Benthic ecosystems are ecological systems associated with the bottom substrates of aquatic environments, including marine, estuarine, and freshwater habitats, where organisms inhabit or interact with sediments, hardgrounds, or biogenic structures. They encompass diverse communities such as infauna, epifauna, demersal fishes, microphytobenthos, and benthic microbial assemblages that mediate key biogeochemical processes, including organic matter remineralization, nutrient regeneration, and sediment–water fluxes. Benthic ecosystems are structured by gradients in depth, hydrodynamics, sedimentology, oxygen availability, and resource inputs, and they play critical roles in carbon cycling, secondary production, habitat provision, and the coupling of pelagic and sedimentary processes within broader aquatic food webs and ecosystem functioning.
A new study published in the Biodiversity Data Journal provides a profound look at life up to nearly 10 kilometers below the ocean's surface in the Japan, Ryukyu, and Izu-Ogasawara trenches. The research catalogs at least ...
Plants & Animals
21 hours ago
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Ocean Discovery League (ODL) has launched the Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals, an ambitious international effort to visually explore 10,000 strategically selected locations across the deep seafloor. When completed, this ...
Environment
Apr 2, 2026
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Researchers from the University of Maine, in partnership with the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), are analyzing more than 20 years of fishery survey data from the Gulf of Maine to examine how environmental change ...
Ecology
Apr 1, 2026
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Offshore wind farms are an important pillar of the European Union's strategy for renewable energy—by 2050, the EU aims to increase capacity in the North Sea more than tenfold. A new study by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon shows ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 28, 2026
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As bubbles rippled across the frigid Finnish lake, diver Daan Jacobs emerged from a hole carved out of the thick, crackling ice.
Environment
Mar 27, 2026
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The bottom sediment of water bodies is an archive of all human activity. It is a reservoir of nutrients but also of harmful substances—and it can also turn into a source of emissions. "Most lakes tend to be remediated due ...
Environment
Mar 25, 2026
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Deep below the surface in coastal sediments, microorganisms use conductive particles as tiny natural "wires" to exchange electrons. This enables them to convert organic carbon into methane in a way not previously documented. ...
Ecology
Mar 24, 2026
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New research led by scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography is shining a spotlight on one of the ocean's most overlooked habitats: seagrass. Led by Scripps Oceanography Ph.D. candidate Rilee Sanders, ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 24, 2026
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When most people think about corals, they imagine a tropical reef with crystal blue water, teeming with colorful fish. But, in the depths of the cold, murky Gulf of Maine, deep-sea corals thrive, feasting on a steady supply ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 20, 2026
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Glittery sea worms and sea squirts fit for "The Lord of the Rings" universe might sound like pure fantasy, but they're very real creatures living in the deep sea. Some of these otherworldly ocean animals are even featured ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 20, 2026
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