Sea Monster

SeaMonster blog

  • Some Call it a Slingjaw

    The marine environment hosts organisms with incredible shapes, sizes, and colors, yet we often don’t really know how those creatures obtained these interesting traits in the first place. On occasion researchers take these charismatic species from the wild into the lab to conduct studies that can elucidate some of the underlying causes of the incredible…

  • Study finds forereef corals most susceptible to warming

    Three of my UNC colleagues (including Karl Castillo and Justin Ries) just published an excellent paper in Nature Climate Change (Castillo et al. 2012) “Decline of forereef corals in response to recent warming linked to history of thermal exposure“. The team used a large pneumatic drill to extract cores from 13 colonies of Siderastrea siderea off…

  • Yes, North Carolina sea level really is rising

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmW_EQzU_qI&[/youtube]

  • Will this be the end of the Aquarius Reef Base?

    Next week a team of aquanauts including Sylvia Earle will live and work underwater for 6 days inside “America’s Inner Space Station” aka the Aquarius Reef Base. It’s the world’s only undersea research station and its future is looking shaky – unless new funding is found the station will be closed. In an effort to…

  • Consensus statement on climate change and coral reefs

    This comes from the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, meeting in Cairns this week. I think the statement is largely accurate, although it exaggerates threats to corals from local factors like fishing and pollution.  The second phrase of the final sentence (in bold) is demonstrably false; “A concerted effort to preserve reefs for the future…

  • New science indicates climate change is the primary threat to coral reefs

    Like so many other ecosystems, coral reefs are being greatly impacted by climate change. Greenhouse gases are trapping excess heat from the sun, and more than anything, are warming the oceans from tropical reefs to deep polar seas. Reef corals are sensitive to small amounts of warming. An increase of just a degree or two…

  • Anatomy of sea life by Jeff Wysaski

    We love these brilliant cartoons by Jeff Wysaski over at pleated jeans.                                                                                     Head…

  • Bahamas shark tagging: the movie

    Check out how Dr. Neil Hammerschlag and his University Of Miami crew tag sharks in the Berry Islands, Bahamas to study their migration patterns and thus, better protect them. You can learn more about UM’s shark conservation program and follow Berry The Tiger Shark here: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjGcmlceOFs[/youtube]  

  • How did the BP oil spill impact salt marshes?

    A new paper in PNAS (Silliman et al 2012) begins to answer that question. BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Exacerbated Existing Environmental Problems in Louisiana Marshes ScienceDaily (June 25, 2012) — The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill temporarily worsened existing human-made problems in Louisiana’s salt marshes such as erosion, but there may be cause for optimism,…

  • Do slomo sharks snack on snoozing seals?

    This week I wrote a piece for National Geographic News about a study just out suggesting that Greenland sharks could sneak up on seals and catch them while they’re sleeping. It’s a neat study, involving putting motion-sensors on individual sharks to see how fast they swim. In fact, turns out these guys swim so very…

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