The Intersection » Marine Science

Required Reading for Everyone Interested in Oceans

Sheril Kirshenbaum — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:53:03 +0000

I’ve been blogging less, traveling more, and taking on some exciting new responsibilities which I’ll be sharing soon. But in the mean time, I’d like to point readers to the work of my brilliant friend and former colleague Michael Conathan. He’s sharp, articulate, and has tremendous experience working on U.S. oceans policy. In 2006 when I served in Senator Bill Nelson’s office, Mike was the Knauss Sea Grant Fellow on the Senate Commerce Committee. Perhaps our greatest accomplishment that year was contributing to the long-overdue reauthorization of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act–the primary law governing marine fisheries management in the U.S.

Michael recently joined the Center for American Progress as the the Director of Ocean Policy and they are very lucky to have him on board. He’s also writing a terrific column called Fish on Fridays which I’ve been following over the past weeks. Here’s a sample from March 11 entitled Waking from the Gluttony:

A strong case can be made that fishing is America’s oldest profession. Europeans were using parts of what is now Atlantic Canada as seasonal fish camps as far back as the early 15th century—even before ...

Fish Food for Thought

The Intersection — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:28:42 +0000

In the age of austerity measures, research programs studying biodiversity have become an object of scrutiny. Why, you may ask, should taxpayers pay to send a graduate student to the tropics to survey reef life? What could we possibly gain from this?

The classic argument is that it is important to understand as much of the world around us as possible (a common statistic passed around is that 95% of the world’s oceans remain unexplored). We are losing biodiversity as fast as we can catalogue it. Imagine every species as a book. Each of these books is unique—some contain information on how to cure disease, some may provide solutions to the world’s food crises, some may even provide ideas for alternative fuels. As we learn about each new species, we write these books. Meanwhile, these books are being destroyed, ground to a pulp or slimed with oil often before they can be finished or shared. If we stop writing these books and allow destruction to overtake creation of knowledge, how long will it be before our species libraries are empty?

However, the real reason this research should be funded is education. Sure, ...

Save The Majestic Sea Cucumber!

Sheril Kirshenbaum — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:01:48 +0000

YES!!! As seen in Science this week!!!!

Remember the Gulf

Sheril Kirshenbaum — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:50:25 +0000

Yesterday a student asked me if the devastation from 2010′s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is “over.” The answer of course is no. Not by a long shot. When the spill happened, we could only observe the immediate effects: Birds drenched in oil, spoiled fisheries, and the hardships faced by many people living and working in the region. Longer term impacts will be more difficult to evaluate and we don’t know how resilient the system will be. Studies will likely continue for decades and despite all of the news coverage over the summer, I hope we do not grow complacent about what’s occurred–as we so often do when it comes to the marine realm. Please folks, remember the Gulf, and let’s do our best to make sure it never happens again.

A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on Thursday, June 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Hey Look What’s Making News!

Sheril Kirshenbaum — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 23:44:24 +0000

I’ve been writing and speaking about ocean acidification for a long time. And will continue. Now at CNN:

The chemistry of the world’s oceans is changing at a rate not seen for 65 million years, with far-reaching implications for marine biodiversity and food security, according to a new United Nations study released Thursday.”Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification,” published by the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP),” warns that some sea organisms including coral and shellfish will find it increasingly difficult to survive, as acidification shrinks the minerals needed to form their skeletons.

Lead author of the report Carol Turley, from the UK’s Plymouth Marine Laboratory said in a statement: “We are seeing an overall negative impact from ocean acidification directly on organisms and on some key ecosystems that help provide food for billions. We need to start thinking about the risk to food security.”

Damn straight. Read the full article here.

New Research Sheds Light on Tumor Formation

Sheril Kirshenbaum — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:14:38 +0000

The sea turtle to the left has fibropapillomatosis, a tumor-forming disease linked to a herpes virus. While these tumors can appear grotesque, not all are malignant. Fibropapillomatosis has been around since the 1980s, but the cause has been unknown. A new paper in PLoS ONE by Van Houtan, Hargrove, and Balazs analyzed clusters of the virus in locations with high nutrient runoff. And here’s where the story gets interesting…

The authors discovered a relationship between eutrophication (excess nitrogen), an invasive species of algae, sea turtles, and the disease. It goes like this:

The invasive algae stores excess nutrients in a particular amino acid Turtles eat that algae The metabolized amino acid promotes the herpes virus infection and, in turn, tumor formation

So it turns out that the root cause of the whole chain of events–leading to the large tumors we’re observing in sea turtles–is not the result of one of the usual suspects (i.e. carcinogens such as PCBs or 3-Nitrobenzanthrone).

When I spoke to lead author Kyle Van Houtan, he explained, “To me what is really fascinating about the whole argument is how it all begins with simple ...

The Sea Cucumber Shall Inherit the Earth

Sheril Kirshenbaum — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:29:53 +0000

..okay not exactly. But anyone who reads The Intersection regularly likely knows I have an affinity for the sea cucumber–the charismatic little critter I studied in graduate school up at UMaine. What I haven’t shared previously is that because I worked on them for years, I also became extremely sensitive to the toxin they produce–as many researchers working with different echinoderms do. In fact, I am now severely allergic to cucumaria frondosa. Needless to say, you don’t want to mess with them.

So I’m not surprised to learn that unlike many species at risk from ocean acidification–already adversely affecting marine organisms like clown fish–echinoderms seem to be less vulnerable. From the BBC:

When the animals, known as echinoderms, were exposed to water high in carbon dioxide early in their lives, there were no adverse effects.

Echinoderms are a diverse group that includes sea cucumbers and starfish.

Their natural resilience could represent a competitive advantage under some climate change scenarios.

Hence, as ocean acidification threatens the marine realm, the meek cucumber may be alright in the end. That is, if we don’t overharvest them first. Read ...

The Other Carbon Dioxide Problem

Sheril Kirshenbaum — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:31:03 +0000

I am pleased that my post last week on ocean acidification received a good deal of attention around the web because this critical subject rarely makes news. I’d also like to point readers to the National Academies latest podcast on the very same topic and encourage everyone to listen and share the episode. Here’s a synopsis:

Ocean Acidification: The Other Carbon Dioxide Problem (Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:06:39 -0400)

The ocean has absorbed a significant portion of all human-made carbon dioxide emissions. This benefits human society by moderating the rate of climate change, but also causes unprecedented changes to ocean chemistry. Carbon dioxide taken up by the ocean makes the water more acidic and leads to a suite of chemical changes collectively known as ocean acidification. The long term consequences of ocean acidification are not known, but are expected to result in changes to many ecosystems and the services they provide to society. This podcast gives an overview of the current state of knowledge, explores gaps in understanding, and identifies several key findings. Read the Report Online

All of the NAS Sounds of Science podcasts can be found here.

Science Communication Exercise: Why is Jeremy Jackson’s TED Talk So Effective?

Chris Mooney — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:56:55 +0000

I’m doing more sci comm training, and as I prep, I’ve found another great video that teaches a great lesson.

Here it is: Marine biologist Jeremy Jackson’s TED Talk, “How We Wrecked the Oceans.” In my opinion, it’s a very effective talk…but the question is, why? What makes it work?

I have many ideas about this–and the answer is multifaceted–but I’d like to hear what others think:

Ocean Acidifi-WHAT?!

Sheril Kirshenbaum — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:37:34 +0000

As I continue to speak around the country, I frequently ask if those in the audience who have heard of ocean acidification will kindly raise their hands. Sometimes a few do. More often I get blank stares. I’ve been writing about this subject for as long as I’ve been blogging. Longer if you count Senate memos and grad school projects over much of the past decade. Acidification is a huge deal. It’s as serious as climate change, which–despite Mr. Morano’s sorry efforts at special interest propaganda–is indeed a very real threat to biodiversity. Humans included.

So time for another post on what ocean acidification is, how it affects our world, and why this matters. It needs to become prominent on the national radar and a priority in policy discussions. I intend to keep blogging about it until more hands go up in the room. With that, another edition of:

Ocean Acidification 101

Most of us are aware that we’ve been adding lots of CO2 to the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels, land-use changes, and more. But carbon dioxide is also absorbed in oceans and taken up by terrestrial plants. Initially, the marine realm served to mitigate climate ...