New technique tests for bacteria in dolphins’ breath
Until now it has been difficult to test the health of dolphin populations due to their migratory pattens, their size and, in some cases, dwindling numbers.
Researchers from the University of New South Wales have found an easy, fast and non-evasive way to give dolphins a quick health check, which in turn tells us much about the state of our oceans.
Continue reading Dolphin health check shows state of our oceansResearchers from the University of Adelaide are using underwater music to speed up the restoration of native oyster reefs.
By using underwater speaker technology, researchers are broadcasting snapping shrimp snaps in the ocean to create ‘highways of sound’ that attract baby oysters to oyster reefs targeted for restoration.
“In the ocean, sounds orchestrated by the snaps of snapping shrimp provide navigational cues used by baby oysters to find healthy habitats to settle and grow in,” Brittany Williams, a PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide.
Continue reading A snappy solution to restoring oyster reefsThe depths of the ocean still hold great mysteries. At depths between 200 and 1,000 metres live creatures that, taken altogether, weigh as much as 10 billion tonnes.
Rudy Kloser, an expert on echo sounding and deep-sea ecosystems at CSIRO in Hobart, says these creatures are vital but poorly understood. Continue reading Spying on the denizens of the Southern Ocean
By Macquarie University
Rising ocean temperatures due to climate change will not only be felt by smaller organisms like coral, but will also impact apex predators, according to new research.
The study from the Macquarie University Fish Lab found that increasing water temperature by just 3ºC altered the behaviour of hatchling sharks.
Baby sharks incubated at temperatures predicted by the end of the century had very different turn preferences compared to sharks reared in present day water temperatures.
Researchers are diving deep to find out more about the ocean sunfish, the Jabba the Hutt of the fish world, that hang out on the reefs off Bali for just three months each year. They’ve become an intriguing tourist attraction for divers, but is this tourism sustainable?
The sunfish head to the reefs from July to October to seek out cleaner fish—such as longfin bannerfish and emperor angelfish— which help them remove skin parasites and clean up skin lesions.
Continue reading Is the Bali ocean sunfish tourism sustainable?
More than a million tons of plastic are thought to enter Indonesia’s
oceans every year.
Much of it is in the form of micro-plastics, and that could be harming iconic oceanic filter feeders such as the manta ray.
Miniscule plastic particles with the potential to cause havoc in our waterways and oceans have been found in the stomachs of over a quarter of fish sampled in Sydney Harbour.
Named microplastics, the tiny plastic fragments, beads and fibres are sometimes made directly as beads, and sometimes created by the break-down of plastics used in clothing, packaging, fishing gear, nappies and wipes.
Life-saving first aid can now be offered to oiled penguins and other wildlife thanks to tiny oil-absorbing iron particles and a magnetic wand.
Credit: Phillip Island Nature Parks
Developed by Professor John Orbell and his team at Victoria University, the technology delivers emergency stabilisation that acts within minutes.
“Oiling of our wildlife is happening on a continual basis worldwide,” John says.
“Compared to the traditional approach of detergent-based treatment at rescue centres, our highly portable dry-cleaning method enables us to quickly remove the most toxic and corrosive oil components.”
