Saltmarsh recovery looks good, falls short
Providence RI (SPX) Sep 19, 2014 -
After decades of decline, grasses have returned to some once-denuded patches of Cape Cod's saltmarshes. To the eye, the marsh in those places seems healthy again, but a new study makes clear that a key service of the marsh - coastal protection - remains diminished.
"We've got the aesthetics back but the ecosystem function hasn't come back," said ecologist Mark Bertness, professor of biolog ...
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Sharks more abundant on healthy coral reefs
London, UK (SPX) Sep 12, 2014 -
Sharks in no-fishing zones in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Marine Park are more abundant when the coral is healthy, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mario Espinoza from James Cook University, Australia and colleagues.
Shark species that use coral reefs may be under pressure from fishing, habitat degradation, and climate change. The authors of this study ...
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New research decodes virus-host interactions in ocean dead zones
Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 17, 2014 -
A complex web of interaction between viruses, bacteria, and their environment is becoming ever more untangled by a growing international collaboration between Matthew Sullivan, associate professor in the University of Arizona's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Steven Hallam from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
"Bacteria are drivers of nutrient and ...
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Nature of war: Chimpanzees inherently violent
Chicago IL (SPX) Sep 19, 2014 -
Of all of the world's species, humans and chimpanzees are some of the only to engage in coordinated attacks on other members of their same species. Jane Goodall was among the first to introduce the occurrence of lethal inter-community killings and since then primatologists and anthropologists have long debated the concept of warfare in this genus.
Research theories have pointed to increase ...
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Coral growth rate plummets in 30-year comparison
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 19, 2014 -
A team of researchers working on a Carnegie expedition in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has documented that coral growth rates have plummeted 40% since the mid-1970s. The scientists suggest that ocean acidification may be playing an important role in this perilous slowdown.
In a quest for historical context on the peril facing coral reefs, the team compared current measurements of the gro ...
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Study finds Great Barrier Reef is an effective wave absorber
Southampton, UK (SPX) Sep 19, 2014 -
New research has found that the Great Barrier Reef, as a whole, is a remarkably effective wave absorber, despite large gaps between the reefs. This means that landward of the reefs, waves are mostly related to local winds rather than offshore wave conditions.
As waves break and reduce in height over reefs, this drives currents that are very important for the transport of nutrients and larv ...
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New branch added to European family tree
Boston MA (SPX) Sep 19, 2014 -
The setting: Europe, about 7,500 years ago. Agriculture was sweeping in from the Near East, bringing early farmers into contact with hunter-gatherers who had already been living in Europe for tens of thousands of years.
Genetic and archaeological research in the last 10 years has revealed that almost all present-day Europeans descend from the mixing of these two ancient populations. But it ...
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