“NOAA Science Along Our Shores” is a short video that presents some facts about America’s coasts, describes challenges coastal communities face, and explores the role that researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS for short) play in addressing those challenges. We provide research, scientific information, and tools to help balance the nation’s [...]
A new interactive map, “Mapping America’s Coral Reefs,” gives casual observers an engaging overview of the nearly 3 million acres of sea floor habitat mapping data produced by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and its partners. This “story” map complements a recent report summarizing NOAA shallow-water coral reef mapping outcomes and results, which [...]
The leading world venue for showcasing the latest research on oceans, coasts and lakes is the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography Aquatic Sciences Meeting. The research programs sponsored by the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) offer management solutions for harmful algae, hypoxia and regional ecosystem-scale research. At the 2013 [...]
Watch as hunters become the hunted in this story of a delicious but damaging invasive predator and efforts to remove them from our fragile reefs. Lionfish released in U.S. waters are ruining these critical resources by eating fish and shellfish that are valuable to you and me, as well as the reefs they live on. [...]
As part of a pilot initiative known as “beach hazard statements,” NOAA’s National Weather Service in Tampa Bay began to issue red tide warnings to beachgoers in an area where a bloom of algae is responsible for causing fish kills and breathing problems in people. While the announcement is new, the forecasts themselves are well [...]
A new NOAA research report finds that both fish populations and commercial and recreational anglers have benefited from “no-take” protections in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The report, “An Integrated Biogeographic Assessment of Reef Fish Populations and Fisheries in Dry Tortugas: Effects of No-take Reserves,” is the first to [...]
James Morris, a National Ocean Service ecologist, works in the Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research in Beaufort, N.C., conducting research on invasive species, aquaculture, and other issues that affect coastal ecosystems. The center is one of the NOS National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. In 2011, Morris received the Presidential Early Career Award [...]
Teaching college undergraduates introductory biology includes helping students understand the relationships between genes, mutations, and the environment interacting together as biological evolution. A complete understanding of evolution requires knowledge that spans many biological sub-disciplines including genetics, cell biology and ecology. A group of professors at Michigan State University developed case studies for teaching evolution. These cases, [...]