By Molly Rickles, SRC intern Bluefin tuna is a highly migratory species that can live up to 30 years, currently are listed as endangered under the International Union for the conservation of nature (IUCN; Collette et al. 2011). This is due to the fact that the demand for Bluefin tuna has risen dramatically since 1980, […]
By Luisa Gil Diaz, SRC intern Climate change is becoming an ever-more pressing concern. The concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has rapidly increased to about 400 ppm in 2015; this is the highest it’s been 800,000 years (Luthi et al., 2008). When we think about the effects these high concentrations have on our earth’s […]
By Olivia Schuitema, SRC intern Over Earth’s history, there have been at least five mass extinctions in addition to other minor-scale extinctions (Bambach et al. 2004). The causes of such extinctions are varied, but many be associated with global climate variability (Doney et al. 2012). One article points to large-scale volcanism associated with global warming, […]
By Rachael Ragen, SRC intern Marine animals face many forms of pollution, but one of the less obvious forms that has potentially dangerous effects is noise pollution. Humans have always established civilizations near the water, but humans continue to explore further into the ocean and discover new resources. This shift brings a large amount of […]
By Nicole Suren, SRC Intern Light availability is one of the most important factors in the success of visual foraging. It can be controlled by many variables such as turbidity or weather, but in polar ecosystems ice cover and seasonality are the primary controls for light availability. Climate change has had and will continue to […]
By Rachael Ragen Polar bears are currently facing a major problem: declining sea ice. As greenhouse gases continue to increase due to anthropogenic factors causing temperatures to rise and ice to melt. Since polar bears rely on sea ice as they search for prey, the decline in sea ice makes hunting much more difficult. The […]
By Haley Kilgour, SRC Intern With global climate change in effect the Arctic ice sheet has been losing area and has gone from 7.5 million km^2 in 1979 to 4 million km^2 in 2016 (Figure 1). The loss of ice coverage is detrimental to many species, but on the other hand opens up areas to […]
By Casey Dresbach, SRC Intern The top worldwide providers of ecosystem services of both leisure and recreation include coastal areas such as beaches and estuaries (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). These natural environments are home to hundreds of thousands of marine organisms, all of which require clean domains to flourish, thrive, and grow in. Unfortunately, human […]
By Grant Voirol, SRC Intern Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, are both an economically and ecologically important organism. An anadromous fish, Atlantic salmon spend most of their lives at sea before swimming into freshwater rivers to spawn. While at sea, Atlantic salmon periodically migrate to depths deeper than 10 meters. One proposed model of their diving […]
By Andriana Fragola, SRC Intern This paper examines the behavior of the Wandering Albatross (WA) and Black-Browed Albatross (BBA), and how they are affected by the toothfish longline fleet in Kerguelen and Crozet (Collet et al. 2017). To do this, lightweight GPS loggers were attached to adult albatrosses of both species to track their movements. […]