Pecologix

During the last century, the global biogeochemical cycles of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) have been drastically altered by human activities. A century of land-clearing and biomass burning, followed by fossil fuel combustion have increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2 by approximately 20%, and since the mid-1900s, the use of agricultural fertilizers has been the [...]

The city of Santander ceased the discharge of sewage effluents into the bay of Santander in June, 2001 and began discharging at a site 2.4 km offshore in the nearby coastal area (Virgen del Mar, Bay of Biscay) at a water depth of about 40 m. The present study investigates the effects of the new [...]

“Our assessment shows, for the first time, the exact extent and distribution of mangrove forests of the world at 30 meters spatial resolution, the highest resolution ever,” said Dr Chandra Giri from USGS. “This reveals that 75% of the remaining forest is found in just 15 countries, out of which only ~6.9% is protected under [...]

Since 1972, the UNESCO “World Heritage Convention” offers an international canvas for conservation and management that targets areas of high cultural and environmental significance. To support the designation of areas within the 36.000 km2 of New Caledonia coral reefs and lagoons as a World Heritage Site, the natural value and diversity of the proposed zones [...]

Coral reef fisheries are critical for food security and as a source of income in developing and developed countries, but they are collapsing in many areas. Following the emergence and routine availability of commercial very high spatial resolution (0.6–10 m) multispectral satellite images, we reviewed the use of these new high-quality remote sensing data and [...]

The researchers examined fish, oysters, crabs and shrimp, and showed that all these animals have a decreased ability to fight off infection of Vibrio bacteria when subjected to low oxygen, high carbon dioxide conditions. It takes about half as much bacteria to administer a lethal dose to a creature in a low oxygen, high carbon [...]

Receiving coastal waters and estuaries are among the most nutrient-enriched environments on earth, and one of the symptoms of the resulting eutrophication is the proliferation of opportunistic, fast-growing marine seaweeds. Here, we used a widespread macroalga often involved in blooms, Ulva spp., to investigate how supply of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), the two main [...]