Tag: biodiversity

  • Twilight of the giants in taxonomy

    [Adapted in part from my recent review at Faculty of 1000] In an important sense, nothing exists until it’s given a name.  And in the living world of organisms, names—official, scientific names—are assigned by unique creatures called taxonomists, experts in the minutiae of structure and biology of particular groups of organisms, working according to a…

  • Impacts of biodiversity loss rival those of climate change and pollution

    Current estimates suggest we are now, or soon will be, in the grip of earth’s sixth mass extinction of species. This is of course a tragedy in many ways—but will it really affect us in any substantial way? With the thundering hooves of all the other apocalyptic horsemen bearing down on us—global warming heating, hypoxic…

  • Stunning reminders of why the oceans are awesome

    Here’s a few of the amazing pictures that won this year’s underwater photography contest run by the University of Miami Rosentiel School. Make sure you check them out in their full glory at the 2012 Winners website.

  • Untouched coral reef hotspot found in Madagascar

    [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/34892701[/vimeo] Filmmaker Jon Slayer has just returned from a trip to a remote corner of Madagascar. I caught up with him to find out what it was like diving on one of the healthiest hotspots of coral reef left in the country. HS: So Jon, could you pin us on the map. Where exactly are…

  • Occupy Jamaica, Part 2: The lay of the reef

     Discovery Bay, Jamaica.  8:23 PM.  End of my second full (long) day since arriving Friday afternoon. Kristin, James, and Solomon had arrived Tuesday — three days ahead of me – and made good progress reconnoitering and sampling at the sites we’d worked in 2008. By this evening we had collected and processed over 100 samples…

  • Occupy Jamaica, Part 1: Prelude

    [Part 1 in the SeaMonster Expedition series: Jamaica. the team finalizes preparations for a 10-day research trip to Jamaica to solve the mystery of large, cooperative societies in lowly shrimp.] As ice skins over Timberneck Creek among the bare trees of Virginia, we are eagerly staging gear and making preparations for our first expedition of…

  • Marine Ecologist Kristin Aquilino

    A nice profile of marine ecology PhD student Kristin Aquilino. Kristin works in the Stachowicz lab at UC Davis on marine biodiversity. This video was filmed and edited by Neil Losin, Kelvin Gorospe, and Annie Schmidt (narration by Kelvin Gorospe). [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/19279147[/vimeo]

  • Newly evolved for 2012’s climate: world’s first hybrid shark

    The changing climate that increasingly dominates the news is beginning to play its hand in some strange and unexpected ways. Creatures from algae to fishes are busting out of their old geographic ranges and striking out into new territories. A case in point: the microscopic phytoplankton species Neodenticula seminae, a dominant primary producer in North…

  • Ocean thoughts for New Years day

    Today is New Year’s Day, the traditional day to look ahead. With that in mind, here is a neatened, expanded-on, written-down version of some thoughts I shared on my final appearance on the BBC radio show Home Planet just before Christmas when the producers gave me  a chance to cast an eye forwards. There’s no doubt that these…

  • What a wonderful world

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8WHKRzkCOY[/youtube] Happy Holidays — from Planet Earth