Tag: marine sciences

algal bloom

Climate change may increase blooming, but not the good kind

Marine scientists warn that the future may bring more harmful algal blooms (HABs) which could threaten wildlife and the economy, but that poor scientific understanding limits long-term forecasts. Understanding algal blooms and how they will impact society was the focus of a four-day workshop — comprised of 11 marine science researchers from around the world […]

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underwater image

Human-marine environment interactions crux of DMC director’s study

Heather Leslie, director of the University of Maine Darling Marine Center, is leading a research project to deepen her interdisciplinary investigations of ecological and human dimensions of small-scale fisheries in Mexico’s Baja peninsula. A $1.79 million award from the National Science Foundation’s Coupled Natural and Human (CNH) Systems Program funds the three-year project. “My studies […]

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shrimp

Researcher finds it takes guts to locate elusive shrimp

Rachel Lasley-Rasher wanted to learn more about highly mobile shrimp that are important food for baleen whales and commercial fish along the continental shelf from Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia. Because of their significance in the marine food web, she said a better understanding of shrimp migration patterns could fill knowledge gaps and help predict […]

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sea slug

DMC scientist: Sea slug sniffs out seaweed’s chemicals, then stalks its prey

An underwater sea slug has evolved chemical foraging and defense abilities that are functionally identical to those of terrestrial insects, despite being unrelated to their land-based counterparts and living in vastly different habitats for 400 million years. “Specialized herbivores on land and sea appear to make a living in similar ways,” says University of Maine […]

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