A recent study demonstrates a new approach that may allow scientists to better approximate the risks for bacteria to develop resistance to different families of antibiotics. In the study, conducted by NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, resistance genes from E. [...]
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s DOOM lab (Dissolved Oxygen and Oyster Mortality) is examining how oysters respond to sudden drops in oxygen levels in shallow parts of the Chesapeake Bay at night. These fluctuations are partially natural, but appear to be made worse by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. Oxygen depletion may make oysters more susceptible [...]
The dolphin was coming straight up out of the water, making pitiful moans and then going back down, slowly swimming around the Bushy Park Boat Landing. Cathy Murphy spotted it Friday. It looked like something might be wrapped around its tail, dragging it down. “ We’ve watched dolphins for years, and we knew something was wrong,” she [...]
The repair of a massive pipe that carries wastewater to the ocean is inspiring one of the most elaborate scientific investigations in years along the Orange County coast. Missile-shaped robotic gliders, sensors tethered offshore and boats crisscrossing the ocean with instruments in tow – all are part of an attempt to learn which life forms [...]
Beginning in mid-September, the California Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) is temporarily diverting wastewater effluent from the main discharge pipe located 5 miles offshore (60m depth) of Los Angeles to a shorter pipe 1 mile offshore (17m depth) in order to evaluate the main pipe for maintenance. The diversion will last between 3-8 weeks. An [...]
Skin lesions on coastal dolphins are associated with water that’s colder and has lower salinity, say researchers at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. They analyzed photographs collected during routine monitoring studies of dolphins in estuaries and coastal waters of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida and found that in all three sites, the prevalence of skin lesions [...]
In August 2008, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin was found dead on the North Carolina coast, its skin cracked and ulcerated with an alarming growth of gray and white nodules. This dolphin was confirmed as having lobomycosis, the first confirmed case in North Carolina waters of this chronic fungal skin infection. Reports of this type of [...]
Researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and colleagues have identified a unique anti-biofilm chemical, derived from a sponge, that seems to be able to reverse antibiotic resistance in many strains of harmful bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). When researchers mixed the agent with antibiotics and applied them to microbial infections [...]