First though, have we got the theory of algal blooms wrong? If we have, this could have serious implications for climatic modelling!

Life at sea

Acepted theory of algal blooms wrong: Remote sensing data has been shown to contradict the accepted ‘critical depth hypothesis’ for algal bloom formation. This theory suggests that algae bloom in spring in the increased light, and as surface waters warm. Remote sensing however, shows that algae actually start their bloom in mid winter, when the water is at its coldest and darkest. The new theory being postulated to account for this observation suggests that the really important factor is zooplankton (microscopic animals) feeding rates on phytoplankton (algae). These rates drop during mid winter, as storms stir the water, diluting the total concentration of plankton by mixing productive surface waters with deeper waters, making it hard for zooplankton to find a meal. The prediction is, therefore, that more and bigger winter storms will lead to bigger algal blooms. In contrast, warmer stratified waters may result in smaller algal blooms, adn this is what is predicted by many global warming models. The unfortunate result of this would be a feedback loop that resulted in algae being able to take less carbon out of the ocean, resulting in less efficient buffering of increased carbon dioxide levels. ScienceDaily (July 16, 2010) More climate change towards the foot of this post…

Ink saves sea-hare: A number of molluscs squirt ink to deter predators, including the cuttlefish (order Sepiida – from which sepia ink is made), octopus and squid. I had not realised until spotting this article that sea hares can also squirt ink. The study is on Aplysia californica, where the ink is found to both smell and taste bad to fish (rather than offering a means of concealment). From Practical Fishkeeping, 12 July 2010. A quick check in the guides, however, indicates that the sea hares (Aplysia punctata) found in British waters can also secrete a ‘purple slime’ used for deterring fish. (Gibson, Hextall and Rogers Photographic Guide to Sea and Shore Life…, Oxford, 2001, 256-7.

How planktonic larval stages effect species distribution: This PLoS 1 article actually asks a rather more specific question of how the catfish Cathorops mapalehave diverged evolutionarily since its range was split in the early Pleistocene with the rise of the Santa Marta Massif (c.a. 0.8 MYA). Cathorops lacks a pelagic larval form, so dispersal along the coast was disrupted by this process, resulting a slow divergence of the catfish populations on either side of the massif.
Betancur-R R, Acero P. A, Duque-Caro H, Santos SR (2010) Phylogenetic and Morphologic Analyses of a Coastal Fish Reveals a Marine Biogeographic Break of Terrestrial Origin in the Southern Caribbean. PLoS ONE 5(7): e11566. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011566

Trashy island: Apparently the area of floating trash in the Pacific is twice the size of Texas. This report suggests recycling the trash as a luxury floating island… File under ‘speculative’. From Green.Blorge July 1st 2010

Indian seahorses to breed in captivity: The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) is to attempt captive breeding of seahorses at their premises in Chennai. The numbers of seahorses in the Indian ocean have been greatly depleted by commercial fishing, to the extent that they are now protected species. sify News 2010-07-17 13:30:00

Fluorescent copepods: Many marine organisms exhibit fluorescence, now two of the brightest fluorescent proteins to be found to date have been identified in the copepod Pontella mimocerami. Fluorescence in these tiny marine animals can put on a great night-time display, but the workers here are more interested in the more mundane possibilities of using them as bio-genetic markers. Already several of the fluorescence mechanisms used by marine organisms have been transcribed into other plants and animals to follow the success of a gene transfer.
Hunt ME, Scherrer MP, Ferrari FD, Matz MV (2010) Very Bright Green Fluorescent Proteins from the Pontellid Copepod Pontella mimocerami. PLoS ONE 5(7): e11517. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011517

Marine bacterial family tree: Members of the Roseobacter clade apparently constitute between 10 and 25% of the bacterioplankton in the world’s oceans. This paper elucidates their genetic family tree. In this process the researchers identified several genes involved with B12 synthesis, as well as genes that code for the enzymes that degrade dimethylsulfoniopropionate – an important process in global climate control (see climate below).
Tang K, Huang H, Jiao N, Wu CH (2010) Phylogenomic Analysis of Marine Roseobacters. PLoS ONE 5(7): e11604. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011604

What will I eat today? The quandries of a mixotrophic organism: This is an entertaining description of a rather gruesome series of experiments that suggest that anemones with algal simbionts use the food that they hunt and the food they generate from sunlight in different ways. Algae use sunlight first to generate small carbon molecules, which they can then build up into more complex stuff. By contrast hunting living organisms gives you a ready supply of complex molecules to order. In mixotrophic organisms, that can do both, then the simple sugars produced by autotrophy (from sunlight and carbon dioxide) are used as a rapid energy source, whereas more complex molecules, derived from prey items, tend go to develop tissues and for growth. Deep Sea News July 15th 2010.

Oil spill

Oil spill stopped: On Thursday July 15th, after 85 days of the spill, BP succeeded in placing a cap on the Deepwater Horizon oil well. Today (Saturday 17th, 15:30hrs), the cap has completed its test phase, and there is some optimism that no more oil is leaking from the site. With this news we expect that interest in the spill will diminish in national and international press, though the process of cleaning up is likely to take many years more. I’m hopeful that we will still be able to follow this story, as it is only as we move out of the crisis phase that we are likely to be able to get together a sensible analysis of this incident. Yahoo News ca. 15:30hrs 17th July 2010 .

Exploration and exploitation

Change of scene, change of species: The coasts of southwest Africa used to be home to large shoals of sardines, until these were fished to exhaustion in the 1960′s and 70′s. This resulted in an ecosystem collapse, the sardine’s place in the ecosystem was taken over by jellyfish, and algal blooms now sink to the bottom (rather than being eaten by the sardines), where their decomposition results in anoxic waters that very little can live in. One problem is that the jellyfish are a poor food source for other animals, so they have grown fat, whilst everything else either died or moved out. Recently, however, scientists have found that the goby Sufflogobius bibarbatus is starting to move in and eat the jellyfish. In this way there is hope that these waters might slowly recover a more functional ecosystem, as the goby’s are a potential food source for larger fish and sea birds. The gobies appear to have a range of other adaptions to living in this degraded ecosystem, including the ability to live at low oxygen levels for prolonged periods, and tolerate high levels of hydrogen sulphide. Whilst the adaptive abilities of this goby are to be admired, the important lesson to be learnt here is DON’T OVER FISH. Forty years is very long time to wait for a system to show signs of recovering, and it is likely to be a lot longer before the area can support any kind of commercial fishery. ScienceDaily (July 15, 2010)

Climate related

Acidified waters in Puget Sound: Researchers report unusually low pH values (low pH = high acidity) in the deep waters of the Puget Sound, an estuary on the west coast of the USA, close to the Canadian border. They were able to attribute much of the fall in pH to increased carbon dioxide concentration, which is ultimately derived from burning fossil fuels. Scientists had to disentangle anumber of contributing factors to the rise in acidity, including decomposing vegetation in the estuary. As yet they have been unable to determine whether or not this is influencing shellfish growth rates in the sound. ScienceDaily (July 18, 2010)

Bad smell for bitter fishes: It appears that fish raised at increased carbon dioxide levels are less able to sniff out predators, and as a consequence fewer survive to maturity. The research was carried out on clown and damsel fish. Telegraph 18th July 2010.

How important is climate to the species mix? For a long time conservationists have been worried by how climate change might cut off species in environments that become increasingly hostile to them. In this paper the authors compare the relative importance of climatic variables with underlying geological conditions – altitude, bedrock etc. The work supports the idea that geology is very much more important than climatic factors. This suggests that conservation efforts should focus on geological hotspots, rather than on the preparation of migration corridors for organisms to allow them to move to more hospitable climates.
Anderson MG, Ferree CE (2010) Conserving the Stage: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Species Diversity. PLoS ONE 5(7): e11554. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011554

Warm water slows coral growth: Computed tomography (CT) scans have been used to measure the annual growth rings in corals from the Red Sea. These measurements show that the growth rate of Diploastrea heliopora has fallen by 30% over the last decade, correlating with average water temperatures that are up by 1.5°C. The results are particularly surprising and worrying because D. heliopora is a species of coral that has not shown evidence of bleaching events or other ill health in the warmer waters. CT scans offer many advantages over traditional sectioning and x-raying to get this information. Being performed on intact coral branches it is possible to map out the growth rings in 3D, and so avoid missing years. ScienceDaily (July 16, 2010)

Marine microbes sniff a change in the weather: How marine microbes hunt may impact climate. When algae die they release dimethylsulfoniopropionate, a chemical that microbes feed on directly to produce dimethyl sulphide, as well as using it to navigate towards the tasty snack. The dimethyl sulphide they produce is an important nucleatiuon factor in cloud formation, so the quantities available in the atmosphere directly influence cloud density, and how much solar radiation is trapped beneath them, or reflected back into space. ScienceDaily (July 15, 2010)

Life at sea…

What’s so special about islands? For a long time islands have been held to be hot-beds of evolution, see, for example, the Galapagos Islands. But other than a muse for Charles Darwin, are they actually any more active in evolutionary terms than your back-garden? The latest report suggests that islands can end up with interesting colections of animals by chance, but there isn’t anything special about them – so no magical rules pushing evolution faster on islands than elsewhere. ScienceDaily (July 8, 2010)

Mollusc’s impact human behaviour: Apparently an octopus called Paul has been influencing betting on World Cup matches. Suite101, Jul 10, 2010

Dust on the water: The Bodélé depression in Chad is reported to be the source of an estimated 3M tonnes of iron and 60,000 tonnes of phosphorus entering the Atlantic ocean every year. This dry precipitation is very important for phytoplankton in the mid ocean, where nutrients are scarce. New Scientist 02 July 2010

Whale song, or not: In noisy environments whales sing louder, to get heard. Research on North American right whales now shows, however, that beyond a certain level of background noise, they simply give up… The good news is that they can maintain communications between individuals at moderate noise levels. ScienceDaily (July 6, 2010)

New life in Atlantic deeps: An Atlantic research cruise, involving ROV dives to between 700 and 3600m depth, reports ten new species. One of these discoveries is a new species of acorn worm (or enteropneust). ScienceDaily (July 6, 2010). Acorn worms have gill slits or pores, but no notochord, so have characteristics of both vertebrates and invertebrates. UK species are all burrowing, and very soft bodied, so difficult to extract from their habitat intact, though some species do inhabit sand in shallow water. From Hayward and Ryland Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-West Europe, Pub. Oxford, 1995, p687.

Eel find my own way: Your textbook will show European eels migrating along the gulf stream (along with the oil? – see below!) from their spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea. Recent oceanographic studies have covering the spawning grounds in some detail, however, and suggest that at least some eels may be following the subtropical counter current. This current cuts across the middle of the Atlantic from West to East, potentially shaving a great deal off the young eel’s journey. The work also links the current pattern in the Sargasso Sea area with the feeding opportunities available to the young eels, and suggests that recruitment success may be very dependent upon these current patterns, and so susceptible to climate changes. ScienceDaily (July 5, 2010)

Conservation issues

Conservation – what’s in it from me? This report, specific to the gulf states in the aftermath of the oil spill, finds that rural areas with high unemployment rates are less likely to support environmental regulations. Here many people see regulation as a threat to their livelyhood. By contrast, the Rocky Mountain counties have a growing economy based on recreation and natural amenities, and here environmental protection is not perceived as being in conflict with job creation. ScienceDaily (July 8, 2010)

It pays to be depressed (if you’re a shrimp): The pharmaceuticals we take to help us cope with modern life are finding their way into the sewers, and the sea. Fluoxetine, a common anti-depressant, changes the behaviour of shrimps, making them more likely to swim towards the light – and into danger! This effect is seen at typical discharge levels to rivers and estuaries. ScienceDaily (July 12, 2010)

Gulf oil spill

Couldn’t happen here? The MERMAID system has been deployed in the North Sea to provide early warning of pollution discharges. The system automatically detects oxygen, pH, nitrates and phosphorus, chlorophyll and a range of toxins. It is not clear from the report how many detector stations are currently online (i.e. whether or not the system offers comprehensive coverage of the North Sea). ScienceDaily (July 9, 2010)

How quickly can microbes digest the spill? An experiment has been started to see how quickly microbes in beach sands are able to digest the oil arriving from the spill. They will also evaluate the effect of dispersants on these microbe communities. ScienceDaily (July 8, 2010)

Oil spill over kill? It isn’t as bad as the environmentalists are making out! The last oil spill (Ixtoc in 1979) didn’t do any damage!!! In fact in the aftermath of the Ixtoc spill President Reagan slashed environmental program funding, so we don’t know how bad the Ixtoc spill was. He also introduced the Minerals Management Service – who gave the Deepwater Horizon a clean bill of health. The truth is that the fish will probably come back, it may even be the case that the oil spill is less damaging to some fish stocks than the current fisheries management practices. This does not, however, make the oil spill a good thing, even a defensible thing, or in fact anything other than a disaster. Andrew Leonard, salon.com, July 1 2010

Oil and politics mix well: The research fund established by BP to monitor the effects of the spill, worth $500M, is only to be spent with the agreement of Gulf State governors. While the usual peer reviewed process for vetting scientific proposals is not above reproach, this looks like an opportunity for graft… The Australian, July 7 2010

Computer animation predicts oil spill migration to mid 2011: This animation on YouTube was created by the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. It predicts the movement of floating particles of tar on the prevailing currents in the Gulf, and out into the Atlantic. By day 360 particles are predicted to be into the mid Atlantic and spreading towards the coast of Europe. From SOEST publication date ca. July 6 2010 via ScienceDaily (July 6, 2010). The toxicity of any tar balls that make it across the Atlantic is likely to be very low, as most of the toxins in crude derive from volatile components that are quickly broken down by bacteria in warm waters. Still, it is likely that people living on the West coast of the UK and Ireland will see a reminder of the Gulf spill washed up on their beaches around this time next year…

New species under the spill: Two new species of batfish (related to anglerfish) have been described from the area of the spill. It is not clear that their range extends beyond the region affected by the spill, so they may be on for the record of shortest known living species. ScienceDaily (July 8, 2010)

What about all these other wells? The Spill reports that there are 27 000 abandoned wells in the Gulf of Mexico. These are in a range of conditions – some having been abandoned in the 1940′s. While they all represent leak risks, they are not inspected. Marine Conservation News, July 7th 2010

Exploration and exploitation

Deep sea mining: There is a collection of posts from Deep Sea News on this subject, prompted by a report that the Chinese Government is planning to start mining for base metals (copper, nickel and cobalt) at depths of 5000 feet (1.5 km). This isn’t an area I know much about, but as DSN says – put it on your radar! Deep Sea News, July 5th 2010

Don’t cook fish before their time: Farmed salmon are often reared in warm water hatcheries, as the higher temperatures speeds growth. Research is now showing, however, that higher temperatures cause disruption of bone and cartilage formation, leading to deformed fish. ScienceDaily (July 5, 2010)

Protecting fisheries in the Gulf:
A different gulf this time – Dr Mohsen Al-Husaini of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), is advising better enforcement of fishing regulations to stop the decline in stocks. Other threats to fisheries in the Persian Gulf do, however, include oil leaks from the petroleum industry, along with the usual chemicals and sewage waste problems. Arab Times July 2010.

No fish left in the Clyde? A new report suggests that the Firth of Clyde is so heavily over fished that it risks being emptied of almost all marine life. Fishing industry experts have strongly contested this claim, citing that fish stocks in the area are cyclical. The Firth stretches from Loch Fyne (ironically of the Fishbar fame) to the Mull of Kyntyre (there are no fishing allusions in this song). Herald Scotland 12 Jul 2010

Climate change

Honolulu declaration: Scientists call for limits to carbon dioxide output to reduce rate of ocean acidification, which is thought to be a threat to hard corals. Marine Conservation News July 5 2010

Cleaner water aids survival: Corals on the Florida coast are seen to survive high temperatures better if the water they are living in is not polluted. For many corals, however, the ‘double whammy’ of dirty water and increased water temperature has led to bleaching incidents. ScienceDaily (July 6, 2010)

Fluctuating sea levels in the Indian Ocean: This study shows that sea-levels in the Indian Ocean are behaving in a complex manner, but there is a sea-level-rise component, that appears to be related to increased carbon dioxide levels. The islands most threatened by sea level rises in the region are the Maldives – popular diving destinations for many in the UK. Here the study found a significant sea-level rise in the winter season. The Maldives are inhabited by 300 000 people, yet are on average only 5 feet above sea level. ScienceDaily (July 13, 2010)

The threat from methane hydrates: Methane hydrates are solids formed by reaction of the gas methane with water at high pressure and low temperature. Crystals of methane hydrate blocked the first collector system deployed by BP to mop up the Deepwater Horizon spill. In fact methane is generated by a number of natural processes at all depths in the ocean, but is commonly trapped as solid hydrates below 300m depth. This shallower reservoir of hydrates is a potential problem, as it is most susceptible to decomposition due to climate warming – releasing the methane gas back into the water column. Here it can cause microial blooms and eutrophication, but it is also a very much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so significant releases into the atmosphere could lead to a run-away feedback effect. From Deep-Sea News July 7th 2010.

If climate control and resources are two positive things, it is less easy to find good things to say about pollution and the continuing oil spill. The importance of monitoring marine systems for organic mercury compounds is emphasised – while the marine ecosystem dilutes these compounds, the marine food chain concentrates them right back up again, and guess who is at the top of that food chain…

On the oil spill there is a very interesting blog post on how likely the spill was to occur – was it an event so unlikely that (as the US regulators agreed when they licensed the Deepwater Horizon) there was no likelihood of environmental damage? Beyond that, we look at some of the less visible casualties of the spill, and start to quantify just how much of the Gulf marine ecosystem has been wiped out.

First though, Basking sharks are migrating North again, and anyone living on the west coast has a chance of spotting them, as this report in the North Wales Pioneer demonstrates (North Wales Pioneer, 30 June 2010). For more on basking sharks and their migrations, visit the basking shark pages on the MCS National website.

Phytoplankton and climate change

Cocolithophorids need iron: Cocolithophorids are an important group of marine phytoplankton, they are characterised by growing intricate shells formed of calcium carbonate, and so seen as one of the dominant components of the carbon dioxide cycle, helping to remove this from the atmosphere. They commonly form immense blooms in temperate waters, these blooms can be the size of small countries, and are readily visible from space. Here researchers demonstrate that one of the key limiting nutrients for cocolithophorid blooms is iron. ScienceDaily (June 30, 2010)

Better fed phytoplankton absorb more carbon dioxide: This theoretical work suggests that increasing the nutrients available to phytoplankton will reduce their morbidity to viruses in the marine system, and so increase their productivity. ScienceDaily (June 30, 2010)

Climate change effects swimming snails: Pelagic molluscs are an important food source for fish and other zooplankton. In this study scientists looked at their development at elevated both carbon dioxide levels and elevated temperatures. They found that the ability of the mollusc Limacina helicina to deposit shells declined with increasing partial pressure of carbon dioxide in solution.
Comeau S, Jeffree R, Teyssié J-L, Gattuso J-P (2010) Response of the Arctic Pteropod Limacina helicina to Projected Future Environmental Conditions. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11362. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011362

Warm fizzy oceans impact sea urchins: Climate change is predicted to result in both warmer and more acidic seawater. An important question here is how will this effect the development of key organisms in the marine ecosystem? Scientists have now looked at the development of the sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla under artificial conditions of elevated temperature and carbon dioxide. Thye found that the increase in temperature gave rise to larger larvae, while the increase in acidity makes it harder for them to lay down carbonate, so resulted in reduced skeletal strength. When exposed to both stresses, the increased acidity won out, with reduced larval size, which may have negative consequences on adult populations.
Sheppard Brennand H, Soars N, Dworjanyn SA, Davis AR, Byrne M (2010) Impact of Ocean Warming and Ocean Acidification on Larval Development and Calcification in the Sea Urchin Tripneustes gratilla. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11372. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011372

No ice here… Scientists are predicting the smallest ever amount of sea-ice in the arctic this coming winter. The previous minimum was in 2007 – only three years ago. From ScienceDaily (June 28, 2010)

Arctic ocean monitoring goes wireless: Previously we have monitored the oceans from research vessels on pre-planned cruises. As the only source for much of our information about the world’s oceans, this is clearly not adequate! Looking for a better way to mount a continuous monitoring effort, scientists have developed an array of remote sensors that keep in touch by radio. The system had its first successful test in December in the Arctic ocean. ScienceDaily (June 24, 2010)

Floating turbines: Offshore wind turbines are an increasingly important component of the UK’s renewable energy budget, but conventional designs require firm foundations, so they are restricted to water depths of 50m. Engineers have recently published a feasibility study for a floating turbine, based on existing gas and oil platform designs. Calculations suggest that conventional platform designs could support 5MW turbines – the largest currently available – and power a small town. A prototype design is being built in collaboration with electricity operator Energias de Portugal, and should be launched in 2012. ScienceDaily (July 1, 2010)

Fisheries

Historic changes in sea cucumber harvests: Sea cucumbers have been an important component of the fisheries of Indonesia, supplying ‘trepang’ principally to the Chinese market. This study follows the commercial development of the trade from documentary sources covering the last three hundred years, up to the collapse of the fisheries in the 20th century through over-exploitation. The pattern of fishing a trading follows a common pattern for the exploitation of marine reserves. The development of a wealthy consumer class in china stimulating demand, which is supplied by local peoples catching and processing trepang, then trading them through a network of small markets an finally through a central market, the port of Makassar, where chinese traders are primarily based. The networks of trade persists after the collapse of the trepang fishery, now focussing on sales of grouper and clown fish (popular for aquaria after the film ‘Finding Nemo’).
Schwerdtner Máñez K, Ferse SCA (2010) The History of Makassan Trepang Fishing and Trade. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11346.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011346

The perfect prawn? A new breed of prawns developed by Australia’s CSIRO are reported to produce a crop of 12.8 tonnes per hectare, compared with 5 tonnes from current farmed varieties. The ‘super prawns’ were created by selective breeding from Black Tiger prawns (a local species), and CSIRO hopes that they will be a conpetitive alternative to the import of prawns currently reared in Vietnam and China. From ScienceDaily (June 29, 2010)

Marine pollution

Marine mercury: Older readers will be aware of the devastating consequences of mercury poisoning from the Minamata disaster in Japan in 1956. The mercury that caused this disaster was released into rivers in the form of methylmercury, which is many times more poisonous than metallic mercury. Despite that fact that the concentration levels of this compund in seawater were below detectable limits, it was concentrated in the shellfish in Minamata bay to levels that caused severe toxicity – with 2265 recorded victims (1784 of whome died).
Scientists at Dukes have now reported that the marine ecosystem may be particularly vulnerable to methylmercury contamination. They have found that methylmercury is stabilised by chloride ions – the salt in seawater. With high levels of mercury exposure in the US (8% of all women have above the recommended levels), the researchers are advising more emphasis be placed on monitoring methylmercury in the marine system, which is the most likely source of poinsoning, rather than freshwater systems, which just happen to be easier to monitor. ScienceDaily (June 28, 2010)

Microbial communities reflect environmental fluctuations: This study moves away from the simple bacterial count approach to monitoring water standards on bathing beaches, utilising gene-chips to identify a wide range of bacteria (including common pathogens) in water runoff. The scientists were able to follow how the bacterial community changed as water polluted with fecal matter travelled down river channels to the sea at Santa Barbara. They found that the ratio between different bacterial species was a good indicator of the degree of contamination of the water.
Wu CH, Sercu B, Van De Werfhorst LC, Wong J, DeSantis TZ, et al. (2010) Characterization of Coastal Urban Watershed Bacterial Communities Leads to Alternative Community-Based Indicators. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11285. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011285

Oil spill

How probable was the Gulf oil spill? Where BP a bunch of cowboys, or could it have happened to any of the big oil companies working in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico? This article looks at how accidents in general happen, with an aim to answering this question. If you are responsible for anything it will make valuable reading, as it compares and contrasts a number of famous catastrophes, and picks out some of the common mistakes that led to them. It also puts the question of broader culpability into better focus. This is perhaps the most interesting post on the oilspill debate so far, and I recommend that everyone reads it! From Culturing Science, by Hannah Waters June 22 2010

How large a dead zone? Scientists at NOAA are now predicting a dead zone of between 6500 and 7900 square miles as a consequence of the Gulf oil spill.From ScienceDaily (June 28, 2010)

Don’t drink the water – don’t eat the fish? Some 89% of Americans said they were ‘extremely concerned’ about the safety of seafood sourced in the Gulf. From ScienceDaily (June 28, 2010)

Oil and arsenic: During its prolonged period of burial oil pick up a lot of minerals, which are, of course, also liberated into the seawater when a spill occurs. One of the less desireable elements found in oil is arsenic. Further, sediments that would usually grab onto the arsenic, get clogged by oil, so don’t do an efficient clean-up. ScienceDaily (July 2, 2010)

Unseen casualties: Nematodes are not the most obvious denizens of the deep, but millions of them live in every cubic metre of mud, and thousands even in the deep sea oozes. They have a range of eating habits, and are important in turning over mud, releasing nutrients back into the water column, and taking oxygen down into the mud so other organisms can flourish. Unfortunately, nematodes don’t like oil, and are predicted to suffer badly as a consequence of hte gulf spill, greatly reducing the bio-diversity of large areas of sea-bottom. Deep Sea News 28 June 2010

Pure science

MarBOL collection: A collection of open access papers published by PLoS ONE covering the DNA barcoding of marine organisms. Barcoding has proven a very valuable tool for estimating the actual number of organisms present in our marine ecosystems. This collection promises to be a great aid for anyone interested in coming up to speed in thte subject.

Seaweed ID refresher: The swollen ends of the fronds of many saeweeds are not air bladders… Sea Coast Online, June 30, 2010

Fish (re)emerge from the depths… This study looks at the Pacific leaping blenny (Alticus arnoldorum), that has undergone a series of adaptions resulting in their abandonning the water for most of their life-cycle, forraging and breeding on land! The study looks in particular at this fish’s tail-twisting behaviour, which propells it at great speed across the land. If land based evolution was to start again based on this propulsory innovation, our evolutionary equivalents might end up like Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout!
Hsieh S-TT (2010) A Locomotor Innovation Enables Water-Land Transition in a Marine Fish. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11197. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011197

Tracking fish: Radio beacons are a great way to track marine mammals – which periodically surface, allowing the beacon to broadcast information on the last dive – but they are not too useful for tracking fish that remain submerged. To get round this scientists are testing underwater gliders, which dive to collect information from tagged fish, then surface to relay this information back to base. Underwater gliders use very little power, and can operate for up to three months travelling at one mile per hour. ScienceDaily (June 23, 2010)

12 Deep sea biology symposium: The book of abstracts from this meeting is currently available in three parts, lots of stuff here of interest if you like your diving very deep and dark! A number of the research strands have previously been picked up through press releases.

Counting fish in the ocean’s deeps: Estimates of the numbers of fish in the hadal zone (below 6km in depth) have been made by measuring the times taken for fish to arrive at baited camera sites. The studies suggest that fish occur to greater depth than previously thought, and that the deep water species appear to be dominated by the liparids or ‘snailfish’. Snailfish are benthic dwellers, and examples occur at all depths in the world’s oceans. ScienceDaily (July 1, 2010)

What big teeth you have, grandma… Only three animals are known to suffer a menopause – killer whales, pilot whales and humans, and in all three animals this seems to be related to a well developed ‘grandmother’ role. In this older females assist younger females rear and protect their young. Pretty convincing evidence of strongly developed social behaviour in all three animals… ScienceDaily (July 2, 2010)

Leaders and followers: Three spined sticklebacks seem attracted to individuals who move confidently, and will tend to shoal after robotic fish that exhibit these characteristics. BBC 1 July 2010

Conservation

How to restore reefs? Tropical reefs seem to be increasingly at risk from damaging bleaching events, caused by extreme temperatures. As a consequence, conservationists are looking for ways to rehabilitate these damaged ecosystems. ScienceDaily (June 24, 2010)

Cost effective preservation of biodiversity: Can we protect more with less? – Authors here advocate redirecting resources and protection to the highest value sites. My one note of caution here is that in the marine ecosystem, do we know enough to identify these ‘most important’ sites? ScienceDaily (June 30, 2010)

To see short film which shows the wonderful life click on following link: protectchagos.org

As a local area group we try to inform, entertain and educate people about the wonderful marine life in the seas around Britain. We do this through a programme of talks and events – both within our own lecture series, (see our diary) but also to other groups by invitation.

For some years now presentations have been moving to electronic format – Powerpoint(R) and the like, and we have struggled to borrow equipment (thanks to everyone who has helped out!), and with compatibility issues. While we have never yet had to cancel a presentation due to total incompatibility between a speaker’s talk and the equipment to hand, it has come pretty close on a number of occasions…

As a consequence it is a great relief to announce that we have been awarded National Lottery Funding to purchase our own digital projector, laptop and the associated software. While it will take us a couple of weeks to get fully organised, we hope this is the end of pre-presentation worries!

A big thanks to the Big Lottery Fund, and to Jo for co-ordinating our application.

We finish on a few general papers that don’t fit into the two main themes for the week – living underwater, mapping the salmon genome, dolphins and ichthyosaurs. Finally, if you can only conserve one thing, what would it be? – This is the root of a difficult question facing coral reef conservators. Do you concentrate on the core of the reef? – science is starting to show that the fringes of the reef (an other eco-systems?) are more genetically diverse, and may offer a stronger pool of organisms better able to survive ongoing climatic change…

Oceanography focus

Phytoplankton blooms are one of the most important events in the ocean, some blooms consist of toxin producing species, but all are a vital component of the marine food chain! Despite their importance they are very difficult to model, as there is a complex interplay between nutrients (derived from land run-off, atmospheric precipitation and deep ocean currents etc.) and predators (starting with zooplankton, and working the way up to all of the other animals in the ocean). Scientists at the University of Glasgow beieve they have got a bit closer to being able to do this, using complex computer models of current patterns and mixing. ScienceDaily (June 22, 2010)

Polar oceans control tropical temperatures: Scientists have found a close link between changes in subpolar climate and the development of the modern tropical Pacific climate about 2 million years ago. The study looked at the levels of alkenones, produced by phytoplankton, in core samples. Phytoplankton adjust the amounts of the different alkenones they produce in response to temperature. The levels of these chemicals at different points along the core sample therefore reflect the temperature history of the location where the core was taken. From ScienceDaily (June 17, 2010)

How do we influence the chemistry of the oceans? The oceans are the ultimate sink for our agricultural, industrial and other consumer activities – even if they take place miles from the sea. This new report brings together many of the different strands of research following different pollutants as they make their way through the terrestrial and atmospheric systems into the oceans. The findings indicate that the pH of ocean waters is falling rapidly, due to carbon dioxide input, and fertilizer runoff is causing increasing problems with coastal hypoxia – where algal blooms that use up all of the oxygen in the water. ScienceDaily (June 21, 2010)

Changes to ocean chemistry threatens global ecosystem: How bad can it get? – With the oceans supplying 50% of our oxygen, and absorbing 30% of the carbon dioxide we are emitting, this emotive report suggests that it can get very bad indeed… ScienceDaily (June 19, 2010)

Western Med warms: Records from 1900 to present show that the Western Mediterranean has warmed consistently over the entire period. The warming appears to have accelerated since the 1970′s. THe scientists involved suggest that this is a good indicator/reflection of global climate change. ScienceDaily (June 18, 2010)

Antarctica should be in the spotlight: Claim scientists who are concerned that the oceans around this continent need to be better monitored. They report that 87% of the glaciers on the Western Peninsula are in retreat, and there is urgent need to monitor and understand what is happening. ScienceDaily (June 22, 2010)

How do oceanic currents work? The major currents of the world’s oceans are important in transporting surface water, but also influence ‘overturning’, where deeper water is brought to the surface (or vice versa). They are an essential component of the ocean/atmosphere dynamic model (also vital for phytoplankton blooms – see earlier). While the simple conveyor belt model does not appear to be incorrect, it is inadequate in explaining the dynamics of the process, particularly in response to wind stress on the ocean’s surface. As a consequence, current models are unable to predict overturning. New research is now planned to try an fill this gap in our understanding, in the hope that better models will aid our understanding of the global climatic system. ScienceDaily (June 20, 2010)

Tsunami warning: NASA has demonstrated a prototype system for improving Tsunami warnings. This satellite based system is able to track the displacement of sea level caused by the deep water wave with an accuracy of a couple of cm, good enough to predict the size of the tsunami. From ScienceDaily (June 14, 2010)

Freak waves: Waves at sea are extremely complex – being formed by dynamic combinations of waves from different directions, each with a different amplitude and wavelength. Every now and then these random combinations turn out an unexpectedly large and stable wave, which has the appearance of sweeping out of no-where. Such waves can be extremely damaging, sweeping away gear (and people) from apparently safe locations. Scientists are now been able to model these extreme occurrences. From ScienceDaily (June 17, 2010)

Marine pollution

Sea cucumber slaughter: Large numbers of dead seacucumbers have been found floating on the surface around the Deepwater Horizon oilspill site in the Gulf of Mexico. Sea cucumbers are benthic organisms, so rarely noticed when they suffer as a result of pollution. Possible reasons for the deaths are either direct toxicity of the oil, or oxygen depletion in the water column as the oil is metabolised by bacteria. From Scientific American, June 15, 2010

Seagrass relfects pollution levels in the Med: Meadows of seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) have been monitored in the Balearic islands, showing that the grass picks up heavy metal pollutants in the water. From ScienceDaily (June 17, 2010)

Antibiotic resistance prevalent in marine environment: When we think of pollution, we usually think of heavy metals or toxic polyaromatic compounds. An area we overlook is that of antobiotics – these are a small group of chemicals that are used heavily in both medicine and agriculture. They are very important to us medicinally, but the bacteria they are used against do have the capacity to develop resistance genetically. This resistance is a good measure of whether or not the bacteria have been exposed to the antibiotics in question. This recent study shows that seven species of fish and shark off Florida harboured antibiotic resistant bacteria… From From ScienceDaily (June 16, 2010)

Plastics at sea: Two tall sailing ships have been used by students to trawl for plastic in the North Atlantic. They were able to calculate from their results that levels of plastic contamination reached levels up to 200,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre. From BBC (24 February 2010) (via Deep Sea News)

Warfare ecology: What happens to munitions dumped at sea? – Amongst other things, they become habitats. Examples are the scuttled warships at Scappa Flow – which are essentially just shipwrecks, though their thick armour plating contributes to their survival as recogniseable structures. Other things, however, include live munitions and chemical weapons. These can make for unpleasant surprises for fishermen (Deep Sea News June 14th, 2010), though where mapped, exclusion zones become interesting and quite diverse ecologies. Leading to the sad conclusion that mustard gas can be less damaging than fisheries practice… From Deep Sea News March 12th, 2009

General marine science

Quick ichthyosaurs: Ichthyosaur and dollphin skeletons look very similar, reflecting a similar way of life as active hunters. The similarity between the two animals has been increased by this study which suggests that ichthyosaurs were warm blooded. From ScienceDaily (June 15, 2010)

Salmon genome approaches completion: The atlantic salmon is close to having its genome fully mapped, due to work by an international collaboration of scientists from Canada, Chile and Norway. From ScienceDaily (June 15, 2010)

Gas scrubber: Wire rings (‘Dixon rings’) and seawater have been used to strip carbon dioxide out of breathing air. The development is designed to scrub carbon dioxide out of the air in undersea habitats and submarines, and removes the need for caustic chemicals, which have to be periodically replaced. While the system is quite compact, it probably won’t appear in your re-breather this year. From ScienceDaily (June 17, 2010)

Coral reef protection hot-list: If you can only save some reefs, how do you prioritise? This report looks at the biodiversity of reef-biulding organisms in the Caribbean, and suggests that periferal reef sustems have more biodiversity, and may be better equipped genetically to cope with environmental changes. From ScienceDaily (June 21, 2010)

The Marine ID course on Wednesday 9th June looked at two of the most commonly found animals in the sea – starfish and the anemones, or to get more technical, echinoderms and cnidaria. The talks looked at the characteristic features of the two groups, and were beautifully illustrated with photographs of many different species, mostly taken by the speakers in UK waters. Thanks to Gordon and Ron for a couple of excellent presentations!

Marine life

The seal’s whiskers: The BBC reports that Harbour seals can spot fish 100m away – just by picking up vibrations through their whiskers! The research involved getting the seals to wear masks and headphones, to ensure that they couldn’t spot the fish any other way. The researchers reported that the seals were well bribed, and came to enjoy putting their goggles and head-phones on… From BBC News 11 June 2010

How sharks scent food: Sharks use scent to home in on prey, and they can do this by measuring the difference in time a scent reaches each nostril, so they know which direction the scent is coming from. Previously it had been thought that sharks followed scent gradients, heading towards where the scent is strongest. From ScienceDaily (June 10, 2010).

Crocodiles go with the flow: Estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) travel the world on ocean currents. The estuarine crocodile lives in mangroves and estuaries in South East Asia. Its large range has been a matter of interest, as it relies on land for food and water, and is not a strong swimmer. Recent tracking studies, however, have shown that this animal can ride surface currents between islands. Journeys of several hundred km seem to be quite common for individuals of this species, the timing of journeys indicate that it has some understanding of the tides, and possibly even seasonal currents. From ScienceDaily (June 7, 2010)

Chaetognaths give scientists the run-around: Fitting the Chaetognaths (or arrow worms) into the classification system is proving difficult, with even DNA analysis is showing conflicting results. This is at least partly due to the fact that the group splits off at the early period of species radiation when the deuterostomes (urochordata, including us, and echinoderms), true worms and the cnidaria all split apart. Mapping exactly when they split out is, however, proving difficult. There is a very nice video of an arrow worm feeding on this Japanese site ‘the biology of the chaetognaths‘.

Might these organisms be amongst the first macroscopic animals to show a complex poly-phylogenetic origin? – Probably not, but that would be very exciting!

The rude dolphin: We’re pretty sure that dolphins can talk to each other, but we don’t undertand much of what they are saying. Some sounds appear to be used to socialise, and may position themeselves within the social heirarchy, (perhaps a bit like identifying themeselves – my name is?). Others are used to coordinate hunting. One group of sounds appears to be associated with stand-offs between dolphins. These tell animals lower down the social heirarchy to move aside… From ScienceDaily (June 9, 2010)

Man and the sea – climate change, ecology and marine management

1m sea level rise by 2300? New predictions, based on measurements of current ice loss in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, give a range of between 0.5 and 1.5m rise in sea level by the end of the century, affecting 150 million people. From ScienceDaily (June 10, 2010)

How does environmental protection affect poverty? Environmental protection often comes at a cost, an activity is restricted or taxed. It is not obvious that this will help the poorest people in society, who are least able to cope with increased costs or restrictions on their fishing or farming practices. This podcast at Research Blogging reviews a paper that argues that environmental protection may indeed help alleviate poverty in some of the poorest areas of the world… (June 8th 2010)

0.1°C drop in temperature caused famin: A protracted la nina event in the Pacific, in which surface water temperatures fell by an average of 0.1°C was associated with the Great Famine from 1315 to 1320 in Europe. From ScienceDaily (June 9, 2010)

Three quarters of americans still believe in global warming: Results showed a small decrease in people convinced by global warming in this survey by Stanford, that has been repeated every year since 2006. Reasons for this may include the coldest winter for many decades, plus an increase in scepticism following the conduct of UK climate scientists at University of East Anglia. From ScienceDaily (June 9, 2010)

North America maps marine protected areas: Most countries are coming round to the idea that they are going to have to manage their marine ecosystems in partnership with neighbouring states, or see them be totally degraded. As part of the North American (Canada, Mexico and US) program, they have defined and mapped broad scale ecoregions, as well as the marine protected areas. The priority conservation areas defined are quite extensive, and each has a short description explaining why it should be conserved. Whether or not there is the political will to provide adequate protection for these areas remains to be seen. At a broader level, ecoregions are also defined, again with short descriptions of each, and the rational behind its definition. Maps and descriptiona can be downloaded as KML files for Google Earth.

Bugs eat oil: A new bacterial strain has been discovered that is particularly good at eating polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – some of the most toxic components of oil spills. Oddly the strain is from the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa; this species is better known for serious hospital infections, though neither hospitals nor humans are its natural environment. Of course the natural degredation of oil spills relies on many species of bacteria. One of the problems with the deep sea spill in the Gulf of Mexico is that as the oil is eaten by bacteria the oxygen in the water column is getting used up, making it hard of other organisms to survive. From ScienceDaily (June 11, 2010)

Biotech opportunities in Irish waters: Scientists have recently sampled marine habitats from the edge of the Irish continental shelf at depths between 400 and 3000m. Using an ROV (remote operated vehicle), they mapped habitats and took samples for later study and identification. The advantage of the ROV is that it could sample life in canyons, nooks and crevices that are traditionally difficult to sample with corers or trawl nets. Despite the claims of the biotechnologicl importance, it looks like the study was more concerned with sensible science – monitoring nutrient flows in these habitats, for example, though they may discover some interesting compounds amongst the samples materials! From ScienceDaily (June 11, 2010)

Swimming approx. SW from the jetty towards the middle of the channel, initially over  a sea bed of cobbles covered with tube worms, common winkles and dog whelks with numerous clumps of dog whelk eggs.  At about 4 metres deep the bed changed to small boulders with a dense  covering of  various seaweeds which included sea lettuce and  bootlace weed.  continuing downward at minus 6 metres the weed  disappeared  to be replaced on the boulders by a number of species of sponge. Between the boulders were many varied and different animals including peacock worms, anemones, and various species of crab.  After a short distance the sea bed changed again to  pebbles with hard mud patches, this continued to max. depth of dive at 10.3 metres. There was still lots of life to see on this gentle slope, including hermit crabs, whelks, anemones and the greater pipe fish. The pipe fish were quite common at all depths through-out the dive. On this deeper part of the dive there were many common starfish, a large number with parts of arms missing.  They had not been shed, more like cut or torn off, the detached parts were also strewn over the sea bed. All in all an excellent and very interesting dive.

Dry and salty: Scientists analysing the lst 500 years worth of climatic data for the Baltic have found that warmer periods result in less rainfall in the Baltic catchment area, so resulting in an increase in salinity in the Baltic. From ScienceDaily (May 31, 2010)

Responding to light: One of the mysteries of spring is being revealed, as scientists uncover the molecular machinery that tells plants to green up and grow! The trigger compound is phytochrome, which is composed of two molecules. Phytochrome had previously evaded structural analysis due to its floppy/dynamic nature. The study reveals a switch that is sensitive to single photons, changing the contact area between the component molecules in response to photons from the red or far red region of the spectrum. From ScienceDaily (June 1, 2010)

A personal account of why one scientist is interested in nudibranchs: The photos are from warm waters in the US, but there are plenty of pretty UK nudibranchs. By Terry Gosliner, Scientist at Work, June 1st 2010

Sahara, dust and … slime? Dust blown off the Sahara desert carries important nutrients, such as iron, that are scarce in the open ocean. It has only recently been reported, however, that this dust can have a considerable impact on the composition of marine bacterial communities. Measurements were carried out by scientists from the University of Southampton, who were fortunate enough to be on a research cruise when a dust cloud settled over their ship! From ScienceDaily (June 2, 2010)

Smithsonian Ocean Portal: This new site offers a range of educational resources including: Marine Ecosystems (great white shark and coral reefs plus a selection of species from the ‘Encyclopedia of Life’), Photo Essays (making a native Alaskan’s canoe, whale tale), the Ocean over time (whale evolution, top predators), Ocean science (Moorea, Deep Ocean Exploration), the Ocean and You (sustainable seafood, climate change), For Educators (teacher resource packs).

All multi-media packages suffer form having high production costs, making it difficult to bring together a lot of material. This site is focussed on children (who should find something to enjoy) and educators (who may find something useful). I thought some of the links chosen to the Encyclopedia of Life were excellent (I liked the sea pig – which is sensational!) and likely to engage children with some of the broader sweep of marine life (there is more to it than sharks, coral and whales!).

Ecology of shearwaters: Sooty (Puffinus griseus) and short tailed (Puffinus tenuirostris) shearwaters have been tracked in the Southern Oceans. This tracking data has been compared with trawl catches and oceanographic data to evaluate how shearwaters were managing their foraging. It was found that the shearwaters were concentrating on areas of upwelling, which correspond to high abundance of copepods and fish. Raymond B, Shaffer SA, Sokolov S, Woehler EJ, Costa DP, et al. (2010) Shearwater Foraging in the Southern Ocean: The Roles of Prey Availability and Winds. PLoS ONE 5(6): e10960. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010960

Oil pollution around the world: The Times of India documents damage to Karwat beach from oil pollution. The source of the pollution is a bit of a mystery, but it may have originated from a ship, the Ocean Seria, which had been salvaged 5km off the beach about three years previously.

Fishermen taught biology based approaches to fisheries management: Fisheries the world over are in very bad shape. Unfortunately they are also essential sources of protein for many communities. It is, therefore, good to see the NOAA sponsoring summer courses around the world to teach students better fisheries management techniques. Better (or even some) management can only improve the marine ecosystem to the benefit of everyone conrned. From the Saipan Tribune June 7 2010.

Grim reading: After any major oil spill comes a rescue attempt for the many oil drenched birds – but is there a successful treatment for their condition? This blog post is biased towards cleaning, but introduces some of the grim statistics – exactly how unlikely birds are to survive for long after this experience. What we cannot do is allow ourselves is the luxury of believing that because we ‘clean up after ourselves’, the disaster has somehow been made to go away…

What happens to all of that oil? The Deepwater Horizon is in such deep water that only a fraction of the oil released makes it to the surface. A lot is held in suspension in the water column, either by the physical conditions of depth and pressure, or by the dispersants added to try and hide the mess. Scientists are getting increasingly uneasy about the effects of this hidden oil, hovering in the water column it can spread over a very wide area and may cause considerable damage to a wide range of ecosystems. From ScienceDaily (June 6, 2010)

Knock-on effects: Damsel-fish cultivate gardens of algae (their principle food source), but these gardens over-grow coral reef, and kill the underlying coral. The increase in numbers of damsels in the Caribbean had been blamed on overfishing of their predators, but an alternative theory has now been postulated. In this it is found that damsels prefer staghorn corals, and their activity in this coral is not as damaging as on other coral species. Unfortunately staghorn corals are currently in short supply due to disease and hurricane damage. From ScienceDaily (June 6, 2010)

Diversity strengthens fisheries: Studies on the commercially important sockeye salmon fisheries in Alaska indicate that reduced biodiversity in the Bristol Bay Sockeye salmon population would result in ten times as many closures for the fisheries. This would result in the fisheries being closed every two or three years, rather than the historic average of once every 25 years. A larger diversity in the population means that it can make better use of what resources are available – low temperatures, or mis-timing the breeding of food source only catches a part of the population, most continue to thrive. The study emphasises the importance of maintaining a large healthy stock of fish, and habitats, to ensure a thriving fishing industry. From ScienceDaily (June 1, 2010)

Following an elephant: Three ton elephant seals on King George Island, Antarctica, have been fitted with trackers that have allowed scientists to follow them about their daily business. Elephant seals spend six months of each year at sea, travelling thousands of kilometers in their feeding grounds, and diving to depths of two kilometers in search of food. Dives can last an hour! The tracking devices were developed in St Andrews, and should be able to follow the seals for a year, until they next moult. From ScienceDaily (June 7, 2010)