First complete map of world’s seagrass offers warnings and hope for conservation
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Oct-2026 16:16 ET (22-Oct-2026 20:16 GMT/UTC)
ASU scientists create the first complete, high-res global map of seagrass and reveal changes over a four-year period. The invaluable data will help us protect these underwater rainforests.
A novel machine‑learning algorithm retrieves remote‑sensing reflectance (Rrs) from Himawari‑8 geostationary data at 10‑minute intervals – an unprecedented frequency for this meteorological satellite.
New research from the University of St Andrews has shown that higher extinction risk is associated with higher frequency of decreasing local prevalence of species, in an analysis of one of the most comprehensive long-term databases ever created, BioTIME – a major tool to study biodiversity change also developed at the University of St Andrews. Researchers from the School of Biology alongside a team of international partners, analysed over 60 000 populations of 2362 species across 978 marine and terrestrial assemblages. These populations have been sampled comprehensively over at least 20 years. The picture that emerged was of complex links between the two factors, but a clear signal also emerged that decreasing temporal trends were associated with higher extinction risk compared to the other trends. Overall, fewer than 10% of populations showed either increasing or decreasing prevalence over time
Artificial light spilling into coastal waters from cities, ports, roads, and hotels is disrupting sleep in coral reef fish and is associated with changes in markers linked to brain health, according to a new study from Bar-Ilan University.
22 June 2026 / Kiel. The second leg of the SO320 expedition began at the weekend aboard the research vessel SONNE. Led by Dr Jörg Geldmacher of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, an international team of scientists will investigate Hess Rise in the northwestern Pacific – one of the largest and least explored volcanic plateaus on Earth. By collecting rock samples from the seafloor, the researchers aim to determine the composition and age of this more than 1,000-kilometre-long submarine plateau and test competing hypotheses regarding its origin. The expedition will travel from Honolulu (USA) to Vancouver (Canada) and conclude on 3 August 2026.
A multi-institutional team of researchers have successfully conducted the first comprehensive exploration of the intertidal and subtidal rocky ecosystems of Inútil Bay. The expedition, supported by the Marine Program of Rewilding Chile, brought together specialists from CADIC-CONICET and the Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) to conduct the first survey of benthic macroalgae in a region that had never been systematically studied before.