Grazing rings around reefs have the potential to be used as a tool for monitoring reef health, but first, scientists have to figure out what factors govern halo size differences.
ecosystems
Posted inNews
Global Warming Hits Marine Life Hardest
The lack of thermal refugia in the ocean means marine life has nowhere to escape from rising sea temperatures.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Modeling River Boulders to Improve Hydropower Sustainability
Large stones in streams provide crucial habitat for fish. Modeling the boulders and streamflow offers fresh insights into how water engineering projects alter aquatic habitats.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Understanding Stream Metabolism with Reactive Tracers
When the blue dye resazurin encounters living microorganisms, it transforms into fluorescent pink resorufin and helps scientists understand ecosystem respiration, but it has its limitations.
Posted inOpinions
Science in This Century Needs People
An ecologist built an army of beach surveyors over 20 years and now has the world’s largest data set of marine bird mortality informing climate change and disaster studies.
Posted inNews
The Ice Nurseries of the Arctic Are Melting
Ice formed in coastal nurseries along Russia’s Arctic coast is melting before it can float far offshore. Scientists are worried about what that means for wildlife.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Topography and Microclimate Shape Tree Ring Growth
Wizened bristlecone pines in California reveal past climate trends, and new research shows how slight variations in landscape position drive different growth patterns in trees’ annual rings.
Posted inScience Updates
Monitoring Ecosystem Health in India’s Food Basket
A new critical zone observatory in India’s Ganga Basin helps researchers and farmers understand and improve the ways that human activities shape environmental processes.
Posted inScience Updates
Making the First National Seafloor Habitat Map
Seamap Australia integrates seafloor maps with information on plant and animal habitats, environmental stressors, and resource management to create a first-of-its-kind resource.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Eddies Influence Productivity in the Subtropical Open Ocean
Ocean eddies may help recycle nutrients within giant current systems that encircle “desert” surface waters.