https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research Deep sea and sediments bring iron to Antarctic waters. The iron that fertilizes the waters around Antarctica mostly comes from the deep, upwelling waters and the sediments around the continent. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-deep-sea-sediments-iron-antarctic.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:15:03 EST news628964102 Climate change may speed up the emergence of insects in northern countries at the end of winter. This may cause breeding birds migrating from the south to come too late to benefit from the insect peak if they do not adjust their travel schedules to the new situation. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-ecologist-cautions-apparent-mismatches-birds.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 27 Feb 2024 16:41:32 EST news628274478 If storms become stronger in the future due to climate change, more nitrogen may be released from the bottom of coastal seas. This is shown by the research of marine biogeochemist Dunia Rios-Yunes at NIOZ in Yerseke. Rios-Yunes will defend her Ph.D. thesis today at the University of Utrecht. "The dynamics of nutrients in deltas and estuaries have been a bit of a blind spot for marine science so far," she says. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-stronger-storms-free-nutrients-mud.html Ecology Thu, 22 Feb 2024 15:43:03 EST news627838981 Corals searching for food in the cold and dark waters of the deep sea are building higher and higher mountains to get closer to the source of their food. But in doing so, they may find themselves trapped when the climate changes. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-cold-coral-mountains-deep-sea.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 14 Feb 2024 16:51:37 EST news627151894 The restoration of mussel beds in the Wadden Sea or the Delta is a lot more successful when young mussels are helped a little with low, protective fences on the bottom. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-young-mussels-ecosystem.html Ecology Mon, 05 Feb 2024 11:46:03 EST news626355961 Computers can count seals from aerial photographs with lightning speed and reliability. Based on their spatial patterns, the tiny dots on the aerial images can even be assigned to one of the two major species of seals in the Wadden Sea. That is shown in the thesis that marine biologist Jeroen Hoekendijk will defend on January 26 in Wageningen. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-marine-biologist-quick-reliable.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 26 Jan 2024 08:37:10 EST news625480628 Hydrothermal vents and manganese nodule fields in the deep oceans contain more biodiversity than expected, according to the thesis that NIOZ-marine biologist Coral Diaz-Recio Lorenzo will defend at Utrecht University on January 26. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-marine-biologist-unexpected-biodiversity-ocean.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:38:21 EST news625423099 Beaches and dunes are becoming increasingly trapped between rising sea levels and infrastructure. Dutch researchers have found that nowadays, when dropped on a random beach around the world, you only need to walk 390 meters on average to find the nearest road or building. While that short walking distance may seem convenient if you want a day at the beach, it's bad news for our protection against rising sea levels, drinking water supplies and biodiversity. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-global-analysis-human-infrastructure-beaches.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 12 Jan 2024 04:08:19 EST news624254897 In any group of red knots, respective individuals exhibit a remarkable array of distinct character types. Birds with an exploratory character are motivated to investigate their environment and readily explore unfamiliar areas. Meanwhile, birds with inactive character types are content to remain in familiar territory. Interestingly, the birds do not appear to hatch with predetermined character types. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-red-character-year-life.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 10 Jan 2024 17:04:03 EST news624128641 On the mudflats along the Chinese coasts where benign forms of aquaculture are practiced, shorebirds like knots and bar-tailed godwits are doing relatively well. That is shown in the dissertation that NIOZ Ph.D. candidate and biologist He-Bo Peng will defend at the University of Groningen on January 15. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-aquaculture-disguise-migratory-waders-fueling.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 08 Jan 2024 17:03:02 EST news623955781 The fossil calciferous skeletons of single-celled foraminifers are a beautiful history book with information on CO2-levels in the oceans of the distant past. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-calciferous-good-tool-climate-scientist.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 27 Nov 2023 16:41:03 EST news620325661 As tidal flats subside due to gas extraction, their composition changes. This is shown in a paper published in this month's Journal of Applied Ecology. "The average grain size in the parts of the mudflats where gas is extracted has decreased over 10% in 12 years. With that, sand is getting finer," says NIOZ researcher Allert Bijleveld. In this period, the composition of the benthic life in subsided areas has also changed in comparison to similar areas where subsidence due to gas extraction did not occur. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-quality-tidal-mudflats-gas-area.html Ecology Mon, 27 Nov 2023 12:59:09 EST news620312345 LUCA, the "last universal common ancestor" of all living organisms, lived 4.32–4.52 billion years ago, according to a study from NIOZ biologists Tara Mahendrarajah and senior author Anja Spang, with collaborating partners from Universities in Bristol, Hungary, and Tokyo. Their research is published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-universal-common-ancestor.html Evolution Cell & Microbiology Tue, 21 Nov 2023 12:41:03 EST news619792862 Meltwater that runs along the east coast of Greenland, hardly enters the open ocean before reaching the western side of the island. That is one of the conclusions NIOZ Ph.D.-candidate Elodie Duyck draws in the thesis that she defended on Oct. 23 at Utrecht University. In the changing climate, fresh water from Greenland and the Arctic could disrupt the circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. "Understanding where, and how much, of that fresh and light water enters the Atlantic Ocean is critical to predict how the circulation may evolve under climate change," Duyck says. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-freshwater-greenland-east-coast.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 24 Oct 2023 12:19:03 EDT news617368741 Due to the changing climate, the underwater world is getting ever noisier. That is the main conclusion of a study that was published today in the journal PeerJ. "In some places, by the end of this century, the sound of ships, for example, will be five times as loud," the article's first author, NIOZ oceanographer Luca Possenti says. "That will interfere with the behavior of many species of fish and marine mammals." https://phys.org/news/2023-10-climate-noise-oceans.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 10 Oct 2023 13:14:44 EDT news616162480