that fishing closures boost predatory fish populations, but don’t benefit herbivorous fish as much. The 14 year study was conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society in an atoll reef lagoon in Glover’s Reef, Belize. The fishing closures have aided in the recovery [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer In the first expedition to the “Dragon Vent” in the south-west Indian Ocean, scientists have discovered an incredible number of creatures. Some are known to live in these inhospitable regions and some are entirely new to science. The exploration was led by Dr. Jon Copley, a marine biologist from the University [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer In just the first two weeks of the New Year it is clear that the number of whale sightings will be much higher than previous years. To start, the annual southward migration of gray whales began early this year. In 2010 only eight whales were seen during the entire month of [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer The world’s first hybrid shark was discovered recently in Australian waters. The mating of the local Australian black-tip shark with the common black-tip is a potential indicator that sharks are adapting to climate change. “It’s very surprising because no one’s ever seen shark hybrids before, this is not a common occurrence [...]
By Henry Workman In the Atacama Desert near Caldera, Chile, fossils of 75 prehistoric whales were discovered amid a highway construction project. Estimated at more than 2 million years old but remarkably intact, the remains were found in an unusual cluster no less than 800 meters (or ½ mile) from the ocean. Theories are accumulating [...]
Emily Tripp Senior Writer Today, the first group of penguins affected by the oil spill in New Zealand was released back into their home waters. On October 5th, the cargo vessel, Rena, ran aground off the Astrolabe reef, spilling more than 400 tons of oil into the water and killing more than 2,000 seabirds. The [...]
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