Microplastics are ubiquitous in marine environments and have been documented across all ocean compartments, especially surface waters, across the world. Even though several studies identify the presence of microplastics in the world’s five ocea...
The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is the world’s most widely distributed pinniped species ranging from temperate to Arctic regions (30–78.5° N in the Atlantic, 28–61.2° N in the Pacific), but no detailed overview of the spec...
Offshore geological hazards can occur in any marine domain or environment and represent a serious threat to society, the economy, and the environment. Seismicity, slope sedimentary instabilities, submarine volcanism, fluid flow processes, and bottom...
Monitoring the health of coral reefs is essential to understanding the damaging impacts of anthropogenic climate change as such non-invasive methods to survey coral reefs are the most desirable. Optics-based surveys, ranging from simple photography t...
Sri Lanka, an island nation located off the southeast coast of the Indian sub-continent, has an unappreciated diversity of corals and other reef organisms. In particular, knowledge of the status of coral reefs in its northern region has been limited...
This review presents a synthesis of shark bioluminescence knowledge. Up to date, bioluminescent sharks are found only in Squaliformes, and specifically in Etmopteridae, Dalatiidae and Somniosidae families. The state-of-the-art knowledge about the evo...
Seaports are gateways that connect a nation to the world economy. With trade by sea increasing due to globalization, the need for the improvement and development of seaports cannot be overlooked. While the development of ports is considered essential...
El Niño Southern Oscillation global coral bleaching events are increasing in frequency, yet the severity of mass coral bleaching is not geographically uniform. Based in Timor-Leste, the present project had two major objectives: (1) assess the...
The widespread demise of coral reefs due to climate change is now a certainty, and investing in restoration without facing this stark reality risks failure. The 50 Reefs Initiative, the dominant adaptation model for coral reefs is examined, and a new...
In May 2023, oceanic and atmospheric anomalies indicated El Niño conditions in the eastern Pacific, followed by coral bleaching in coral communities and reefs of Huatulco. We conducted surveys and sampled coral reef communities from late June...
Baleen whales are ecosystem sentinels of microplastic pollution. Research indicates that they likely ingest millions of anthropogenic microparticles per day when feeding. Their immense prey consumption and filter-feeding behavior put them at risk. Ho...
Tongue-nibbling is a rare and previously undocumented affiliative behaviour in free-ranging killer whales (Orcinus orca), until now seen only in individuals under human care. This study presents the first recorded observation of tongue-nibbling betwe...
Cetaceans are well-known for their intelligence, charismatic nature, and curiosity. Many species, particularly odontocetes, are known to investigate and manipulate novel objects they encounter. Yet, disentangling the drivers of these behaviors and di...
Coral reefs are one of the most diverse marine ecosystems, providing numerous ecosystem services. This present study investigated the relationship between coral reef condition and the diversity and abundance of fishes, on a heavily fished East Africa...
A growing body of research is documenting the accumulation of microplastics within marine sediments around the world. The hydrodynamic influences of seagrasses in coastal environments are shown to increase sedimentation of finer particles and as a re...
The pervasive use of antibiotics in human medicine, veterinary medicine, and agriculture can result in a significant increase in the spread and environmental persistence of antibiotic resistance in marine ecosystems. This study describes the presence...
Capacity building efforts in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are indispensable for the achievement of both individual and collective ocean-related 2030 agenda priorities for sustainable development. Knowledge of the individual capacity building...
Extant cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) and their extinct ancestors offer some of the strongest and best-known examples of macroevolutionary transition as well as microevolutionary adaptation. Unlike most reviews of cetacean evolution, whi...
Sunscreens have become a product based on increasingly complex formulations that include, among many ingredients, a mixture of UV filters to provide optimal sun ultraviolet radiation protection. A significant group of scientific works deals with the...
The role of phytoplankton as ocean primary producers and their influence on global biogeochemical cycles makes them arguably the most important living organisms in the sea. Like plants on land, phytoplankton exhibit seasonal cycles that are controlle...
Knowing that food ingestion and digestion are processes under neuroendocrine regulation, it is important to understand how fish larvae regulate these processes, when the digestive system itself is under development. This study aimed to analyze how gi...
In recent decades, the amount of marine debris has increased in our oceans. As wildlife interactions with debris increase, so does the number of entangled animals, impairing normal behavior and potentially affecting the survival of these individuals....
Biophysical dispersal models for marine fish larvae are widely used by marine ecologists and managers of fisheries and marine protected areas to predict movement of larval fishes during their pelagic larval duration (PLD). Over the past 25 years, it...
Over the last two decades, the scientific interest for marine geophysical surveys has shown a huge increase, mostly for multidisciplinary applicability on different studies, from historical heritage to environmental remediation. One of the main resea...
Benzophenones are UV-blockers found in most common sunscreens. The ability of Scyphozoan planula larvae of Cassiopea xamachana and C. frondosa to swim and complete metamorphosis in concentrations 0–228 µg/L benzophenone-3 (oxybenzone) was...
It is widely recognized that humanity is currently facing multiple planetary crises, including the widespread loss of biodiversity and a rapidly changing climate. The impacts of these crises are often far reaching and threaten food security (SDG goal...
Blue carbon has been proposed as a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation; however, a limited number of published works and data and knowledge gaps hinder the development of small island developing states’ (SIDS) national blue carb...
Throughout the Caribbean, coral reefs are transitioning from rugose, coral-dominated communities to flat, soft coral-dominated habitats, triggering declines in biodiversity. To help mitigate these losses, artificial structures have been used to re-cr...
The nature of the plankton symbioses between ciliates and diatoms has been investigated from the tropical South Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas. The obligate symbioses of the diatoms Chaetoceros dadayi or C. tetrastichon with the...
Carbon fiber reinforced composite materials are finding new applications in highly loaded marine structures such as tidal turbine blades and marine propellers. Such applications require long-term damage resistance while being subjected to continuous...
Baited remote underwater videos (BRUV) are popular marine monitoring techniques used for the assessment of motile fauna. Currently, most published studies evaluating BRUV methods stem from environments in the Southern Hemisphere. This has led to stri...
Coral cover worldwide has been declining due to heat stress caused by climate change. Here we report the impacts of the 2015–2016 El Niño mass coral bleaching event on the coral cover of reefs located on central and northern atolls of the Maldives. W...
Serranilla is a protected island of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, far from dense human population. These characteristics could help sustain structurally complex coral reefs, often associated with higher biodiversity, abundance, and biomass of reef...
Extreme warming events that contribute to mass coral bleaching are occurring with increasing regularity, raising questions about their effect on coral reef ecological interactions. However, the effects of such events on parasite-host interactions are...
In contrast to sparse historical observational records, five Sowerby’s beaked whales (SBW) stranded and died in Swedish waters between 2015 and 2020. Here we summarize historical records of SBWs in the Skagerrak basin and adjacent waters. The t...
Accelerated coastal erosion and elevated risks of flooding due to global warming put enormous burden on the ecosystems and economic health of coastal communities. Optimal policies to lessen these negative impacts require an estimation of their costs...
There is increasing concern over anthropogenically driven changes in our oceans and seas, from a variety of stressors. Such stressors include the increased risk of storms and precipitation, offshore industries and increased coastal development which...
In the past decades, one of the most widely reported phenomena on Caribbean reefs is the general fall in coral cover and rise in macroalgae. Reefs with low coral cover and high macroalgal abundances are often presumed to provide poorer ecosystem func...
The current study looks at how the characteristics of Arabian Sea tropical cyclones (TCs) change over time. The results show that in the pre-monsoon (April–June) and the post-monsoon (October–December), the activity of TCs > 34 knots,...
Macroalgae are beneficial for consumers and producers due to their high productivity, their chemical composition and their efficient cultivation without additional feed. Asia dominates global macroalgae production, while European production is still...
Reef-dwelling calcifiers face numerous environmental stresses associated with anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, including ocean acidification and warming. Photosymbiont-bearing calcifiers, such as large benthic foraminifera, are particularly se...
Seagrass meadows commonly reside in shallow sheltered coastal environments which are typically safe havens for mooring boats. There is evidence from around the globe that the use of common swinging chain moorings leads to halos of bare sediment in ot...
In this work, we integrate five case studies harboring vulnerable deep-sea benthic habitats in different geological settings from mid latitude NE Atlantic Ocean (24–42° N). Data and images of specific deep-sea habitats were acquired with Remoted Oper...
Harbor porpoises are typically seen in small groups of 1–3 individuals, with aggregations of 20+ individuals treated as rare events. Since the 1990s, the harbor porpoise population in the Salish Sea has seen a significant recovery, and an incre...
Coral reefs around Sri Lanka have coexisted with human communities for thousands of years and are a continual source of food, economic productivity, and tourism. Although these reef systems sustain nearby populations, little is known about the presen...
Analyses of the spatial and temporal patterns of 26 years of stranding events (1995–2011 and 2012–2021, n = 568) in Indonesia were conducted to improve the country’s stranding response. The Emerging Hot Spot Analysis was used to obt...
Temperature is often an important variable influencing the vertical position of fish larvae in the water column. The same species may show different vertical distributions in areas with a strong near-surface seasonal thermocline compared to isotherma...
Off mainland Portugal, the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is the most sighted cetacean, although information on this species is limited. The Atlantic coast of Southern Portugal is characterized by an intense wind-driven upwelling, creating ideal...
Nearshore coastal waters are among the most dynamic regions on the planet and difficult to sample from conventional oceanographic platforms. It has been suggested that environmental sampling of the nearshore could be improved by mobilising vast numbe...
Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS) are widely used for monitoring relative abundances of fishes, especially sharks, but only the maximum number of individuals seen at any one time (MaxN) is usually recorded. In both the Cayman Islands an...
