Scientists Finally Know What Killed Billions of Sea Stars
A guest post by Mariella B. L. Careaga
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coastal environments
Prickly Adaptability: Will Crown-of-Thorn Starfish Populations Survive Rising Ocean Temperature and Acidity?
Crown-of-Thorns starfish outbreaks are of growing concern for the wellbeing of Indo-Pacific coral reefs. When these starfish populations grow too quickly, they feed on corals at rates that don’t allow the ecosystem to recover fast enough. With coral reefs struggling to survive rising ocean temperatures and acidity, it is essential to determine how these conditions affect their predators – in this case, the Crown-of-Thorn starfish. A recent study found that ocean warming and acidification affect larval development but not survivability. Could this mean bad news for coral reefs?
Read MoreGhost Forests: Are they as scary as they sound?
Sea level rise has been accelerating over the last century, which will impact coastal ecosystems and their animals. Scientists have set out to study the conversion of forests to wetlands that is occurring with sea level rise, which results in the formation of ghost forests. While the loss of these forests is problematic, the resulting gain in wetland may actually be beneficial, making ghost forests less scary than they sound.
Read MoreWhich Wetland? National Dataset Helps Reduce Flood Risk
Flooding is an expensive and dangerous problem across the globe. Freshwater wetlands can help reduce flood risk and damage. During large storm events, wetlands hold extra water allowing it more time to flow downstream or into the soil. In order to help communities understand where to spend their time and resources to utilize these important landscape features, researchers created a national dataset that identifies the wetlands that would be best for mitigating flood risk.
Read MoreNot so blue anymore: how dead mangroves burden coastal carbon sinks
Mangrove forests have been feeling the pressure of climate change. With heat waves and low rainfall, many mangroves along a 1000 km stretch of coastline in northern Australia have been wiped out. However, the dead trees are living on by contributing large methane emissions which has consequences to global mangrove carbon stores and climate change. Read on to find out how the living dead remain active methane emitters.
Read MoreGlimmer of Hope: Seagrasses Starting to Recover in Europe
Seagrasses provide vital habitat and resources for marine ecosystems. Water pollution, disease, and coastal modification have led to a decrease in 30% of seagrasses across Europe. Researchers analyzed over 1,000 studies to understand the trends of seagrasses over nearly 150 years. While overall losses have been great, the last few decades have shown seagrasses are starting to recover – likely due to strategies to decrease water pollution and protect vital habitats.
Read MoreSeaweed as far as the eye can see
In the center of the Atlantic Ocean lies the Sargasso Sea. The brown seaweed, Sargassum, gives the Sea its name. However, in the past decade this belt of Sargassum has been exploding. During certain seasons, the Sargassum belt has expanded from West Africa to the Americas. Beached seaweed has led to numerous problems and concerns for much of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Research led by Dr. Mengqiu Wang from the University of South Florida used previous data to determine what makes these seaweeds take over the ocean in order to better predict when these blooms may occur.
Read MoreHidden fish populations protect us from ourselves!
We raise cows, chickens, and pigs on farms, but we still commonly hunt wild populations for one type of animal protein- seafood. Many fish populations are overexploited, but scientists found that despite this, Atlantic flounder populations were in better shape than expected. Why? How can we ensure that this stability continues?
Read MoreTrees, Tempests, and Time: What trees can tell us about weather in the past
For storms along the Gulf Coast, first-person recordings are only reliable for the past 150 years. But knowing more about when storms happened in the past helps us understand how the climate is changing and how to reduce storm risks for coastal communities. To do that, we have to use even more unusual records: tree rings.
Read MorePollution to Solution: Can We Get Rid of Plastics in Our Oceans?
The issue of marine plastic pollution has become a pressing, global concern. A few organizations have been created over the past few decades that have tried to address the threat of marine pollution, but none have been solely dedicated to the issue. This has led to a lack of dedication towards the issue at the international scale, and only recently have increased measures been taken to address marine plastic pollution. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was created by world leaders in 2015, and since then a number of conferences and independent initiatives have taken place across the globe to promote ocean health. Gatherings like the United Nation’s Oceans Conference and statewide bans on plastic bags can provide the groundwork to evolve these agreements and engage governments and communities to work to reduce marine plastic pollution.
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