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Arctic crustaceans use currents, deep-water migration to survive sea ice melts

With sea ice in the Arctic melting to record lows in summer months, marine animals living there face dramatic changes to their environment. Yet some crustaceans, previously thought to spend their entire lives on the underside of sea ice, were recently discovered to migrate deep underwater and follow ocean currents back to colder areas when ice disappears.

“Our findings provide a basic new understanding of the adaptations and biology of the ice-associated organisms within the Arctic Ocean,” said Mark Moline, director of the University of Delaware’s School of Marine Science and Policy in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. “They also may ultimately change the perception of ice fauna as imminently threatened by the predicted disappearance of perennial sea ice.” (more…)

Scientists Discover Land-Ocean Connections off Moloka’i

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2012Scienceamphipods, ashley rowden, bottom fish, canyon, canyon effect, coastal macroalgae, concentration, craig smith, depleted oxygen, earth worms, eel, eric vetter, fabio de leo, family macrouridae, halosaurs, hawaii pacific university, hawaiian archipelago, isopods, jeff drazen, macro invertebrate, mollusks, molokai, noaa, north shore, omz, organic matter, oxygen minimum zone, polychaete worms, rattail fishes, salt lake city, sediment, shark, sixgill shark, soest, submarine canyon, synaphobranchids, tanaids, tiny crustaceans, utah

*Tree trunks, leaves, and kukui nuts indirectly feed bottom fish in submarine canyons off Moloka’i*

Scientists from UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) recently discovered that land-based plant material and coastal macroalgae indirectly support the increased abundances of bottom fish in submarine canyons, like those off the north shore of Moloka’i. Less than a few miles from the shore, these underwater canyons connect to deep river valleys that cut across the landscape of north Moloka’i. The high elevation and forested landscapes along Moloka’i’s north shore provide plant material, including decomposing tree trunks, leaves and tons of kukui nuts, which enter the ocean via river valleys and “pile up” on submarine canyon floors. (more…)

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Surviving Without Ice

Scientists Discover Land-Ocean Connections off Moloka’i