Marine biology
Site news
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New research shows that when predator species like California sheephead thrive, they keep hungry sea urchins and other grazers from devouring kelp forests struggling to recover from marine heat waves. Scientists estimate kelp forests’ annual exposure to once-rare heat will more than quintuple by 2100.
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The newly renovated space offers Stanford researchers the rare opportunity to study the cellular and molecular structures of marine organisms that hold clues to the evolution of life, right on the shores of the ocean where it all started.
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Between 1997 and 2024, endangered North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles shifted their foraging northward at a rate six times faster than the average for most marine species. The turtles face risks as they adapt to ocean warming caused by climate change.
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Microscopic organisms in the ocean play a key role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A new study unveils a hidden biological factor that could change our understanding of how this process works, and make climate change predictions more accurate.
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Soaring human demand for krill in the Southern Ocean poses a challenge to the recovery of whale species once hunted nearly to extinction. Stanford researchers identify the growing food conflict and offer solutions.
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Tiny plankton play a huge role in regulating natural systems, but they remain poorly understood. Stanford bioengineer Manu Prakash leads an international effort to develop innovative, low-cost tools that could help enable citizen scientists to monitor oceans and contribute to climate change solutions.
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With support from a Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Accelerator seed grant, an interdisciplinary team has developed a groundbreaking optical sensor that measures DNA and other key molecules in seawater using light, potentially revolutionizing the study of biodiversity in the enigmatic depths below the ocean’s surface.
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New research shows the major factors that help coral larvae settle and survive are the nearshore current and the physical features of the seafloor. The work could help identify sites where future reefs will be most viable and highlights a need to better protect these coral nurseries.
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An optical sensor smaller than a postage stamp could help coastal communities monitor some of the world’s largest marine protected areas.
