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Killing Whales by Design and Default

By Guest PostFebruary 23, 2014NatureCCS, commercial fishing gear, commercial whaling, dolphins, harpoon technology, Iceland, ifaw, Japan, katie moore, killing whales, marine biologist, marine mammal center, michael moore, noaa, north atlantic, norway, porpoises, right whales, robert rocha, sharon young, whoi

While countries such as Japan, Norway, and Iceland often are criticized for their commercial whaling practices, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) marine biologist Michael Moore points out how the majority of nations are also complicit in killing whales by deploying commercial fishing gear.

Moore cites scientific literature, necropsy reports, and individual case studies in an editorial essay addressing the ethics of whale entanglement and commercial whaling published in ICES Journal of Marine Science. (more…)

Solving an Evolutionary Puzzle

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2014Environment, Natureadam reitzel, ahr pathway, ahr2, ahr2 system, aryl hydrocarbon receptor, atlantic ecology division, atlantic killifish, bedford harbor killifish, candidate gene, contaminated environment, contaminated sediment, diana franks, diane nacci, dna sequence, evolutionary puzzle, genetic resistance, harbor, heavy metals, hudson river, mark hahn, new bedford, oceanographic institution, pathway, PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, receptor protein, sibel karchner, single nucleotide polymorphisms, snps, solving, whoi, woods hole

New Bedford Harbor pollution prompts PCB-resistance in Atlantic killifish

For four decades, waste from nearby manufacturing plants flowed into the waters of New Bedford Harbor—an 18,000-acre estuary and busy seaport. The harbor, which is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals, is one of the EPA’s largest Superfund cleanup sites.

It’s also the site of an evolutionary puzzle that researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their colleagues have been working to solve. (more…)

A Look Back and Ahead at Greenland’s Changing Climate

By Guest PostFebruary 13, 2014Environmentarctic anomalies, changing climate, climate models project, fiamma straneo, fjords, greenland, greenland ice sheet, ice loss, ice ocean boundary, MIT, natural climate variability, north atlantic, north atlantic ocean, ocean warming, patrick heimbach, runoff, sea surface, sea-level rise, submarine melting, whoi

Over the past two decades, ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet increased four-fold contributing to one-quarter of global sea level rise. However, the chain of events and physical processes that contributed to it has remained elusive. One likely trigger for the speed up and retreat of glaciers that contributed to this ice loss is ocean warming.

A review paper by physical oceanographers Fiamma Straneo at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Patrick Heimbach at MIT published in Nature explains what scientists have learned from their research on and around Greenland over the past 20 years and describes the measurements and technology needed to continue to move the science forward. (more…)

Coral Reefs in Palau Surprisingly Resistant to Naturally Acidified Waters

By Guest PostJanuary 24, 2014Environment, Natureacidified waters, anne cohen, atmosphere, calcification, carbon dioxide, chemical oceanographer, CO2, coral reef ecosystem, coral reefs, creation of a plan, environmental condition, kathryn shamberger, negative change, ocean acidification, oceanographic institution, palau, perfect storm, ph, picrc, protected areas network, republic of palau, rock islands, water chemistry, western pacific ocean, whoi, woods hole, yimnang golbuu

Ocean researchers working on the coral reefs of Palau in 2011 and 2012 made two unexpected discoveries that could provide insight into corals’ resistance and resilience to ocean acidification, and aid in the creation of a plan to protect them.

The team collected water samples at nine points along a transect that stretched from the open ocean, across the barrier reef, into the lagoon and then into the bays and inlets around the Rock Islands of Palau, in the western Pacific Ocean. With each location they found that the seawater became increasingly acidic as they moved toward land. (more…)

New Study Finds Extreme Longevity in White Sharks

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2014Nature, Scienceadvantage of radiocarbon, age, ear bones, fin rays, great white sharks, greg skomal, growth rate, indian ocean, layers of tissue, li ling hamady, lifespan, lisa natanson, longevity, marine organisms, mineralized tissue, nefsc lab, northwestern atlantic ocean, ocean, ocean ecology, oceanographic institution, otoliths, sexual maturity, simon thorrold, southwestern pacific ocean, species, subtropical waters, temperate, time stamp, vertebra layers, vertebrae, whoi, woods hole, world

Great white sharks—top predators throughout the world’s ocean—grow much slower and live significantly longer than previously thought, according to a new study led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

In the first successful radiocarbon age validation study for adult white sharks, researchers analyzed vertebrae from four females and four males from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Age estimates were up to 73 years old for the largest male and 40 years old for the largest female. (more…)

Online Science Expedition Brings Deep Sea Vents to the Computer Screen

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2014Environmentdeep sea vents, dive and discover, DNA, east pacific rise, ecosystems, family science nights, hydrothermal vents, isobaric gas tight, jason, mail buoy, manzanillo, Mexico, mid ocean ridge, online science expedition, remotely operated vehicle, research vessel atlantis, rna, sampler, seafloor conditions, stefan sievert, Technology, whoi

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s ‘Dive and Discover’ Begins Jan. 2, 2014

Scientists and engineers using advanced technology and a unique robotic vehicle to study the deep sea will also be using their computers to interact with students, teachers, and the public about the research they are conducting.

Working along the East Pacific Rise, a mid-ocean ridge about 600 miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico, aboard the research vessel Atlantis, scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their colleagues will examine life in some of the most extreme environments on Earth—deep-sea hydrothermal vents. (more…)

New Study Reveals the Biomechanics of How Marine Snail Larvae Swim

By Guest PostDecember 24, 2013Environment, Natureatlantic slipper limpet, biomechanics, cilia, crepidula fornicate, dianna padilla, epifluorescent microscopy image, Europe, evolution collected, houshuo jiang, karen chan, larvae, marine ecosystem, marine snail larvae, microorganisms freely swimming, microscopic video, nuisance, oceanographic institution, stony brook university, swim, vessel of seawater, video, whoi, woods hole

Equipped with high-speed, high-resolution video, scientists have discovered important new information on how marine snail larvae swim, a key behavior that determines individual dispersal and ultimately, survival.

Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Stony Brook University grew Atlantic slipper limpet larvae, which are slightly larger than a grain of sand, and recorded microscopic video of them swimming. In previous studies, it has been commonly thought that larvae swim faster when they beat their hair-like cilia faster. However, this new microscopic video and research shows that this is not the case. (more…)

Study Offers Economical Solutions for Maintaining Critical Delta Environments

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2013Environment1954, age of humans, Anthropocene, black sea, bulgaria, Chernobyl, danube river delta, deforestation, delta environments, economical solutions, floodplain, frequency, Germany, historic data, hungary, iron gates dams, liviu giosan, main european waterway, nuclear bomb testing, nuclear reactor, radiocarbon analysis, radioisotope cesium 137, rising sea level, romania, sandy barriers, sea level, warming climate, wave dominated deltas, whoi

Millions of people across the world live or depend on deltas for their livelihoods.

Formed at the lowest part of a river where its water flow slows and spreads into the sea, deltas are sediment-rich, biodiverse areas, a valuable source of seafood, fertile ground for agriculture, and host to ports important for transportation.

At least half of the deltas around the world are so-called “wave dominated deltas” – open to the sea and under the impact of wave erosion. And many more deltas will come under wave dominance as dammed rivers carry less and less sediment. In a warming climate, sea levels are rising and storms are increasing in frequency and severity, posing threats to these deltas and the people and habitats dependent on them. (more…)

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