Study: U.S. Equipped To Grow Serious Pond Scum For Fuel; 'Part Of The Solution To Our Energy Needs'
Richland, Washington - May 23, 2013 19:44 EST
A new analysis shows that the nation's land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country's yearly...

Study Reveals How Fishing Gear Can Cause Slow Death Of Whales; 'Added Buoyancy, Added Drag, And Reduced Swimming Speed'
Woods Hole, Massachusetts - May 21, 2013 19:24 EST
Using a "patient monitoring" device attached to a whale entangled in fishing gear, scientists showed for the first time how fishing lines changed a whale's diving and swimming behavior. The monitoring revealed how fishing gear hinders whales' ability to eat...

Study: Amazon River Exhales Virtually All Carbon Taken Up By Rain Forest; 'Rivers Were Once Thought Of As Passive Pipes'
Seattle, Washington - May 20, 2013 19:06 EST
The Amazon rain forest, popularly known as the lungs of the planet, inhales carbon dioxide as it exudes oxygen. Plants use carbon dioxide from the air to grow parts that eventually fall to the ground to decompose or get washed...

Scientists Discover New Bass Species In Florida; 'It Found Us'
Tallahassee, Florida - May 7, 2013 19:53 EST
Scientists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) have uncovered a new species of black bass in the southeastern United States. Scientists have proposed naming the new species the Choctaw bass and recommended the scientific name ofMicropterus haiaka....

Scientists Uncover Relationship Between Lavas Erupting On Sea Floor And Deep-Carbon Cycle
Washington, D.C. - May 2, 2013 17:10 EST
Scientists from the Smithsonian and the University of Rhode Island have found unsuspected linkages between the oxidation state of iron in volcanic rocks and variations in the chemistry of the deep Earth. Not only do the trends run counter to...

Research: Health Defects Found In Fish Exposed To Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill; Effect 'Can Take Time To Emerge'
Davis, California - May 1, 2013 14:33 EST
Three years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, crude oil toxicity continues to sicken a sentinel Gulf Coast fish species, according to new findings from a research team that includes a University of California, Davis,...

NOAA: Sea Surface Temperatures Reach Highest Level In 150 Years On Northeast Continental Shelf; 'The Ecosystem Is Changing'
Woods Hole, Massachusetts - Apr 26, 2013 19:42 EST
Sea surface temperatures in the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem during 2012 were the highest recorded in 150 years, according to the latest Ecosystem Advisory issued by NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). These high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are...

'Flipperbot' And Baby Sea Turtles Reveal Principles Of Motion In 'Complex, Yielding Substrates'
Atlanta, Georgia - Apr 26, 2013 19:26 EST
For sea turtle hatchlings struggling to reach the ocean, success may depend on having flexible wrists that allow them to move without disturbing too much sand. A similar wrist also helps a robot known as "FlipperBot" move through a test...

Biologist Reveals Why Guppies Jump: To Get To The Other Side Of The Stream
College Park, Maryland - Apr 25, 2013 19:38 EST
If you've owned a pet guppy, you know they often jump out of their tanks. Many a child has asked why the guppy jumped; many a parent has been stumped for an answer. Now a study by University of Maryland...

Scientists: 'Surprise' As Bottom-Dwelling Goosefish Eat Deep-Diving Puffins
Woods Hole, Massachusetts - Apr 11, 2013 21:11 EST
A recent study has shown that bottom-dwelling goosefish, also known as monkfish, prey on dovekies, a small Arctic seabird and the smallest member of the puffin family. To understand how this deep-water fish finds a shallow-feeding bird in offshore waters,...

Scientists: Record-Breaking Bloom In Lake Erie Triggered By 'Perfect Storm' Of Events; Factors 'All Related To Humans'
Arlington, Virginia - Apr 11, 2013 20:53 EST
A 2011 record-breaking algae bloom in Lake Erie was triggered by long-term agricultural practices coupled with extreme precipitation, followed by weak lake circulation and warm temperatures, scientists have discovered. The researchers also predict that, unless agricultural policies change, the lake...

Expert: Gulf Of Mexico Has Greater-Than-Believed Ability To Self-Cleanse Oil Spills
New Orleans, Louisiana - Apr 11, 2013 20:44 EST
The Gulf of Mexico may have a much greater natural ability to self-clean oil spills than previously believed, an expert in bioremediation said here today at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's...

Scientists Seeks Sea Urchin's Secret To Surviving Ocean Acidification; 'Almost No Negative Effects'
Palo Alto, California - Apr 9, 2013 21:00 EST
Stanford scientists have discovered that some purple sea urchins living along the coast of California and Oregon have the surprising ability to rapidly evolve in acidic ocean water – a capacity that may come in handy as climate change increases...

Record-Breaking 2011 Lake Erie Algae Bloom May Be Sign Of Things To Come
Ann Arbor, Michigan - Apr 4, 2013 17:52 EST
The largest harmful algae bloom in Lake Erie's recorded history was likely caused by the confluence of changing farming practices and weather conditions that are expected to become more common in the future due to climate change. Rather than an isolated,...

Researchers Unveil Large Robotic Jellyfish That One Day Could Patrol Oceans
Blacksburg, Virginia - Mar 28, 2013 19:25 EST
Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds. The prototype robot, nicknamed Cyro, is a larger model of...

Scientists Confirm First-Ever Two-Headed Bull Shark; Connection To Deepwater Horizon Spill Denied
East Lansing, Michigan - Mar 25, 2013 17:03 EST
Scientists have confirmed the discovery of the first-ever, two-headed bull shark. The study, led by Michigan State University and appearing in the Journal of Fish Biology, confirmed the specimen, found in the Gulf of Mexico April 7, 2011, was a single...

Study: Humans Drastically Altering Wild Stingray Behavior; 'Interactive Ecotourism' Questioned
Fort Launderdale, Florida - Mar 19, 2013 20:45 EST
Stingrays living in one of the world's most famous and heavily visited ecotourism sites — Stingray City/Sandbar in the Cayman Islands — have profoundly changed their ways, raising questions about the impact of so-called "interactive ecotourism" on marine wildlife, reports...

Scientists: Ocean Plankton Sponge Up Nearly Twice The Carbon Currently Assumed; 'It's So Important'
Irving, California - Mar 17, 2013 19:38 EST
Models of carbon dioxide in the world's oceans need to be revised, according to new work by UC Irvine and other scientists published online Sunday in Nature Geoscience. Trillions of plankton near the surface of warm waters are far more...

Researchers: 'Dirty Blizzard' In Gulf May Account For Missing Deepwater Horizon Oil
Tallahassee, Florida - Mar 16, 2013 20:02 EST
Oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill acted as a catalyst for plankton and other surface materials to clump together and fall to the sea floor in a massive sedimentation event that researchers are calling a "dirty blizzard." Jeff Chanton, the...

Eel Migration Study Reveals Porbeagle Shark Predation In The Gulf Of St. Lawrence
Halifax, Canada - Mar 13, 2013 22:50 EST
A tagging study has revealed that porbeagle sharks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence could severely impact the number of migrating American eels in the region. Canadian researchers tagged eight adult eels in the St. Lawrence River as part of...

Scientists: Glaciers Contribute Significant Iron To North Atlantic Ocean; More Than 'A Big Block Of Ice'
Woods Hole, Massachusetts - Mar 12, 2013 19:32 EST
All living organisms rely on iron as an essential nutrient. In the ocean, iron's abundance or scarcity means all the difference as it fuels the growth of plankton, the base of the ocean's food web. A new study by biogeochemists and...

Researcher Discovers Plankton Adjusts To Changing Ocean Temperatures By 'Altering The Rhythm Of Its Pulsing Appendage'
Lubbock, Texas - Mar 11, 2013 15:03 EST
Imagine trying to swim through a pool of honey. Because of their small size, this is what swimming in water is like for tiny marine plankton. So, it was often assumed they would be easy prey, especially in the dense...

Scientists Tracking Sediments' Fate In Largest-Ever Dam Removal; 'This Is A Chance To Document A 100-Year Storm'
Seattle, Washington - Mar 8, 2013 19:53 EST
Salmon are beginning to swim up the Elwha River for the first time in more than a century. But University of Washington marine geologists are watching what's beginning to flow downstream – sediments from the largest dam-removal project ever undertaken....

Scientists Breaking The Rules For How Tsunamis Work; 'We Are Still Trying To Understand The Implications'
Los Angeles, California - Mar 7, 2013 13:50 EST
The earthquake zones off of certain coasts—like those of Japan and Java—make them especially vulnerable to tsunamis, according to a new study. They can produce a focusing point that creates massive and devastating tsunamis that break the rules for how...

Scientists Create New Maps Depicting Potential Worldwide Coral Bleaching By 2056
Miami, Florida - Feb 25, 2013 20:04 EST
In a study published today in Nature Climate Change researchers used the latest emissions scenarios and climate models to show how varying levels of carbon emissions are likely to result in more frequent and severe coral bleaching events. Large-scale 'mass'...

Study Uncovers Widespread Seafood Fraud Nationwide; 'No One Is Safe'
Washington, D.C. - Feb 21, 2013 20:48 EST
Oceana, the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world's oceans, uncovered widespread seafood fraud across the United States, according to a new report released today. In one of the largest seafood fraud investigations in the world to...

Report: Number Of Shark Attacks At 12-Yr High; 'Human-Causative Factors Are Involved'
Gainesville, Florida - Feb 11, 2013 20:44 EST
Shark attacks in the U.S. reached a decade high in 2012, while worldwide fatalities remained average, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File report released today. The U.S. saw an upturn in attacks with 53, the most since...

Research: Magnetic Map Guides Salmon Home; 'They Imprint The Magnetic Field'
Corvallis, Oregon - Feb 7, 2013 18:28 EST
The mystery of how salmon navigate across thousands of miles of open ocean to locate their river of origin before journeying upstream to spawn has intrigued biologists for decades, and now a new study may offer a clue to the...

Tapeworm Eggs Discovered In 270 Million Year Old Fossil Shark Feces
Rio Grande, Brazil - Jan 30, 2013 17:35 EST
A cluster of tapeworm eggs discovered in 270-million-year-old fossilized shark feces suggests that intestinal parasites in vertebrates are much older than previously known, according to research published January 30 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Paula Dentzien-Dias and...

Bite Back: New Study Calls For Society To Change The Way We Refer To Shark Behavior; No 'Attacks'
Sarasota, Florida - Jan 29, 2013 17:58 EST
The term "shark attack" is typically used by the media, government officials, researchers and the public to describe almost any kind of human-shark interaction — even those where no contact or injury occurs between humans and sharks. Now, Christopher Neff of...

Study: Salmon Runs Boom, Go Bust Over Centuries; No 'Signal Of Commercial Fishing' In Trends
Seattle, Washington - Jan 14, 2013 21:10 EST
Salmon runs are notoriously variable: strong one year, and weak the next. New research shows that the same may be true from one century to the next. Scientists in the past 20 years have recognized that salmon stocks vary not...

Researcher: Florida Manatee Deaths Wane Due To Mild Winter
Tallahassee, Florida - Jan 8, 2013 19:19 EST
Researchers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) documented fewer manatee deaths in 2012 than in the previous three years, as milder winter temperatures led to significantly less cold-related mortality. The FWC recorded 392 manatee carcasses in state...

Study: Waterfall-Climbing Fish Use Same Mechanism To Climb Waterfalls And Eat Algae
Clemson, South Carolina - Jan 4, 2013 17:57 EST
Going against the flow is always a challenge, but some waterfall-climbing fish have adapted to their extreme lifestyle by using the same set of muscles for both climbing and eating, according to research published January 4 in the open access...

Sylvia Earle 'Delighted' To Join Board Of Advisors Of Ocean-Themed Web Media Property Theblu.com
Los Angeles, California - Jan 4, 2013 17:50 EST
Going against the flow is always a challenge, but some waterfall-climbing fish have adapted to their extreme lifestyle by using the same set of muscles for both climbing and eating, according to research published January 4 in the open access...

Study: Groundwater, Stream Water Dissolving Hawaiian Islands
Salt Lake City, Utah - Dec 21, 2012 19:37 EST
Someday, Oahu's Koolau and Waianae mountains will be reduced to nothing more than a flat, low-lying island like Midway. But erosion isn't the biggest culprit. Instead, scientists say, the mountains of Oahu are actually dissolving from within. "We tried to figure out...

Researchers Find Injured Coral Have Less Sex; 'they Don't Necessarily Look Damaged'
Buffalo, New York - Dec 17, 2012 21:46 EST
Coral colonies that suffered tissue damage in The Bahamas were still producing low numbers of eggs four years after the injuries occurred, according to new research by University at Buffalo scientists. Tiny sperm-producing factories called spermaries were also in short...

Florida: Dolphin Found Dead After Swallowing Fishing Gear; 'Her Stomach Was Full Of Fish'
Sarasota, Florida - Dec 11, 2012 21:22 EST
A local bottlenose dolphin was found dead Saturday, Dec. 8, in Venice Inlet and examined by Mote Marine Laboratory scientists, who report that it most likely died from swallowing fishing gear. This case serves as a reminder to keep waterways...

Study: Mercury In Coastal Fog Linked To Upwelling Of Deep Ocean Water; 'Parts-Per-Trillion Levels'
Santa Cruz, California - Dec 4, 2012 20:33 EST
An ongoing investigation of elevated mercury levels in coastal fog in California suggests that upwelling of deep ocean water along the coast brings mercury to the surface, where it enters the atmosphere and is absorbed by fog. Peter Weiss-Penzias, an environmental...

NOAA Proposes Listing 66 Reef-Building Coral Species Under The Endangered Species Act
Washington, D.C. - Nov 30, 2012 20:26 EST
In compliance with a federal court ordered deadline, and consistent with existing international protections, NOAA Fisheries announced today that it is proposing Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings for 66 coral species, including 59 in the Pacific and seven in the...

Study: Dispersants Used During Gulf Of Mexico Clean-Up Made Spill 52-Times More Toxic
Atlanta, Georgia - Nov 30, 2012 19:27 EST
If the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon spill was a ecological disaster, the two million gallons of dispersant used to clean it up apparently made it even...