Ocean Sustainability
Over 70% of the earth is covered in water, which serves as a vital resource human subsistence. Contamination and acidification pose major threats to aquatic health and biodiversity. Microbes offer a promising solution in their ability to breakdown contamination from oil spills and plastics. Applied microbiologists can play a significant part in understanding biodiversity, contributing to solutions, and encouraging stewardship.
Scientists map the ocean’s invisible workforce
A new study identifies a small set of “metabolic niches” — or functional roles — that help explain how marine microbes grow, compete for resources and recycle carbon around the globe. The microbes are incredibly diverse, but their behavior can be grouped into a manageable number of strategies.
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Starvation triggers reversible epigenetic changes in fish pathogen
What happens to a bacterial pathogen when food runs out—for several months? A new study reveals that Flavobacterium columnare, a deadly aquatic pathogen responsible for columnaris disease in fish, does not change its DNA sequence during prolonged starvation. Instead, it remodels its epigenetic landscape.
New study suggests fish gut microbe helps regulate ocean health
New research reveals a potential link between the gut microbes of a fish and global ocean processes, offering new insight into how marine ecosystems help regulate ocean chemistry and the marine carbon cycle.
Arctic Ocean food chain disrupted as key tipping point passed
An irreversible shift in the chemical make-up of the Arctic Ocean driven by climate change is disrupting the region’s food chain, a study suggests. Widespread loss of Arctic sea ice has led to a sharp fall in levels of a key nutrient, affecting populations of plankton, fish, seabirds and marine mammals.
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Pioneering research sheds new light on what shaped extinction pattern of prehistoric marine life – and size clearly mattered
Scientists have shown conclusively for the first time that tiny marine organisms in polar oceans survived the mass extinction event that wiped out prehistoric dinosaurs because they needed less energy and were more tolerant to darkness.
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International award honors microbiology researchers for diatom research
Two microbiology researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are being honored with an international award that recognizes their insights into aquatic microbes that are vital to Earth’s ecosystems.
Scientists discover thriving hard-substrate fauna in Oceania’s deep sea
In the crushing darkness of the hadal zone—deep ocean trenches plunging 6,000 m to nearly 11,000 m—scientists have uncovered a hidden community. A study reports the discovery of a protist-dominated hard-substrate fauna across seven hadal regions in Oceania, highlighting an overlooked yet highly active carbon “hotspot.”
The ocean’s pharmacy: scientists chart a new path for marine peptide drug discovery
A review surveys how new extraction, chromatography, and bioinformatics tools are accelerating the discovery of bioactive peptides from the sea. Researchers provide an integrated overview of how marine bioactive peptides are produced, purified, and evaluated, and how bioinformatics is reshaping the discovery pipeline.
Chemists use sea sponge bacteria to create new molecules for drug discovery
Chemists have synthesized new molecules derived from bacteria found in a Pacific Ocean sea sponge. They are the first to successfully synthesize two new marine natural products: tetradehydrohalicyclamine B and epi-tetradehydrohalicyclamine B.
Genes without borders: coral babies can travel vast distances across the Pacific Ocean
The offspring of a common coral branching species set up a new home up to 100 kilometres or more from their parents in one of the longest dispersal distances ever measured.
Warming oceans can disrupt coral oxygen supply and trigger coral death
A new study shows that marine heatwaves can disrupt microscopic moving structures on the surface of reef-building corals that support their oxygen uptake.
The impact of microplastics on ocean carbon uptake
Scientists who collected phytoplankton data from various climate zones around the world determined the extent to which growth is limited by microplastics. They have then used this data to calculate the average impact that a certain concentration of microplastics will have on algae in different regions or climate zones, as well as on a global scale.
Revealing the invisible: a new baseline for Salish sea diatoms answers a global call
Diatoms are powerful in driving roughly 20% of global photosynthesis and forming the very base of marine food webs. Scientists have published a new checklist of 924 diatom taxa alongside a curated dataset of 11,469 records, providing a long-needed foundation for environmental monitoring across the Salish Sea bioregion.
Tiny ocean life helps scientists estimate whale prevalence off the California coast
Using an innovative alternative method, researchers examined microbial “ecological habitats” as highly accurate predictors of how many filter-feeding whales were occupying the California coast between 2014 and 2020 from San Diego to Morro Bay.
Newly discovered microbial world helps protect developing lobsters
As ocean temperatures rise and marine ecosystems change, scientists are working to understand how valuable species like the American lobster will respond. Scientists suggest one source of resilience may come from the microscopic bacterial communities living on lobster embryos.
Hidden viruses reshape one of Earth’s largest carbon systems, study finds
Viruses play a far more active role in Earth’s carbon cycle than previously understood, according to new research that reveals how they infect and control microbes responsible for carbon production in some of the planet’s largest, darkest ecosystems.
Marine-inspired sunscreen ingredient made by E. coli
Researchers have engineered microbial “cell factories” to sustainably produce the UV-protective compound gadusol, which could eventually serve as a sunscreen ingredient and an antioxidant additive. Gadusol, found in the eggs of various fish and other marine organisms, helps protect against ultraviolet damage.
Study provides detailed assessment of shifts in toxin producing phytoplankton abundance
Researchers in the UK have shown how the distributions of two phytoplankton groups – known to produce natural toxins that can halt shellfish harvesting – have changed in the North East Atlantic over the last six decades.
Microfossils interpreted as animal traces were actually algae and bactéria
A reexamination of microfossils found in Brazil shows that the marks previously interpreted as traces of worms or other small oceanic animals are actually communities of fossilized microscopic bacteria and algae.
From ocean to gut: The bacteria that shape both human health and marine carbon cycling
A group of researchers has discovered that Akkermansia bacteria are not unique to our guts, but can also be found in the ocean. In both habitats they use similar skills to ensure their survival and success. They seem to carry an old and widespread survival toolkit.
Algal bloom crisis shows climate risks need evaluative governance
Identifying and analysing climate risks is a necessary function of governments, but researchers argue such processes will not lead to effective action without taking additional steps to understand which risks are considered unacceptable by the community and prioritising responses accordingly.
Light without electricity? Glowing algae could make it possible
Researchers successfully turned on the “light switch” in algae and kept them lit up using simple chemical solutions. The finding opens the door for future technologies such as autonomous robots that can operate in dark environments and living sensors for water quality.
Researchers unveil new AI-driven system set to transform coral reef restoration
Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind bespoke AI system designed to assess coral health and detect early stress. BlueBiome is reimagining coral reef care by applying the same principles of preventive, precision health commonly used in human gut health.