Glowing Coral Reefs Are Striving to Recover From Bleaching, Study Says

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May 21, 2020 By Ashley Strickland CNN
As oceans warm due to climate change, some coral reefs have been devastated in recent years by bleaching events that cause them to die and damage the biodiversity that depends on them. Multiple studies are underway to understand more about these bleaching events and if corals can bounce back. While bleaching is associated with the stark white skeletal remains of corals after they have lost their live tissue, an opposite effect can also take place when such an event occurs.

Tiny Plankton Drive Processes in the Ocean That Capture Twice as Much Carbon as Scientists Thought

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May 21, 2020 By Ken Buesseler The Conversation
The ocean plays a major role in the global carbon cycle. The driving force comes from tiny plankton that produce organic carbon through photosynthesis, like plants on land. When plankton die or are consumed, a set of processes known as the biological carbon pump carries sinking particles of carbon from the surface to the deep ocean in a process known as marine snowfall. Naturalist and writer Rachel Carson called it the “most stupendous snowfall on Earth.”

These Endangered Whales Are Disturbingly Thin—Why That Matters

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May 20, 2020 By Haley Cohen Gilliland National Geographic
North Atlantic right whale researchers have many reasons to worry: Only 409 of the majestic marine mammals remain, and the threats facing them are formidable. For one, the endangered whales inhabit the busy waters off the Atlantic coast, where they must navigate crowded shipping channels and water columns clogged with fishing gear.

Living with Sea Otters Next Door

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May 20, 2020 By Brad Badelt Hakai Magazine
Stories about declining species have become all too common. But what about when an animal comes back from the brink? It’s welcome news for conservationists, of course. But the return of a species can also have unexpected consequences. Take the sea otter. By around a century ago, the maritime fur trade had nearly wiped the species out along North America’s west coast. However, with an international treaty and federal statutes banning hunting, and reintroduction programs launched in the 1960s and 1970s, sea otters have since rebounded. They’ve even re-established in some areas where they were once extirpated.