Here are two recent survey-based papers, one on Bahamian perceptions regarding climate change and the second on how useful Bahamian field courses proved to be for US college students. There are always myriad inherent biases with such surveys, but I found some interesting aspects in each of the studies. They are both easy reads.
It appears that declines of coral reefs have been going on longer than we thought. Recent research using old navigation maps from the late 1700s showed that coral reefs in the Florida Keys were much more extensive than previously believed, with the new estimates suggesting a ~50% reduction of total coral reef area (being converted to seagrass beds) since […]
Recently, large collaborations between sea turtle monitoring programs in the West Atlantic have identified regional declines in growth rates for loggerheads, hawksbills, and greens. Data were used from in-water capture-recapture studies. Karen Bjorndal of the University of Florida has taken the helm on three papers that address the trends for each of these species.
Notably, all species exhibited increases in growth rates […]
It is truly uplifting to find any positive news about the state of the worlds’ coral reefs anywhere. A resent research survey found that the reefs around Phoenix Island, a region halfway between Fiji and Hawaii, were teaming with healthy coral. These corals had previously been devastated in 2003, and had been slow to recover. Scientists were worried that the recent […]
Finally some good news. With all the drastic changes that are occurring in the worlds oceans, there are clear winners and losers. A recent article has provided definitive proof that all cephalopods, a group that includes octopus, squid, and cuttlefish, are clear winners. Researchers concluded that cephalopods from New England to Japan have boomed since the 1950s. What is interesting […]
Last week some 3000 coral reef scientists, including the world’s foremost leaders in all aspects of coral reef ecosystems, met in Honolulu to discuss the fate of coral reefs. The goal of this convention, which is held every four years, was to focus on positive action towards improving reef ecosystems. Unfortunately, when studying coral reefs it is difficult to be optimistic. […]
Climate change and ocean acidification–which can result in coral bleaching events, slower growth and reproduction rates, and degraded reef structure–are the most pressing global threats to coral reefs.
Why do healthy, resilient coral reefs matter to you? Healthy coral reefs support an astounding diversity of marine life. They also provide countless benefits to people through ecosystem goods and services like coastal […]
“The Blob” is a peculiar and persistent warm-water mass that has been hovering over the Northern Pacific on and off for the past few years. Scientist don’t full understand how or why it is there, but it is having marked effects on both weather patterns (largely in the Pacific Northwest) and on local ecosystems. In particular, the warm water prevents […]
A recent paper in Scientific Reports (LINK to .pdf) examines the timing and cause of a major extinction event in the Caribbean. From the looks of the evidence presented in this paper, humans might be the culprit, not rising seas. Some of the samples used in this study were collected right on Abaco!
This U. Florida brief does a […]
A recent article in Climactic Change reported an economic analysis that suggests that climate change will cost the US twice as much as previous analyses estimated – increasing the estimate from $500 million to $1 trillion. Just to reiterate, that is 1,000,000,000,000 – lots of zeros. While there are always myriad considerations when attempting to predict such outcomes, this […]