Latest news with #coralreefs
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Researchers develop innovative method to study crucial ocean creatures: 'Offers a powerful solution'
Coral reefs play crucial roles in marine ecosystems, and researchers in Okinawa, Japan, have developed a technology to further understand these complex creatures. Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology were able to identify reef-building corals called Scleractinia using environmental DNA, as shared. The eDNA system, a collaboration between several Japanese universities and organizations, collects and analyzes the DNA that corals shed by gathering seawater samples. This system detects 83 of 85 known Scleractinia in Japan, enabling scientists to monitor reef-building corals more accurately, efficiently, and cost-effectively. The OIST explained that prior to this system, trained divers and snorkelers performed time-consuming and often imprecise coral surveys. Underwater video imaging improved these surveys, but large-scale, comprehensive assessments remained challenging. But eDNA solves that challenge. While researchers produced the technology in 2021, they were unable to utilize it due to an absence of data to compare the DNA to. The latest development of this technology included sequencing the DNA of two-thirds of Japan's known Scleractinia to establish a more complete database, and scientists discovered a previously unknown diversity of reef-building corals in the process. Corals, and the reefs they produce, play host to some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world. About 25% of the ocean's fish rely on coral reefs, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and fish and other organisms use corals for shelter, food, and reproduction. Coral reefs also benefit coastal communities, protecting them from storms and erosion and supporting their economies. Should we be harnessing the ocean to power our homes? Absolutely Leave it be It depends I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. The NOAA stated that over half a billion people depend on reefs for food, income, and protection, while their net economic value is estimated to be tens of billions of U.S. dollars per year. These ecosystems are culturally important, too. But rising ocean temperatures threaten coral reefs. Warmer temperatures can cause coral bleaching and death, affecting both corals and the species that rely on them. The eDNA technology can help scientists monitor coral reefs as they adapt to these changes. "Corals can now be found at the entrance to Tokyo Bay — another sign of climate change reshaping marine ecosystems," Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Professor Nori Satoh said. "Such shifts highlight the urgent need for accurate monitoring, and our newly developed system offers a powerful solution." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Glowing, biofluorescent fish originated over a hundred million years ago
Did you know that some fish can glow with different colours?This special ability is called biofluorescence and scientists have now found it dates back over a hundred million years. Two new studies led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History also found that there are more colours of biofluorescence than previously thought - and more species with this power. The authors also suggest this huge variation of colours and patterns could mean the fish are using the glow to communicate with each other. Biofluorescence is where a living organism can absorb light before letting it out again. The result is the creatures seem to glow with different colours and even patterns. It is different to bioluminescence which is when the creatures create the light inside themselves and so can glow in total darkness. The researchers produced a list of 459 biofluorescent species, including 48 species that were not previously known to be also estimated the biofluorescence dated back about 112 million years, with the first instance happening in team also found that fish species that live in or around coral reefs evolve biofluorescence faster than those that live outside of the reef. Most of the species studied were associated with coral reefs. The researchers found there was a sharp increase in glowing species after the dinosaurs became extinct 66 million years was also when there was a rise of modern coral-dominated reefs which the study authors say could explain the sudden surge of the second study, published in PLOS One, the scientists looked at fish they already knew were biofluorescent under special researchers were surprised by the range of colours with some species giving out several colours and patterns.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Science
- Japan Times
Marine heat waves are spreading around the world
In recent decades, the oceans have warmed. Marine heat waves, once rare events, have become more common. One particularly intense event known as "the Blob' lasted years and devastated plankton populations, starving millions of fish and seabirds and damaging commercial fishing. Recently, high temperatures have persisted. In January 2024, the share of the ocean surface experiencing a heat wave topped 40%. Unusual heat waves have occurred in all of the major ocean basins around the planet in recent years. And some of these events have become so intense that scientists have coined a new term: super marine heat waves. "The marine ecosystems where the super marine heat waves occur have never experienced such a high sea surface temperature in the past,' Boyin Huang, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in an email. The seas off the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland experienced an unusually intense marine heat wave, one of the longest on record, starting in April, and the temperature rise happened much earlier in the year than usual. Australia and its iconic coral reefs were recently struck by heat waves on two coasts. Scientists define marine heat waves in different ways. But it's clear that as the planet's climate changes, the oceans are being fundamentally altered as they absorb excess heat trapped in the atmosphere from greenhouse gases, which are emitted when fossil fuels are burned. Hotter oceans are causing drastic changes to marine life, sea levels and weather patterns. Some of the most visible casualties of ocean warming have been coral reefs. When ocean temperatures rise too much, corals can bleach and die. About 84% of reefs worldwide experienced bleaching-level heat stress at some point between January 2023 and March 2025, according to a recent report. Last year, the warmest on record, sea levels rose faster than scientists expected. Research showed that most of that rise in sea levels came from ocean water expanding as it warms, which is known as thermal expansion, not from melting glaciers and ice sheets, which in past years were the biggest contributors to rising seas. In a photo from the National Park Service, a humpback whale named Festus that was found dead just outside the mouth of Glacier Bay, Alaska, June 2016. A report on this whale revealed numerous health conditions, including poor nutrition and elevated levels of harmful algal toxins. | Craig Murdoch / National Park Service, NOAA permit #18786 / via The New York Times Excess heat in the oceans can also affect weather patterns, making hurricanes more likely to rapidly intensify and become more destructive. In the southwest Pacific, last year's ocean heat contributed to a record-breaking streak of tropical cyclones hitting the Philippines. "If we understand how global warming is affecting extreme events, that is essential information to try to anticipate what's going on, what's next,' said Marta Marcos, a physicist at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain. Marcos was the lead author of a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found that climate change has been responsible for the overwhelming majority of marine heat waves in recent decades. The losses Some of the earliest research on mass die-offs associated with marine heat waves, before there was a name for them, came from the Mediterranean, which has been warming three to five times faster than the ocean at large. Joaquim Garrabou, a marine conservation ecologist at the Institut de Ciencies del Mar in Barcelona, Spain, started studying these events after witnessing a die-off of sponges and coral in 1999. He and other scientists believed that with climate change, these die-offs would reoccur. "The reality is moving even faster than what we thought,' he said. "Having these mass mortality events is the new normal, instead of something infrequent, which it should be.' In 2012, a marine heat wave in the Gulf of Maine highlighted the risk these events pose to fisheries. The Northern shrimp population went from an estimated 27.25 billion in 2010 to 2.8 billion two years later, according to modeling by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. "This disappearance of the shrimp was just shocking,' said Anne Richards, a retired research fisheries biologist who worked at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center at the time. In a photo from Jemina Stuart-Smith, University of Tasmania, a red handfish is collected in the waters off the coast of Tasmania. In a heatwave that began in 2023, researchers in Tasmania transferred 25 red handfish to an aquarium until the temperatures fell. | Jemina Stuart-Smith, University of Tasmania / via The New York Times Her research pointed to a significant culprit: Longfin squid drawn north by warmer water were eating the shrimp. The fishery has not yet reopened. By 2023, the Northern shrimp population was estimated to have dropped to around 200 million. Commercial fishing has always been difficult, but now, "climate change is taking that to another level,' said Kathy Mills, a senior scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Complicating matters is the fact that much of the research on marine heat waves comes from just a few countries, including Australia, the United States, China, Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom. "There are lots of regions around the world where monitoring isn't as good as other places, and so we don't really know what's happening,' said Dan Smale, a community ecologist at the United Kingdom's Marine Biological Association. Rising ocean temperatures can also set off a domino effect through the marine food web, starting at the bottom with plankton. In a photo from the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, emaciated Cassin's auklets found during a single survey on an Oregon beach, on Jan. 8, 2015. During the ocean heat event in the North Pacific known as 'the Blob,' hundreds of thousands of birds died of starvation. | Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team / via The New York Times Since the end of most commercial whaling in the 1970s and '80s, humpback whales in the North Pacific had been recovering, reaching a peak population of about 33,000 in 2012. But then came the heat event known as "the Blob' that blanketed much of region from 2014 to 2017. The heat wave diminished wind and waves, limiting the nutrients that typically get churned up to the sea surface. Fewer nutrients meant fewer phytoplankton, fewer zooplankton, fewer fish and fewer of everything else that eats them. How 'the blob' took a toll After the Blob dissipated, researchers learned that the effects of a severe marine heat wave could endure long after the event itself has passed. Ted Cheeseman, a doctoral candidate at Southern Cross University, had co-founded Happywhale, a database of tens of thousands of marine mammals built on photos submitted by researchers and whale watchers around the world. Cheeseman found a sharp drop in humpback whale sightings by 2021. The decrease was so significant, at first he thought the Happywhale team was doing the math wrong. The team members spent several years checking and last year published a study that concluded the humpback whale population in the North Pacific had fallen by 20% from 2012 to 2021. They attributed the decline to the loss of food like krill during and after the Blob. With "an estimate of 7,000 whales having disappeared and not showing up anywhere else,' Cheeseman said, "there's really no other explanation.' Looking ahead Eventually, parts of the ocean might enter a constant state of marine heat wave, at least by today's common definition. Some scientists see today's shorter-term spikes as practice for this future. Alistair Hobday, a biological oceanographer at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, has been conducting public briefings with marine heat wave forecasts months ahead of time. People are tuning in — and responding. In a photo from Jemina Stuart-Smith, University of Tasmania, a red handfish in the waters off the coast of Tasmania. | Jemina Stuart-Smith, University of Tasmania / via The New York Times The critically endangered red handfish lives off the coast of Tasmania, crawling along the seafloor on fins shaped like hands. These unusual fish have only been found within two small patches of rocky reef and sea grass meadow. In late 2023, Hobday's forecast predicted potentially deadly marine heat waves. Researchers from the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, with support from the Australian Department of Climate Change, took a drastic step. They transferred 25 red handfish to an aquarium until the temperatures fell. Jemina Stuart-Smith, an ecologist at the University of Tasmania, described those weeks as the most stressful time of her life. "If it all went wrong,' she said, "you're talking about the potential extinction of an entire species.' After three months, 18 fish were returned to the ocean. Three had died, and four were enrolled in a captive breeding program. Scientists recognize that temporary fixes can only do so much in the face of long-term warming. "It's kind of putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg,' said Kathryn Smith, a marine ecologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Marine Biological Association. But those studying today's extreme events still hope their work gives people some visibility into the future of the world's oceans, Hobday said. "Clever people, if you tell them about the future,' he said, "can think of all kinds of things to do differently.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times © 2025 The New York Times Company
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
'Silent' crisis that threatens to wipe out $300 billion coastal industry
Scientists have warned of an environmental crisis threatening to destroy a $300billion global industry critical to coastal communities worldwide. A new study revealed that ocean acidification has already crossed a global tipping point. This occurs when the ocean absorbs excessive carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, making it more acidic and corrosive to marine organisms. Since the Industrial Revolution, burning fossil fuels has sent massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air, increasing the ocean's acidity. Scientists revealed that oceans crossed a critical limit for acidification as early as 2000, with 60 percent of deeper waters now beyond the danger zone. The study found that the damage has already led to the loss of 43 percent of coral reef habitat, 61 percent of sea butterfly habitat, and 13 percent of suitable environment for shellfish like oysters and mussels. When the ocean becomes more acidic, it eats away at the building blocks these animals need to grow their shells. This change could push the global seafood industry, worth multi billions toward collapse. The US, with an $11 billion seafood market, is the world's second biggest market and could face serious consequences. 'It is not just an environmental issue anymore,' said Professor Steve Widdicombe, director of science at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and a leading global voice on ocean acidification. 'We are gambling with biodiversity and with billions in economic value every day that action is delayed.' Researchers say ocean acidification is undermining the survival of 'calcifying species' marine organisms that depend on calcium carbonate to form their shells and skeleton. 'Ocean acidification can severely affect marine organisms through its direct impact on physiology, growth, survival and reproduction,' researchers said in the study published in Global Change Biology. Shellfish farming alone contributes billions annually, supporting over 600 million people in coastal communities. Researchers said that by 2020, the ocean's water had already changed enough to go past the safe limit, scientists set to protect sea life from harm caused by too much acidity. In other words, the ocean became too acidic for many marine animals to stay healthy. That line was drawn at a 20 percent reduction in calcium carbonate compared to pre-industrial levels and US West Coast is among the worst affected. But this study suggests that even 10 percent deviation from pre-industrial conditions is enough to push marine ecosystems into danger. The maps highlight areas where conditions are just barely okay for corals, marked by a line called the 3.5 contour. Purple dots show where coral reefs are found. The maps compare four different times: (a) before big human impacts, (b) in 2020, (c) after a 10 percent drop from the old healthy level, and (d) after a 20 percent drop from the old healthy level. The Pacific oyster, a key part of US seafood farming, struggles to survive when ocean water gets too acidic. In the early 2010s, oyster hatcheries in the US Pacific Northwest almost shut down because the seawater became too acidic. To fix this, hatcheries started using sensors to monitor the water and added chemicals to keep it safe for oysters. However, many smaller or remote hatcheries often can not afford these fixes, and the same problem is now showing up along the Gulf and East coasts. However, many coastal areas around the world still do not have the tools or government help to deal with this problem. The damage is not limited to oysters. Tiny sea creatures called pteropods, a major food source for fish like salmon and mackerel, are already being hit hard by acidifying waters. By 2020, more than half of their polar habitat was damaged, with marine life struggling to survive. If they disappear, it could shake the entire ocean food chain. Coral reefs, though less common in US waters, are also at risk, putting coastal protection and young fish habitats in danger. As the ocean condition worsen, the sector is impacting both livelihoods and economy of US seafood industry. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US marine industry supported 2.3 million jobs and generated $321 billion in sales in 2022. In addition to this, a report funded by the National Sea Grant Program found that US aquaculture, adds about $4 billion to the economy each year and supports over 22,000 employment. In the Pacific Northwest, where commercial shellfish farms thrive, corrosive seawater has already crossed the danger threshold. Despite growing evidence, the crisis remains largely unseen. 'There's no smoking gun,' said Professor Steve Widdicombe of Plymouth Marine Laboratory to The Guardians. 'It is tough to convince policymakers when the water looks fine from the beach.' International goals exist, like the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 14 and the Global Biodiversity Framework, but few governments, including the US, have laid out aggressive national plans specifically targeting acidification. 'Ocean acidification is a crisis we cannot see,' said Professor Helen Findlay, the lead author of the study. 'But its fingerprints are all over our coastlines, hatcheries and ecosystems. And unless we act now, the losses will keep mounting.'
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Auction Of Globally-Renowned Artists On The French Riviera Benefits Coral Reef Protection And Restoration
Vibrant yellow googly eyes outlined in pale blue oil stick peer out from the top left of the canvas, adjacent to a face with three vertically stacked eyes. Large drips of white and blue paint obscure the chattering teeth frantically farmed in red in the lower canvas, hinting at water and perhaps someone being silenced. The artist's name 'moyo' is scrawled in pale blue oil stick over the face, suggesting a personal narrative. Myriad self referential symbols swim around the monumental painting, soaring more than five feet high and over feet wide. The bold colors emerge from a graphite background, evoking an emergence from darkness into light. Móyòsóré Martins, Emi Ko (It's Not Me) (2023) is among the 36 artworks featured in Thirty Six for Coral, an exhibition presented by The Coral Collective, an initiative by ocean charity Project Zero, on view June 12-20 at the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. Emi Ko is among select pieces to be auctioned at a closing gala on June 20, with proceeds directly supporting coral reef protection and restoration around the world. With an opening bid of €15,000 ($17,168), Emi Ko is expected to fetch between €25,000 ($28,614) and €35,000 ($40,060). Viewers cannot look away from the googly eyes or the stacked eyes on the Dogan-like figure honoring Martins' Brazilian father, underscoring the urgency to face serious decline in biodiversity and potential functional climate extinction of coral reefs. Born 1986 in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Nigerian mother from Ekiti state, the New York-based mixed-media artist paints complex layers from his imagination. Móyò, as he's better known, studied computer science in Ghana and the Ivory Coast before immigrating to New York City in 2015. A rising master, Martins has quickly developed a global following. 'I'm honored to contribute this piece in support of saving our coral reefs—a vital ecosystem that urgently needs our care,' Martins said. 'This work is my way of speaking up, and I hope it stirs something in you too. We still have time to protect what remains. Let's not wait.' Works on view and on the auction block represent a wide range of practices. Brooklyn-based Dustin Yellin, founder of multidisciplinary cultural center Pioneer Works, offers Help!, a suspended figure, with a large whole in its torso and arms bent at the elbows and hands pressed against a glass veneer sculpture. Evoking a perilous underwater scene, the artwork amplifies the need to raise global awareness and secure essential funding for protection and restoration of one of the most critically endangered ecosystems on Earth. The 'frozen cinema' sculpture – which embeds streaks of paint and a plethora of tiny clippings from magazines, art history books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and found notebooks into sheets of laminated glass – opens with a starting bid of €40,000 ($€40,000), on an estimate of €60,000 ($68,564) to €80,000 ($€40,000). Offering a brighter outlook, perhaps, See The Light by OSGEMEOS (a collaborative project of Brazilian twin brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, whose moniker means 'the twins' in Portuguese) welcomes us into their fantastical, colorful, glimmering universe. It's as if the face is being transported to another planet by a spaceship crown. Bidding for the mixed media on wood artwork begins at €75,000 ($85,704), and it's expected to draw in between €125,000 ($142,841) and €150,000 ($171,401). 'This year's exhibition and auction is a beautiful initiative for inspiring the world to recognize the huge significance of these tiny beings for our oceans and planet,' OSGEMEOS said. 'We are thrilled to be part of this admirable initiative and to know that our artwork is going to help in some way.' 'This world is a mess, and while we are busy annihilating whole populations, it's easy to forget that we continue to destroy our planet.,' said Michelle Edelman, a member of the The Coral Collective board and founder of Traffic Arts. "Coral reefs are a vital life force. Just like the rainforests—they are essential to the health of our planet. I am deeply moved by the commitment of The Coral Collective and Project Zero to stay focused and do this important work, and extremely grateful to each individual who supports 36forCoral—the many exciting artists who contributed their inspiring work, and to the patrons who will buy it, or simply donate to the cause." Participating artists include: Akwetey Orraca-Tetteh, Alexis Rockman, Beth O'Donnell, Bradley Theodore, Britt Boutros-Ghali. Cavier Coleman, Charlotte Colbert, Deborah Kass, Francesco Clemente, Helen Beard, Henrietta Armstrong, Jemima Kirke, Jordan "Watts" Watson, Kevin Francis Grey, Manuela Zervadachi, Marc Quinn, Mauro Perucchetti, Nabil Nahas, Nana Funo, Petroc Sesti, Philip Colbert, RETNA, Rob and Nick Carter, Rocco Ritchie, Shezad Dawood, Sholto Blissett, Steve Hash, Tessa Campbell Fraser, Touils, Vik Muniz, and Walton Ford.
