Ocean Life
Aria Finkelstein crafts policy to help legislators manage the twilight zone
Aria Ritz Finkelstein began her career hoping to help craft laws for the management of natural resources on land, until a fateful sailboat convinced her to do it for the sea
Read MoreKatharine, the Great White Shark Who Ghosted Her Trackers, Resurfaces
Simon R. Thorrold, a senior scientist in the biology department at WHOI in Falmouth, Mass., said it was “not crazy surprising” that a signal was picked up.
A Window into the Twilight Zone
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution oceanographer Andone Lavery and her team of scientists and engineers have created the ultimate tool for exploring the largest, least known habitat on Earth—the Twilight Zone, a layer of the ocean beyond all but the dimmest sunlight. What they find might change our understanding of deep-ocean life.
Read MoreThe ocean’s carbon pump works better than we thought!
Scientists have long known that the ocean plays an essential role in capturing carbon from the atmosphere, but a study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) shows that the efficiency of the ocean’s “biological carbon pump” has been drastically underestimated, with implications for future climate assessments. Marine chemist Ken Buesseler and his co-authors call on their fellow oceanographers to adopt a new metric for estimating the depth of the ocean’s sunlit layer, thus its ability to take up carbon.
Read MoreFormer Falmouth students credited in new study
Rebecca Cox and Sarah Lott were interns at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution when they became a part of the breakthrough study, which found microorganisms living hundreds of meters beneath the seafloor.
Pop-up pots and the search for ‘whale-safe’ gear
Mark Baumgartner, associate scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, has talked about the entanglement issue with Porter and believes ropeless fishing can work, and that it may be the best option for enabling fishermen and whales to share the same waters.
Special Virtual Biology Department Seminar: Drivers of Echolocation and Biosonar-Based Foraging in Social Cetaceans
Frants Jensen, WHOI Sponsored by: Biology Department This will be held virtually over Webex. If you wish to view the…
Read MoreSpecial Biology Department Seminar: The Role of Sociality in Cetacean Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
Amy van Cise, Cascadia Research Collective Sponsored by: Biology Department This will be held virtually over Webex. If you…
Read MoreBiologging and Raspberry Pi
Karla Haiat Sasson, who was a guest student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute summer of 2019, and who is a participant of the DEEPi project at the department of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island, worked on a project to adapt the DEEPi cameras, which were shown to work successfully, into a biologging system for a WHOI project directed by Tag Lab director Amy Kukulya, that seeks more information on the biology of gray seals in Cape Cod.
Hyperiid amphipod: a shimmer in the net
This hyperiid amphipod is a member of the crustacean family that typically act as parasites to gelatinous neighbors, such as salps. This particular suborder lives exclusively in the marine environment. Paul Caiger, who snapped the picture, saw this particular shrimp-like species during an ocean twilight zone research cruise on R/V Neil Armstrong (2020).
Read MoreNow you see me, now you don’t
Marine biologists tackle an unsettling mystery surrounding sand lance–eel-like, dive-bombing fish that have become a cornerstone forage species for a wide range of marine animals in the Gulf of Maine and northwest Atlantic Ocean.
Read MoreSpecial Biology Department Seminar: Why Movement Matters: Biophysical Interactions Inform Predator Ecology in a Dynamic and Changing Ocean
Camrin Braun, University of Washington Sponsored by: Biology Department – This will be held virtually, over Webex. If you wish…
Read MoreFinding medical answers in the ocean
The test being used to diagnose the novel coronavirus—and other pandemics like AIDS and SARS—was developed with the help of an enzyme isolated from a microbe found in marine hydrothermal vents as well as freshwater hot springs.
Read More360˚ Video: Deploying Mesobot
You’re on deck as the stealthy underwater robot Mesobot makes another trip into the ocean twilight zone to test equipment that will help scientists track bits of “environmental DNA” floating in the water.
Read MoreMicrobes far beneath the seafloor rely on recycling to survive
Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and colleagues reveal how microorganisms could survive in rocks nestled thousands of feet beneath the ocean floor in the lower oceanic crust.
Read MoreThe Ocean Twilight Zone: Earth’s Final Frontier
The mysteries of the ocean twilight zone are waiting to be explored. What was once thought to be desert-like isn’t a desert at all. Where the deep sea creatures lurk there are incredible biomass and biodiversity. The ocean twilight zone is a huge habitat that is very difficult to explore. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is poised to change this because we have the engineers that can help us overcome these challenges. Making new discoveries in ocean exploration is more important now than ever.
Read MoreInstitutes Team Up To Deliver New Graduate Field Course
A partnership between BIOS and two Massachusetts-based institutions was strengthened with the addition of a new microbial oceanography course.
Snapping Shrimp Pump Up the Volume in Warmer Water
As the ocean warms because of climate change, the louder din could mask other marine animals’ calls used to navigate, forage, and find mates.
Shrimp May Make Ocean Louder in Warming Climate
Small snapping shrimp make big noises and scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution say the tiny crustaceans could make the ocean louder as it warms. Here’s why.
Plastics’ impact on oceans under scrutiny
“We have an opportunity now, where there is public awareness,” said Mark Hahn, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “They (plastics) don’t belong there (in the ocean).”
Scaling Up the Soundscape: A Multi-Scale Look at the Acoustic Cues Used by Larval Fishes
Andria Salas, WHOI Sponsored by: Biology Department
Read MoreInspired to Understand – Amy Apprill
Amy Apprill was a midwestern citizen before the call of the ocean found her. Now a resident expert in microbial ecology in WHOI’s Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Department, she’s studying a growing epidemic affecting coral reefs across the world, known as stony coral tissue loss disease. With an eye for detail, Apprill’s forensic approach analyzes coral sickness down to differences in DNA.
Read MoreMarine Policy Center Seminar: Commercially Valuable Marine Invasive Species in the Arctic: A Tale of Multiple Economic Externalities
Melina Kourantidou, WHOI/Dalhousie University Sponsored by: Marine Policy Center
Read MoreShedding light on the deep, dark canyons of the Mid-Atlantic
WHOI biologist Tim Shank discusses the exploration of deep-sea canyons throughout the Mid-Atlantic Ocean and how ecosystems there can be managed sustainably in the face of climate change and increased human pressures.
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