By Kevin Reagan, SRC Intern Twenty years ago the term “shifting baselines” was explored and coined by a fisheries scientist named Daniel Pauly in his paper titled “Anecdotes and the shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries.” This term is used to describe the idea that with each successive generation, in this case speaking of generations of fisheries scientists, the […]
By Melissa Soto, SRC Intern A small dose of nature can go a long way. Studies show that exposure to nature has a significant calming and stress reducing effect on humans. A recent study published in the United Kingdom examined how people’s behavior, physiological, and psychological reactions varied when exposed to an aquarium. The researchers recorded […]
by Robbie Roemer, SRC student It is sometimes hard to comprehend animals besides humans, have the ability to ‘socially learn’ having complex social structures within their animal community. But such is the case with a variety of species including: lemon sharks (Guttridge et al. 2012; Guttridge et al. 2009), a variety of marine mammals (Krützen […]
By William Evans, SRC Intern When most people think about aquaculture, commonly known as fish farming, they automatically assume that it is the culturing of the different types of fish that we commonly see in our local supermarkets like salmon and tilapia. In 2008, only 37% of the total global fish supply was provided by aquaculture […]
By Shannon Moorhead, SRC Intern In recent years, it has become apparent that increased CO2 emissions have farther reaching consequences than simply raising the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere. A significant amount of CO2 is absorbed by the ocean, which raises its acidity through chemical reactions with water molecules. This process, termed ocean acidification, has a large […]
By Casey Dresbach, SRC Intern Integrated models can simulate the ecological, social, and economic consequences of different marine management approaches. In this study, a dynamic reef biophysical model is linked with human behavior models for the coral reef ecosystem of Guam (jcpag2012, 2012). Researchers, Mariska Weijerman, Cynthia Grace-McCaskey, Shanna L. Grafeld, Dawn M. Kotowicz Kirsten L.L. […]
By Rachel Skubel, SRC Intern When conserving species, considering the human dimension is generally essential to a successful trajectory. More and more, as our cities expand on land, and access to the ocean increases, there is inextricable overlap. In some cases, conservation efforts are inherently linked with having these animals around – for example trophy hunting […]
By Casey Dresbach, SRC Intern On the fairly windy and overcast morning of December 3rd, the SRC team and honorary audience members set sail on yet another successful venture. The SRC team and I met at Crandon Park at 8 AM, along with high school students from Hialeah High School, and a very special guest, […]
By Casey Dresbach, SRC Intern Krill (Euphausia superba) are small crustaceans found in all of the world’s oceans. They rely on small phytoplankton, single-celled plants as their food source that drift near the ocean’s surface. The tiny primary consumers rest at the bottom of the ecological marine food pyramid yet are key to the diets hundreds of […]
By Laura Vander Meiden, SRC Intern Over the next 35-40 years polar bear populations have the potential to decrease by more than 30% according to an assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The report cites climate change and the resulting loss of sea ice as the cause of this probable decline. […]