By MBARI 1/17/2019 Oxygen—it’s a basic necessity for animal life. But marine biologists recently discovered large numbers of fishes living in the dark depths of the Gulf of California where there is virtually no oxygen. Using an underwater robot, the scientists observed these fishes thriving in low-oxygen conditions that would be deadly to most other fish. This discovery could help…
By University of Wisconsin-Madison 1/17/2019 The fires in Yellowstone National Park began to burn in June 1988. A natural feature of the landscape, park managers expected the fires to fizzle out by July, when rains historically drenched the forests and valleys of the world’s first national park. But the rains never came. Unusually hot, dry and windy that year, more fires…
By University of Tokyo 1/16/2019 Whale sharks, the world’s largest fish, likely endure periods of starvation and may eat more plants than previously thought, according to the first results of a new health check developed at the University of Tokyo. Ocean scientists now have a powerful, simple tool to discover the diets, migrations, and conservation needs of this endangered species….
By Michigan State University 1/11/2019 A team of scientists from Michigan State University (MSU) and the University of Wisconsin analyzed 30 years of data for 365 lakes in the northeastern and Midwestern U.S. to test whether changes in temperature and precipitation affect water clarity, which measures the cloudiness of the water. The group’s work is featured in a paper in…
By University of Washington 1/2/2019 Like most of their stout-bodied, flippered kin, Magellanic penguins spend much of their lives in the ocean. From late autumn through winter and into spring in the Southern Hemisphere, these South American penguins swim off the coast of southern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina in search of anchovies, sardines and squid. But as spring turns…
By University of Wisconsin-Madison 1/3/2019 In the United States, some ranchers worry about wolf attacks on their livestock as the native predator is reintroduced to more areas. But for Chilean livestock owners, wolves are not the potential threat. Pumas are. As in the U.S., researchers in Chile are trying to develop non-lethal ways to deter predator attacks and reduce the…