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Repeated El Niño Events Could Spark Big Ecological Shifts
Five major El Niño events per century could lead to fewer fishes that thrive in cold water and more terrestrial birds in eastern coastal ecosystems.
Repeated El Niño Events Could Spark Big Ecological Shifts
Repeated El Niño Events Could Spark Big Ecological Shifts

Five major El Niño events per century could lead to fewer fishes that thrive in cold water and more terrestrial birds in eastern coastal ecosystems.

Five major El Niño events per century could lead to fewer fishes that thrive in cold water and more terrestrial birds in eastern coastal ecosystems.

pacific ocean

A black and white photo of a man standing at a lab bench, holding up a glass jar
Reimagining Ecology, 1939
Lisa Winter | Apr 4, 2022 | 3 min read
Edward Ricketts built his laboratory just onshore from the swirling tidepools of Monterey Bay, California, an ideal backdrop against which he developed a new system for studying the ecology of any given habitat.
Native Americans Crossed the Pacific Long Before Europeans
Abby Olena, PhD | Jul 8, 2020 | 4 min read
Genetic evidence points to individuals from South America having possibly floated on a raft to Polynesian islands about 500 years before Europeans navigated there.
a photo of fish swimming
Fish Steals Bioluminescence from Prey
Abby Olena, PhD | Jan 9, 2020 | 3 min read
Rather than making its own light, a shallow-water marine fish gets all the tools that it needs for bioluminescence production from eating tiny, glowing crustaceans.
Proposed Deep-Sea Mining Zone Harbors Previously Unknown Species
Catherine Offord | Oct 17, 2019 | 5 min read
The discovery of ancient clades of brittle stars at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean adds to concerns that commercial exploitation of the area could destroy numerous taxa before they’ve even been identified.
Guam’s Coral Reefs Ravaged by Warming Oceans
Catherine Offord | Jul 31, 2019 | 2 min read
Bleaching killed 34 percent of the island’s reefs between 2013 and 2017, a study finds.
Image of the Day: Change of Tune
Sukanya Charuchandra | Oct 1, 2018 | 1 min read
Southeast Alaska’s humpback whales haven’t changed their calls for close to four decades.
Giant Trash Collector Launched to Scoop Up Ocean Waste
Catherine Offord | Sep 10, 2018 | 2 min read
The 600-meter-long structure will tackle the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—a huge buildup of trash floating between California and Hawaii—but not everyone thinks it will work.
Image of the Day: Glowing Tide
The Scientist and The Scientist Staff | May 10, 2018 | 1 min read
Each year, bioluminescent microorganisms create striking displays on the beaches of San Diego.
Study Finds Epigenetic Differences Between Hatchery-Raised and Wild-Born Salmon
Shawna Williams | Mar 1, 2018 | 4 min read
The variation may help explain why stocked salmon don’t fare as well in the ocean.
Paradise Regained: How the Palmyra Atoll Got Rid of Invasive Mosquitoes
Ruth Williams | Feb 28, 2018 | 4 min read
The elimination of the biting pests was an added bonus after researchers unleashed a rat-eradication endeavor on the tiny islands.  
Obama Protects Huge Swath of Pacific Ocean
Bob Grant | Sep 26, 2014 | 2 min read
The president exercises his authority to expand an existing marine reserve, making it the largest in the world.
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