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Microplastics make marine worms sick

By Guest PostDecember 4, 2013Environment, Natureantimicrobials, chemical additives, chemical transfer, debris in marine, energy level, harmful chemicals, marine life, marine lugworms, marine plastic pollution, marine worms, mark anthony browne, microplastic, ocean sediments, organism, plastic rubbish, plasticisers, plastics, plymouth university, professor tamara galloway, sick, solid waste pollution, stephanie wright, university of exeter, wadden sea

Tiny bits of plastic rubbish could spell big trouble for marine life, starting with the worms, say a team of researchers from the University of Exeter and Plymouth University who report their evidence in a pair of studies in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 2.

The marine worms play a key ecological role as an important source of food for other animals.

Work by Stephanie Wright from Biosciences at the University of Exeter found that if ocean sediments are heavily contaminated with microplastics, marine lugworms eat less and their energy levels suffer. A separate report, from Mark Anthony Browne on work performed at Plymouth University, shows that ingesting microplastic can also reduce the health of lugworms by delivering harmful chemicals, including hydrocarbons, antimicrobials and flame retardants to them. (more…)

Morphing manganese

By Guest PostAugust 31, 2013Environmentair, al mucci, aquatic environments, biogeochemistry, black sea, canada, electron, essential nutrient, george luther, golder associates, gulf, manganese, manganese oxide reduction, mcgill university, molecular oxygen, morphing manganese, new jersey, nitrate, ocean environments, ocean sediments, oxidation state, oxygen, photosynthesis, saint laurentian estuary, saint lawrence, sedimentary redox cycle, transition zone, university of delaware

UD researchers report new discovery in ‘Science’ about manganese in aquatic environments

An often-overlooked form of manganese, an element critical to many life processes, is far more prevalent in ocean environments than previously known, according to a study led by University of Delaware researchers that was published this week in Science.

The discovery alters understanding of the chemistry that moves manganese and other elements, like oxygen and carbon, through the natural world. Manganese is an essential nutrient for most organisms and helps plants produce oxygen during photosynthesis. (more…)

Scientists Look to Microbes to Unlock Earth’s Deep Secrets

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2012Scienceatlantic ocean, bottom of the ocean, circulation obviation retrofit kits, columbia university, corks, deep ocean sediments, ecosystem, Environment, european consortium for ocean research drilling, expedition, Germany, habitable parts, integrated ocean drilling program, iodp, jamie allan, joides resolution, katrina edwards, lamont doherty earth observatory, microbes, microbial life, mid atlantic ridge microbiology expedition, national science foundation, north pond, ocean sediments, oceans, planet, research vessel, rocky ocean crust, rocky realm, sediment samples, submersible expeditions, subseafloor observatories, total biomass, university of bremen, university of southern california, volcanic lava, wolfgang bach, world

*To find answers, oceanographers install observatories beneath remote seafloor*

Of all the habitable parts of our planet, one ecosystem still remains largely unexplored and unknown to science: the igneous ocean crust.

This rocky realm of hard volcanic lava exists beneath ocean sediments that lie at the bottom of much of the world’s oceans.

While scientists have estimated that microbes living in deep ocean sediments may represent as much as one-third of Earth’s total biomass, the habitable portion of the rocky ocean crust may be 10 times as great. (more…)

Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling

By Guest PostMay 28, 2011Environmentacc, american midwest, antarctic circumpolar current, antarctic intermediate water, benjamin cramer, benthic foraminifera, bridget wade, candace major, chengjie liu, deep sea drilling project, early cenozoic, environmental conditions, fossil skeletons, glaciations, global climate, global cooling pattern, global ocean circulation, global temperatures, greenhouse climate, icehouse, integrated ocean drilling program, isotopes, late eocene, marsupials, miriam katz, mixmaster of the ocean, ocean drilling program, ocean sediments, oceans, planktonic organisms, polar regions, sea floor, tropical jungles

*Evidence that early Antarctic Circumpolar Current development affected global climate*

Thirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic.

The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were half what they are today. (more…)

Tag Archives: ocean sediments

Microplastics make marine worms sick

Morphing manganese

Scientists Look to Microbes to Unlock Earth’s Deep Secrets

Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling