Featured
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News |
Narwhals transmit climate data from Arctic seas
Marine mammals armed with thermometers return temperature readings from icy Baffin Bay.
- Lucas Laursen
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News |
Humpback whale breaks migration record
Swim from Brazil to Madagascar is longest known.
- Janelle Weaver
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News |
Virus-like particles speed bacterial evolution
The exchange of genetic information among ocean bacteria has been greatly underestimated.
- Amy Maxmen
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Research Highlights |
Animal behaviour: Same-shaped shoals
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News |
Oil-spill bacteria gobbled gases first
Levels of ethane and propane consumed by Gulf microbes spark questions about the oil's fate.
- Amanda Mascarelli
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Research Highlights |
Marine biology: Charismatic carbon
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News & Views |
A glacial test of timing
Meticulous reconstruction of the former extent of a glacier high in the mountains of New Zealand will help in interpreting global-scale climatic adjustments that occurred at the end of the last glaciation.
- Martin P. Kirkbride
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News |
Canada sees shock salmon glut
Some 34 million of the fish are thronging British Columbia's Fraser River.
- Kate Larkin
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Opinion |
Seafood stewardship in crisis
The main consumer-targeted certification scheme for sustainable fisheries is failing to protect the environment and needs radical reform, say Jennifer Jacquet, Daniel Pauly and colleagues.
- Jennifer Jacquet
- , Daniel Pauly
- & Jeremy Jackson
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News |
Ecologists fear Antarctic krill crisis
Fishing industry threatens to destabilize stocks.
- Quirin Schiermeier
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Article |
Global phytoplankton decline over the past century
Using historical data combined with more recent satellite observations, these authors show that global phytoplankton biomass has been declining during the past century.
- Daniel G. Boyce
- , Marlon R. Lewis
- & Boris Worm
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News & Views |
Century of phytoplankton change
Phytoplankton biomass is a crucial measure of the health of ocean ecosystems. An impressive synthesis of the relevant data, stretching back to more than 100 years ago, provides a connection with climate change.
- David A. Siegel
- & Bryan A. Franz
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Letter |
Global patterns and predictors of marine biodiversity across taxa
Using large-scale data sets, these authors present a new assessment of global marine species diversity and its correlation with environmental and spatial parameters.
- Derek P. Tittensor
- , Camilo Mora
- & Boris Worm
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Letter |
The giant bite of a new raptorial sperm whale from the Miocene epoch of Peru
Modern sperm whales have relatively small teeth and feed by suction, but the discovery of large teeth in the fossil record suggests that raptorial sperm whales once existed. Here the authors report the discovery of the teeth and jaws of a fossil raptorial sperm whale from the Middle Miocene of Peru, almost as large as a modern sperm whale but with a three-metre head and jaws full of teeth, some 36cm long.
- Olivier Lambert
- , Giovanni Bianucci
- & Jelle Reumer
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News |
What will get sick from the slick?
Nature investigates five of the Gulf of Mexico's signature species.
- Melissa Gaskill
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News |
Call me Leviathan melvillei
Sperm whale fossil has the biggest whale bite ever seen.
- Janet Fang
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Research Highlights |
Biogeochemistry: Faecal fertilization
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News & Views |
Fish in Lévy-flight foraging
Lévy flights are a theoretical construct that has attracted wide interdisciplinary interest. Empirical evidence shows that the principle applies to the foraging of marine predators.
- Gandhimohan M. Viswanathan
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Correspondence |
Call for cooperation to contain damage by Chile's salmon farms
- Heike Vester
- & Marc Timme
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Research Highlights |
Biology: Sniffer sharks
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News |
Timing is everything for sharks that smell in stereo
Sharks sniff out their prey using the timing of scents, not concentration.
- Janet Fang
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News |
Endangered-porpoise numbers fall to just 250
Time is running out for vanishing vaquitas.
- Rex Dalton
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Research Highlights |
Ecology: What's that whale?
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News Feature |
Fisheries: What's the catch?
New England fishermen have mixed feelings about a programme designed to allow overfished species to recover. Mark Schrope reports on how catch shares have scientists fishing for answers.
- Mark Schrope
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News |
Researchers track path of oil from rig spill
Officials desperately seek answers on where the slick will head.
- Mark Schrope
- & Janet Fang
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News |
Pacific tuna population may crash at any time
Researchers warn that confidence in stock's health could be misplaced.
- David Cyranoski
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Research Highlights |
Population genetics: Nautical niches
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Books & Arts |
Q&A: Sylvia Earle on protecting our seas
Oceanographer and underwater explorer Sylvia Earle served as chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during 1990–92, and is a US national committee member of the Census of Marine Life, due to conclude this October. Earle advised on Disney's newly released cut of the documentary film Oceans; here she explains why films are important for raising awareness of the state of our seas.
- Jascha Hoffman
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Research Highlights |
Oceanography: Deep-sea biomass boom
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News |
Proposal sets whaling limits
Conservative hunting quotas require more scientific data.
- Janet Fang
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News Feature |
Environmental Science: New life for the Dead Sea?
A conduit from the Red Sea could restore the disappearing Dead Sea and slake the region's thirst. But such a massive engineering project could have untold effects, reports Josie Glausiusz.
- Josie Glausiusz
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News |
It's a microbial world
Worldwide census ups diversity estimates for marine microbes one-hundred-fold.
- Jane Qiu
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Research Highlights |
Oceanography: Early bloomers
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News |
Illegal whale meat tracked back to Japan
Researchers identify sashimi from restaurants in California and South Korea.
- Amber Dance
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News |
Animals thrive without oxygen at sea bottom
Creatures found where only microbes and viruses were thought to survive.
- Janet Fang
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Correspondence |
Fishermen contribute to protection of marine reserves
- Joachim Claudet
- & Paolo Guidetti
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News |
Bad news for tuna is bad news for CITES
Commerce trumps conservation as wildlife convention votes against protecting endangered bluefins.
- Anjali Nayar
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News |
Whale sedation aids conservation
Marine biologists look for better ways to save whales tangled in fishing gear.
- Daniel Cressey
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News |
Carbon-capture scheme could cause toxic blooms
Findings raise more concerns over proposals to boost plankton growth in the oceans.
- Brian Vastag
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News |
Ancient impact hammered Northern Hemisphere
Extinctions were less severe in southern oceans after catastrophe of 65 million years ago
- Janet Fang
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News |
Carbon credits proposed for whale conservation
Stopping whale hunting could help sequester millions of tonnes of carbon.
- Richard A. Lovett
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News |
Red Sea corals mapped in unprecedented detail
Maps reveal effects of past climates.
- Richard A. Lovett
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News |
Europe cannot keep its promises on fish stocks
Even with total cessation of fishing, UN target would still be missed.
- Daniel Cressey
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News |
Sea stars suck up carbon
Much more carbon is sequestered by echinoderms than previously thought.
- Matt Kaplan