Deep-sea waters are warming due to heat waves and climate change, and it could spell trouble for the oceans’ delicate chemical and biological balance. A new study demonstrates that the microbes may already be adapting well to warmer, nutrient-poor waters. Researchers predict that these surprisingly adaptable archaea will play an important role in reshaping ocean chemistry in a changing climate. 

Herring from different parts of the Baltic Sea belong to distinct populations genetically adapted to local differences in salinity and temperature. However, these populations can also mix with each other, according to a new study by researchers from Uppsala University, Stockholm University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. These results have important implications for the management of the Baltic herring. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Narrow-ridged finless porpoises were long assumed to be mostly solitary species with little allomaternal interaction. In a new study, researchers from Kindai University found four infant porpoises swimming with non-mother adults. The functions of these interactions are unclear. It is possible that they reduce swimming effort for infants and help young females learn to interact with infants before having their own offspring. These findings are valuable for wildlife conservation and rehabilitation of abandoned infant porpoises.

How is carbon metabolized and processed in different ecosystems? In a recent study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers led by Joely Maak, the study’s first author and researcher in the Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface”, examined the carbon cycle in a unique marine ecosystem.

An interim update to the landmark State of the World’s Migratory Species of 2024 warns that 49% of migratory species populations protected under a global treaty are declining, up 5% in just two years, and 24% of species face extinction, up 2%. The new warnings will be presented to the 15^th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP15), a legally-binding UN treaty, in Campo Grande Brazil March 23-29.

The compilation of academic studies provides a timely examination of new tools, collaborations, and discoveries that have furthered understanding of the role and ecosystem impact of marine diseases — and how to manage them.

gathering in unusually large groups and engaging in mating behaviour.

The footage, gathered between 2019 and 2023, provides one of the most detailed records of harbour porpoise mating behaviour ever documented in UK waters.

Scientists from across Scotland and Shetland residents worked on the project and reported their findings in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association.