Tag Archives: whoi

Genetic Patterns of Deep-Sea Coral Provide Insights into Evolution of Marine Life

By Guest PostNovember 17, 2012Environment, Natureancient, barnacles, biodiversity, biogeography, bivalves, bryozoans, bubblegum coral, canyons, circulation model, climate change, continental slopes, coral, cryptic species, csiro, deep sea coral, early pliocene, eastern north pacific, Epoch, fjords, gastropods, gene flow, genetic diversity pattern, geological features, global warming, historical pattern, hypothesis, juan sanchez, late-miocene, marine life, marine organism, migration, migration pattern, moss animals, niwa, north atlantic, ocean acidification, oceanic circulation, organism, paragorga arborea, pattern, period, ph, red algae, santiago herrera, sea stars, seagrass, seamounts, South Pacific, southern indian, species, spiny dogfishes, timothy shank, trans arctic interchange, western north pacific, whoi

Patterns Also Shed Light on How Environmental Disturbances Affect Aquatic Organisms

The ability of deep-sea corals to harbor a broad array of marine life, including commercially important fish species, make these habitat-forming organisms of immediate interest to conservationists, managers, and scientists. Understanding and protecting corals requires knowledge of the historical processes that have shaped their biodiversity and biogeography.

While little is known about these processes, new research described in the journal Molecular Ecology helps elucidate the historical patterns of deep-sea coral migration and gene flow, coincident with oceanic circulation patterns and events. The investigators propose a scenario that could explain the observed evolutionary and present-day patterns in certain coral species. The findings can help scientists determine how climate change and other global processes have affected ocean habitats in the past and how they might do so in the future. (more…)

Scientists Uncover Diversion of Gulf Stream Path in Late 2011

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2012Environmental plueddemann, autumn, bottom temperature, commercial fishermen, continental shelf, core rings, current, data, david calhoun, david spencer, eddies, emolt, fred mattera, georges bank, glen gawarkiewicz, gulf stream, historical data, hole, hurricane, irene, james manning, katia, longitude, magdalena andres, mate, motion, mystery, new england, norbert stamps, ocean current, oceanographic institution, ooi, physical oceanographer, program, robert todd, salinity, salinity levels, satellite altimeters, shelfbreak, surface water, temperature, tim shaw, warming period, whoi, woods

Warmer waters flowed to shelfbreak south of New England

At a meeting with New England commercial fishermen last December, physical oceanographers Glen Gawarkiewicz and Al Plueddemann from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were alerted by three fishermen about unusually high surface water temperatures and strong currents on the outer continental shelf south of New England.

“I promised them I would look into why that was happening,” Gawarkiewicz says. (more…)

Researchers Highlight Growing Problem of Ocean Acidification

By Guest PostSeptember 27, 2012Environmentatmosphere, carbon biogeochemistry, carbon dioxide, CO2, co2 conditions, co2 world, earth, emission, eucidaris tribuloides, faq, global issue, hole, institution, logarithmic, monterey, neutral, oa, ocb, ocean, ocean acidification, oceanographic, pencil urchins, ph, ph scale, ph unit, sarah cooley, tropical, web version, whoi, woods

An international group of scientists, including researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, are working to improve communication about ocean acidification to help the public better understand the pressing global issue.

The term “ocean acidification” (OA) describes the changes that occur in the ocean as a result of increased emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere. The rising acidic level in the ocean puts certain organisms at risk and threatens the overall health of the ocean. (more…)

New Website Invites Public to Help Identify Seafloor Life and Habitats

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2012Environment, Scienceamber york, annotation tool, arfon smith, astronomy, citizen science alliance, csa, distribution, financial resource, galaxy zoo, georges bank, habcam, habitat, hole, hugh popenoe, identify, image, institution, jonathan howland, lophius americanus, mapping, monkfish, norman vine, object, oceanographic, old weather, placopecten magellanicus, planet hunters, predator, scallops, scott gallager, seafloor, seafloor explorer, starfish, underwater vehicle, web interface, web programmer, whoi, woods, zooniverse

The public is invited to help identify objects they see in images of the seafloor through a new interactive website called “Seafloor Explorer.” The result of a unique collaboration between oceanographers studying seafloor habitats, Web programmers and social scientists, Seafloor Explorer (www.seafloorexplorer.org) launches September 13.

The team has more than 40 million images, but are launching the site with a preliminary set of 100,000 – all of them taken by HabCam, a habitat mapping underwater vehicle. HabCam was developed and built by the HabCam group, which comprises marine biologists and engineers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) as well as fishermen and other scientists. The Seafloor Explorer interactive website was funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and built in collaboration with the HabCam Group by the Citizen Science Alliance (CSA), the developers behind interactive sites found on Zooniverse.org. (more…)

Tracking Fish Through a Coral Reef Seascape

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2012Environment, Naturecoastal seagrass, coastal wetland, coral reef, dream divers, ear bones, ehrenbergs snapper, fish, food web, functional connectivity, gas chromatography, isoscape, isotope signature, juvenile, kelton mcmahon, king abdullah, lutjanus ehrenbergii, mangrove habitat, marine environment, michael berument, migration, northern coast, nursery habitat, ocean, offshore island, offshore reef, otoliths, plasticity, record, red sea, reef ecosystem, reef fish, remediation, saudi arabia, scientist, simon thorrold, subtropical water, tree rings, tropical habitat, tropical seascape, university, whoi

Ear-bone ‘tree rings’ provide evidence of connectivity

Ocean scientists have long known that juvenile coral reef fishes use coastal seagrass and mangrove habitats as nurseries, later moving as adults onto coral reefs. But the fishes’ movements, and the connections between different tropical habitats, are much more complex than previously realized, according to a study published September 3 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings have important implications for management and protection of coral reefs and other marine environments.

A number of studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between the presence of coastal wetlands and offshore fish abundance and fisheries yield, but it has proved difficult to develop quantitative assessment of habitat use by fish or their movement among different habitats. “The rationale for this study,”says Simon Thorrold, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), “was to determine the relative importance of different nursery habitats to reef fishes that spend their adult lives on coral reefs but may spend at least part of their juvenile residency elsewhere.” (more…)

Scientists Discover New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Ocean Spring Plankton Bloom

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2012Environmentadam huxtable, amala mahadevan, atlantic ocean, biological pump, bjarni saemundsson, carbon dioxide, climate, climate on earth, CO2, craig lee, diatoms, don rice, eddies, emily kallin, eric d asaro, fossil fuel, global carbon cycle, holiday fireworks, mary jane perry, michael ohmart, microscopic plants, modulate, north atlantic bloom, not sunlight, nsf, ocean physics, oceanic cycling, oxygen, photosynthesis, physical biological model, phytoplankton, research vessel, silica, sun, surface warming, university of maine, university of washington, us beachgoers, whirlpools, whoi, zooplankton

Ocean eddies help jump-start plankton blooms that spread across hundreds of square miles

On this July 4^th week, U.S. beachgoers are thronging their way to seaside resorts and parks to celebrate with holiday fireworks. But across the horizon and miles out to sea toward the north, the Atlantic Ocean’s own spring and summer ritual unfolds. It entails the blooming of countless microscopic plants, or phytoplankton.

In what’s known as the North Atlantic Bloom, an immense number of phytoplankton burst into existence, first “greening,” then “whitening” the sea as one or more species take the place of others.

What turns on this huge bloom, what starts these ocean fireworks? Is it the Sun’s warmth? (more…)

Melting Sea Ice Threatens Emperor Penguins, Study Finds

By Guest PostJuly 1, 2012Environment, Natureantarctic peninsula, antarctic sea ice, Antarctica, christophe barbraud, climate models, climate variable, demographic model, dion islets, east antarctica, emperor penguins, food web, global temperature, happy feet, henri weimerskirch, ipev, krill, life cycle, marika holland, mark serreze, melting sea ice, nutrient cycle, organism, penguin colony, penguin population, sea bird, sea ice forecasts, shrimplike animal, squid, stephanie jenouvrier, terre adelie, warming temperature, whoi

At nearly four feet tall, the Emperor penguin is Antarctica’s largest sea bird—and thanks to films like “March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet,” it’s also one of the continent’s most iconic. If global temperatures continue to rise, however, the Emperor penguins in Terre Adélie, in East Antarctica may eventually disappear, according to a new study by led by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The study was published in the June 20th edition of the journal Global Change Biology.

“Over the last century, we have already observed the disappearance of the Dion Islets penguin colony, close to the West Antarctic Peninsula,” says Stephanie Jenouvrier, WHOI biologist and lead author of the new study. “In 1948 and the 1970s, scientists recorded more than 150 breeding pairs there. By 1999, the population was down to just 20 pairs, and in 2009, it had vanished entirely.” Like in Terre Adélie, Jenouvrier thinks the decline of those penguins might be connected to a simultaneous decline in Antarctic sea ice due to warming temperatures in the region. (more…)

Scientists Discover Huge Phytoplankton Bloom in Ice Covered Waters

By Guest PostJune 13, 2012Environmentalaska, aleutian islands, alga phaeocystis, arctic algal boom, arctic circle, arctic summer, arctic waters, beaufort seas, bob pickart, chlorophyll, climate change, continental shelf, ecosystem, emily peacock, healy, heidi sosik, ice free waters, icebreaker, icescape program, imaging flowcytobot, kevin arrigo, magnifying lenses, melt water, microscopic marine plants, NASA, optical measurements, phenomenon, photosynthetic, phytoplankton, polar chukchi, pools of water, rob olson, sam laney, sea ice, skylights, stanford university, thalassiosira, us coast guard, whoi

A team of researchers, including scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), discovered a massive bloom of phytoplankton beneath ice-covered Arctic waters. Until now, sea ice was thought to block sunlight and limit the growth of microscopic marine plants living under the ice.

The amount of phytoplankton growing in this under-ice bloom was four times greater than the amount found in neighboring ice-free waters. The bloom extended laterally more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) underneath the ice pack, where ocean and ice physics combined to create a phenomenon that scientists had never seen before. (more…)