By Jacob Jerome, RJD Intern Despite a frigid winter in a large portion of the U.S., global climate change is upon us and average global temperatures are increasing. Many of us think about how climate change will affect us personally, but forget that it affects marine species too, especially those that are threatened or endangered. […]
By Jacob Jerome, RJD Graduate Student and Intern It’s never hard to get up early knowing that I’m going out on the water with the amazing RJD crew, and Saturday morning was no exception. Driving over to Key Biscayne I was excited to board the Diver’s Paradise and get the gear loaded for the trip […]
By Patrick Goebel, RJD Intern It is always pleasant waking up to your alarm on a shark tagging day. My alarm went off at 5:30am and in no time I was on my way to Miami. I met the team around 7:30 am at Diver’s Paradise. We loaded the boat and set off to pick […]
By Hannah Calich, RJD Graduate Student and Intern Prior to 2003, when someone wanted to identify a biological specimen they would examine its morphological features (such as the shape, size, or colour of specific body parts). However, identification wasn’t possible with degraded specimens. To combat this, in 2003 Paul Hebert proposed “DNA barcoding” as a […]
by Heather Alberro, RJD Intern Phytoplankton, microscopic marine photosynthetic organisms, have a vastly significant role to play not only in the marine food web of which they’re part of, but also on a more global scale. Despite their infinitely small size in comparison to other marine organisms, these tiny creatures occupy an immensely important ecological […]
by Hannah Armstrong, RJD Intern More than 25% of the world’s fishery populations are considered overexploited or depleted, and 40% are heavily to fully exploited (Dayton PK, Sala E, Tegner MJ, Thrush S). In fact, some marine organisms have been driven extinct by human activity, while others remain close to extinction (Dayton PK, Sala E, […]
by Hanover Matz, RJD Intern While global climate change is often the environmental concern at the forefront of the discussion about greenhouse gas emissions, ocean acidification is a marine conservation issue just as closely tied to the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) humans have put into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. It is […]
by Hannah Calich, RJD Graduate Student and Intern North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are among the most endangered species of marine mammals in the world. Their Endangered status is largely due to the fact that they were heavily targeted by the whaling industry for over 300 years. During that time it is estimated that […]
by Pat Goebel, RJD Intern In the South Pacific, periodically harvested fisheries closures are often implemented as a conservation and fisheries management tool. This is an important management tool because it allows resource users a greater say in the development and enforcement of rules, which in turn will lead to a successful fisheries management. Periodically […]
by Michelle Martinek, RJD Intern The volcanic black sand beaches of Guatemala’s southeastern coast are usually a vision of natural beauty for residents and visitors, but lately they have been witness to a tragic event- the mass stranding of sea turtles. According to a statement released by the wildlife rescue and conservation association, ARCAS, eighty […]