Great white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, aka white sharks, white pointers, blue pointers, man-eaters, manila sharks, have, according to E.O. Wilson "...rightfully been called a top carnivore, a killing machine, the last free predator of man—the most frightening animal on earth."

Great white sharks are the largest known predatory fishes in the sea. They reach lengths of over 6.1 m and weigh up to 2,268 kg. They have conical snouts, pitch black eyes, heavy torpedo-shaped bodies, and a crescent-shaped, nearly equal-lobed tail. More...

MarineBio Projects

MarineBio is an advocacy and educational conservation organization for marine life. We provide information to people from all walks of life — students, journalists, policymakers, scientists.... You protect what you love. The ocean is an amazing place, but it's in deep trouble (pardon the pun). Our goal is to help people learn about marine life and ocean conservation so that they will love the ocean too and help protect it.

Become a MarineBio Conservation Society member to help support the following projects and our mission to share the wonders of the ocean to inspire conservation, education, research, and a sea ethic. The following projects are underway:

Project 1
Marine Species Databases: online databases for the most common and endangered ~3,000 marine species to include referenced taxonomic, morphological, behavioral, dietary, habitat, reproductive, and conservation status information. To also include high quality photographs, video or access to video, as well as a variety of online resources for deeper species research. Species will include marine alga and plants, marine worms, hard and soft corals (and other cnidarians such as jellyfish, etc.), plankton, echinoderms, crustaceans, cephalopods, commercial, reef, and deep-sea fishes, sharks, marine birds, sea turtles (and other marine reptiles), and marine mammals.

Status: UNDERWAY: Species Launched | Species in Review

Importance: various forms marine species data exists online but it is usually scattered with bits of data about different aspects at different locations, photos of species and behaviors at others, and video and other important information at yet other locations or missing altogether. By tying existing data together and filling in the remaining gaps, we hope to provide the most complete picture possible of each marine species that we discuss. Then, using various Web technologies, we will allow users to connect that data together in various ways to show, for example, relationships between species in terms of taxonomy, habitats, predators and prey, reproduction details, and conservation threats and status. Once we complete the most common and endangered ~3,000 marine species, we plan to offer that data in other ways for multiple uses to students, the general public, and researchers alike, especially to help promote marine conservation and marine conservation research.

Required: to achieve the above we need a dedicated staff. Also, we need of Directors for the following marine groups:

Cnidarians\Corals
Crustaceans
Echinoderms
Marine Birds
Marine Fishes
Marine Reptiles
Plankton (zooplankton and phytoplankton)

Please contact David Campbell at David@marinebio.org or 1 (713) 248-2576 PST if you would like to volunteer as a Director for any of the above groups.

Project 2
Marine Conservation Information: interesting and in-depth information covering the main issues concerning ocean life: global warming, the lack of a Sea Ethic, overfishing and the solutions to sustainable fishing, the threats to and an understanding of the importance of biodiversity, habitat conservation, ocean pollution, alien species, and sustainable ecotourism. Expert-reviewed complete sections on each topic with a focus on solutions while highlighting current efforts and the obstacles involved.

Status: UNDERWAY: Marine Conservation section introduction

Importance: marine conservation essentially began with the save the whales campaign in the '70s and the dolphin-safe tuna boycott in 1986. Since those times, we have learned much more about what lives in the ocean and subsequently that much of it is struggling, if not disappearing, due mainly to our presence. Like marine species data, marine conservation data exists online but it is usually also scattered with bits of data about different aspects at different locations, hidden in various books and journals, or written about for various reasons for a wide number of audiences. By researching and tying the existing data together and filling in the remaining gaps, we hope to provide the most complete picture possible of each marine conservation issue online. Then, also using various Web technologies, we will connect that data together in various ways with the above species to show, for example, relationships between species and the various conservation threats and their status. We should also be able to show and share various data on conservation issue solutions to the widest possible number of people, groups, agencies, and governments (knowledge is power and time is wasting). In doing so, these efforts should help to further promote marine conservation and marine conservation research.

Required: to achieve the above we also need staff. An important goal for MarineBio is to generate adequate funding to hire Marine Conservation Researchers to work on the very latest issues in the places where they are needed most. Of all research, and especially conservation research, marine conservation research is severely lacking (~30:1 according to Dr. Norse @MCBI) and ocean life, which so many of us seriously depend on, is quickly paying the ultimate price, extinction. And now with global warming as the number one marine conservation issue, there has never been a time when marine conservation research was more needed.

Project 3
Marine Life Science (Marine Biology) Fundamentals: exploring and describing the alien world that marine life inhabits to assist with the understanding of the various marine conservation issues and their related efforts. This effort is also interests and assists students around the world in studying Marine Biology, Biology, Zoology, Marine Conservation, Biological Oceanography, etc. By offering at least a base Marine Biology course's worth of information online to helping students with career and job advice and strategies, etc. we hope to increase the global awareness of marine life and its conservation by helping to ultimately produce teachers of the marine life sciences and the vital researchers that ocean life needs at this crucial time in history.

Status: UNDERWAY

Project 4
Marine Conservation and Research Support: MarineBio provides substantial exposure for effective marine conservation and research groups such as the Marine Conservation Institute, Blue Ocean Institute and others.

Status: UNDERWAY (ongoing)

Find out more about MarineBio's Frontline Marine Conservation Support Program »

Project 5
The Plankton Forums and our Facebook page and Facebook group are dynamic communities of worldwide members involved and interested in marine life, marine conservation and marine biology. Members include high school and college students, marine biologists, marine conservationists, ocean sports professionals, marine science professionals and academia, etc.

Status: UNDERWAY (ongoing)

Project 6
Marine Mammal Stranding Database Project: the Marine Mammal Protection Act falls short of requiring a central global database to store and search for data concerning worldwide reports of marine mammal strandings and necropsies. We plan to help rectify that to find out what trends may be hiding in the data to assist conservation efforts and whether further work is needed involving investigations as to the causes of strandings.

Marine Mammal Stranding Network Participants | The Marine Mammal Center | Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network | Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network | California Academy of Sciences Department of Ornithology & Mammalogy | Department of Vertebrate Zoology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History | Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network | Pacific Marine Mammal Center | Rescue (Stranding) Network list...

Status: PLANNING

Project 7
Marine Conservation Organizations Research Project: via surveys and interviews we hope to determine the current status of marine conservation efforts, specifically, to find out which marine species of the endangered and threatened are on the radar, the success of the efforts underway, which efforts are the most successful and why, which species are in dire need, and which species and areas need the most help.

Status: PLANNING

Project 8
Marine Conservation Laws Report: research will be conducted to determine the extent of marine conservation laws worldwide. We will look at the details, species and areas protected and compare this to the above project. This should help define which laws are working, why, which are not and what needs to be changed.

Status: PLANNING

Project 9
Marine Conservation Technology: Status Report: we plan to identify the most useful and cost effective online and offline technologies being used to assist with marine conservation efforts. Posted online and updated frequently, this should provide a central place for marine conservation groups to most effectively take care of business.

Status: CONCEPT

If you would like more information or have any questions about the above projects, please email David Campbell at David@marinebio.org or us at 1 (713) 248-2576 PST.

Feedback?

Something missing or incorrect in the above? Let us know!

MLA Citation: "". MarineBio.org. <http://www.marinebio.org/research/projects/index.asp?>. Note: If no author is given under the main page title, simply cite MarineBio.org.

Marine Biology News   :: ScienceDaily

Lessons in coral reef survival from deep time

Lessons from tens of millions of years ago are pointing to new ways to save and protect today's coral reefs and their myriad of beautiful and many-hued fishes at a time of huge change in the Earth's systems. Today's complex relationship between fishes and corals developed relatively recently in geological terms -- and is a major factor in shielding reef species from extinction, say experts.

Carbon dioxide is 'driving fish crazy'

Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team has found. Carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this century will interfere with fishes' ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators, says a professor.

Multiple partners not the only way for corals to stay cool

For the first time scientists have shown that corals hosting a single type of zooxanthellae can have different levels of thermal tolerance -– a feature that was only known previously for corals with a mix of zooxanthellae. This finding is important because many species of coral are dominated by a single type of zooxanthellae.

Inventory lists 19,232 newly discovered species during latest count

More than half of the 19,232 species newly known to science in 2009, the most recent calendar year of compilation, were insects -- 9,738 or 50.6 percent -- according to the 2011 State of Observed Species.

Breakthrough model reveals evolution of ancient nervous systems through seashell colors

Determining the evolution of pigmentation patterns on mollusk seashells -- which could aid in the understanding of ancient nervous systems -- has proved to be a challenging feat for researchers. Now, however, through mathematical equations and simulations, researchers have used 19 different species of the predatory sea snail Conus to generate a model of the pigmentation patterns of mollusk shells.

Wandering albatross alters its foraging due to climate change

Wandering albatrosses have altered their foraging due to changes in wind fields in the southern hemisphere during the last decades. Since winds have increased in intensity and moved to the south, the flight speed of albatrosses increased and they spend less time foraging. As a consequence, breeding success has improved and birds have gained 1 kilogram.

Can we save the whales by putting a price on them?

Every year, anti-whaling groups spend millions of dollars on activities intended to end commercial whaling. And every year, commercial whaling not only continues, but grows. While protests, education, lobbying and dangerous confrontations on the high seas have saved some whales, the whaling industry shows no sign of shutting down -- or slowing down. Now, an economist and two marine scientists suggest a new strategy that they believe could save whales by putting a price on them.

Fish offspring grow best at same temperature as parents

Fish parents can pre-condition their offspring to grow fastest at the temperature they experienced, according to new research.

World's most extreme deep-sea vents revealed: Deeper than any seen before, and teeming with new creatures

Scientists have revealed details of the world's most extreme deep-sea volcanic vents, five kilometers down in a rift in the Caribbean seafloor. The undersea hot springs, which lie 0.8 kilometers deeper than any seen before, may be hotter than 450 °C and are shooting a jet of mineral-laden water more than a kilometer into the ocean above.

Bycatch-22: Protecting Butterfish

Scientists work to assist fishermen in ways to avoid accidentally hauling in butterfish, a species protected by fishing limits. The researchers develop models to predict where the fish will be.

Paddlefish sensors tuned to detect signals from zooplankton prey

Neurons fire in a synchronized bursting pattern in response to robust signals indicating nearby food.

Harp seals on thin ice after 32 years of warming

Warming in the North Atlantic over the last 32 years has significantly reduced winter sea ice cover in harp seal breeding grounds, resulting in sharply higher death rates among seal pups in recent years, according to a new study.

Fish mimics octopus that mimics fish

Nature's game of intimidation and imitation comes full circle in the waters of Indonesia, where scientists have recorded for the first time an association between the black-marble jawfish and the mimic octopus.

Salt water alone unlikely to halt Burmese python invasion

Invasive Burmese python hatchlings from the Florida Everglades can withstand exposure to salt water long enough to potentially expand their range through ocean and estuarine environments.

'Lost world' discovered around Antarctic vents

Communities of species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents. The discoveries include new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and potentially an octopus.

Molecular mechanism links temperature with sex determination in some fish species

Researchers have found the epigenetic mechanism that links temperature and gonadal sex in fish. High temperature increases DNA methylation of the gonadal aromatase promoter in females.

Sunlight and bunker oil a fatal combination for Pacific herring

The 2007 Cosco Busan disaster, which spilled 54,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay, had an unexpectedly lethal impact on embryonic fish, devastating a commercially and ecologically important species for nearly two years, reports a new study.

Sea cucumbers: Dissolving coral reefs?

Coral reefs are extremely diverse ecosystems that support enormous biodiversity. But they are at risk. Carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying the ocean, threatening reefs and other marine organisms. New research analyzed the role of sea cucumbers in portions of the Great Barrier Reef and determined that their dietary process of dissolving calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the surrounding reef accounts for about half of at the total nighttime dissolution for the reef.

Ocean acidification: Some organisms already experiencing ocean acidification levels not predicted to be reached until 2100

Ocean acidification research is a relatively new study topic as scientists have only appreciated the potential extent of acidification within the last decade. As greenhouse gas emissions have accelerated in the past century, the oceans have taken up about a third of the carbon dioxide produced by human activities. That excess beyond natural levels increases amounts of carbonic acid in seawater. New research shows that some organisms are already experiencing ocean acidification levels not predicted to be reached until 2100.

Belize protected area boosting predatory fish populations

A 14-year study in an atoll reef lagoon in Glover's Reef, Belize has found that fishing closures there produce encouraging increases in populations of predatory fish species. However, such closures have resulted in only minimal increases in herbivorous fish, which feed on the algae that smother corals and inhibit reef recovery.