Experts say sharks are the victims of disruption to their natural habitat and food supply due to overfishing, bringing them closer to the shore.
Chasing a storm! at the Water chemistry lab“The effect of major storms on the base of the food-web in the East Mediterranean Sea”The effect of extreme climatic events on oligotrophic ocean ecosystems is an important area of research, particularly with predictions of climate warming and increased storm frequency and intensity.The aim of this project is to characterize the nutrient dynamics and biogeochemical changes before, during and after major winter storms.…
Please find the 14th edition of the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station newsletter here on our website. Inside are some updates and new publications since May 2023.For our previous newsletters, please enter here 14th Newsletter
Dendronephthya hemprichi New coral invasive species in the mediterranean sea
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…
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
