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New Research Consortium Brings Scientists, Fishermen, and Managers Together to Address Seal Issues in the Northeast

By Guest PostNovember 21, 2012Natureandrea bogomolni, atlantic seal research, cape cod, consortium, data, ecological role, fisheries interactions, grey seals, habitat use, marine mammal center, michael moore, natural world, northeast, northwest, owen nichols, recreational fishermen, seal, seal issues, seal population, shore, united states, whoi

Goal is to Understand the Ecological Role of Seals in North Atlantic Waters

People come from miles away to see the seals off the shores of Cape Cod and surrounding regions, but the animals are creating some challenges for local fishermen. Recent increases in local seal abundance have led to concerns about fisheries interactions. The urgency of documenting, understanding, and mitigating these interactions has become more apparent.

These and other issues and challenges presented by seal populations have led to the creation of a new effort to improve our understanding of the ecological role of seals in the northeast United States. “This encompasses all issues: how they live, where they go, what they eat, their health and illnesses, and interactions with the world—including us—around them,” says Andrea Bogomolni, a Research Associate at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). (more…)

Fishing for Answers off Fukushima

By Guest PostNovember 19, 2012Environmentcatastrophic damage, cesium, contaminated sediment, contamination, dai ichi, earthquake, fish, fukushima, fukushima prefecture, implication, Japan, japanese coast, japanese public, ken buesseler, maff, marine environment, mitsuo uematsu, northeast, northwest, nuclear power plant, ocean, pacific ocean, public health, radiation, radiation level, radioactive isotope, radionuclides, reactor site, release, seafloor, seaweed, shellfish, tokyo, triple disaster, tsunami, university, world

Japan fisheries data provides a look at how the ocean is faring 18 months after the worst accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history

Japan’s “triple disaster,” as it has become known, began on March 11, 2011, and remains unprecedented in its scope and complexity. To understand the lingering effects and potential public health implications of that chain of events, scientists are turning to a diverse and widespread sentinel in the world’s ocean: fish.

Events on March 11 began with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the fourth largest ever recorded. The earthquake in turn spawned a massive 40-foot tsunami that inundated the northeast Japanese coast and resulted in an estimated 20,000 missing or dead. Finally, the wave caused catastrophic damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, resulting in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history, 80 percent of which ended up in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. (more…)

Acid Rain Poses a Previously Unrecognized Threat to Great Lakes Sugar Maples

By Guest PostDecember 19, 2011Environmentacid rain, acidification, alan f talhelm, andrew j burton, atmospheric nitrogen, calcium poor granitic soils, calcium rich soils, canada, donald zak, forests, huron manistee national forests, leaf litter, mature sugar maples, mean abundance of seedlings, michigan, michigan peninsulas, microbial decay, northeast, northern hardwood ecosystem, saran twombly, seedling establishment data, sierra patterson, soil acidification, soil nutrients, sugar maples, united states, university of michigan, upper great lakes

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The number of sugar maples in Upper Great Lakes forests is likely to decline in coming decades, according to University of Michigan ecologists and their colleagues, due to a previously unrecognized threat from a familiar enemy: acid rain.

Over the past four decades, sugar maple abundance has declined in some regions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, due largely to acidification of calcium-poor granitic soils in response to acid rain. (more…)

Tag Archives: northeast

New Research Consortium Brings Scientists, Fishermen, and Managers Together to Address Seal Issues in the Northeast

Fishing for Answers off Fukushima

Acid Rain Poses a Previously Unrecognized Threat to Great Lakes Sugar Maples