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Biology


Smaller female North Atlantic right whales, fewer calves

The declining body size of North Atlantic right whales may have critical consequences for the future of the species. New research, co-authored by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s senior scientist Michael Moore, shows that smaller females produce fewer calves.

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The hypoxic reef

Scientists say a lack of oxygen might be stressing tropical reefs even more than warming temperatures, acidification, and pollution. But the combination of these factors spells disaster for coral.

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WHOI collaborates with CMA CGM to increase protections for marine mammals

A collaboration between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, aims to increase whale detection efforts along the U.S East Coast, particularly for North Atlantic right whales, and reduce the potential for ship strikes along critical shipping routes.

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How do corals form colonies?

If you stare at just one spot on a coral reef, your eyes could be seeing more than 1,000 animals per square foot. That’s because the thing that makes up most of these marine ecosystems are tiny living animals called coral polyps, which exist on the surface of reef formations.

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Biology Department Hybrid Seminar

Identifying Microbial Drivers of Biological Oxygen Production and Uptake in the Central Arctic Ocean
Emelia Chamberlain, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Using Machine Learning to Predict Bacterial Production from Absolute Prokaryotic […]

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The ocean twilight zone’s role in climate change

OTZ's role in climate change

A new report from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ) project team offers a detailed look at the climate-altering processes that take place within the zone, in particular those that are driven by animals that migrate between the twilight zone and the surface each night to feed. This phenomenon is likely the biggest migration on Earth—yet it remains incredibly vulnerable to human exploitation.

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Earth BioGenome Project begins genome sequencing in earnest

The Deep-Ocean Genomes Project is an ambitious effort co-led by WHOI and the University of Connecticut (UConn) to obtain fundamental new knowledge of the organization, evolution, functions, and interactions of life in one of Earth’s least-understood regions: the deep ocean.

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