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Environmentalists
and Fishing Community can both win according to experts who have
found that if you have the key spatial (location) information on
fish, you can put the Marine Protected Areas in the right
places, thus increasing conservation and making the fisheries
more profitable. Information on fish, from
spawning habits to oceanographic models that show currents,
gives the experts the data needed for both conservation and
increased fishing. Co-authors of the team of experts studied the
location of fish by looking at what ecologists call ’sources’
and ‘sinks.’ In source areas, the ocean is very productive and
lots of fish spawn there. Larvae are produced and they are swept
over to the sink and never leave. What needs to be done is to
close the source areas to fishing, and only fish in the sink,
this way you get much higher economic value and much better
conservation, but you need to know where the sources and sinks
are to do this. The spatial information has the potential to
change management approaches.
Tiny marine plants called phytoplankton
living in the sunlit surface waters of the ocean produce organic
matter through the process of photosynthesis, thereby drawing
carbon dioxide down from the atmosphere. Much of this organic
mater is recycled but some of it sinks as ’marine-snow’ to the
deep ocean. This is known as the biological carbon pump, and it
helps to significantly reduce the CO2 released by the burning of
fossil fuels that would otherwise accumulate in the atmosphere.
In addition to light, phytoplankton requires
nutrients for growth. However, inorganic nutrients are in short
supply in vast areas of the oceans known as oligotrophic
regions. This means that phytoplankton must get the nutrients
from somewhere else and therefore understanding the sources and
distribution of nutrients is of major interest to
oceanographers.
Scientists have studied the distribution of
dissolved organic Nutrients in eight research cruises in the
Atlantic. In this way they were able to cover large tracts of
The Atlantic Ocean and find the distribution of dissolved
organic nitrogen (DON) and dissolved organic phosphorous (DOP)
and patterns emerged showing that differences exist between the
North and South Atlantic. DON and DOP concentrations are lower
in the North Atlantic, and these differences are more striking
in the case of DOP which is very low in the North Atlantic
subtropical Zone.
 In
a world first, an international team of researchers have
successfully isolated ancient DNA from fossil eggshell remains
of extinct birds. They were really surprised to discover that
DNA is well-preserved in fossil eggshell, particularly the now
extinct heaviest bird to have existed, the elephant bird called
Aepyornis.
Researchers have tried unsuccessfully for
years to isolate DNA from fossil eggshells, it turned out that
they were using a method designed for bone and that was not
suitable for eggshell. The new study describes how DNA up to
12,000 years old is an excellent source of ancient DNA. Fossil
Eggshells are frequently discovered from deposits across the
globe and have been extensively used as a tool for radiocarbon
dating and as a proxy to study past environments.
Bottlenose Dolphins were seen 6 times during
March, 5 sightings of the north coast pod, between Porthgwarra
and St Ives, and one of the south coast pod, near Trefusis
Point Falmouth area. Three sightings of dolphins on the north
coast were probably also Bottlenose. There was one sighting of
Common Dolphins, a pod of about 25 off Gunwallow Church Cove, on
the 15th. Five sightings of Harbour Porpoises, were all in the
Porthgwarra and Runnelstone area. Grey Seals were seen at Cape
Cornwall and St Ives. |
