Coral
MC&G Department Virtual Seminar: Testing Controls on Trace Element Proxies in Cold-Water Corals Cultured Under Decoupled Carbonate Chemistry Conditions
Anne Gothmann, St. Olaf College Sponsored by: MC&G Department This will also be held virtually. Join Zoom Meeting: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/94496409234
Read MoreA curious robot is poised to rapidly expand reef research
WHOI scientists with the Coral Catalyst Team are leveraging a new, artificially intelligent robot to automate coral reef health assessments
Read MoreA coral reef kickstart
WHOI’s Reef Solutions Initiative takes a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate solutions for ailing coral reefs
Read MoreA deadly disease is wiping out coral in Florida and the Caribbean
Researchers are racing to stop stony coral tissue loss disease, which is killing some of the region’s oldest and largest corals.
WHOI Receives Grant for Curious Robot to Study Coral Reef Ecosystems
The team led by WHOI computer scientist Yogesh Girdhar aims to build a robot capable of navigating a reef ecosystem and measuring the biomass, biodiversity, and behavior of organisms living in or passing through a reef over extended periods of time.
Development of a curious robot to study coral reef ecosystems awarded $1.5 million by the National Science Foundation
A prototype of an autonomous underwater vehicle capable of navigating complex underwater environments and of collecting data adaptively over long…
Read MoreReef Solutions Seminar: Coral Reef Restoration: Gaps in Science and Engineering Hinder Ecologically Meaningful Outcomes
Ashlee Lillis, Sound Ocean Science Sponsored by: The Reef Solutions Catalyst Group This will be held virtually. Please Join: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/99455286823…
Read MoreWHOI multidisciplinary team selected for prestigious National Science Foundation Program
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has been selected by the U.S National Science Foundation (NSF) for phase one of a two-part Convergence Accelerator Program, a $21 million investment to advance use-inspired solutions addressing national-scale societal challenges. WHOI is one of sixteen teams across the US chosen to participate in Track E: The Networked Blue Economy, which aims to create a smart, integrated, connected, and open ecosystem for ocean innovation, exploration, and sustainable utilization.
Read MoreFive marine living fossils you should know about
After living for millions of years, these species may have mastered evolution in our ocean
Read MoreFor Cynthia Becker, solutions to coral health are in the smallest details
MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Cynthia Becker sits down with Oceanus Magazine to explain why marine microbes may be the key to diagnosing reef health
Read MoreSome coral reefs are keeping pace with ocean warming
Some coral communities are becoming more heat tolerant as ocean temperatures rise, offering hope for corals in a changing climate. After a series of marine heatwaves hit the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) in the central Pacific Ocean, a new study finds the impact of heat stress on the coral communities lessened over time.
Read MoreMauritius incident was world’s first major spill of very low sulfur fuel oil
“When we analyzed several other Low Sulfur Fuel Oils, we found some contained higher concentrations of toxic components than the oil discharged in the Mauritius spill, so more research will be needed before we can conclude that all the oil types within this new class pose less of a threat to marine ecosystems than heavy fuel oils.”
Reef Solutions Virtual Seminar: Coral Eco-Immunity in a Complicated Disease Landscape
Nikki Traylor-Knowles, University of Miami Sponsored by: Reef Solutions Catalyst Group This will be held virtually. Join Zoom Meeting: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/99455286823…
Read MoreSurviving extreme heat
A team led by Anne Cohen, a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, received $1.75M in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study how coral reefs survive extreme heat events caused by climate change. The multidisciplinary project taps into expertise across four WHOI departments to uncover the oceanographic and biological processes that enable corals to survive marine heatwaves.
Read MoreWhat Happens to Marine Life When There Isn’t Enough Oxygen?
In September of 2017, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution postdoctoral scholar Maggie Johnson was conducting an experiment with a colleague in Bocas del Toro off the Caribbean coast of Panama. After sitting on a quiet, warm open ocean, they snorkeled down to find a peculiar layer of murky, foul-smelling water about 10 feet below the surface, with brittle stars and sea urchins, which are usually in hiding, perching on the tops of coral. This unique observation prompted a collaborative study explained in a new paper published on July 26, 2021, in Nature Communications analyzing what this foggy water layer is caused by, and the impact it has on life at the bottom of the seafloor.
Reef Solutions Seminar Series: Considering the Variability and Evolution of Coral Reef Systems
Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Sponsored by: Reef Solutions Catalyst Group This will be held virtually. Join Zoom Meeting:…
Read MoreLoss of Oxygen in Oceans Detrimental to Marine Life; Scientists Show How Deoxygenation Rapidly Affects Reef Ecosystem
According to Phys.org, Johnson and her team snorkeled down the water, and there they found the peculiar layer of water that has brittle stars and sea urchins, which are uncharacteristically perching on the top of coral reefs as they are usually hiding.
Impact of Hypoxic Ocean Waters on Marine Life
Investigators suggest that loss of oxygen in the global ocean is accelerating due to climate change and excess nutrients, but how sudden deoxygenation events affect tropical marine ecosystems is poorly understood.
What happens to marine life when oxygen is scarce?
A new study co-led by WHOI postdoctoral scholar Maggie Johnson looks closely at the changes occurring in both coral reef and microbial communities near Bocas del Toro during sudden hypoxic events, which occur when there is little to no oxygen in a given area of water.
Read MoreDoctoral Dissertation Defense of Thesis: Assessing Anthropogenic Noise Impacts and Relevant Soundscape Cues for Marine Invertebrates: Leveraging Squid and Coral Reefs as Model Systems
Ian T. Jones, MIT-WHOI Joint Program Sponsored by: Academic Programs Office This will be held virtually. To register, visit https://mit.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kcumurjIpHN3lZLsk8PEyvAKFxRe7D02_
Read MoreReef Solutions Seminar Series: Integrating Resilient Reef Restoration to Recover Florida’s Coral Reef
Erinn Muller, Mote Marine Laboratory Sponsored by: Reef Solutions Catalyst Group This seminar will be held virtually. Join Zoom Meeting…
Read MoreMC&G Department Virtual Seminar: Investigating Coral Exometabolites and Their Ecological Significance on Coral Reefs
Laura Weber, WHOI Sponsored by: MC&G Department This will be held virtually. Join Zoom meeting: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/94496409234
Read MoreBiology Department Virtual Seminars
Eukrhythmic: Leveraging the Metatranscriptomic Landscape to Reproducibly Detect and Describe Marine Protistan Communities Arianna Krinos, WHOI Comparing Estimates of Larval…
Read MoreA Rusting Oil Tanker Off the Coast of Yemen Is an Environmental Catastrophe Waiting to Happen. Can Anyone Prevent It?
Viviane Menezes, a marine scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, has described the Red Sea as being like a “big lagoon” with “everything connected.” An oil spill at any time of year would be disastrous, she says, but seasonally variable weather and tidal patterns make contingency planning difficult. In the summer, Red Sea currents would drag an oil slick south, threatening Eritrea and Djibouti, and potentially entering the Gulf of Aden. In winter, circular currents would swirl more of the oil north.
