Marine Biology

How the ocean loses nitrogen
02/25/2013 - 09:47

During an expedition to the South Pacific Ocean, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, along with their colleagues from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel discovered that organic matter derived from decaying algae regulates nitrogen loss from the ocean's oxygen minimum zones.

 

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Wood on the seafloor - an oasis for deep-sea life
01/21/2013 - 14:17

Trees do not grow in the deep sea, nevertheless sunken pieces of wood can develop into oases for deep-sea life - at least temporarily until the wood is fully degraded. A team of Max Planck researchers from Germany now showed how sunken wood can develop into attractive habitats for a variety of microorganisms and invertebrates. By using underwater robot technology, they confirmed their hypothesis that animals from hot and cold seeps would be attracted to the wood due to the activity of bacteria, which produce hydrogen sulfide during wood degradation.

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Fish have enormous nutrient impacts on marine ecosystems, study finds
12/11/2012 - 19:32

Fish play a far more important role as contributors of nutrients to marine ecosystems than previously thought, according to researchers at the University of Georgia and Florida International University. In a pair of papers in the journal Ecology, they show that fish contribute more nutrients to their local ecosystems than any other source-enough to cause changes in the growth rates of the organisms at the base of the food web.

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New ancient shark species gives insight into origin of great white
11/14/2012 - 19:15

Originally classified as a direct relative of megatooth sharks, the white shark’s evolutionary history has been debated by paleontologists for the last 150 years. In a study appearing in print and online today in the journal Palaeontology, University of Florida researchers name and describe an ancient intermediate form of the white shark, Carcharodon hubbelli, which shows the modern white shark likely descended from broad-toothed mako sharks. The study deviates from the white shark’s original classification as a relative of megatooth sharks such as the extinct Carcharocles megalodon, the largest carnivorous shark that ever lived.

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Scientists unravel the mystery of marine methane oxidation
11/12/2012 - 08:56

Microbiologists and geochemists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, along with their colleagues from Vienna and Mainz, show that marine methane oxidation coupled to sulfate respiration can be performed by a single microorganism, a member of the ancient kingdom of the Archaea, and does not need to be carried out in collaboration with a bacterium, as previously thought. They published their discovery as an article in the renowned scientific journal Nature.

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Sharks: bad creatures or bad image?
11/07/2012 - 17:01

Historically, the media have been particularly harsh to sharks, and it’s affecting their survival. The results of a Michigan State University study, appearing in the current issue of the journal Conservation Biology, reviewed worldwide media coverage of sharks – and the majority isn’t good.

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