Ecosystem changes

Atolls are often only around two meters (6.6 feet) above sea level, but sea levels could rise by more than that by the end of this century, according to prevailing climate models. Four atoll nations -- the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Maldives, which are together home to more than half a million people -- were the most vulnerable on the planet to climate change but under threat was also those in the Caroline Islands, Cook Islands, Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Society Islands, Spratly Islands, Seychelles, and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

This is the findings of a new study in Global Change Biology by the University of British Columbia. The reason for this future decline in size stems from the fact that fish are cold-blooded animals, and are thus unable to regulate their body temperatures.

“When their waters get warmer, their metabolism accelerates and they need more oxygen to sustain their body functions,” said co-author William Cheung, associate professor at the Institute for the Ocean and Fisheries and director of science for the Nippon Foundation-UBC Nereus Program.

Rising temperature of the ocean west of the Antarctic Peninsula - one of the most rapidly warming places on the planet - should make it possible for king crab populations to move to the shallow continental shelf from their current deep-sea habitat within the next several decades, researchers from Florida Institute of Technology find

Lionfish, which have spines that contain venom, are a well-known problem in Atlantic coral reefs. These invaders from the tropical parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans have no natural predators in the Atlantic Ocean. They are eradicating many fish populations in the shallow reefs that they have overtaken. Recently, the overwhelming problem has proven worse than originally thought.

Lionfish have no natural predators and are taking food and habitat from native fish that are important to the local ecology and economy. Lionfish are now found in waters from North Carolina south to Florida, the Caribbean, and all Gulf of Mexico states.

This new manual, Invasive Lionfish: A Guide to Control and Management includes the best available science and practices for controlling lionfish in marine protected areas, national parks, and other conservation areas.

... or eat them

According to one of Brisbane’s famous chefs, Lien Yeomans, there are several great dishes based on cooked jellyfish coming out of the Vietnamese kitchen.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology from Bremen together with their colleagues from Australia, Sultanate of Oman and Italy have investigated how and why the corals die when exposed to sedimentation. According to their findings, oxygen depletion, together with an acidification of the environment, creates a chain reaction that leads to coral death.