By JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer Mon Aug 9, 5:33 am ET BARATARIA, La. – To assess how heavy a blow the BP oil spill has dealt the Gulf of Mexico, researchers are closely watching a staple of the seafood industry and primary indicator of the ecosystem’s health: the blue crab. Weeks ago, before engineers […]
By Ben Raines, Press-Register Monday, August 09, 2010, 5:00 AM HORN ISLAND, Miss. — Weeks after BP capped its runaway well, a greasy band of oil appeared on the grasses fringing Garden Pond, a previously pristine interior marsh. Glops of deep brown oil floated on the surface of the saltwater pond Saturday and appeared to […]
Provided by American Physiological SocietyAugust 5, 2010 Human impact is causing lower oxygen and higher carbon dioxide levels in coastal water bodies. Increased levels of carbon dioxide cause the water to become more acidic, having dramatic effects on the lifestyles of the wildlife that call these regions home. The problems are expected to worsen if […]
By Craig Welch, Seattle Times environment reporter July 31, 2010 at 8:36 PM DABOB BAY, Hood Canal — Inside the burbling tubs of the Taylor Shellfish hatchery here, oysters are incubating once again. But no one believes things are really back to normal. Several years after oyster larvae around the Northwest began dying by the […]
By David A. FahrentholdWashington Post / August 2, 2010 ON TAMBOUR BAY, La. — In the next act of the drama of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, two of the most important heroes don’t look like heroes. They are just thin green stalks, sticking out of blackened patches of grass. They are cordgrass and […]
By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer, and AP researcher Yu BingJuly 30, 2010 BEIJING — China’s worst known oil spill is dozens of times larger than the government has reported – bigger than the famous Exxon Valdez spill two decades ago – and some of the oil was dumped deliberately to avoid further disaster, an […]
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSONPublished: July 29, 2010 HOUMA, La. — Loulan Pitre Sr. was born on the Gulf Coast in 1921, the son of an oysterman. Nearly all his life, he worked on the water, abiding by the widely shared faith that the resources of the Gulf of Mexico were limitless. As a young Marine staff […]
It may takes tens of thousands of years for oceans to recover from the acidity caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide By David Biello July 22, 2010 Single-cell life-forms thrive throughout the world’s oceans—and have for hundreds of millions of years. Tiny varieties known as calcareous nanoplankton build exuberant, microscopic shells—resembling wagon wheels, fishlike […]
By Katia Moskvitch Science reporter, BBC News The UN may remove the world’s deepest and oldest lake from the World Heritage list because of concerns over pollution by a Russian pulp and paper mill. Lake Baikal holds one fifth of the world’s fresh water and is home to many unique plants and animals. At its […]
Carbon dioxide emissions are making the oceans more acidic, imperiling the growth and reproduction of species from plankton to squid By Marah J. Hardt and Carl Safina “Slow sperm … now that’s a problem,” said Jonathan Havenhand, his British accent compounding the gravity of the message. “That means fewer fertilized eggs, fewer babies and smaller […]
