(Natural News) Marine microorganisms may also be threatened by plastic pollution in the ocean. Since one type of photosynthetic bacteria accounts for 10 percent of the oxygen production on Earth, we need to take steps to protect the microbes before we run out of breathable air. Australian researchers issued a warning following their recently published […]

(Natural News) The oceans contain far more species of viruses than previously believed. While not all of them are harmful to humans, they may exert a considerable effect on the environment. Following an extended cruise around the world aboard a sailing ship, an international research team reported finding nearly 200,000 species of marine viruses. They released […]

(Natural News) In the movies, sharks threaten humans, especially if they rode tornadoes inland. In real life, however, it’s the other way around: Human commercial fishing threatens to drive sharks and their relatives, rays, into extinction. A U.K. team counted the number of sharks and rays accidentally caught by small-scale fisheries in the South West […]

(Natural News) A three-day underwater exploration by Greenpeace South East Asia documented large amounts of plastic pollution that threatened marine life in the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines. Single-use plastics pollute one of the most biodiverse waters in the world In 2006, the Verde Island Passage in Batangas City was crowned the “Center of […]

(Natural News) Vertebrates are not the only marine organisms that accidentally gulp down mouthfuls of the growing number of microplastics in the ocean. Invertebrates like corals and sea anemones also ingest tiny pieces of plastic that they have mistaken for their prey. In a study supported by the Carnegie Institution for Science (Carnegie), researchers learned that […]

(Natural News) The great white sharks in South African waters have been found to contain high levels of arsenic, lead, and mercury in their blood. While the sharks might shrug off the deadly effects of the heavy metals, the presence of the toxins suggest that their prey were badly contaminated – and humans also rely on […]

(Natural News) The waters of a U.K. harbor now serve as the hunting grounds of an aquatic drone called WasteShark. A robot shark with autonomous functions, the drone gobbles up plastic waste floating in the water, reducing the number of pollutants that enter the ocean while also protecting the local ecosystem and its inhabitants. Ilfracombe […]

(Natural News) Mussels often end up getting contaminated by the vast amount of microplastics that pollute the oceans. A new study showed that the animals successfully expel most of the tiny plastic fibers from their bodies. Microplastics are present in every part of the world’s oceans, even remote areas that are thousands of miles away from the nearest human presence. […]

(Natural News) When a family is thinking about moving into a new neighborhood, they will scope out the area first and see if it is any good. In a similar vein, the larvae of coral pick a place to call home based on the sounds made by the animals there, said American researchers. Once a larva decides […]

(Natural News) Seagrasses are marine plants that make up huge meadows in shallow seas on all continents, except Antarctica. These aquatic plants may help boost the productivity of the world’s fisheries, suggests new research published in Conservation Letters. The study, “Seagrass meadows support global fisheries production,” was a collaboration between Dr. Leanne Cullen-Unsworth of Cardiff University and Dr. Lina Mtwana Nordlund of Stockholm […]