The iconic sunflower sea star has been listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature following a groundbreaking population study led by Oregon State University and The Nature Conservancy.
Ecology
Dec 11, 2020
0
63
Together with his colleague Christian Neumann of the Natural History Museum in Berlin, Senckenberg scientist Max Wisshak documented a sea urchin's fight for survival on the ocean floor off Spitsbergen. In their study, recently ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 2, 2020
0
2
Warming events are increasing in magnitude and severity, threatening many ecosystems worldwide. As the global temperatures continue to climb, it also raises uncertainties as to the relationship, prevalence, and spread of ...
Ecology
May 29, 2020
0
407
In the kelp forests of Tierra del Fuego, at the southernmost tip of South America, the relative abundance of kelp, sea urchins, and sea stars has not changed significantly since 1973. Alan Friedlander of the National Geographic ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 11, 2020
0
641
In 2014, a disease of epidemic proportions gripped the West Coast of the U.S. You may not have noticed, though, unless you were underwater.
Ecology
Feb 12, 2020
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15
Have you ever seen a sea star move? To many of us, sea star seem motionless, like a rock on the ocean's floor, but in actuality, they have hundreds of tube feet attached to their underbelly. These feet stretch and contract ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 17, 2020
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9
Scientists have shown for the first time that brittle stars use vision to guide them through vibrant coral reefs, thanks to a neat colour-changing trick.
Plants & Animals
Jan 2, 2020
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476
First the sea stars wasted to nothing. Then the purple urchins took over, eating and eating until the bull kelp forests were gone. The red abalone starved. Their fishery closed. Red sea urchins starved. Their fishery collapsed. ...
Ecology
Oct 21, 2019
9
1889
Once a common delight of every beachcomber, sunflower starfish—the large, multi-armed starfish sometimes seen underwater at the near shore—are imperiled by disease and ocean warming along the West Coast.
Plants & Animals
Feb 25, 2019
0
3
The combination of ocean warming and an infectious wasting disease has devastated populations of large sunflower sea stars once abundant along the West Coast of North America in just a few years, according to research co-led ...
Ecology
Jan 30, 2019
6
128
