Tag Archives: University of California
We used AI and satellite imagery to map ocean activities that take place out of sight, including fishing, shipping and energy development
A newly published study in the journal Nature combines satellite images, vessel GPS data and artificial intelligence to reveal human industrial activities across the ocean over a five-year period. Researchers at Global Fishing Watch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea, led this study, in collaboration with me and our colleagues at Duke University, University of California, Santa Barbara and Sky Truth. We found that a remarkable amount of activity occurs outside of public monitoring systems. Our new map and data provide the most comprehensive public picture available of industrial uses of the ocean. more, >>click to read<< 15:52
Study: Marine heat waves do not affect fish populations
The lead author of the study, Assistant Professor in the Department of Oceanography at the University of California, Alexa L Fredston said she was surprised by these results. She added: “We know that fish communities faced long-term ocean warming by moving towards the poles, which can change the biomass and composition of fish in a given location. So I expected similar result, i.e. more fish species in “Warmer waters and fewer fish in colder waters after these marine heatwaves.” The American, Canadian and European researchers who conducted the study analyzed more than 82,000 bottom trawl fish catches collected as part of scientific expeditions in the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific Oceans. >>click to read<< 13:01
How a shocking environmental disaster was uncovered after 70 years
Just 10 miles off the coast of Los Angeles lurks an environmental disaster over 70 years in the making, which few have ever heard about. That is, until now, thanks to the research of a University of California marine scientist named David Valentine. Working with little more than rumors and a hunch, curiosity guided him 3,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. A few hours of research time and an autonomous robotic submersible unearthed what had been hidden since the 1940s: countless barrels of toxic waste, laced with DDT, littering the ocean floor in between Long Beach and Catalina Island. Video, >click to read< 09:33
Lessons From a Failed Experiment – When ‘Eradicated’ Species Bounce Back With a Vengeance
The study, published today in the journal PNAS, chronicles the effort and failure to eradicate invasive European green crabs from a California estuary. The crabs increased 30-fold after about 90 percent had been removed. The study is the first experimental demonstration in a coastal ecosystem of a dramatic population increase in response to full eradication. The crab is considered among the world’s top 100 invasive species, costing the U.S. commercial shellfish industry about $20 million in annual losses. >click to read< 08:09
Alaska’s wild salmon are getting smaller
For years, people in Alaska have been noticing that wild salmon were getting smaller, but the reasons have been unclear. In the new study, published August 19 in Nature Communications, researchers compiled and analyzed data collected over six decades (1957 to 2018) from 12.5 million fish by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This unprecedented dataset enabled them to see patterns of body size changes for four species of salmon, Chinook, chum, coho, and sockeye, across all regions of Alaska. The results showed that the decreases in body size are primarily due to salmon returning to their spawning grounds at younger ages than they have in the past. >click to read< 11:24
Undersea Power Cables – Electromagnetic fields have complex and possibly harmful effects on the valuable brown crab.
Over the past 10 years, Scotland has installed thousands of offshore wind turbines in the North Sea and is starting to deploy marine energy devices that generate power from tides and waves. It’s a green energy push that is slowly being replicated in coastal areas the world over. Though these installations are reducing coastal threats such as oil spills, they have the potential to cause other, more subtle, problems for marine life. From each offshore wind and tidal turbine, power cables snake to shore, connecting to power banks, converters, and the wider electrical grid. But these electrified cables could have odd and unexpected effects on seafloor life. >click to read<08:43
Squid: Coming to Life – How a cephalopod is born, in stunning microscopy footage
Produced by the evolutionary and developmental biologist Nipam Patel in his Patel Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, Squid: Coming to Life literally puts squid and cuttlefish development under the microscope. With a sparkling soundtrack and stunning microscopy footage, the short video shows the cephalopods transforming from embryos (when they develop in egg capsules) to hatchlings that emerge with the resplendent, colour-shifting skin they use for communication and camouflage. click here to watch the video 09:35
Fish declines linked to effects of excess nutrients in coastal estuaries and the abundance of fish in offshore commercial fishery
A comprehensive study of a major California estuary has documented the links between nutrient runoff from coastal land use, the health of the estuary as a nursery for young fish, and the abundance of fish in an offshore commercial fishery. The study, published the week of June 8, 2015, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focused on Elkhorn Slough and Monterey Bay on California’s central coast. ” is nitrogen, whether it comes from an agricultural field or sewage or urban runoff. Read the rest here 16:22
Climate change threatens extinction for 82 percent of California native fish
Salmon and other native freshwater fish in California will likely become extinct within the next century due to climate change if current trends continue, ceding their habitats to non-native fish, predicts a study by scientists from the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis. continued
