Reef ecosystems are complex, three-dimensional marine habitats, typically structured by biogenic reef-builders such as scleractinian corals, coralline algae, or oysters, that support highly diverse, spatially structured communities of microorganisms, algae, invertebrates, and vertebrates. They are characterized by strong environmental gradients (light, nutrients, hydrodynamics), tight biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and intricate trophic networks linking primary producers, detritivores, and higher consumers. Research on reef ecosystems focuses on processes such as calcification, bioerosion, symbiosis (e.g., coral–Symbiodiniaceae associations), connectivity among reef patches, and responses to stressors including warming, acidification, eutrophication, and overfishing, with implications for ecosystem resilience and regime shifts.
The reef fish population in the Gulf is growing ahead of the 2025 red snapper season, according to the University of South Alabama's annual fish survey.
Ecology
Jun 13, 2025
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More than 514 million years ago, long before dinosaurs roamed Earth, sponge-like creatures called archaeocyathids were already busy building some of the planet's earliest reefs—just north of Death Valley in present-day Nevada.
Evolution
Jun 12, 2025
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88
Near the eastern coast of Luzon, Philippines, located 50 meters below the sea surface, is the Benham Bank, an underwater seamount taller than Mt. Apo. Benham Bank contains one of the richest mesophotic (or deep) coral ecosystems ...
Ecology
Jun 11, 2025
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A team of meteorologists, Earth scientists and oceanographers at Sorbonne Université, working with one colleague from Université Paris-Saclay and another from Université Brest, all in France, has developed a simulation that ...
New research led by the University of Sydney adds to our understanding of how rapidly rising sea levels due to climate change foreshadow the end of the Great Barrier Reef as we know it.
Earth Sciences
Jun 2, 2025
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An "unprecedented" mass bleaching event has been recorded off Australia's western coast, scientists said Wednesday, turning huge chunks of a celebrated reef system a sickly dull white.
Environment
Mar 26, 2025
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University of Waterloo researchers have pinpointed for the first time how microplastics accumulate in coral reefs, a key step to understanding how to protect vulnerable ecosystems.
Bio & Medicine
Feb 10, 2025
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