science

Advances in Molecular eDNA Techniques

Central to the US MBON is the development of new and innovative means to assess marine biodiversity. The MBON community has made significant advances in molecular eDNA techniques to evaluate taxa diversity – from microbes to whales – in highly contrasting ecosystems such as the Florida Keys and Monterey Bay in California. The team is examining the effectiveness of eDNA in the detection of change in biodiversity over time across Sanctuaries and other areas (e.

Bering and Chukchi Seas Research

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Researchers studying the Bering and Chukchi seas for three weeks in October found no ice and a surprisingly active ecosystem as they added another year’s data to a key climate change record. Researchers studying the Bering and Chukchi seas for three weeks in October found no ice and a surprisingly active ecosystem as they added another year’s data to a key climate change record. Read more here. .

Genetic Monitoring for Non-Indigenous Species

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A New Network For Genetic Monitoring and Early Detection of Non-Indigenous Marine Species. As part of a global initiative originally developed by the Smithsonian Institute, a marine biodiversity observation network (MBON) has deployed more than 130 Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) in the vicinity of marine sanctuaries as well as industrial locations (e.g. ports, and marinas) in Europe and the polar regions. This network is supported by the EU funded ASSEMBLE Plus project, the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC), the Interreg program GEANS, and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM).

Marine Foundation Species and Biodiversity

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Marine foundation species like giant kelp, seagrass, and corals, harbor great reservoirs of biodiversity in coastal oceans. Now the Santa Barbara Channel MBON team, supported in part by NOAA, has shown the extent to which one of these species, giant kelp, supports coastal ecosystems. MBON work has revealed that kelp positively affects reef biodiversity, especially predators and sessile invertebrates that form the base of the food web. Stability of giant kelp forests, moreover, stabilize the community, dampening fluctuations in populations of many other species.

Satellite-Based Hurricane Damage Assessment

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MBON, NERRS and NASA team develops automated, satellite-based method to evaluate damage caused by hurricanes and severe storms in coastal areas. Read more here.

Seascapes Biogeographic Regions Analysis

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MBON, with NOAA/AOML, has characterized seascapes for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) and southwest Florida shelf nearshore environment using multivariate satellite and in situ measurements (MBON/CoastWatch Seascapes products: The effort illustrates best practices developed by MBON in collaboration with the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Research (SFER) project and NOAA/AOML. The work is described in a July 15 paper in Frontiers of Marine Science.

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