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News Releases


Diverse Corals Persist, But Bioerosion Escalates in Palau’s Low-pH Waters

As the ocean absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) released by the burning of fossil fuels, its chemistry is changing. The CO2 reacts with water molecules, lowering ocean pH in a process known as ocean acidification. This process also removes carbonate ions, an essential ingredient needed by corals and other organisms to build their skeletons and shells.

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Innovative, new “road map” for kelp crop improvement

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Connecticut, and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences have executed a license agreement for a kelp germplasm, or collection of microscopic cells called gametophytes, containing more than 1,200 samples all developed and isolated by WHOI and UConn-led teams. Bigelow Laboratory’s National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota plans to maintain, market, and distribute the germplasm collection for broad use.

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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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Study Reveals Corals’ Influence on Reef Microbes

Study Reveals Corals' Influence on Reef Microbes

As they grow, corals are bathed in a sea of marine microbes, such as bacteria, algae, and viruses. While these extremely abundant and tiny microorganisms influence coral communities in a variety of ways, a new study by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) and University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) reveals that corals also have an impact on the microbes in waters surrounding them

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Novel Tag Developed for Squid, Jellyfish

A new data-logging tag, called the ITAG, developed at WHOI specifically for small and delicate invertebrates not only quantifies ocean conditions but also measures animals’ responses to their physical environments in high resolution.

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Securing the Supply of Sea Scallops for Today and Tomorrow

Good management has brought the $559 million United States sea scallop fishery back from the brink of collapse over the past 20 years.  However, its current fishery management plan does not account for longer-term environmental change like ocean warming and acidification that may affect the fishery in the future. A group of researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, and Ocean Conservancy hope to change that. 

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