Tag: coral reefs
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A disappearing underwater world
From the NYT Scientists at Work feature, by Dr. Mark Hay of Georgia Tech: Despite my growing up in Kentucky, not having a passport until my early 20s and not seeing a tropical coral reef until I was in graduate school, whenever I step off a plane in the tropics, I feel like I’ve come…
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Earthquake destroys Belizean reefs
A new paper in Ecology (Aronson et al 2011) describes the effects of an earthquake on the already beleagured reefs of Belize. I edited the paper and coincidentally my lab was in Belize doing reef surveys when the earthquake hit (I flew home that day). Some of the students were a bit rattled, others slept…
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Three ocean scientists receive Heinz awards
Shout-out to three of our colleagues who’ve received the prestigious Heinz award for work that benefits the environment. The Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation has presented the awards since 1994 in memory of Sen. John Heinz III. From the WaPO: “Teresa Heinz told The Associated Press that the awards recognized innovative approaches to serious topics for…
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A fish out of water — and lookin’ for love
“Fish gotta swim”, as Julie put it in explaining why she can’t stop lovin’ dat man in the 1927 musical Show Boat. And we all know what she meant. But do they? Not this one. The Pacific Leaping Blenny (yes, that is its real name) wants to do anything but swim. It literally flees from…
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Live chat today on Saving Coral Reefs
UPDATE: If you are interested, the transcript of the chat is avaiable here. Thanks to all the millions of SeaMonster readers who sent in questions! I am joining Dr. Mark Eakin of NOAA for a live chat here hosted by Science magazine about “Saving Coral Reefs” this afternoon (Sept 1) at 3PM EDT. You can submit…
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Coral mass spawning: the hows and whys
One of my favourite shows from the first season of Naked Oceans, was our Valentine’s Day special. We had fun investigating the love lives of various marine critters and top of the list of spectacular mating habits are the mass spawning events of coral reefs. What better way to have sex when you’re stuck firmly…
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Bali-wood turns to the ocean
[Sorry, I couldn’t resist.] May I say that this video is awesome! This is the sort of thing that reminds me why I got into the marine biology business in the first place. Plus, hard on the heels of shark week, it provides lots of great material for my planned grand opening of (wait for…
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Live and let die
A new paper in PLoS One (Maina et al. 2011) presents a new map of threats to the world’s coral reefs (Fig. 1). The map is based in part on data – spatial patterns – of past stressors such as ocean warming. For example, Maina used the Coral Reef Temperature Anomal Database (CorTAD) my lab…
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Breaking News: Marine reserves don’t work (well enough)
Marine reserves won’t save the oceans. Not now. Maybe never. So say Camilo Mora and Peter F. Sale in their paper published today. If they’re right, and if people listen, it’s going to stir things up big-time in the conservation world. Nature reserves, parks, protected…
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Get your reef on
From coral reef scientist, rapper and new father, Dr. Josh Idjadi and SeaMonster, where the rap is real. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flDE0W1Ks_4[/youtube] Subtitled version is here