Recent decades have seen significant alterations to ocean soundscapes. These changes are primarily driven by human-generated sources (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMar Pollut Bull
September 2025
Deep-sea mining activities in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), Pacific Ocean, are expected to generate continuous noise pollution across multiple depth zones, with potential impacts on biodiversity. Impact studies have primarily focused on sediment plumes and habitat destruction, leaving consequences of industrial-scale deep-sea mining noise largely unexplored. Many marine taxa, including invertebrates, fish, and mammals, rely on sound for communication, navigation, and predator avoidance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlob Chang Biol
November 2024
Microplastics (MPs) contamination in marine environments is of increasing concern, as plastic particles are globally ubiquitous across ecosystems. A large variety of aquatic taxa ingest MPs, but the extent to which animals accumulate and transfer MPs through food webs is largely unknown. In this study, we quantified MP uptake in bivalves, crabs, echinoderms, and fish feeding at different trophic levels at three sites on southern Vancouver Island.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHabitat heterogeneity shapes biological communities, a well-known process in terrestrial ecosystems but substantially unresolved within coral reef ecosystems. We investigated the extent to which coral richness predicts intra-family fish richness, while simultaneously integrating a striking aspect of reef ecosystems-coral hue. To do so, we quantified the coral richness, coral hue diversity, and species richness within 25 fish families in 74 global ecoregions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroplastic particles (MPs) occur widely in aquatic ecosystems and are ingested by a wide range of organisms. While trophic transfer of MPs is known to occur, researchers do not yet fully understand the fate of MPs in food webs. We explored the factors influencing reported ingestion of MPs in marine and freshwater fishes by conducting a literature review of 123 studies published between January 2011 and June 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic disturbance can disrupt ecological interactions including the foundational symbiosis between reef-building corals and the dinoflagellate family Symbiodiniaceae. Symbiodiniaceae are photosynthetic endosymbionts necessary for coral survival, but many Symbiodiniaceae can also be found free-living in the environment. Since most coral species acquire new Symbiodiniaceae from the environment each generation, free-living Symbiodiniaceae represent important pools for coral symbiont acquisition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroplastics are ubiquitous across ecosystems, yet the exposure risk to humans is unresolved. Focusing on the American diet, we evaluated the number of microplastic particles in commonly consumed foods in relation to their recommended daily intake. The potential for microplastic inhalation and how the source of drinking water may affect microplastic consumption were also explored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiversity estimates play a key role in ecological assessments. Species richness and abundance are commonly used to generate complex diversity indices that are dependent on the quality of these estimates. As such, there is a long-standing interest in the development of monitoring techniques, their ability to adequately assess species diversity, and the implications for generated indices.
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