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Why big fish thrive in protected oceans
Big fish are harder to find in areas sprawling with human activity, unless you’re looking in no-take marine reserves, according to a new study led by marine scientists at The University of Western Australia.
The study, published in Conservation Biology, is one of the largest of its kind and assessed the body size of fish from around Australia, using more than 22,000 baited remote underwater video (BRUV) devices and one million measurements along 10,000km of coastline.
PhD student Nestor Bosch, from UWA’s School of Biological Sciences, said BRUVs gave researchers the ability to see into areas where they couldn’t normally and enable the analysis of fish that would ordinarily be scared away by the presence of a diver.
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Complex marine forests collapsing into flat turf seascapes
An international study led by The University of Western Australia has found that temperate marine ecosystems dominated by marine forests are collapsing into flattened seascapes of short turf algae across the globe.
The study, published in Global Change Biology, reveals that in Western Australia alone, thousands of hectares of underwater forests have collapsed into short carpets of seaweed turf.
Some of the other worst affected areas globally include southern Norway, eastern North America, the Mediterranean Sea and southern parts of Japan.
Lead author Albert Pessarrodona, from the UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, said marine forests were formed fromed by large seaweeds that towered up above the ocean floor, forming underwater canopies that house many species of fish, invertebates and algae.
Aussie researchers find whale sharks shed DNA to leave genetic trail - World News sina.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sina.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
AZoCleantech speaks with Dr. Christopher Cornwall from Victoria University of Wellington. Christopher is the lead author of a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1 that documents the findings of an international collaboration of scientists.
Researchers from The University of Western Australia and 14 other institutions have undertaken the largest assessment of marine reserves in Australia,.