News by Subject Agriculture

Scientists from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa apply new computer models to identify where cesspool conversion and marine conservation efforts will minimize human impacts on coral reefs.

New research provides the most complete account to date of the viruses that impact the world's oceans, increasing the number of known virus populations tenfold. Researchers analyzed marine samples far and deep in an effort to understand the complexities of viruses, which are increasingly being recognized as important players in the oceans' role in tempering the effects of climate change.

An international team has conducted the first-ever global survey of the ecological diversity of viruses in the oceans during expeditions aboard a single sailboat. They identified nearly 200,000 marine viral species, which vastly exceeds the 15,000 known from prior ocean surveys of these waters and the approximately 2,000 genomes available from cultured viruses of microbes. Their findings, appearing April 25 in the journal Cell, have implications for understanding issues ranging from evolution to climate change.

Taking on characteristics from another, younger stage in its life-cycle, a newly named fossil crab species was able to adapt to new conditions.

Advanced molecular techniques have revealed the diversity of a little-understood group of ocean microbes called protists, according to a new publication in Scientific Reports. The project analyzed samples collected by the global Tara Oceans expedition, documenting genomes that will help researchers identify protists throughout the ocean.

Patches of coral reef are often surrounded by very large 'halos' of bare sand that are hundreds to thousands of square meters. Two recently published studies and a third feature story led by Elizabeth Madin, assistant research professor at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, shed light on these enigmatic features that are visible from space.