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Deep Sea News
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- April 13, 2009
- 09:50 PM
- 1,652 views
Thriving In Extreme Conditions
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
…takes more than a Red Bull. You got to have the right metabolic pathways. NSF highlights the work of Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia who studies how microbes survive and thrive in a deep, dark, noxious, oxygen-depleted, super-salty ecosystems that may be like the primordial ooze that life originated from. This work culminated [...]... Read more »
Joye, S., Samarkin, V., Orcutt, B., MacDonald, I., Hinrichs, K., Elvert, M., Teske, A., Lloyd, K., Lever, M., Montoya, J.... (2009) Metabolic variability in seafloor brines revealed by carbon and sulphur dynamics. Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo475
- December 15, 2010
- 11:31 PM
- 1,472 views
I Like Sills But Not A Fan Of The Popular Or My Friend’s Ex
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
I’m a contrarian. Majority consensus makes me shudder. I just like rooting for underdogs*. Those undersea ridges at the boundaries of tectonic plates, spewing molten magma to form new crust are o’ so popular these days.
Spreading plate boundaries…meh. What I do like is new research basically stating, and I am paraphrasing here, that spreading plate boundaries . . . → Read More: I Like Sills But Not A Fan Of The Popular Or My Friend’s Ex... Read more »
Lizarralde, D., Soule, S., Seewald, J., & Proskurowski, G. (2010) Carbon release by off-axis magmatism in a young sedimented spreading centre. Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1006
- March 23, 2009
- 06:25 PM
- 1,423 views
100 Word Post: Hurdia victoria
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Anomalocaris ruled the Cambrian seas but apparently so did a one and half meter cousin. Hurdia victoria, originally described in 1912, was known from just a jumble of crustacean-like pieces. An examination of new fossils, plus a few old ones, suggest a body architecture similar to the anomalocaridids including a segmented body with [...]... Read more »
Daley, A., Budd, G., Caron, J., Edgecombe, G., & Collins, D. (2009) The Burgess Shale Anomalocaridid Hurdia and Its Significance for Early Euarthropod Evolution. Science, 323(5921), 1597-1600. DOI: 10.1126/science.1169514
- February 24, 2011
- 08:13 PM
- 1,402 views
Tide Pool: Cephalopods, Ash, and Sulphur Are to Blame
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
An occasional series where we briefly report 3 new studies and tell you why they are cool!
Heightened biodiversity may make an ecosystem more stabile and robust. One of the reasons for this is that high biodiversity may create redundant species, i.e. species that serve a similar ecological role in the ecosystem. A loss of one species may not perturb . . . → Read More: Tide Pool: Cephalopods, Ash, and Sulphur Are to Blame... Read more »
Whiteside, J., & Ward, P. (2011) Ammonoid diversity and disparity track episodes of chaotic carbon cycling during the early Mesozoic. Geology, 39(2), 99-102. DOI: 10.1130/G31401.1
Gill, B., Lyons, T., Young, S., Kump, L., Knoll, A., & Saltzman, M. (2011) Geochemical evidence for widespread euxinia in the Later Cambrian ocean. Nature, 469(7328), 80-83. DOI: 10.1038/nature09700
Grasby, S., Sanei, H., & Beauchamp, B. (2011) Catastrophic dispersion of coal fly ash into oceans during the latest Permian extinction. Nature Geoscience, 4(2), 104-107. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1069
- January 21, 2011
- 09:33 AM
- 1,333 views
Scientist In Residence: Danny Richter on Diatoms and X-ray Whosamagidgets
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
In a recent paper, de Jonge et al used x-ray fluorescence tomography to give us a new perspective on how diatoms put together those phenomenally intricate frustules of theirs. “X-ray whosamagidget” you say? My thoughts exactly. Let’s break it down. First: X-rays. High-energy waves that help doctors see our bones. Check. Second: fluorescence. Fluorescence is light . . . → Read More: Scientist In Residence: Danny Richter on Diatoms and X-ray Whosamagidgets... Read more »
de Jonge, M., Holzner, C., Baines, S., Twining, B., Ignatyev, K., Diaz, J., Howard, D., Legnini, D., Miceli, A., McNulty, I.... (2010) Quantitative 3D elemental microtomography of Cyclotella meneghiniana at 400-nm resolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(36), 15676-15680. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1001469107
- March 12, 2009
- 09:52 PM
- 1,247 views
Warfare Ecology
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Six months ago in the yesteryear of 2008, Machlis and Hanson outlined in Bioscience a new subfield of study titled warfare ecology. As the authors state “among human activities causing ecological change, ware is both intensive and far-reaching. Yet environmental research related to warfare is limited in depth and fragmented by discipline.” The paper is [...]... Read more »
Machlis, G., & Hanson, T. (2008) Warfare Ecology. BioScience, 58(8), 729. DOI: 10.1641/B580809
- February 19, 2009
- 09:29 AM
- 1,236 views
Seamount Life Is Unique Just Not In the Way We Thought
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
About a month ago, I published my first paper at PLoS One. I believed an open access journal was the most appropriate place for the work so the group’s findings would be accessible to the public, scientists, conservationists, and policy makers. I am delighted to say that this work, and the major finding of connectedness [...]... Read more »
Craig R. McClain, Lonny Lundsten, Micki Ream, James Barry, & Andrew DeVogelaere. (2009) Endemicity, Biogeography, Composition, and Community Structure On a Northeast Pacific Seamount. PLoS ONE, 4(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004141
- February 9, 2010
- 10:32 PM
- 1,217 views
LSDG: An Acronym Consuming A Field
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
You may never heard of LSDG (although some of you may have heard of LSD but I make no judgement here) but a lot scientific thought and time is spent contemplating it. In fact Google Scholar returns 113,000 published papers on the subject. Why are there millions of pages dedicated to this subject? Because it [...]... Read more »
Rex, M., Stuart, C., Hessler, R., Allen, J., Sanders, H., & Wilson, G. (1993) Global-scale latitudinal patterns of species diversity in the deep-sea benthos. Nature, 365(6447), 636-639. DOI: 10.1038/365636a0
Hillebrand, H. (2004) On the Generality of the Latitudinal Diversity Gradient. The American Naturalist, 163(2), 192-211. DOI: 10.1086/381004
Yasuhara, M., Hunt, G., Cronin, T., & Okahashi, H. (2009) Temporal latitudinal-gradient dynamics and tropical instability of deep-sea species diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(51), 21717-21720. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0910935106
- June 29, 2011
- 10:58 PM
- 1,194 views
The Ocean Mood of Saturn
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
From Wikimedia Commons: Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed "tiger stripes" near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Original source: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Sixty two moons orbit Saturn. The sixth largest of these at just 300 miles in diameter is Enceladus named after . . . → Read More: The Ocean Mood of Saturn... Read more »
Postberg, F., Schmidt, J., Hillier, J., Kempf, S., & Srama, R. (2011) A salt-water reservoir as the source of a compositionally stratified plume on Enceladus. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature10175
- August 11, 2009
- 05:56 PM
- 1,130 views
Simple Summer Recipes for Dead Seafloor Carrion
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
The 285 macrourid fishes, the rattails, whiptails, and grenadiers, are one of, if not the, most abundant fish in the deep. You cannot throw…well anything…without hitting one. What do all these fish eat? In one scenario, macrourids feed on organisms living on the seafloor, that in turn originally feed on detritus, i.e. marine snow, raining [...]... Read more »
Drazen, J., Phleger, C., Guest, M., & Nichols, P. (2009) Lipid composition and diet inferences of abyssal macrourids in the eastern North Pacific. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 1-14. DOI: 10.3354/meps08106
- February 23, 2009
- 08:53 PM
- 1,123 views
Scientists Solve The Mystery Of Why This Fish Is So Freakin’ Crazy
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
The barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) has extremely light-sensitive eyes that can rotate within a transparent, fluid-filled shield on its head. The fish’s tubular eyes are capped by bright green lenses. The eyes point upward (as shown here) when the fish is looking for food overhead. They point forward when the fish is feeding. The two spots [...]... Read more »
Bruce H. Robison, & Kim R. Reisenbichler. (2008) Macropinna microstoma and the Paradox of Its Tubular Eyes. Copeia, 2008(4), 780-784. DOI: 10.1643/CG-07-082
- March 21, 2011
- 09:33 PM
- 1,101 views
From the Editor’s Desk: The Environmental Impacts of Tsunamis
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Figure from UNEP: These images show a combination of a rocky, hilly headland along with a small river delta and swampy coastal strip. A low-lying wetland area connects the northern and western ocean fronts. An integration of natural and agricultural ecosystems operating prior to the tsunami combined rice cultivation, and fish/shrimp ponds, alongside natural delta mangrove . . . → Read More: From the Editor’s Desk: The Environmental Impacts of Tsunamis... Read more »
SRINIVAS, H., & NAKAGAWA, Y. (2008) Environmental implications for disaster preparedness: Lessons Learnt from the Indian Ocean Tsunami☆. Journal of Environmental Management, 89(1), 4-13. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.01.054
Szczuciński, W., Niedzielski, P., Rachlewicz, G., Sobczyński, T., Zioła, A., Kowalski, A., Lorenc, S., & Siepak, J. (2005) Contamination of tsunami sediments in a coastal zone inundated by the 26 December 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Environmental Geology, 49(2), 321-331. DOI: 10.1007/s00254-005-0094-z
Sivakumar, K. (2009) Impact of the 2004 tsunami on the Vulnerable Nicobar megapode Megapodius nicobariensis. Oryx, 44(01), 71. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605309990810
Whanpetch, N., Nakaoka, M., Mukai, H., Suzuki, T., Nojima, S., Kawai, T., & Aryuthaka, C. (2010) Temporal changes in benthic communities of seagrass beds impacted by a tsunami in the Andaman Sea, Thailand. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 87(2), 246-252. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecss.2010.01.001
- August 25, 2009
- 09:34 PM
- 1,096 views
We Get Mail – Sea Sheppard Shenanigans Edition
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
A few days ago DSN received a letter from one of our fans,
[sic]
To whom it may concern,
After reviewing your comments concerning the Sea Shepard, it is quite apparent that you do not appose the killing of whales by the Japanese!! It is also apparent that you support such actions by these savages!! The efforts that [...]... Read more »
Nagtzaam, G., & Lentini, P. (2008) Vigilantes on the High Seas?: The Sea Shepherds and Political Violence. Terrorism and Political Violence, 20(1), 110-133. DOI: 10.1080/09546550701723658
- July 14, 2009
- 06:02 PM
- 1,084 views
The Deepest Crinoids
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Japanese researchers recently set a record with the deepest in-situ observation of a criniod. In the words of the authors,
Previous records of stalked crinoids from hadal depths (exceeding 6000 m) are extremely rare, and no in-situ information has been available. We show here that stalked crinoids live densely on rocky substrates at depths over 9000 [...]... Read more »
Oji, T., Ogawa, Y., Hunter, A., & Kitazawa, K. (2009) Discovery of Dense Aggregations of Stalked Crinoids in Izu-Ogasawara Trench, Japan. Zoological Science, 26(6), 406-408. DOI: 10.2108/zsj.26.406
- July 12, 2011
- 05:57 AM
- 1,073 views
Anemones Fight Back Against Their Opressors
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
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From van der Meij and Reijnen (2011) Fig. 1 a–e The unsuccessful attempt of an edwardsiid sea anemone to feed on a Nembrotha lineolata. f A non-responsive Phyllidia ocellata caught by the tentacles of an edwardsiid sea anemone You may not realize that those unassuming slugs of the oceans, nudibranchs, are voracious predators in hiding. . . . → Read More: Anemones Fight Back Against Their Opressors... Read more »
Meij, S., & Reijnen, B. (2011) First observations of attempted nudibranch predation by sea anemones. Marine Biodiversity. DOI: 10.1007/s12526-011-0097-9
- February 6, 2011
- 08:11 PM
- 1,066 views
Deep-Sea Creatures Play in the Same Band
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
I am really loving the new paper by O’Hara et al. The gist is we typically think of the different oceans having unique sets of deep-sea organisms. A Pacific set of animals, an Atlantic set, an Indian set and so on. But O’Hara and colleagues show instead that brittle stars are differentiated along broad latitudinal bands. This is very similar to . . . → Read More: Deep-Sea Creatures Play in the Same Band... Read more »
O'Hara, T., Rowden, A., & Bax, N. (2011) A Southern Hemisphere Bathyal Fauna Is Distributed in Latitudinal Bands. Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.002
- August 20, 2009
- 02:20 PM
- 1,059 views
More Mercury Deeper
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Mercury is distributed across the earth whether the atmosphere, biosphere, or geosphere. In the marine realm, the methylated form of mercury (CH3Hg+) is the form of mercury most easily bioaccumulated. But let’s take a step back and ask how the oceans got mercury in the first place. Once source maybe the atmosphere. Fifty percent of [...]... Read more »
Choy, C., Popp, B., Kaneko, J., & Drazen, J. (2009) The influence of depth on mercury levels in pelagic fishes and their prey. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0900711106
Sunderland, E., Krabbenhoft, D., Moreau, J., Strode, S., & Landing, W. (2009) Mercury sources, distribution, and bioavailability in the North Pacific Ocean: Insights from data and models. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 23(2). DOI: 10.1029/2008GB003425
- July 13, 2009
- 08:51 PM
- 1,036 views
100 Million Year Old Giant Sperm
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Barnacles may have big penises but ostracodes of the superfamily Cypridoidea have giant sperm. Ostracode range are mostly near a millimeter but sperm range from several hundred micrometers to several millimeters. Yes on average, ostracode sperm is longer than an ostracode. On study suggest that these sperm insert two giant paternal mitochondrial [...]... Read more »
Matzke-Karasz, R. (2005) Giant spermatozoon coiled in small egg: Fertilization mechanisms and their implications for evolutionary studies on ostracoda (crustacea). Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 304B(2), 129-149. DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.21031
Matzke-Karasz, R., Smith, R., Symonova, R., Miller, C., & Tafforeau, P. (2009) Sexual Intercourse Involving Giant Sperm in Cretaceous Ostracode. Science, 324(5934), 1535-1535. DOI: 10.1126/science.1173898
- August 20, 2009
- 07:23 PM
- 1,023 views
DeepC Wormz R Da Bomb
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Or perhaps more appropriately have the bomb. Osborn et al. report in Science seven previously unknown species (0.7 to 3.6 inches) of annelid worms hailing from the deep pelagic (>1800m). All the new species form a distinctive group within the Cirratuliformia, a recently proposed higher taxonomic group that encompases seven other groups currently recognized as [...]... Read more »
Osborn, K., Haddock, S., Pleijel, F., Madin, L., & Rouse, G. (2009) Deep-Sea, Swimming Worms with Luminescent "Bombs". Science, 325(5943), 964-964. DOI: 10.1126/science.1172488
- March 23, 2009
- 01:22 PM
- 1,018 views
Nerve Toxins In The Deep
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Some of the species in the genus Pseudo-nitzschia are nasty little diatoms. They produce domoic acid, a neurotoxin typically to blame for all sorts of marine vertebrate deaths. Alfred Hitcocks’s 1963 film “The Birds” dramatizes a bird attack incident blamed on domoic acid. Human consumption of shellfish that has filtered Pseudo-nitzschia leads to amnesic shellfish [...]... Read more »
Sekula-Wood, E., Schnetzer, A., Benitez-Nelson, C., Anderson, C., Berelson, W., Brzezinski, M., Burns, J., Caron, D., Cetinic, I., Ferry, J.... (2009) Rapid downward transport of the neurotoxin domoic acid in coastal waters. Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo472
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