The project will combine natural records around the Eastern Hemisphere tropics to better understand monsoon rainfall patterns across Asia, Indonesia and Australia over the last millennium — and how they might look in the future under a changing climate.

Global environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys significantly expand known geographic and ecological niche ranges of marine fish, highlighting current biases in conservation and ecological modeling

Diverse life forms exist on and within the ocean floor. These primarily consist of microbes, tiny organisms that can cope with extreme environmental conditions. These include high pressures and salinities, as well as extreme pH values and a limited supply of nutrients. A team of researchers has now been able to detect microbial life in two newly discovered mud volcanoes with very high pH values. Their findings have been published in the professional journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Marine microorganisms produce large amounts of nitrous oxide, a highly potent greenhouse gas. A Basel-based researcher investigated the exact processes involved during an expedition to the Pacific. The results are important for climate modeling.

A team led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) has described a sustained and unprecedented decrease in the abundance of marine viruses in the northwestern Mediterranean over the last two decades. The finding, published in the journal ISME Communications, is based on the longest-known time series data on marine viruses to date, from the Blanes Bay Microbial Observatory (BBMO) in Girona.

A new study has revealed that sunlight can transform common synthetic fabrics into tiny plastic fibers that pollute coastal oceans. The findings shed light on how clothing and household textiles contribute to the growing problem of microplastic pollution in marine environments.

A research team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made progress in studying the Shibantan Biota in Yichang, Hubei Province, uncovering the oldest known complex three-dimensional burrow systems to date. Preserved in approximately 550-million-year-old strata, these trace fossils show that complex animal behaviors were modifying the seafloor environment nearly 10 million years earlier than previously thought.

Scientists from the Salk Institute and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego say genomically informed restoration is the way forward for saving our oceans. The researchers used advanced genomic and transcriptomic technologies to investigate a hybrid eelgrass from San Diego's Mission Bay that is a cross between the shallow-water Zostera marina and its deeper-water cousin, Zostera pacifica, whose tolerance for low-light conditions is a favorable trait as coastal waters become increasingly murky. This genomic profile could make the new hybrid seagrass a candidate for future coastal restoration efforts in California and beyond.

William & Mary’s Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS has awarded $1.8 million to 13 organizations throughout the U.S. focused on the removal of derelict fishing gear, which poses a significant threat to the sustainability of coastal and marine environments and the fishing industries from which they originate. This is the second year of subawards distributed through the National Fishing Trap Removal, Assessment and Prevention (TRAP) Program.