Expansive Study Shows Seagrass Meadows Can Buffer Ocean Acidification
by Kat Kerlin
March 31, 2021
Spanning six years and seven seagrass meadows along the California coast, a paper from the University of California, Davis, is the most extensive study yet of how seagrasses can buffer ocean acidification.
The study, published today in the journal Global Change Biology, found that these unsung ecosystems can alleviate low pH, or more acidic, conditions for extended periods of time, even at night in the absence of photosynthesis. It found the grasses can reduce local acidity by up to 30 percent.
“This buffering temporarily brings seagrass environments back to preindustrial pH conditions, like what the ocean might have experienced around the year 1750,” said co-author Tessa Hill, a UC Davis professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Bodega Marine Laboratory.
Oceans, I had little idea of what I was taking on. Six years later I can report that it has been an enormously challenging and rewarding undertaking. I have been privileged to work with a remarkable team of Editors who, although we rarely meet in person, have become greatly cherished and trusted colleagues. I will really miss our interactions. The daily work of the journal involves close coordination with AGU staff, and I cannot speak highly enough of them. The professional expertise shown and personal care taken has been a constant source of pleasure; the rare face-to-face meetings only enhanced this experience.
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Researchers from MBARI, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UH Mānoa), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, after years of development and testing, have successfully demonstrated that a fleet of autonomous robots can track and study a moving microbial community in an open-ocean eddy.
Researchers from MBARI, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UH Mānoa), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, after years of development and testing, have successfully demonstrated that a fleet of autonomous robots can track and study a moving microbial community in an open-ocean eddy. The results of this research effort were recently published in Science Robotics.
Questions surround rescue of young sailors from Santa Cruz Harbor
KTVU s Jesse Gary reports.
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The Santa Cruz Harbor Master has launched a formal investigation following the Sunday rescue of a dozen novice sailors from large ocean swells.
Witnesses agonized for what seemed an eternity as the forecast swells flipped a dozen young yachters into the frigid waters of Santa Cruz Harbor at about 4:30 pm. We saw them out in the water in the first place. And we have no why they were even out there, said witness Jenny Umstead.
She and others said a dozen novice yachters tried to re-enter the harbor during a sailing lesson in low tide and large swells.
According to a new study, published this week in the journal iScience, at least two species of comb jellies are capable of synthesizing their own coelenterazine, an essential bioluminescent compound.