Recent sio items

The use of acoustic doppler current profiler acoustic backscatter to develop a regional zooplankton indicator for temperate marine ecosystems

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Zooplankton are important prey in ocean food webs, linking primary producers to higher trophic levels; understanding their biomass is important to understanding ecosystem state and managing commercial fisheries accordingly. Due to expense and necessary processing time, there are limited indicators of zooplankton that can be produced timely enough to be useful for real-time management needs. We analyzed and compared an 18-year dataset of zooplankton biomass of 21 different species/taxa groups from net samples and acoustic backscatter from Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) deployed on underwater gliders in the California Current System. Results show positive linear relationships across multiple spatial and temporal scales with greater than 50% of the variance of the total zooplankton biomass explained by the acoustic backscatter when samples were collected within 24 h and 1 km of each other. Copepod species usually dominated the total net haul biomass and there...

The North Balearic Front as an ecological boundary: zooplankton fine-scale distribution patterns in late spring

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract. Observations, models and theory have suggested that ocean fronts are ecological hotspots, generally associated with higher diversity and biomass across many trophic levels. Nutrient injections are often associated with higher chlorophyll concentrations at fronts, but the response of the zooplankton community is still insufficiently understood. The present study investigates mesozooplankton stocks and composition during late spring, northeast of Menorca, along two north-south transects that crossed the North Balearic Front separating central waters of the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea gyre from peripheral waters originating from the Algerian basin. During the BioSWOT-Med campaign, vertical triple-net tows with 200 and 500 µm meshes were carried out at three depths (100, 200, and 400 m), and the samples were processed with ZooScan to classify organisms into eight taxonomic groups. Zooplankton distributions were analyzed for the surface layer (0–100 m), a mid-depth layer...

Carboxyhemoglobin and depletion of blood oxygen in sleeping elephant seals

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An exceptionally large blood O2 store underlies the remarkable dive performance of elephant seals. However, elevated carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) concentrations in these seals complicate estimations of blood O2 content and O2 depletion rates, and may also affect monitoring of brain oxygenation in seals with new non-invasive near-infrared (NIR) recorders. Using hemoximetry analyses of blood samples during sleep apneas of juvenile northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), we constructed in vivo Hill plot equations and O2–Hb dissociation curves (ODCs). We found: (a) COHb and methemoglobin (both of which do not bind O2 and increase hemoglobin (Hb) affinity for O2) comprised 8% of Hb, (b) an in vivo P50 (partial pressure of O2 at 50% Hb saturation, an index of O2 affinity of Hb) of 27.1 mm Hg that was Hg 3.4 mm Hg less than that previously determined with an in vitro laboratory approach, and (c) when the in vivo and in vitro Hill plot equations were applied to arterial,...

Giant phytoplankton revealed by in situ imaging

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Deployment of an autonomous Zooglider in the western Mediterranean Sea revealed the presence of long phytoplankton chains attaining maximum lengths of 6.4–10.4 mm suspended in situ. Elongate chains included the diatoms Guinardia , Proboscia , two other diatom morphologies, and solitary filaments of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium . Most elongate chains were distributed in the upper 100 m of the water column, overlapping the deep chlorophyll maximum, but some extended to depths of 400 m, suggesting occasional export into deep waters. Such elongate chains appear to be an unutilizable prey resource for most mesozooplankton grazers, including planktonic copepods and appendicularians. Elongate chains are likely to be widely distributed in the ocean, but their detection requires noninvasive measurement methods that do not disrupt the fluid environment or disturb suspended phytoplankton.

Pelagic food web realignment supports resilient larvae of Southern Bluefin Tuna in a warming ocean

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Many of the oceans' top predatory fishes at low to mid latitudes face an uncertain future as their vulnerable larvae deal with higher environmental temperature and reduced productivity associated with climate change. However, ocean ecosystem models that predict a general decline of zooplankton prey with warming and stratification hardly ever account for complexities in pelagic food webs that might make them resilient in providing food resources for larvae. We illustrate such complexities in comparing feeding interactions of larval Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) between two studies conducted 35 y apart in the same spawning region off northwest Australia. In the first (1987), SBT larvae fed and grew at low rates demonstrably limited by zooplankton prey. In the second (2022), feeding and growth were significantly higher despite substantially warmer conditions. The difference reflects a realignment in larval feeding preference from copepods to appendicularians, which allows a more direct...

A sorghum pangenome reference improves global crop trait discovery

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Although the green revolution adapted a handful of crops to homogeneous and high-input industrialized agriculture, much of the global population still relies on the local production of variable crop cultivars by low-input smallholder farms. This diversity of unhomogenized crops1, like that of the grain and bioenergy crop sorghum2, 3, 4–5, offers raw materials for genetic gain and cultivar improvement. However, breeding efforts can be constrained by highly specialized traits and breeding targets6. Here, to bridge this diversity, we constructed a 33-member pangenome reference and a diversity panel across 1,984 cultivars and landraces. We leveraged these resources to explore the complex interplay among historical contingency, ongoing adaptation and previously uncharacterized structural diversity. Specifically, our analyses conclusively demonstrated multiple nested and deeply diverged structural variants in the domestication gene SHATTERING1, which distinguish the previously established...

What's better and more than Mohr? Fajans?

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What's better and more than Mohr? Fajans?

Reviews and syntheses: Biological indicators of low-oxygen stress in marine water-breathing animals

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract. Anthropogenic warming and nutrient over-enrichment of our oceans have resulted in significant, and often catastrophic, reductions in dissolved oxygen (deoxygenation). Stress on water-breathing animals from this deoxygenation has been shown to occur at all levels of biological organization: cellular, organ, individual, species, population, community, and ecosystem. Most climate forecasts predict increases in ocean deoxygenation; thus, it is essential to develop reliable biological indicators of low-oxygen stress that can be used by regional and global oxygen monitoring efforts to detect and assess the impacts of deoxygenation on ocean life. This review focuses on responses to low-oxygen stress that are manifest at different levels of biological organization and at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. We compare particular attributes of these biological indicators to the dissolved oxygen threshold of response, timescales of response, sensitive life stages and taxa,...

Aquatic deoxygenation as a planetary boundary and key regulator of Earth system stability

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Planetary boundaries represent thresholds in major Earth system processes that are sensitive to human activity and control global-scale habitability and stability. These processes are interconnected such that movement of one planetary boundary process can alter the likelihood of crossing other boundaries. Here we argue that the observed deoxygenation of the Earth’s freshwater and marine ecosystems represents an additional planetary boundary process that is critical to the integrity of Earth’s ecological and social systems, and both regulates and responds to ongoing changes in other planetary boundary processes. Research on the rapid and ongoing deoxygenation of Earth’s aquatic habitats indicates that relevant, critical oxygen thresholds are being approached at rates comparable to other planetary boundary processes. Concerted global monitoring, research and policy efforts are needed to address the challenges brought on by rapid deoxygenation, and the expansion of the planetary...

Seven Oaks Dam Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations Preliminary Viability Assessment

Mon, 3 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This Preliminary Viability Assessment (PVA) was initiated by the Seven Oaks Dam Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) multi-agency Steering Committee in 2023 and follows the workplan completed in 2024. Seven Oaks Dam is operated and maintained by Orange County Flood Control District, San Bernardino County Flood Control District, and Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District for flood risk management. This PVA provides an initial evaluation of the viability of FIRO as a strategy for capturing stormwater to improve water availability for San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District and Western Municipal Water District, while not impairing and possibly enhancing environmental conditions and flood risk management. The PVA demonstrated that FIRO is viable, and it lays the groundwork for a Final Viability Assessment (FVA) and recommendations for pursuing FIRO at Seven Oaks Dam.

Effects of Body Size and Environmental Region on the Nutritional Value of Small Pelagic Species in the California Current

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT We evaluated the effects of regional environment and body size on the nutritional traits of five small pelagic species differing in habitat use, feeding behavior, and importance as prey for top predators in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME). Northern anchovy ( Engraulis mordax ), bigfin lanternfish ( Symbolophorus californiensis ), market squid ( Doryteuthis opalescens ), and boreal clubhook squid ( Onychoteuthis borealijaponica ) were collected in the summer of 2021 in the northern and southern CCLME. Energy density (ED), lipid, and protein content (% wet weight) were calculated for each specimen via bomb calorimetry and proximate composition analysis. Energy values from the two methods were highly correlated. Bayesian linear modeling revealed that while environmental conditions (sea surface temperature, chlorophyll‐ a , and upwelling) differed significantly between northern and southern CCLME, nutritional value did not vary significantly by...

Measurements of pelagic animal biomass exhibit depth-specific bias when trawl volumes are estimated without a flowmeter

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In open ocean systems, trawling with nets remains one of the most common methods for measuring animal biomass in a volume of seawater, calculated as distance traveled multiplied by net mouth area. The effective distance traveled by the net can be measured using a flowmeter, but in the absence of a flowmeter is often estimated as the distance traveled by the trawling vessel. Studies that do not use a flowmeter to quantify trawling effort assume that the rate at which water flows into the net (flow rate) is constant within and among trawls. Similarly, studies that cannot directly measure net mouth area assume its variability is negligible. However, assumptions of constant flow rate and net mouth area are rarely scrutinized and their impacts on volume estimates are poorly understood, especially across sampling depths. We tested these assumptions using a 10 m2 Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS) and observed ~ 10% variability in both flow rate and...

Quantifying the Economic and Climate Case for Offshore Wind's Displacement of Natural Gas in New York State

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Quantifying the Economic and Climate Case for Offshore Wind's Displacement of Natural Gas in New York State

Anthropogenic debris accumulation in the Argentine deep sea: evidence of an irreversible sink

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The seafloor is recognized as a major sink for marine debris, while deep-sea litter remains poorly investigated due to the logistical and economic constraints associated with seabed exploration. This study reports for the first time the occurrence of marine debris found on the Argentine deep seafloor using the SOI’s Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), providing the first documented evidence for this region. A total of 29 litter items were recorded across 55.6 km of surveyed seafloor. The highest debris abundance was recorded in submarine canyon areas (1.4 items/km), whereas the Malvinas Basin showed the lowest levels (0.1 items/km), likely associated with hydrodynamic conditions. In addition, plastic items, fishing ropes, and nets were the most frequently recorded types of debris. These findings establish a baseline of the current status of deep-sea marine debris and propose future directions for the region.

Abundant interactions and feedbacks between aquatic deoxygenation and the other planetary boundaries suggest “unsafe” levels of oxygen loss with far‐reaching impacts

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Oxygen is critical for nearly all life on Earth, including aquatic species that breathe dissolved oxygen in both freshwater and marine systems. The rapid, global, and anthropogenic loss of dissolved oxygen known as “aquatic deoxygenation” threatens life in these environments, the human communities that depend on them, and Earth system stability long‐term. Recognizing the important and increasingly widespread effects of aquatic deoxygenation, scientists have proposed that it be added to the planetary boundary framework, which is designed to capture the wider envelope of Earth‐system conditions that support a “safe operating space for humanity.” Here, we argue that the planetary boundary framework should include maintenance of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and thus dissolved oxygen conditions. We synthesize important, in some cases poorly understood, interactions and feedbacks that exist between deoxygenation and all nine of the established planetary boundaries. We find that...

Uptake and loss of radioactive cadmium by the sea-skater Halobates robustus (Heteroptera: Gerridae)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sea-skaters, Halobates robustus Barber, caught around the Galápagos Islands, were exposed over a period of 3 days to radioactive cadmium dissolved in seawater. Although ^115mCd (metastable ¹¹⁵Cd) was accumulated by the insects, they did not concentrate it above the seawater level. The experiments clearly showed that cadmium is taken up into the body, not merely adsorbed onto surfaces. The uptake of Cd followed a biphasic time course. When sea-skaters labelled in this way were transferred back into unlabelled seawater, the rate of loss of Cd was likewise biphasic. During uptake and loss, the biological half-life times for the first compartments were almost identical (0.64 and 0.79 h), indicating that the same compartment might be involved. On the other hand, the biological half-life times for the second compartments were different (1.7 days during uptake, 19.5 days during loss), indicating that the site or chemical form of bound...

Oceanic diffusion and the pelagic insects Halobates spp. (Gerridae: Hemiptera)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Five pelagic Halobates species occupy a vast area from 40^∘ north to 40^∘ south in the three major oceans. Oceanic diffusion, constantly acting to disperse these insects, must be an important factor in determining their life history and distribution. We investigated the effects of oceanic diffusion on the following aspects of these insects. (1) The estimated radius of a patch of Halobates could be expanded by oceanic diffusion alone from an initial point of origin to 1250 km in 60 d. This distance is about 1/12 of the maximum distributional range of H. micans in the Pacific Ocean. Mutual encounter rates due to oceanic turbulence could be as high as 11 d⁻¹ even at low population densities (100 ind km⁻²). This suggests that individuals from their original habitat could find mates even when they had been carried a long distance. Thus, extensive gene mixing may occur over...

Distinct population histories among three unique species of oceanic skaters Halobates Eschscholtz, 1822 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae) in the Eastern Pacific Ocean

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The oceans are harsh environments where insects are not expected to thrive, yet a few skaters of the genus Halobates Eschscholtz, 1822 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae) have completely adapted to life on the open seas. There are five oceanic Halobates species that have well-established and distinct distributions, but little is known about their population dynamics and intraspecific genetic variation. Moreover, existing knowledge on most species has been largely based on limited sample sizes. We examined the phylogeographic patterns and inferred past population dynamics of three Halobates species (H. micans Eschscholtz, 1822, H. sobrinus White, 1883 and H. splendens Witlaczil, 1886) based on an unprecedented large number of specimens (73–199 individuals each) collected from the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) Ocean. These species have distinct biogeographies, with H....

Seasonal and decadal changes in distribution patterns of Halobates (Hemiptera: Gerridae) populations in the eastern tropical Pacific

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Five species of the marine insect Halobates share similar ecology but have distinct biogeographic ranges in the eastern tropical Pacific, a region from approximately 75°W–160°W and 10°S–35°N. Between 2001 and 2010, the Sea Education Association collected Halobates from 682 neuston tows (surface net 1 m × 0.5 m, 335-μm mesh) during fifteen cruises between San Diego, USA, Mexico and Tahiti. Total Halobates spp. densities varied substantially from year to year, but our data do not show a sustained change from a data set collected 40 years earlier from 1967 to 1968 (Cheng and Shulenberger in Fish Bull 78(3):579–591, 1980). Halobates are sensitive to sea surface temperature and we observed significant differences in species distributions over time, but these were not due to differences in water temperature or climate change. Our analyses...

MPA Sentinels: Leveraging Marine Monitor (M2) to support enforcement and compliance within California's Marine Protected Area Network

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report is useful for any leader interested in supporting marine enforcement and compliance within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The project synthesizes and shares best practices, insights, and ideas of marine conservation professionals who are adept at working together to lead enforcement and compliance effort for California’s extraordinary network of MPAs. The project’s focus is on Marine Monitor (M2) technology, provided by ProtectedSeas, and how it can best be used to support the work of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) wildlife officers and allied agencies, regarding MPA enforcement. Deliverables contained in this report will be useful for enforcement officers, team members at ProtectedSeas, M2 Site Partners including team members of the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation (CMSF) and WILDCOAST, members of the MPA Collaborative Network, or decision makers from funding organizations like the Resources Legacy Fund (RLF), California’s Ocean Protection...

Detecting Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Textile Waste under Ultraviolet Weathering: An Emerging Climate Impact of the Fast Fashion Industry

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
The waste culture of the Global North has accelerated the flow of discarded goods to developing countries with limited waste-management infrastructure. Fast fashion has produced a take-make-dispose model in which secondhand clothing is donated, exported, and ultimately accumulated under ambient sunlight at open dumpsites in receiving countries. Royer et al. (2018) demonstrated that plastic polymers from water bottles and plastic bags release methane under ultraviolet (UV) weathering. This study tests whether polyester exhibits similar properties of UV-driven greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This was done by measuring GHGs (CH₄, CO₂, and CO) from textiles under controlled experimental UV exposures in a laboratory at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and in situ from textile waste sitting under the sun in Ghana. As for the laboratory experiment we included different variables to our analysis in order to mimic possible conditions in the field, namely with the type of polymer...

Urban Agriculture and Climate Resilience: A Thematic Analysis of Urban Farmer Perspectives in San Diego County

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Urban Agriculture and Climate Resilience: A Thematic Analysis of Urban Farmer Perspectives in San Diego County

Seabird predation on the sea-skater Halobates sericeus (Heteroptera: Gerridae)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Regurgitated food samples were collected from 18 species of seabirds on 8 of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands between February 1978 and February 1981. Sea-skaters (Halobates sericeus) was found in the diets of 9 species, but can be considered to be an important food item for only 4 species: the blue-gray noddy Procelsterna cerulea; the Bonin petrel Pterodroma hypoleuca; the gray-backed tern Sterna lunata; and Bulwer's petrel, Bulweria bulwerii. The blue-gray noddy, by far the most important avian predator of Halobates spp., may at times feed exclusively on this food item and may appreciably reduce the populations of sea-skaters within their foraging territories.

Assessing the Efficacy of Ulva spp. as a Tool for Bioremediation in San Diego Bay Aquaculture.

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Assessing the Efficacy of Ulva spp. as a Tool for Bioremediation in San Diego Bay Aquaculture.

Cadmium in ocean-skaters, Halobates sericeus (Insecta), and in their seabird predators

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Between February 1978 and February 1981, the content of cadmium was measured (1) in specimens of Halobates sericeus picked out from regurgitates of 9 species of seabirds, and (2) in the feathers of some seabirds which nested on 8 islands or atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In the 4 major avian predators of this oceanskater, the Cd concentrations increased from roughly 2 to 8 μg g^-1 dry wt towards the northwest, over a linear distance of about 1500 km. The correlation between Cd levels in the insects and in the feathers of their predators suggests that this heavy metal is transmitted along the food chain.

Funding that Holds: Sustaining the continuity behind community-based marine stewardship

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Community-based marine stewardship depends on continuity: sustained monitoring, long-term relationships, institutional memory, and the people who remain engaged despite changing ecological, social, and funding conditions. In conservation philanthropy, there is growing discussion of trust-based and relational funding approaches. Yet a gap often remains between the stated desire to support conservation this way and the funding structures available to community-based organizations, which are still frequently organized around short-term projects, discrete deliverables, and fixed reporting cycles. These models are poorly aligned with the longer time horizons required for adaptive marine governance.
This case study examines Mālama Pūpūkea-Waimea (MPW), a community-based organization that has co-managed the Pūpūkea Marine Life Conservation District on the North Shore of Oʻahu with the State of Hawaiʻi for more than two decades. Drawing on interviews, documents, literature reviews,...

Sharp Minds in Shallow Seas: Latitudinal Brain Variation in the Atlantic Sharpnose Shark

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Brain organization in elasmobranchs has been shown to reflect habitat complexity and sensory demands across species, yet whether geography alone can drive similar patterns within a single species remains an open question. This study examined whether brain region proportions vary across the latitudinal range of the Atlantic Sharpnose Shark, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae, using a dataset of 47 specimens collected across six sites spanning the species' distribution, with populations compared between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Three brain regions differed significantly between Atlantic and Gulf populations after controlling for body size. The olfactory bulb was proportionally greater in Atlantic sharks, consistent with the chemosensory demands of navigating low-visibility estuarine environments. The mesencephalon and cerebellum were proportionally greater in Gulf sharks, consistent with the visual and locomotor demands of clearer, more open coastal waters. These findings...

Flux of radioactive cadmium through the sea-skater Halobates  (Heteroptera: Gerridae)

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Uptake of ¹⁰⁹Cd in freshly caught sea-skaters Halobates nereis and H. flaviventris was measured under the influence of abiotic parameters as salinity and stable Cd concentration. After 6 d of accumulation a concentration factor of 8 over the seawater level was reached with no indication for an equilibration. The calculated biological half-life of ¹⁰⁹Cd amounted to 9.3 d. Cadmium uptake from food (wingless Drosophila sp. flies reared on cadmium enriched agar) can be considerable. A large pond-skater Limnogonus fossarum, measured for comparative purposes, accumulated cadmium, but at a much lower rate. The results are discussed with respect to observed natural cadmium concentrations in open ocean sea-skater populations.

Cadmium in Halobates micans from the central and south Atlantic Ocean

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
The concentrations of cadmium in 428 samples of the sea-skater Halobates micans from 57 locations in the central and south Atlantic Ocean ranged from 1.7 to 122 μg Cd g^-1 dry wt. The concentrations in females, males and nymphs were not significantly different. The data suggest that the cadmium concentrations in these insects are somehow related to surface currents. The highest values (50 to 70 μg g^-1, maximum value 122 μg g^-1) were recorded from the South Equatorial Current region; intermediate values (10 to 20 μg g^-1) from the Equatorial Counter Current and the North Equatorial Current; and relatively low concentrations (>10 μg g^-1) from the Canary Current in the north and the Benguela Current in the south. A remarkable feature of these data lies in the fact that they reveal areas of high Cd content which correspond closely with those indicated by data obtained by Bull et al. (1977)...

Heavy Metals in the Sea-Skater Halobates robustus from the Galápagos Islands: Concentrations in nature and uptake experiments, with special reference to Cadmium.

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Published Web Location:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00395781
Samples of Halobates robustus Barber (Heteroptera: Gerridae) from the Galápagos Islands were analysed by optical emission spectrometry. The levels (in μg g^-1 dry weight) of Zn (134), Cu (155), Pb (< 1), Cd (7), and Cr (3) were not significantly different among insects of different sexes or developmental stages. The low natural levels of Cd in H. robustus from the relatively unpolluted environment of the Galápagos Islands are compared to the high concentrations of Cd in Halobates spp. from relatively polluted regions. Since the measured levels of Cd in their natural zooplankton food rarely exceed 10 μg g^-1, and very little of the Cd is found in the soft tissues, the high Cd concentrations (100 to 200 μg g⁻¹)...

Observations on behavior, emergence, and reproduction of the marine midges  Pontomyia (Diptera: Chironomidae)

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Published Web Location:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00386872
Pontomyia is a genus of tiny flightless marine midges, with 4 described species, found on tropical or subtropical sea shores of the western Pacific Ocean. They are rarely noticed because of their small size (about 1.5 mm) and ephemeral adult life (1 to 3 h). They usually occur in association with seagrasses and seaweeds on which the larvae feed. The oar-like wings of adult males propel them over the water surface, but do not enable them to fly. Adult females are not only wingless but virtually legless. Emergence of the adults in the field may occur either during the day or at night. In a laboratory aquarium population of P. cottoni Womersley, maintained for about 18 months in a 12 h light-12 h dark cycle, males began to emerge at the end of the light period, whereas females emerged only after the onset of darkness. Field observations suggest that...

PATHWAYS TO A SMR-TER FUTURE: Exploring the policy and market variables that will influence the development, deployment, and diffusion of Small Modular Reactors in the Unites States

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
PATHWAYS TO A SMR-TER FUTURE: Exploring the policy and market variables that will influence the development, deployment, and diffusion of Small Modular Reactors in the Unites States

WHO’S USING ALL THE POWER?Exploring Data Center Sustainability in Illinois

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
The rapid expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence is driving a surge in data center development across the United States, and Illinois has become one of the fastest-growing markets. Developers have moved into the state quickly, largely drawn by a mix of tax incentives and a power system that is both reliable and relatively low carbon. That pace has outrun the governance frameworks meant to manage it. This capstone looks at how that growth intersects with grid reliability, decarbonization goals, climate and weather risk, and community impacts. It draws on GIS mapping of data center locations alongside electricity infrastructure, along with meteorological and climate stressor visuals developed with Monarch Weather and Climate Intelligence. The goal is to identify where the real pressures are coming from and whether Illinois is prepared to manage them. The analysis finds that the issue is not a lack of authority. The Illinois Commerce Commission, the Illinois EPA,...

Between Breaths: Methods and Perspectives in Drone-Based Cetacean Research

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This project examines the application of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in cetacean research, with a focus on ethical methodology, regulatory frameworks, and the behavioral data that aerial observation makes possible. Conducted across four sites in Baja California Sur, Mexico during spring of 2026, drone surveys documented three cetacean species: common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in La Paz Bay, gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in Magdalena Bay and Laguna Ojo de Liebre, and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Todos Santos. Flight telemetry data were converted into georeferenced flight path layers using ArcGIS Pro, with behavioral observation points added manually at locations of notable activity, creating a replicable workflow for spatial documentation of aerial cetacean surveys. Expert interviews with researchers and practitioners from NOAA, Ocean Alliance, Coastal Dolphins of Latin America, and the wildlife cinematography field contributed to a broader...

Strategies and Pathways for Utilizing Virtual Power Plants In Maine

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
The state of Maine faces three major challenges with its electric grid: resilience, affordability, and emissions reductions. At the same time, Maine is seeing significant adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs). Left unmanaged, these DERs can pose challenges for Maine’s grid and make managing load more difficult. However, by coordinating DERs with virtual power plants (VPPs), Maine can leverage this capacity to address its three grid challenges. VPPs have the potential to relieve grid stress, reduce reliance on costly and emissions-intensive peaker plants, and delay infrastructure build-out. Two programs in the state are already helping reduce peak load and sending power back to the grid via customer-owned batteries, but Maine has ample room for expansion. This report provides context on Maine’s energy challenges and the current state of VPPs in Maine. It then identifies key elements of successful VPPs that are applicable to Maine’s energy and regulatory systems, investor-owned...

Carbon on the Coast: Creating a Suitability Framework to Inform Coastal Enhanced Weathering in California

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Carbon on the Coast: Creating a Suitability Framework to Inform Coastal Enhanced Weathering in California

Investigating the Co-occurance of Extreme Heat and Dust at California’s Salton Sea

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Climate change has increased the frequency of extreme heat and dry events worldwide, with profound implications for the health of drying saline lakes. The synergistic compound exposure of extreme heat and dust around these environments as they recede poses hazards for public health, being linked to increased rates of respiratory disease. A relevant example of climate and policy-driven compound exposure around drying saline lakes is California’s Salton Sea, having been polluted by farm runoff and receding due to the decline of the Colorado River and the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement for water management. Local communities today have lower household incomes and higher rates of respiratory disease than state averages. Investigating compound extreme heat and dust events in the region and their health outcomes through the lens of health equity is thus crucial as a case study for climate adaptation and ensuring environmental justice. This study examines various metrics for...

Confluence: Sea Turtles, Community, Habitat

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The heavily polluted San Gabriel river in Long Beach, CA is home to a growing population of Eastern Pacific green sea turtles, also known as the Pacific black turtle. Beginning in the 1980s, conservation efforts to bring these turtles back from the brink of extinction have been largely community based beginning at their nesting beaches in Michoacán, Mexico and now in Long Beach. The film begins with the indigenous community in Mexico and travels to the San Gabriel river. The story combines compelling interviews with the community members leading the protection initiatives with intimate footage of turtles and other wildlife in this dangerous habitat. The goal of this film is to raise awareness with city leaders to initiate official support for the Long Beach community protecting these turtles on their own time with their own resources.
See the media created for this project:
https://youtu.be/4fqdafvcRMg?si=CRalu1NGxa02yuQC
...

Extreme Heat and Mental Health Governance in Southern California

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Extreme Heat and Mental Health Governance in Southern California

Science-to-Policy Analysis of Seagrass and Macroalgae Habitats in Norway: Integrating Blue Carbon Ecosystems as Nature-Based Climate Solutions

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) are coastal vegetated habitats with a natural capacity to sequester and store vast amounts of carbon over long timescales. Given rising greenhouse gas concentrations and the subsequent increase in global efforts to reduce and offset emissions, BCEs are increasingly promoted as nature-based climate solutions. Their relevance to climate policy as a tool for climate change mitigation has garnered increasing attention, but heavily depends on ecosystem-specific evidence for carbon storage, sequestration permanence, monitoring feasibility, and governance compatibility. BCEs are also highly valued for providing many ecosystem services, biodiversity, and coastal resilience benefits. This study evaluates two prominent Norwegian BCEs: seagrass (Zostera marina) and macroalgal systems, primarily kelp forests and rockweed beds, as candidates for blue carbon policy and broader marine nature-based solutions. The analysis combines site-to-national carbon and ecosystem-service...

Social and Environmental Justice Considerations for Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) in California

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Social and Environmental Justice Considerations for Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) in California

Turtle Island WISE: Western Indigenous Science Exploration

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Turtle Island WISE (Western Indigenous Science Exploration) is a STEAM-based environmental nonprofit organization forming under 501(c)(3) status in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. This business plan, developed as a capstone project for the Master of Advanced Studies in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, documents the organizational framework, community need, programmatic model, and financial projections for the organization's first year of operations. The San Fernando Valley is home to more than 1.8 million people, the majority of them underrepresented communities living inland, far from the coast, and underserved by existing environmental education infrastructure. Only 8.8% of graduate students in ocean sciences identify as belonging to an underrepresented minority group, and communities of color are three times more likely than white communities to live in nature-deprived areas. Adult-serving...

Beyond Zero-Emission Labels: A Region-Specific Use-Phase Assessment of Electric Vehicles in China and the United States

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Beyond Zero-Emission Labels: A Region-Specific Use-Phase Assessment of Electric Vehicles in China and the United States

Building the Foundations: A Micro-credential Framework to Support Climate Resilience CTE Pathways in California Schools

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Grant funding provided by California’s Golden State Pathways Program provides the opportunity for public schools across California to implement a new career technical education pathway titled STEM Climate Resilience. This career technical education (CTE) pathway project outlines a structured program of study that integrates academic and technical coursework, industry-aligned curriculum, and career-focused skills. The transition to a green economy demands more experts than we currently have. CTE pathways in climate resilience and similar sectors are attempting to fill that gap by providing high school students with the knowledge and experience required to pursue college education in climate or to join the green workforce in a technical field. In K-12 STEM education, climate resilience is a concept that is relatively new and not yet well defined, resulting in schools and local educational agencies struggling to determine what knowledge and skills students in the pathway need to...

From Fear to Respect: Demystifying the Sea Through Access to Ocean Literacy

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Historical and present-day displacement from the ocean creates a disconnection between the marine environment and local communities. In Puerto Rico, barriers to ocean access include transportation, privatized development, policies, and the increased frequency and intensity of storms resulting from climate change. The grassroots organization Sail for Reefs works to bridge water-based recreation and the conservation of marine resources through education, ocean engagement, and habitat restoration. The goal of this project is to develop a place-based, hands-on curriculum to be taught through Sail for Reefs education and outreach programs with the intention of connecting young people to local coastal habitats. The success of the curriculum will be measured through expert review of materials and alignment of the content with proposed learning objectives. A workshop was held to train Sail for Reefs staff and local educators on how to administer the curriculum, increasing implementation...

Quantifying Indoor Air Quality Impacts of Tijuana River Pollution across South Bay Households: A Low-Cost Sensor Network Study

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Quantifying Indoor Air Quality Impacts of Tijuana River Pollution across South Bay Households: A Low-Cost Sensor Network Study

The Heat We Don’t See: Quantifying Indoor Heat Disparities in San Diego County to Drive Policy Change

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Extreme heat is the leading cause of climate related mortality in the United States with marked socio-economic inequities. Yet, the vast majority of the scientific literature focuses on outdoor heat while people spend a considerable amount of time indoors. This study quantified the indoor-outdoor temperature differential (ΔT, defined as indoor minus outdoor temperature in °C) across 21 San Diego County census tracts using co-located PurpleAir sensors during the May-October 2023 warm season and examined its relationship with sociodemographic vulnerability, heat mitigation factors and sensor placement equity. Indoor temperatures exceeded outdoor temperatures in 90% of measured tracts, with a mean ΔT of +4.07 °C. On days meeting the San Diego County heat emergency threshold of 33.94 °C, the mean indoor-outdoor temperature difference decreased to +1.08 °C. Analysis of indoor temperature and sociodemographic variables found that no variable significantly predicted indoor temperature....

SEABIRDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE: Brandt’s Cormorant as Indicator Species of Environmental Change in Southern California

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
SEABIRDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE: Brandt’s Cormorant as Indicator Species of Environmental Change in Southern California

Watch Your Tone: Influence of Voice on Willingness to Participate in Climate Action Using a Case Study on Coral Bleaching

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
This study examines how the tone of climate communication influences both climate concern and willingness to participate in climate action. Participants at Birch Aquarium (N = 600) completed a survey after viewing one of two short videos featuring identical Large Area Imaging (LAI) visualizations of coral reefs in Kenting, Taiwan. The videos differed only in narrative framing: one emphasized ecological resilience and solutions, while the other emphasized environmental degradation and climate-related loss. Survey responses measured climate concern using questions adapted from Yale University's Six Americas Super Short Survey (SASSY) and willingness to engage in five categories of climate action. Results indicate that narrative tone influenced climate concern and climate action differently. Participants exposed to the negative narrative were more likely to be classified as Alarmed and reported higher levels of climate concern. However, participants exposed to the positive narrative...

Argo and AI: Aligning with Federal Priorities

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Argo and AI: Aligning with Federal Priorities

Drifting Giants: From Calving to Current

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Icebergs are dynamic floating masses of ice that play a critical role in global ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, and sea level rise (Cenedese and Straneo, 2023; NOAA, 2024). Formed over thousands of years, traveling southward through “Iceberg Alley” off the coast of Newfoundland, these ancient ice masses are shaped by wind, waves, sunlight, and seawater (Cenedese and Straneo, 2023; NOAA, 2024). Rising global temperatures accelerate the rate of iceberg calving and their longevity, thereby altering the sea level, the marine trophic web and the global meridional overturning circulation (Vernet et al., 2012; Arrigo, 2014; Sévellec, Fedorov and Liu, 2017; NOAA, 2024).
Despite their ecological significance, icebergs are often perceived as distant, remote symbols of the Arctic, far removed from daily life. This perception hinders the general public’s understanding of the dynamic role icebergs play in the global ocean system.
Drifting Giants is an interactive...

Aligning Corporate Climate Risk Disclosure with Public Adaptation Planning

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Corporations operating in California are now required to publicly disclose their exposure to physical climate hazards under Senate Bill 261 (SB 261), yet these disclosures remain structurally disconnected from local and state adaptation planning processes. This study provides the first systematic empirical comparison of SB 261 corporate climate risk disclosures and California's public sea level rise adaptation planning ecosystem, examining the extent to which private and public actors assess comparable risks, operate at compatible spatial and temporal scales, and produce information that is decision-relevant for adaptation implementation. The research proceeds in two phases. Phase One analyzes 146 SB 261 disclosures alongside 20 public adaptation planning documents across six California coastal jurisdictions, with a comparative assessment of the risk assessment frameworks, tools, and methodologies used by each sector. Phase Two conducts semi-structured interviews with six corporate...

Tracking CEQA Projects and Habitat Outcomes: A Statewide Monitoring Framework for California Trout's Regional Program

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

California's aquatic ecosystems face mounting pressure from a range of sources, including development, agricultural water use, and climate change, threatening the native species that depend on them. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provides a critical mechanism for environmental transparency and public participation in project review. Yet consistent engagement with the law remains difficult for conservation organizations and the public, given the volume of listings, technical language, and limited tracking infrastructure. This project, developed in partnership with California Trout, sought to reduce those barriers by creating a statewide CEQA monitoring framework across the organization's seven regional programs. Deliverables include seven regional databases, an interactive GIS map, and a publicly accessible StoryMap designed to educate and encourage public participation in the CEQA process. Ultimately, this project was built on the belief that CEQA is strongest...

An Ocean for Everyone: Creating a Vitural Tour to Expand Access and Awareness

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Virtual tours represent an underutilized but promising tool for marine conservation, capable of immersing users in protected environments and forging emotional connections that motivate stewardship. This project developed a conservation-focused virtual tour of Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve in La Jolla, documenting a replicable process for the broader field. Over 36 scientific dives with a 12-person team from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the project collected roughly 21.5 hours of 360-degree underwater video across six major habitats, which was then built into an interactive tour using 3D Vista software and hosted on a dedicated web server. The resulting prototype successfully demonstrates that a high-quality, video-rich conservation virtual tour can be produced and maintained at relatively modest cost, with strong loading performance and mobile responsiveness. Future iterations would benefit from establishing a communication strategy prior to diving to...

From San Diego to San Bernardino: A Heat Monitoring and Green Schoolyard Model for Heat Resilient Schools Examining heat exposure and schoolyard design in underserved communities of Southern California

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
From San Diego to San Bernardino: A Heat Monitoring and Green Schoolyard Model for Heat Resilient Schools Examining heat exposure and schoolyard design in underserved communities of Southern California

Our Fisheries, Our Futures: Youth Engagement in Small Scale Fisheries

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This capstone project examines the barriers, opportunities, and best practices of youth engagement in small-scale fisheries and adjacent sectors. In partnership with Coast 2 Coast Movement, the project draws from survey responses, informal conversations, and educational design work connected to the 5th World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress 2026 in Hua Hin, Thailand. Findings suggest that youth disengagement from small-scale fisheries is not simply a matter of interest. It is tied to economic insecurity, low social status, limited decision-making power, weak mentorship pathways, climate and resource uncertainty, and a lack of visible futures. The first deliverable is What’s the Catch? Youth Futures in Small-Scale Fisheries Workshop Toolkit, a workshop curriculum designed for global educators, young professionals, and youth-adjacent practitioners. The toolkit translates key themes from the project into interactive and action-oriented activities that help participants move from...

Spatial Coastal Monitoring for Climate Resilience: A Case Study of Oceanside, CA.

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Coastal dunes provide a nature-based approach for mitigating flooding and erosion hazards for coastal communities. They can protect valuable coastal infrastructure while maximizing ecosystem services and restoring the historical landscape of shoreline environments. In Oceanside, California, ongoing sea-level rise (SLR) and chronic sediment loss have created an urgent need for shoreline systems that can retain sand and maintain coastal resilience, prompting the creation of a Dune Restoration Pilot Study. To quantify the benefits of this and other coastal dune projects, monitoring of dune and beach profiles is needed to determine how resilient dunes are to various environmental forcings (e.g., waves, wind, sea-level change). Existing spatial mapping tools tend to be expensive to deploy and lack standardization. Moreover, the dynamic nature of coastal dune systems with coupled changes in the beach profile requires frequent sampling in space and time. To address this gap, this study...

REELMARK: A Mobile Companion for California Recreational Anglers

Wed, 8 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ReelMark is an iOS companion app for California's recreational saltwater anglers, built around a single promise: confidence in every cast. It pairs the 2026 California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) saltwater regulations and the state's marine protected area network with AI-powered fish identification, a plain-English regulations guide named Salty, real-time MPA proximity alerts, and a frictionless catch log, delivered in five languages reflecting California's coastal angler community.
The problem is specific. California manages more than 65 saltwater species under rules that shift within and between seasons, across a marine protected area network whose boundaries are invisible at sea. A large share of the state's anglers, including pier and shore fishers who are exempt from the license requirement but bound by every other rule, have no convenient way to stay compliant on the water. No existing app combines California-specific regulatory depth, real-time MPA proximity,...

Urchinloop: Inspiring Sea Urchin Innovation to Drive Kelp Restoration in California

Wed, 8 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Kelp forests are critical for California’s biodiversity, coastal economy, overall beauty and the long-term vitality of its marine ecosystems. With a massive reduction in kelp biomass due to climate change impacts and loss of essential species, purple urchins have overpopulated, preventing kelp recovery and reducing local biodiversity. Additionally, large quantities of “waste” is associated with both purple urchin removal for kelp restoration projects and commercial urchin fisheries that process urchins for uni. Entrepreneurs and artists can capitalize on this “waste” through innovative solutions and circular economic principles. This project aims to support a long-term restoration model by highlighting urchin byproduct innovation and art. Furthermore, increased demand for urchin-based products could create a new commercial fishery in California specifically targeting the removal of purple urchins. The project deliverable, Urchinloop, a consumer-facing website highlighting businesses...

Resolving abrupt frontal gradients in zooplankton community composition and marine snow fields with an autonomous Zooglider

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Abstract An autonomous Zooglider navigated across the California Current Front into low salinity, minty waters characteristic of the California Current proper in both summers of 2019 and 2021. Diving to 400 m depth, Zooglider transited another near‐surface frontal gradient somewhat inshore. These frontal gradients were generally associated with changes in intensity, size composition, and Diel Vertical Migration responses of acoustic backscatterers. They were also associated with pronounced changes in zooplankton community composition, as assessed by a shadowgraph imaging Zoocam. Zoocam detected a decline in concentrations of copepods, appendicularians, and marine snow in the offshore direction, and an overall shift in community structure to a higher proportion of carnivorous taxa (and, in 2019, of planktonic rhizaria). No taxon was consistently elevated at all the peak frontal gradients, but appendicularians, copepods, and rhizarians sometimes showed front‐related increases in...

Diverse sampling programs highlight pulses of Velella velella along the US West Coast.

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Sporadic mass strandings of the hydrozoan, Velella velella, along the US West Coast fascinate beachcombers and perplex oceanographers. Velella often arrive to the coast in the spring concurrent with a shift in onshore winds and after winters with warmer water temperatures. Understanding the factors that bring Velella to coastal waters provides new information about the ecological impacts of local and basin-scale environmental variability in the northeast Pacific. We summarize several compelling, non-exclusive hypotheses that could explain the recent increase in Velella, including increased population size, larger surface patches and enhanced coastward transport. We compiled a comprehensive dataset spanning planktonic larval to colonial adult life stages from 10 sources covering ~1900-2025. We highlight pulses of Velella and an unprecedented number of strandings and at-sea observations since 2014. We found that wind patterns in the central-east...

Fine scale zooplankton distribution across the North Balearic Front during late spring

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Observations, models and theory have suggested that ocean fronts are ecological hotspots, generally associated with higher diversity and biomass across many trophic levels. Nutrient injections are often associated with higher chlorophyll concentrations at fronts, but the response of the zooplankton community is largely unknown. The present study investigates mesozooplankton stocks and composition during late spring, northeast of Menorca along two north-south transects that crossed the North Balearic Front (NBF) separating central water of the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea (NWMS) gyre from peripheral waters originating from the Algerian basin. During the BioSWOT-Med campaign, samples were collected using vertical triple net tows at three depths (100 m, 200 m, 400 m) with 200 μm and 500 μm mesh nets, processed with ZooScan, and the organisms assigned to eight taxonomic groups. Zooplankton distributions were analysed for the surface (0–100 m), intermediate (100–200 m), and deeper...

Relationships Between Plankton Size Spectra, Net Primary Production, and the Biological Carbon Pump

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Abstract Photosynthesis in the surface ocean and subsequent export of a fraction of this fixed carbon leads to carbon dioxide sequestration in the deep ocean. Ecological relationships among plankton functional groups and theoretical relationships between particle size and sinking rate suggest that carbon export from the euphotic zone is more efficient when communities are dominated by large organisms. However, this hypothesis has never been tested against measured size spectra spanning the >5 orders of magnitude found in plankton communities. Using data from five ocean regions (California Current Ecosystem, North Pacific subtropical gyre, Costa Rica Dome, Gulf of Mexico, and Southern Ocean subtropical front), we quantified carbon‐based plankton size spectra from heterotrophic bacteria to metazoan zooplankton (size class cutoffs varied slightly between regions) and their relationship to net primary production and sinking particle flux. Slopes of the normalized biomass size spectra...

Beyond transfer learning: Leveraging ancillary images in automated classification of plankton

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Abstract We assess whether a supervised machine learning algorithm, specifically a convolutional neural network (CNN), achieves higher accuracy on planktonic image classification when including non‐plankton and ancillary plankton during the training procedure. We focus on the case of optimizing the CNN for a single planktonic image source, while considering ancillary images to be plankton images from other instruments. We conducted two sets of experiments with three different types of plankton images (from a Zooglider , Underwater Vision Profiler 5, and Zooscan), and our results held across all three image types. First, we considered whether single‐stage transfer learning using non‐plankton images was beneficial. For this assessment, we used ImageNet images and the 2015 ImageNet contest‐winning model, ResNet‐152. We found increased accuracy using a ResNet‐152 model pretrained on ImageNet, provided the entire network was retrained rather than retraining only the fully connected...

Influences of Dispersal and Environmental Selection on Zooplankton Distributions Across the Upper 1000 m of the North Pacific

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
ABSTRACT Aim Test the response of mesopelagic zooplankton community composition and distributional ranges to dispersal potential and environment, in comparison with the epipelagic zooplankton community. Location Epipelagic (0–200 m) and mesopelagic (200–1000 m) depth zones of the North Pacific Ocean. Taxon Multicellular zooplankton. Methods Metabarcoding of two molecular markers (18S and COI) in combination with a global ocean circulation model, analysed by General Dissimilarity Modelling. Results We found no significant difference in beta‐diversity across three depth strata (0–200, 200–500, and 500–1000 m), calculated from the nMDS dispersion of samples within each stratum. Similarity in beta‐diversity within the three depth strata indicates that epipelagic and mesopelagic zooplankton communities have similar levels of spatial turnover in species composition despite differences in the magnitude of environmental gradients and dispersal potential. There were no differences...

Disturbance ecology in a pelagic upwelling biome: Lagrangian frameworks for studying succession

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Abstract Disturbance ecology is underdeveloped in marine pelagic ecosystems relative to terrestrial and aquatic benthic habitats, in part because, when measured relative to a fixed location, postdisturbance recovery involves the advection of entire communities in addition to biotic interactions. A Lagrangian frame-of-reference perspective alleviates this issue. Using results from the California Current Ecosystem, we highlight three approaches: in situ Lagrangian, synthetic Lagrangian, and simulated Lagrangian studies. Within a Lagrangian context, extratropical marine heatwaves and El Niños represent press disturbances or alterations to the disturbance regime. Individual upwelling events are more appropriately viewed as pulse disturbances. Upwelling disturbances stimulate rapid growth of pioneer species (diatoms), with herbivores (copepods) lagging these blooms by approximately 3 weeks. The climax community is an assemblage of small low-nutrient specialists with high Shannon diversity....

Elucidating the Role of Marine Benthic Carbon in a Changing World

Thu, 4 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Abstract The ocean plays a major role in controlling atmospheric carbon at decadal to millennial timescales, with benthic carbon representing the only geologic‐scale storage of oceanic carbon. Despite its importance, detailed benthic ocean observations are limited and representation of the benthic carbon cycle in ocean and Earth system models (ESMs) is mostly empirical with little prognostic capacity, which hinders our ability to properly understand the long‐term evolution of the carbon cycle and climate change‐related feedbacks. The Benthic Ecosystem and Carbon Synthesis (BECS) working group, with the support of the US Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Program (OCB), identified key challenges limiting our understanding of benthic systems, opportunities to act on these challenges, and pathways to increase the representation of these systems in global modeling and observational efforts. We propose a set of priorities to advance mechanistic understanding and better quantify the...

Three-dimensional management needs of deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems

Thu, 4 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents form small, unique, and fragile ecosystems that are widely recognized as sites in need of protection. Deep-seabed mining (DSM) is a future threat to hydrothermal ecosystem integrity. In most areas within, and in all areas beyond national jurisdiction, currently proposed protection measures from DSM are unlikely to be sufficient, as only the known active venting sites on the seafloor are intended to be protected from DSM impacts. To ensure effective protection, we propose protecting not only the active vent sites but the entire hydrothermal ecosystems and their transition zones, embracing the seafloor, subseafloor and overlying water column. We discuss how ecological knowledge supports the proposed three-dimensional (3-D) protection. We suggest no DSM extraction or indirect impacts on the seafloor and entire subseafloor within a minimum 50 km diameter (25 km radius) around visible active vents. This will ensure the maintenance of subseafloor connections...

Hard Rock Buffet: Chemosynthetic Carbon Use and Environmental Trophic Structuring of Carbonate‐Associated Macrofauna at Southern California Methane Seeps

Thu, 4 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000
ABSTRACT Diverse invertebrate communities inhabiting carbonate rocks at methane seeps may rely on a mix of local chemosynthetic production and sinking photosynthetic organic matter, with relative importance shaped by environmental conditions. We investigate the contribution of chemosynthetic carbon to macrofaunal diets at six Southern California methane seeps (275–1020 m depth) and the influence of seep site, seepage habitat, water depth, and oxygen on trophic structure, using stable isotope analyses, Bayesian mixing models, and generalized additive models. Macrofauna exhibit wide isotopic ranges and methane‐derived carbon (MDC) contributions, with several species deriving > 80% of their diet from chemosynthetic sources, including pyropeltid limpets, provannid snails, and dorvilleid and nereidid polychaetes. Negative δ 15 N values and high MDC in a trichobranchid polychaete and sponge are consistent with N 2 fixation or incorporation of N‐fixing microbial biomass. Taxa historically...

CMIP7 data request: Earth system priorities and opportunities

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000
This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 7 (CMIP7) request for data pertaining to Earth systems science, and provides justification for the resources needed to produce this data. Topics within the CMIP7 Earth System (CMIP7-ES) theme centre around tracking of flows of energy, carbon, water and other fluxes across domains, and constraining feedbacks between these cycles and the climate system. These topics are summarized in this paper as scientific “opportunities” describing specific model intercomparison experiments and use cases for next-generation Earth System Model (ESM) output. These opportunities were submitted by modelling groups and scientific consortia following an extended public consultation process. Contained within each opportunity are requests for groups of Climate & Forecasting (CF) variables, which are bundled into variable groups representing all data required to address the opportunities'...

STREAMS guidelines: standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies

Wed, 6 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000
The interdisciplinary nature of microbiome research, coupled with the generation of complex multi-omics data, makes knowledge sharing challenging. The Strengthening the Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies (STORMS) guidelines provide a checklist for the reporting of study information, experimental design and analytical methods within a scientific manuscript on human microbiome research. Here, in this Consensus Statement, we present the standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies (STREAMS) guidelines. The guidelines expand on STORMS and include 67 items to support the reporting and review of environmental (for example, terrestrial, aquatic, atmospheric and engineered), synthetic and non-human host-associated microbiome studies in a standardized and machine-actionable manner. Based on input from 248 researchers spanning 28 countries, we provide detailed guidance, including comparisons with STORMS, and case studies that demonstrate...

Correction: A microbial survey of the International Space Station (ISS)

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4029.].

A Curious Marine Insect, Hermatobates

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000
A Curious Marine Insect, Hermatobates

The Malayan Pond-Skaters

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000
The Malayan Pond-Skaters

An Explicit Test of Kill the Winner: Protistan Grazing and Phage Lysis Differentially Impact Fast-Growing Bacterial Taxa in the Coastal Antarctic.

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Protists and bacteriophages exert top-down control on bacterial populations. Previous work in the coastal Antarctic demonstrates the potential for intra-seasonal variability of this top-down control driven by the extreme seasonal contrast in bacterial growth rates. We evaluated whether predators kill the winner wherein protists and phages preferentially impact the most abundant members of bacterial assemblages over an austral summer with weekly dilution experiments. Seawater from 10 m was divided into two serial dilutions with either 0.2 μm (to evaluate protist grazing) or 30 kDa (to evaluate protist grazing and lysis from bacteriophage) filtered water. We observed strong intra-seasonal change of bacteriophage and protistan contributions to mortality. A comparison of activity per ASV from amplicon sequencing over our dilution experiments to a predicted minimal doubling time indicates that kill the winner is occurring during the top-down control of only a few bacteria. As not all...

Incorporation of Cadmium into Drosophila

Sat, 7 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000
The purpose of this study was to determine the toxicity tolerance of Drosophila to cadmium in order to obtain flies with a high Cd body burden. CdCl₂ was added in various concentrations to the larval rearing medium. Development was normal in media containing less than 10²ug/g Cd (wet wt). Adult flies reared on a medium with 31 ug/g Cd (dry wt) contained an average of 73 ug/g Cd (dry wt). Much of the Cd incorporated into the body of the adult fly was located in the soft tissues and the haemolymph; only negligible amounts were found in the cuticle.

A New Rheumatobates from Costa Rica (Hemiptera: Gerridae)

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The water strider described here was found in a mangrove swamp. The name is published so that it will be available for a forthcoming work on marine insects.
(Rheumatobates ornatus, n. sp.)

A New species of Hermatobates (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Hermatobates is a genus of rarely collected and little known marine insects. The first species, H. haddoni Carpenter was described in 1892. Several additional species were described subsequently (Coutière and Martin, 1901a, 1901b; China, 1956, 1957; Herring, 1965) and they were all assigned to the Gerridae although Matsuda (1960), in his review of the World Gerridae, excluded Hermatobates from that family. The status of this genus is thus still debatable; it will be discussed elsewhere (Andersen, Cheng & Polhemus, in preparation). A review of the relevant literature, with a list of the known species, their distributions and their biology, was published by Cheng (1976).

A Simple emergence trap for small insects

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
A Simple emergence trap for small insects

Cooperative Acoustic Monitoring of North Pacific Right Whales

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Cooperative Acoustic Monitoring of North Pacific Right Whales

Acoustic Monitoring for Killer Whales in the Bering Sea

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Acoustic Monitoring for Killer Whales in the Bering Sea

Studies on the Biology of the Gerridae (Hem., Heteroptera) II. The Life History of Metrocoris Tenuicornis Esaki

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Studies on the Biology of the Gerridae (Hem., Heteroptera) II. The Life History of Metrocoris Tenuicornis Esaki

Studies on the Biology of the Gerridae (Hem., Heteroptera) I. Observations on the Feeding of Limnogonus Fossarum (F.)

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Studies on the Biology of the Gerridae (Hem., Heteroptera) I. Observations on the Feeding of Limnogonus Fossarum (F.)

Observations of Sperm Whale Sounds from Great Depth

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Observations of Sperm Whale Sounds from Great Depth

Skaters of the Seas – comparative ecology of nearshore and pelagic Halobates species (Hemiptera: Gerridae), with special reference to Japanese species

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Skaters of the Seas – comparative ecology of nearshore and pelagic Halobates species (Hemiptera: Gerridae), with special reference to Japanese species

HALOBATES (Heteroptera: Gerridae) from the Seas Around Nosy Be, Magalasy

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Three species are noticed: H. flaviventris, collected in light-samples at night on the continental shelf and slope; H. micans, collected on the shelf around Nosy Be, and in the Indian Ocean between north-Madagascar and equator; H. germanus collected off Nosy Be, generally not far from the continental slope. Almost all are sampled in the wet season (mai to november). Developmental stages and sex are identified.

INSECTA - Hemiptera: Heteroptera Gerridae Genus Halobates

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
INSECTA - Hemiptera: Heteroptera Gerridae Genus Halobates

Scholarly discussion of issues raised in Paulin's 1995 article: Electroreception and the Compass Sense of Sharks

Thu, 8 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000
Scholarly discussion of issues raised in Paulin's 1995 article: Electroreception and the Compass Sense of Sharks

Genome-resolved biogeography of Phaeocystales, cosmopolitan bloom-forming algae

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000
Phaeocystales, comprising the genus Phaeocystis and an uncharacterized sister lineage, are nanoplanktonic haptophytes widespread in the global ocean. Several species form mucilaginous colonies and influence key biogeochemical cycles, yet their underlying diversity and ecological strategies remain underexplored. Here, we present new genomic data from 13 strains, including three high-quality reference genomes (N50 > 30 kbp), and integrate previous metagenome-assembled genomes to resolve a robust phylogeny. Divergence timing of P. antarctica aligns with Miocene cooling and Southern Ocean isolation. Genomic traits reveal metabolic flexibility, including mixotrophic nitrogen acquisition in temperate waters and gene expansions linked to polar nutrient adaptation. Concordantly, transcriptomic comparisons between temperate and polar Phaeocystis suggest Southern Ocean populations experience iron and B12 limitation. We also identify signatures of horizontal gene transfer and endogenous...

Green genes from blue greens: challenges and solutions to unlocking the potential of cyanobacteria in drug discovery

Tue, 9 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000
Cyanobacteria are prolific producers of biologically active compounds that are important in influencing ecology, behavior of interacting organisms, and as leads in drug discovery efforts. Here we discuss the challenges faced by all natural product researchers, especially those that focus on cyanobacteria, and then describe progress that has been made in these areas. We also propose some solutions, paths forward, and thoughts for consideration on these challenges.

How are the impacts of climate change on pesticide use incorporated into policy and regulation? A case of almond production in Fresno, California.

Mon, 8 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000
How are the impacts of climate change on pesticide use incorporated into policy and regulation? A case of almond production in Fresno, California.

Cadmium and Other Heavy Metals in Sea-Skaters (Gerridae: Halobates, Rheumatobates)

Fri, 5 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000
Exceptionally high concentrations of Cd (100 to 200 ppm dry weight) were found in samples of Halobates collected off Baja California. In contrast, no detectable Cd was found in Rheumatobates collected from mangrove lagoons in the Gulf of California. Concentrations of five other heavy metals in the two marine insects are also presented.

Ocean conditions drive interannual variability in juvenile albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) muscle energy content in the California Current System

Fri, 5 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000
Juvenile albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) undertake long migrations across the North Pacific that they fuel by feeding in the California Current System (CCS) during the summer. The CCS is a highly dynamic system, which can lead to differences in foraging success that may be indicated by differences in body condition. Assessed through stomach content analysis, albacore diet composition by mean proportional weight showed high interannual variability including some years characterized by large increases in consumption of anchovy (2011 = 81%, 2017, 2022) and sardine (Sardinops sagax, 2022). We used a generalized additive model (GAM) to investigate the impact of albacore length, month of collection, diet composition, and environmental conditions on albacore muscle energy content. Two proxies for muscle energy content, the carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N) and ash free dry weight (AFDW), were positively but weakly correlated. Albacore C:N increased with month, body size, and upwelling...

Osmolyte chemical diversity in Lingulaulax polyedra red tides: a critical overlooked factor to respiratory irritations?

Thu, 4 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000
The detrimental effects on human health sometimes observed during blooms of Lingulaulax polyedra have been formerly attributed to the yessotoxin analogs this species produces. In this paper we show that natural concentrations of yessotoxin analogs present in seawater and sea spray aerosols during an unprecedented L. polyedra bloom in 2020 in Southern California did not induce inflammation in mammal macrophage cells, questioning the role played by yessotoxin in causing respiratory irritations. This bloom was associated with unprecedented levels of particulate dimethylsulfoniopropionate (2.74 ± 1.63 to 10.11 ± 1.39 µM), gonyol and several new structural analogs ofgonyol . We profiled the metabolic content of dinoflagellate cells and recorded increasing amounts of quaternary amines of the betaine family (carnitine, actinin, ectoine) as the bloom progressed. Being precursors of sulfur and nitrogenous small volatile compounds, we hypothesize that, in addition to their recognized role...

Seepage, depth, and oxygen as drivers of heterogeneity and resilience of carbonate macrofauna at methane seeps

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000
Much of the variability in methane seep macrofaunal communities has been attributed to seepage activity (i.e., fluid flux regime); however, more attention is needed to other environmental factors that might be playing a role in structuring methane seep communities. A primary goal was to understand how depth and bottom-water dissolved oxygen concentration affect the influence of seep activity on the diversity and trophic structure of carbonate macrofauna and their recovery and resilience. We conducted mensurative and manipulative experiments on the Costa Rican Pacific margin at three seep locations with varied hydrographic conditions: (1) Quepos Landslide, at 400 m deep, within the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ); (2) Mound 12, at 1,000 m deep, just below the OMZ; and (3) Jaco Scar, at 1,850 m deep, well below the OMZ. Within locations, experiments were conducted at active, transition, and background seep habitats. Habitat was the main factor influencing macrofauna at the deeper seeps,...

Extremophile hotspots linked to containerized industrial waste dumping in a deep-sea basin

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000
Decaying barrels on the seafloor linked to DDT contamination have raised concerns about the public health implications of decades old industrial waste dumped off the coast of Los Angeles. To explore their contents, we collected sediment cores perpendicular to five deep-sea barrels. The concentration of DDT and its breakdown products were highly elevated relative to control sites yet did not vary with distance from the barrels, suggesting that they were not associated with the contamination. Sediment cores collected through white halos surrounding three barrels were enriched in calcite and had elevated pH. The associated microbial communities were low diversity and dominated by alkalophilic bacteria with metagenome-assembled genomes adapted to high pH. A solid concretion sampled between a white halo and barrel was composed of brucite, a magnesium hydroxide mineral that forms at high pH. Based on these findings, we postulate that leakage of containerized alkaline waste triggered...

Halobates from the Coastal Water of China

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Article is in Chinese, Abstract in English is included below and at the end of the article.
Little is known about the Halobates around the coasts of China. This study is based on samples collected from Bohai Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea.
Three species of oceanic Halobates, H. micans, H. sericeus and H. germanus, were collected from the East China Sea, but H. germanus was found in the South China Sea samples. Samples from Bohai Sea consisted of land insects blown out to sea. Adults as well as nymphs of all three Halobates species were collected. The biology and adaptations of these unique oceanic insects are discussed.

Ocean Striders from Melanesia (Hemiptera: Gerridae, Halobates SPP.)

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000
The Halobates samples collected during the cruises "Bora", "Saint Vincent" and "Cyclone" were identified to species, sex and developmental stage. A list of stations from which each species was collected is presented, together with a map of their localities. A brief discussion on the distribution and biology of each species is appended.

Congregation of cusk‐eels (Genypterus chilensis, Ophidiiformes) at a deep‐sea methane seep off Chile

Thu, 6 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000
Congregation of cusk‐eels (Genypterus chilensis, Ophidiiformes) at a deep‐sea methane seep off Chile

Complete Species Phylogeny of the Marine Midge Pontomyia (Diptera:Chironomidae) Reveals a Cosmopolitan Species and a New Synonym

Tue, 4 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000
Pontomyia (Diptera: Chironomidae) is an exclusively marine and flightless insect genus with four described species from the Indo-Pacific and one undescribed taxon known only by its larvae, pupal skins and females from the western Atlantic. A previous study of relationships among three of the Indo-Pacific species reported each of them to be monophyletic, with high genetic diversity within P. natans Edwards, the type species, and P. pacifica Tokunaga.  The evolutionary affinities of the Australian endemic P. cottoni Womersley that resembles P. natans, as well as the putative Atlantic species are hitherto undetermined. A complete molecular phylogeny of the genus based on two nuclear and two mitochondrial DNA markers indicates that P. cottoni and a Puerto Rican (Atlantic) larval population are nested within the P. natans clade. Furthermore, P. natans and P. cottoni are inseparable in all morphological characters used previously to distinguish them. Therefore, we synonymize...

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