The ocean is a critical element of human well-being and livelihood, providing home for diverse range creatures that inhabit both coastal pelagic ecosystems, from microbes to marine mammals [...]

Palytoxin (PTX) is a potent marine toxin that was originally found in soft corals from tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean. Soon after, its occurrence was observed in numerous other marine organisms from the same ecological region. More recently, several analogs of PTX were discovered, remarkably all from species of the dinoflagellate genus Ostreopsis. Since these dinoflagellates are also found...

In most areas, estimating the presence and distribution of cryptic marine mammal species, such as beaked whales, is extremely difficult using traditional observational techniques such as ship-based visual line transect surveys. Because acoustic methods permit detection of animals underwater, at night, and in poor weather conditions, passive acoustic observation has been used increasingly often ...

Sound is an inevitable element of every human activity in the oceans. Some, like exploration and military sonar exercises, produce impulse sounds that are intense but infrequent; others, like shipping, generate non-impulsive, less intense, but continuous noise. A recent National Research Council review (2003) found that the ocean's acoustic budget has increased by 3 dB, i.e., doubled, per decad...

Living marine resources are inextricably linked to the cultural and economic identity of New England. The proud traditions of whaling and fishing pervade both our art and literature. Today Northeast fisheries generate in excess of $1 billion in annual first-sale revenue. Recreational fisheries and non-consumptive uses of marine mammals are likewise important sectors that help support working co...

"Super-blooms" of cyanobacteria that produce potent and environmentally persistent biotoxins (microcystins) are an emerging global health issue in freshwater habitats. Monitoring of the marine environment for secondary impacts has been minimal, although microcystin-contaminated freshwater is known to be entering marine ecosystems. Here we confirm deaths of marine mammals from microcystin intoxi...

We compared several large marine ecosystems in terms of species numbers of fishes, sea birds, marine mammals, and cephalopods. We examined how these numbers were distributed by trophic level, from herbivores to top predators. We created group-specific trophic signatures as plots of number of species by trophic level, and used these to identify similarities and discrepancies between taxonomic gr...