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Bucking Conventional Wisdom, Researchers Find Black Sea Bass Tougher Than Expected

By Guest PostMarch 28, 2014Natureatlantic coast, business decision making, cognitive environments, john kelly, north Carolina, ozonschicht, rensselaer, shirley ann jackson, sonnenschutz, state university, survival rate, uv strahlen

In a new study, fisheries researchers from North Carolina State University found that black sea bass (Centropristis striata) can usually survive the physical trauma that results from being hauled up from deep water then released at the surface. The finding is part of a larger study of the fish’s mortality rate, which will inform stock assessments designed to help ensure that the black sea bass fishery is sustainable.

Black sea bass are bottom-dwelling fish, and are often caught at depths of greater than 60 feet. When the fish are brought to the surface, the rapid change in pressure causes the fish’s swim bladder to expand. This forces other organs out of the way and can result in visible “barotrauma” – such as the fish’s stomach being forced partially out of its mouth. (more…)

With Fewer Hard Frosts, Tropical Mangroves Push North

By Guest PostJanuary 4, 2014Environmentatlantic coast, australia, biodiversity, birds, brazil, climate change, coastal insects, daniel s gruner, evolutionary biology, florida, florida atlantic coast, landsat 5, mangrove forests, Mexico, miami, NASA, new zealand, palm beach county, peru, rising sea levels, salt marshes, temperature, tropical mangroves, university of maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Cold-sensitive mangrove forests have expanded dramatically along Florida’s Atlantic Coast as the frequency of killing frosts has declined, according to a new study based on 28 years of satellite data from the University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md.

Between 1984 and 2011, the Florida Atlantic coast from the Miami area northward gained more than 3,000 acres (1,240 hectares) of mangroves. All the increase occurred north of Palm Beach County. Between Cape Canaveral National Seashore and Saint Augustine, mangroves doubled in area. Meanwhile between the study’s first five years and its last five years, nearby Daytona Beach recorded 1.4 fewer days per year when temperatures fell below 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 degrees Celsius). The number of killing frosts in southern Florida was unchanged. (more…)

Oldest European fort in the inland US discovered in Appalachians

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2013Culture, Scienceamerican south, appalachian mountains, appalachians, archaeologist, atlantic coast, carolina piedmont, catawba river, christopher rodning, city of morganton, coastal south carolina, colonial invasion, david moore, de aviles, earliest european fort, England, foothills, fort san juan, full scale, geophysical technique, inland us, jamestown, juan pardo, large scale excavations, latin america, lost colony, magnetometry, mound building mississippian, native americans, oldest european, pat berry, pedro menendez, robin beck, sir walter raleigh, spanish captain, spanish soldiers, team of archaeologists, tulane university, united states, university of michigan, warren wilson college

ANN ARBOR — The remains of the earliest European fort in the interior of what is now the United States have been discovered by a team of archaeologists, providing new insight into the start of the U.S. colonial era and the all-too-human reasons spoiling Spanish dreams of gold and glory.

Spanish Captain Juan Pardo and his men built Fort San Juan in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in 1567, nearly 20 years before Sir Walter Raleigh’s “lost colony” at Roanoke and 40 years before the Jamestown settlement established England’s presence in the region. (more…)

American Eels Return to Mountain Streams after Dam Removal

By Guest PostAugust 1, 2012Environment, Naturealan weaver, american eel, anguilla rostrata, atlantic coast, dam, dam removal, embrey dam, endangered species, fredericksburg, freshwater eel, freshwater stream, greenland, hydroelectric power, jeb wofford, life cycle, migration barrier, mountain streams, nathaniel hitt, rappahannock river, sargasso sea, sheila eyler, shenandoah national park, south america, usgs, virginia

Shenandoah National Park, Va. – American eels are declining across their range but are showing indications of a population revival following the removal of a large dam in Virginia.

The removal of Embrey Dam on the Rappahannock River increased American eel numbers in headwater streams nearly 100 miles away, according to research just published by U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service researchers.

American eels undergo long-distance migrations from their ocean spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea to freshwater streams along the Atlantic coast from northern South America to Greenland. Dams may slow or even stop upstream eel migrations. However, prior to this research, little was known about American eel responses to dam removal. (more…)

Not a One-Way Street: Evolution Shapes Environment of Connecticut Lakes

By Guest PostMay 24, 2012Environment, Naturealewife, atlantic coast, bosminia, colonial settlers, colonial times, connecticut, daphnia, david post, ecology, environmental change, evolution, evolutionary change, evolutionary feedback, fish, force, genetic changes, john delong, lake, loop, matthew r walsh, organism, plankton, population growth, predator, prey, torrance hanley, water fleas, yale university, zooplankton

Environmental change is the selective force that preserves adaptive traits in organisms and is a primary driver of evolution. However, it is less well known that evolutionary change in organisms also trigger fundamental changes in the environment.

Yale University researchers found a prime example of this evolutionary feedback loop in a few lakes in Connecticut, where dams built 300 years ago in Colonial times trapped a fish called the alewife.

In a study published May 23 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Academy B, the Yale team describes how this event fundamentally changed the structure of the alewife and, with it, the water flea that the alewife feeds upon and the food chain that supports them both. (more…)

Fastest Sea-Level Rise in Two Millennia Linked to Increasing Global Temperatures

By Guest PostJune 21, 2011Environmentaalto university school of engineering, andrew kemp, atlantic coast, benjamin horton, changes in global mean surface temperature, climate changes, coastal salt marshes, earth sciences, finland, foraminifera, Germany, global temperature, global tide gauge records, jeffrey donnelly, little ice age, martin vermeer, massachusetts, medieval climate anomaly, michael mann, microfossils, national science foundation, north Carolina, nsf, paul cutler, pennsylvania state university, potsdam institute for climate impact research, radiocarbon dating, rate of sea level rise, scenarios of future rise, scenarios of future temperature increases, sea level, sediment cores, stefan rahmstorf, university of pennsylvania, warm climate period, woods hole oceanographic institution, yale university

*Rate is greater now than at any time during past 2,100 years*

The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is greater now than at any time in the past 2,000 years–and has shown a consistent link between changes in global mean surface temperature and sea level.

The findings are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). (more…)

Extent and Speed of Lionfish Spread Unprecedented

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2011Environment, Natureatlantic coast, bermuda, caribbean, cayman islands, coast of florida, coastal systems, gulf of mexico, indo west pacific ocean, invasive lionfishes, lionfish, lionfish diets, native species, non native marine fish, pam schofield, species, u s eastern seaboard

*Invasive Marine Fish May Stress Reefs*

Gainesville, Fla. — The rapid spread of lionfishes along the U.S. eastern seaboard, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean is the first documented case of a non-native marine fish establishing a self-sustaining population in the region, according to recent U.S. Geological Survey studies.

“Nothing like this has been seen before in these waters,” said Dr. Pam Schofield, a biologist with the USGS Southeast Ecological Science Center here. “We’ve observed sightings of numerous non-native species, but the extent and speed with which lionfish have spread has been unprecedented; lionfishes pretty much blanketed the Caribbean in three short years.” (more…)

Many Coastal Wetlands Likely to Disappear this Century

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2010Environmentatlantic coast, coastal marshes, coastal wetlands, sea-level rise, sediment levels, sedimentation in wetlands, tidal ranges

Many coastal wetlands worldwide — including several on the U.S. Atlantic coast — may be more sensitive than previously thought to climate change and sea-level rise projections for the 21^st century. (more…)

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