Hadera Sharks with National Geographic

Hadera Sharks with National Geographic
Apex lab scientists at Shark tagging

https://youtu.be/GuxdxwgoKeULast October, MKMRS’ very own Emerging Explorer, Dr Aviad Scheinin, and postdoctoral fellow Dr Leigh Allison Livne, were awarded the prestigious Wayfinder grant for their research on movements and reproduction of the sandbar and dusky shark in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Marine Apex Predator lab has tagged 100 sharks and is studying their movements along the Israeli coastal shelf every November to May. But interestingly, both species disappear from…

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Simultaneous observations revealed the non-steady state effects of a tropical storm on the export of particles and inorganic nitrogen through a river-estuary continuum

Simultaneous observations revealed the non-steady state effects of a tropical storm on the export of particles and inorganic nitrogen through a river-estuary continuum Michael D. Krom An important consequence of storms in river-estuary systems is major changes in hydrology and nutrients being fluxed from the land to the coastal ocean. During storms, sediments deposited in estuaries during normal flow, are resuspended adding DIN to the extra nitrogen fluxing down the river. Additional nitrate was added to the estuary by leaching from adjacent soils and groundwater, nitrification, and less denitrification. Storms increase total nitrogen flux to coastal areas, with relatively more ammonium export during increasing hydrography.

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Reproduction of Dusky Sharks

 The winter aggregation of sharks near the Orot Rabin power plant is largely composed of large, female dusky sharks and smaller, male sandbar sharks. It is, therefore, possible that the female sharks are using the warmer waters of the effluent at some stage of their reproductive cycle.  In 2016, a pregnant dusky shark washed ashore near Hadera with 8 mid-stage fetuses in her uterus. Further evidence of pregnant sharks was…

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Impacts of shipping Underwater Radiated Noise on the behavioral of aquatic animals

Roee Diamant, Dep. of Marine Technologies. Aviad Scheinin, The Morris Kahn Marine Research Station.  University of Haifa.Aquatic animals rely on underwater sound for critical life functions such as localization, communications, foraging, and mating.With the large increase in human marine activity, our seas have become populated with boats and ships projecting underwater radiated noise (URN) of extremely high power that propagates over areas of sometimes 20 square km.The effects of shipping…

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Seasonal nutrient dynamics in the P depleted Eastern Mediterranean Sea

 HighlightsFirst seasonal high sensitivity nutrients in the Pelagic Eastern Mediterranean.Excess Nitrate during winter mixing decreasing to Nutrient depleted in late stratified season.Phosphate depleted entire year with low DOP (40-30 nM) in photic zone.The measured N:P ratio depends on seasonality and not just location.Calculated Export Production and other biogeochemical properties confirm EMS behaves like a P depleted ocean gyre. AbstractThe Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS), is ultra-oligotrophic with unusual anti-estuarine circulation. It is P…

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Published! The calcifying interface in a stony coral primary polyp: An interplay between seawater and an extracellular calcifying space

Coral reefs are the most biodiverse marine ecosystems on the globe. In addition to breathtaking beauty, they have significant evolutionary and financial importance. Unfortunately, today, coral reefs face significant threats due to global climate change and other stressors of anthropogenic origin. Stony coral skeletons construct the structural foundation of the coral reef ecosystem. The biomineralization process (Mineral production by a live organism), by which stony coral build their skeleton, is…

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Selection of mesophotic habitats by Oculina patagonica in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea following global warming

In the image: Verification of species identity of all colonies collected as Oculina patagonica, using both genomic (CO1 gene sequencing) and morphological features. The evolutionary history was inferred using the Neighbour-Joining method and evolutionary distances were computed using the Maximum Composite Likelihood method (units: number of base substitutions per site) using the software MEGA X. Images (A–C) are of shallow colonies and (D–F) deep colonies. CS Calyx spacing, CD Calyx…

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X-ray Spectroscopic Quantification of Phosphorus Transformation in Saharan Dust during Trans-Atlantic Dust Transport

 AbstractSaharan dust is an important phosphorus (P) supply to remote and oligotrophic parts of the oceans and American lowland tropical rainforests. Phosphorus speciation in aeolian dust ultimately controls the release and bioavailability of P after dust deposition, but the speciation in Saharan dust and its change during the trans-Atlantic transport remains unclear. Using P K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, we showed that with increasing dust traveling distance…

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ULVA, A MODEL FOR AN INNOVATIVE MARICULTURE

The COST Action SEAWHEAT is kicking off today in a virtual setting with the administrators in Brussels, and the Management Committee chose over the past few months. The network is titled:  TOMORROW’S ‘WHEAT OF THE SEA’: ULVA, A MODEL FOR AN INNOVATIVE MARICULTURE  The innovative network has come to fruition through a lot of hard work by Professor Muki Shpigel and Dr Leigh Livne of MKMRS - it can be best…

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In situ Estimation of Coral Recruitment Patterns From Shallow to Mesophotic Reefs Using an Optimized Fluorescence Imaging System

New article published! Coral recruitment represents a key element for coral reef persistence and resilience in the face of environmental disturbances. Studying coral recruitment patterns is fundamental for assessing reef health and implementing appropriate management strategies in an era of climate change. The FluorIS system has been developed to acquire high resolution, wide field-of-view (FOV) in situ images of coral recruits fluorescence and has proven successful in shallow reef environments. However, up…

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