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.
Scientists from around the world are calling for urgent action to protect, restore, and sustainably manage one of the ocean's least known yet most important ecosystems: the Marine Animal Forests. The appeal is presented in ...
Ecology
Dec 2, 2025
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Logs are a familiar sight on the beaches along the coast of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii and are often viewed positively, as they can stabilize the banks, be used for firewood or act as benches by beach-goers. However, ...
Ecology
Nov 15, 2025
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Diverse life forms exist on and within the ocean floor. These primarily consist of microbes, tiny organisms that can cope with extreme environmental conditions. These include high pressures and salinities, as well as extreme ...
Ecology
Oct 30, 2025
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A research team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has made progress in studying the Shibantan biota in Yichang, Hubei Province, uncovering the oldest known ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 29, 2025
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49
In a remote part of Antarctica's western Weddell Sea, an area once hidden beneath a 200-meter-thick ice shelf, scientists have uncovered a new and unusual phenomenon: extensively maintained fish nesting grounds arranged in ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 29, 2025
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Underneath the ocean's surface lies a vast and ancient world. As demand for sustainable technologies increases, attention is shifting deep beneath the waves.
Ecology
Oct 23, 2025
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63
A series of submersible surveys to nearly 10 kilometers in the deepest parts of Japan's ocean trenches have revealed seafloor biodiversity is shaped by depth, food supply, seismic activity and the seafloor's structure.
Plants & Animals
Oct 7, 2025
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An enormous but poorly understood region of the global ocean—referred to as the abyssal benthic boundary layer—lies a few meters above the seafloor and has only been sampled a handful of times. A study by oceanographers at ...
Ecology
Oct 2, 2025
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A new study has uncovered the Levant Basin as one of the world's most concentrated graveyards for plastic packaging and the mechanisms that help the plastic sink down to the seafloor.
Earth Sciences
Sep 8, 2025
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94
The Japanese mud shrimp, Upogebia major, constructs burrows that can reach two meters deep into the sandy shores of East Asia and Eastern Russia. The size and Y-shape of these double-entrance burrows make them appealing to ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 27, 2025
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