Biogeochemistry Program News Today

As dead fish wash up in Texas, a massive “belt” of seaweed stretching across the Atlantic closes beaches in Florida.

Loading video... VIDEO: Sargassum, floating brown seaweed, have grown in low nutrient waters of the North Atlantic Ocean for centuries. Scientists have discovered dramatic changes in the chemistry and composition of Sargassum, transforming... view more  Credit: Brian Lapointe, Ph.D. For centuries, pelagic Sargassum, floating brown seaweed, have grown in low nutrient waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, supported by natural nutrient sources like excretions from fishes and invertebrates, up...

Sargassum Now World’s Largest Harmful Algal Bloom Due to Nitrogen A photo taken this month shows Sargassum piled up on a beach in Palm Beach County, Florida. (Photo credit: Brian Lapointe, Ph.D.) For centuries, pelagic Sargassum, floating brown seaweed, have grown in low nutrient waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, supported by natural nutrient sources like excretions from fishes and invertebrates, upwelling and nitrogen fixation. Using a unique historical baseline from the 1980s and...

New research has shown that carbon in feces, respiration, and other excretions from fishes make up about 16% of the total carbon that sinks below the...

Share New research has shown that carbon in feces, respiration, and other excretions from fishes make up about 16% of the total carbon that sinks below the ocean’s upper layers. Ecosystems provide a huge range of benefits and services to humans – one of these is the extraction of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and its burial either in sediments or in the deep ocean. Now a team of scientists lead by Dr Grace Saba at Rutgers University and including Dr Clive Trueman from Southampton have ...