Environment

December, 2012

• 18 December

  Fish have huge nutrient impacts on marine ecosystems

  

  Fish play a far more important role as contributors of nutrients to marine ecosystems than previously thought, according to researchers at the University of Georgia and Florida International University. In a pair of papers in the journal Ecology, they show that fish contribute more nutrients to their local ecosystems than …
• 13 December

  Corals may leave warm oceans

  

  There is growing scientific concern that corals could retreat from  equatorial seas and oceans as the Earth continues to warm, a team of international marine researchers have warned. Working on clues in the fossil coral record from the last major episode of global warming, the period between the last two …
• 11 December

  The SSS Sam Simon is unveiled in Hobart, Tasmania

  

  After months of speculation, anticipation and the announcement that Los Angeles-based philanthropist and co-creator of TV’s “The Simpsons,” Sam Simon, had donated funds for the purchase of a ship, Sea Shepherd”s new Antarctic patrol ship, the SSS Sam Simon, was unveiled today in the port of Hobart, Tasmania, docked at Macquarie …

November, 2012

• 30 November

  Arctic permafrost is melting faster than predicted

  

  We may be closer to a major climate tipping point than we knew. Earth”s permafrost – frozen soil that covers nearly a quarter of the northern hemisphere and traps vast amounts of carbon – may be melting faster than thought and releasing more potent greenhouse gasses. The United Nations Environment …
• 27 November

  World on ‘borrowed time’, UN climate body warned

  

  Humans may be able to avert major environmental catastrophes that now loom if we learn to make better use of “borrowed time”, an eminent marine biologist will tell the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra tomorrow. “There is mounting evidence that we have already passed or may soon pass several …
• 26 November

  Antarctic marine wildlife is under threat, study finds

  

  Marine snails in seas around Antarctica are being affected by ocean acidification, scientists have found. An international team of researchers found that the snails” shells are being corroded. Experts says the findings are significant for predicting the future impact of ocean acidification on marine life. The results of the study …
• 16 November

  At least one-third of marine species remain undescribed

  

  At least one-third of the species that inhabit the world”s oceans may remain completely unknown to science. That”s despite the fact that more species have been described in the last decade than in any previous one, according to a report published online on November 15 in the Cell Press publication …
• 16 November

  Mangroves under threat from shrimp farms

  

  Valuable mangrove forests that protect coastlines, sustain sealife and help slow climate change are being wrecked by the spread of shrimp and fish farms, a UN-backed study showed. About a fifth of mangroves worldwide have been lost since 1980, mostly because of clearance to make way for the farms which …
• 10 November

  International tuna meeting to decide bluefin’s fate

  

  As nations gather next week in Morocco to decide future bluefin tuna catch limits, the Center for Biological Diversity today called on the delegates to cap catch limits for these tuna, which are threatened by overfishing. The Center, which launched a nationwide boycott of bluefin tuna after the last international …
• 9 November

  Seaweed-threatened corals send chemical SOS to fish

  

  When a killer seaweed touches a kind of spiky coral, the coral pushes a chemical panic button that brings small resident fish to the rescue. Unchecked, seaweed algae can overrun a coral reef, as the community dwindles in “a descent into slime,” says marine ecologist Mark Hay of the Georgia …
• 8 November

  Large numbers of salmon are killed by parasites, finds new study

  

  The study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, involved experts at the University of St Andrews and is the first evidence of the full impact of sea lice on salmon mortality levels. Professor Christopher Todd, of the Scottish Oceans Institute at St Andrews, was part of an …
• 6 November

  Warming temperatures cause aquatic animals to shrink most: study

  

  Warmer temperatures cause greater reduction in the adult sizes of aquatic animals than in land-dwellers, according to a new study by scientists from Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Liverpool. The research, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that the body size …