With increasing water temperatures comes an increasing likelihood of potentially pathogenic bacteria appearing in the North and Baltic Seas. Scientists have now demonstrated that a group of such bacteria known as vibrios can survive on microplastic particles.
Hunting for Mars-like life a kilometre below Earth’s surface
Kate Ravilious takes an 8-minute lift ride to an underground lab in Yorkshire, UK, doing research that could help NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission find life
More is better: Diversity, number of soil animals determine leaf decomposition in the forest
Small animals that decompose fallen leaves in the forest form complex food webs and are essential to a functioning ecosystem. A study comprising over 80 forests in Germany and on Sumatra (Indonesia) has now shown that two factors particularly influence this function when examined over larger landscapes: the number of animals and their species diversity. In previous studies, the connection between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning had been investigated mostly in small test areas.
Coral bleaching solution could be just beneath the surface
A ‘lifeboat’ for coral reefs could lie in deeper mesophotic coral ecosystems.
Microplastics killing fish before they reach reproductive age, study finds
Tiny particles of plastic litter in oceans causing deaths, stunted growth and altering behaviour of some fish that feed on them, research shows
Saharan dust affects marine bacteria, potential pathogen Vibrio
Iron can be hard to hard to come by in open marine waters — except each summer, when atmospherically transported dust from north Africa’s Sahara Desert provides pulses of biologically important nutrients, including iron, to the tropical marine waters of the Caribbean and southeastern US. Researchers found Vibrio bacteria respond rapidly to this influx of iron-rich Saharan dust, leading to … Read More
Pizzly or grolar bear: grizzly-polar hybrid is a new result of climate change
Grizzly bears in Alaska and Canada are moving north as their environment warms, bringing them into contact with polar bears located on the coastline.
Deep-water seaweed evolved into a multi-cellular plant more than 540 million years ago
The discovery of a deep-water seaweed that evolved into a multi-cellular plant more than 540 million years ago has added a new branch to the tree of life, according to biologists.
Northern Galapagos Islands home to world's largest shark biomass
Scientists have revealed that the northern Galapagos Islands of Darwin and Wolf are home to the largest shark biomass reported to date (12.4 tons per hectare).
Island holds red squirrel leprosy study
A study to find out how a form of leprosy is affecting the UK’s threatened red squirrels is to be carried out on Dorset’s Brownsea Island.