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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
To achieve coral reef resilience under Agenda 2030, island governments need to institutionalise a competent blue workforce to expand their reef resilience initiatives across economic organisations and industries. The ability of island governments to...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Artificial reefs have been suggested as alternative dive sites to mitigate human pressure on natural reefs. Despite the conceptual appeal of artificial reefs, there is a paucity of empirical evidence regarding their effectiveness in achieving this ob...
Pollution of the marine environment by microfibers is considered a problem for ecosystem conservation. The amount of microplastic, localization of sources, and associated ecotoxicity are well known in the literature. Wastewater from washing machines...
Recent years have seen a notable rise in dolphin-watching boat activities along the Algarve coast in Portugal, potentially affecting the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) local populations. This study exam...
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,...
The recruitment process is a fundamental step in population life cycles that determines survival, population demographic structure, and dynamics. The success of recruitment events repeated over successive years greatly affects the survival of long-li...
There is increasing interest in the role that seagrasses play in storing carbon in the context of climate mitigation, but many knowledge gaps in the factors controlling this storage exist. Here, we provide a small case study that examines the role of...
A range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been found to be released during zooplankton grazing on microalgae cultivated for commercial purposes. However, production of grazing-derived VOCs from environmentally relevant species and their poten...
At an energy flux imbalance of about 1 W m−2, the ocean stores 90% of the heat accumulating by global warming. However, neither the causes of this nor the responsible geophysical processes are sufficiently well understood. More detailed investi...
Microplastic ingestion was reported for common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) inhabiting Sarasota Bay, FL, USA, a community that also has prevalent exposure to plasticizers (i.e., phthalates) at concentrations higher than human reference po...
Natural processes such as upwelling of deeper-water masses change the physical-chemical conditions of the water column creating localized ocean acidification events that can have an impact on the natural communities. This study was performed in a cor...
In Tasmania, Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) regularly interact with Atlantic salmon (Salmo salmar L.) aquaculture lease operations and opportunistically consume fish. The microbial communities of seals and aquaculture salmon...
The use of hyperspectral imaging in marine applications is limited, largely due to the cost-prohibitive nature of the technology and the risk of submerging such expensive electronics. Here, we examine the use of low-cost (<5000 GBP) hyperspectral...
This study investigates the temporal trends and correlations between Saharan dust mass concentration densities (DMCD) and Sargassum concentrations (SCT) in the tropical North Atlantic. Average DMCD data for June, July, and August from 1980 to 2022, a...
This study assesses the spatial distribution and contamination level of heavy metals in Safi Bay surface sediments. In this order, 28 surface sediment samples were retrieved from the study area and analyzed using the x-fluorescence method. To assess...
Little is known about the in-water behavior and site fidelity of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii), as most photo-identification (photo-ID) studies are typically conducted while they are hauled-out on land. We investigated in-water site fidelit...
Herbivorous fish can mediate spatial competition between algae and corals, which is crucial for coral ecosystems. However, in areas with limited coral coverage like the Mexican tropical Pacific (MTP), this dynamic is not fully understood. This study,...
Harbor porpoises have been well studied in locations worldwide, but relatively little research has focused on site fidelity of individuals, which influences population structure and determines appropriate management and conservation measures. This st...
The North Atlantic Ocean is vital to Earth’s climate system. Scientific investigations have identified the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) as a significant factor influencing global climate change. This circulation involves o...
European strategic policy directions toward a sustainable blue economy have strengthened interest in maritime investments, thus increasing sectoral competition for marine space. Emerging repercussions out of such a rising interest need to be handled...
Marine mammals may be particularly vulnerable to climate change. While some climate-change-induced impacts on these species have been recognised, the potential consequences of storminess have been less well-defined, and understanding of its significa...
Cnidome morphology appears to be a valuable tool for anthozoan (Octocarallia, Ceriantharia, and Hexacorallia) taxonomy. Ceriantharian cnidomes consist of b-mastigophores, isorhizas, spirocysts, and ptychocysts, including different subtypes. The b-mas...
Strandings caused by anthropogenic factors are one of the most worrying threats in relation to the conservation of cetacean species, and in the case of Chile, due to its geography and large extension of the coastline, monitoring and access to these e...
Global climate change is profoundly impacting coral ecosystems. Rising sea surface temperatures, in particular, disrupt coral reproductive synchrony, cause bleaching, and mortality. Oculina patagonica, a temperate scleractinian coral abundant across...
The impact of the high space-temporal variability of the wind field during the moderate and intense storm stages of a tropical cyclone on the wave field as computed by the numerical model WaveWatch III is investigated in this work. The realistic wind...
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been widely studied due to its environmental persistence and bioaccumulation potential, raising concerns about its effects on aquatic life. This research evaluates the impact of PFOA on the antioxidant defenses and s...
The influence of environmental variables (oceanographic and climatic) on the catch rates of striped red mullet (Mullus surmuletus) by artisanal fishery was investigated using different time series models (Dynamic Factorial Analyses; Min-Max Factorial...
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is a recognized contributor to the hydrological and biogeochemical functioning of coral reef ecosystems located along coastlines. However, the distribution, size, and thermal properties of SGD remain poorly under...
The formation of dense water in the Aegean Sea is important as it affects the deep circulation and the hydrography of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. In this study, the variability of dense water formation is investigated in relation to forcing mechan...
Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is a fire-retardant containing bromine, produced in large quantities worldwide and extensively used in several industrial products. This compound was identified as a potential contaminant of the environment, causing toxi...
In Cartesian coordinates
As major bleaching continues to ravage reefs worldwide, there is an urgent need for active coral restoration. However, the high cost of such a project is inhibitive for many countries. Here, we introduce a cost-effective design for Acropora robusta a...
Herbivorous fishes play important functional roles in coral reef ecosystems, and their influence on mediating competitive dynamics between corals and macroalgae is well studied. Nonetheless, direct interactions between herbivorous fishes and corals m...
The Ligurian Sea, located in the northwestern Mediterranean, is undergoing a dramatic shift in fish biodiversity due to climate change and species immigration. This study adopted a citizen science approach to provide new data on the current distribut...
Since reef-building corals rely on both heterotrophy and endosymbiotic dinoflagellate autotrophy to meet their metabolic needs, it is necessary to consider both food supply and light levels, respectively, when optimizing their cultivation ex situ. He...
Deformable wave energy converters have significant potential for application as flexible material that can mitigate structural issues, while how to design the dimensions and choose an optimal deployment location remain unclear. In this paper, fully c...
In the Mediterranean, the fleshy, mat-forming red alga Phyllophora crispa creates high-biodiversity habitats that influence light availability, water movement, and temperature. However, knowledge about its influence on other key environmental paramet...
The decline of natural coral reefs has spurred interest in artificial reef construction and reef rehabilitation efforts. However, many restoration programs are failing because of poor water quality and localized pollution factors. This paper examines...
This research focuses on integrating seakeeping indices into the trajectory planning of a mother ship in order to minimize risks during UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) takeoff and landing in challenging sea conditions. By considering vessel dynamics an...
Understanding the ecological dynamics of zooplankton communities is crucial to precisely assessing the health of marine ecosystems and their management. Metabarcoding has contributed to a better understanding of biodiversity in marine environments. H...
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