Leatherback turtles, the most widely distributed reptiles on Earth, are threatened with extinction themselves, in large part due to the carelessness of humans. A professor addresses the threat of plastics to this endangered species. Since leatherbacks prefer eating jellyfish, it’s widely believed they mistake bags or other plastics for their meals. They survived the […]
MIAMI (Reuters) – A tidal wave of man-made trash is threatening world oceans, damaging wildlife, tourism and seafood industries and piling additional stress on seas already hit by climate change, conservationists said on Tuesday. A report by U.S.-based Ocean Conservancy detailed what it called a "global snapshot of marine debris" based on itemized records of […]
Chemical change placing ‘unprecedented’ pressure on marine life and could cause widespread extinctions, warn scientists by David Adam, environment correspondent Human pollution is turning the seas into acid so quickly that the coming decades will recreate conditions not seen on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs, scientists will warn today. The rapid acidification is […]
It seems we’re not the only ones struggling to adapt to the summer weather — Australian researchers have found the increased temperatures may be affecting turtles too. Scientists found that green turtle hatchlings from Heron Island weren’t swimming as well as expected. Zoologist Dr David Booth, from UQ’s School of Biological Sciences, said green […]
The shells of tiny ocean animals known as foraminifera—specifically Globigerina bulloides—are shrinking as a result of the slowly acidifying waters of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. The reason behind the rising acidity: Higher carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere, making these shells more proof that climate change is making life tougher for the seas’ […]
Via Ocean Acidification: A Sea Change World Premiere Mar. 14 at DC Environmental Film Fest It’s official: A Sea Change premiers Saturday, Mar. 14 at the DC Environmental Film Festival, at 3:30 pm. In a fabulous venue: the Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History, in downtown Washington at the intersection of 10th […]
Via Apocadocs: By Doug Fraser A Woods Hole scientist believes he may have found a key culprit behind a mysterious disease linked to a dramatic drop in lobster populations from Buzzards Bay to Long Island. In research conducted this summer, Hans Laufer found that common man-made chemicals used in plastics, detergents and cosmetics had infiltrated […]
Oceanographer Charles Moore Talks About The Pacific Garbage Patch Speaking at the recent TED Conference in California, oceanographer Charles Moore – who discovered and publicized the huge oceanic gyre of plastic waste known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” — outlined the toll taken on marine life by plastic bottles and caps. Moore, founder of […]
By JEFF BARNARD, AP Environmental Writer GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Common agricultural pesticides that attack the nervous systems of salmon can turn more deadly when they combine with other pesticides, researchers have found. Scientists from the NOAA Fisheries Service and Washington State University were expecting that the harmful effects would add up as they accumulated […]
By Alison Auld, THE CANADIAN PRESS HALIFAX, N.S. – Dolphins, sharks and other large marine species around the world are going hungry as they seek out dwindling supplies of the small, overlooked species they feed on, according to a new study that says overfishing is draining their food sources. In a report released Monday, scientists […]
