By Samantha Orndorff, SRC intern Global fisheries have long been fundamental in molding cultural identities, maintaining economic sustainability, and providing a reliable source for food production. The distribution and production of food, such as that generated from fisheries, is responsible for a quarter of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Parker et. al 2018). As climate […]
By Delaney Reynolds, SRC intern Logically, one might think that as a population of predators increases, the population of its prey decreases. This has been found to hold true for all species, including corals and their predators (corallivores). Larger, more recognizable corallivores, such as the crown-of-thorn sea star and horn drupe snail, can very negatively […]
By Chelsea Black, SRC MS Student Submerged structures such as ships, steel frames, or boulders placed on the seafloor deliberately to mimic attributes of a natural habitat are known as artificial reefs (ARs). Since the development of the National Fishing Enhancement Act of 1984, most AR construction in the United States has been focused on […]
By Chris Schenker, SRC intern Lobster could be considered one of the most important U.S. fisheries, comprising over $1.5 billion in landed value between the U.S. and Canada in 2015. However, lobster harvests are susceptible to fluctuations in water temperature caused by global climate change. Recent warming of the northwest Atlantic coupled with different fisheries […]
By Haley Kilgour, SRC intern Seaweeds are well-known to be important primary producers in coastal waters, but they may potentially also play a role in providing refuge from ocean acidification. Macroalgaes such as Laminariales and Fucales, both of which are brown algaes, are ecosystem engineers that influence factors such as water velocity, light penetration, and […]
By Konnor Payne, SRC intern Due to the dramatic ecological changes caused by humans to the Earth, a new period has been named after humans called the Anthropocene. In the Anthropocene, it appears, the next change is to the Earth’s coral reefs. The number one cause of stony coral (Reef-building coral) loss is the warming […]
By Olivia Wigon, SRC intern Populations of fish close to coasts have declined, forcing the fishing industry to go farther and farther from shore in order to keep up with demand. David Tickler and his team wanted to understand who is fishing where and how much are they catching. Originally, most fishing was done locally, […]
By Nicole Suren, SRC intern Between 1963 and 2014, scientists in Japan have conducted 45 years of near continuous monitoring of the abundance (number of individuals), species richness (number of species), and developmental abnormalities of the sea urchins around Hatakejima Island. Hatakejima Island has been a marine protected area since 1968, meaning that humans are […]
By Gaitlyn Malone, SRC intern Deep-sea squids are considered to be an important prey source for many top marine predators including fish, marine mammals, and seabirds (Clarke, 1996). However, despite their importance in marine food web structures, there is relatively little known about the biology and ecology of these squids, due to lack of observations, […]
By Molly Rickles, SRC intern With climate change causing negative consequences for almost every ecosystem on earth, now it is more important than ever to fund conservation efforts to restore these extremely important environments. However, many people are unaware about the current state of these critical environments, which may affect their willingness to contribute to […]