News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
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Can coral survive climate change ?
Cell-level survey
ENVIRONMENT
Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
PHOTO : BRYCE GROARK
Hawaiian reefs nourish herbivorous fish
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Researchers are deploying advanced drones to unlock the mysterious language of sperm whales . Project CETI ( Cetacean Translation Initiative ) aims to gather millions of detailed sperm whale vocalisations to decode how they communicate , allowing experts to make better informed conservation decisions . This will be done using flying robots , according to Stephanie Gil , Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University . In a new development published in Science Robotics , Prof Gil and her team propose an innovative framework using autonomous drones . Known as AVATARS , this framework combines sensing and autonomy to track sperm whales with unprecedented accuracy .
Can coral survive climate change ?
Researchers at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology ( HIMB ) are arguing that , contrary to most projections , coral reefs have the potential to persist and adapt over time . In an island-based laboratory adjacent to the study reefs , HIMB researchers created 40 experimental systems known as ‘ mesocosms ’, which mimic the diversity and environment of a coral reef in the wild . For two years , the team exposed the mesocosms to different scenarios of higher temperature , higher acidity , or a combination of both ocean stressors to see how the reef communities would react to future climate scenarios . “ These experimental reef communities persisted as new reef communities rather than collapsing ,” said lead author Christopher Jury . “ This was a very surprising result , since almost all projections of reef futures suggest that the corals should have almost entirely died , the reef communities should have experienced net carbonate dissolution , and reef biodiversity should have collapsed . None of those things happened in this study .”
Different plankton species found off Greenland and California
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PHOTO : UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Cell-level survey
Scientists are attempting to sequence the DNA of plankton for the first time . The Ocean Genome Atlas Project ( OGAP ) aims to classify , sequence and map the genomic information of organisms representing at least 80 % of marine species worldwide . Deploying a fleet of advanced but cost effective research vessels to transect the oceans , the aim is to create a global 3D genomic atlas of the world ’ s oceans at single-cell resolution . The resulting Ocean Genome Atlas ( OGA ) is set to provide an unbiased genomic blueprint of the global biodiversity of the world ’ s oceans at a resolution never achieved to date : from cells to ecosystems .