The hidden values of the Wadden Sea

In this blog post, Paula de la Barra and Allert Bijleveld discuss their latest research, conducted alongside Geert Aarts. This work focusses on gas extraction under intertidal mudflats, and the impact that this has on macrozoobenthic communities and sediment. The importance of the Wadden Sea Every day the tide covers and reveals thousands of square kilometres of sand and mudflats in the Wadden Sea, the … Continue reading The hidden values of the Wadden Sea

Questioning the Evidence: Re-analyzing studies on the impact of mechanical dredging on invertebrate communities and associated bird life in the Dutch Wadden Sea

Eelke Folmer and Jaap van der Meer talk about their recent Forum paper which comments on an earlier research article, and discuss the importance of evidence based decisions in policy. Background In the coming decades, the growth of the global human population will lead to an increase in food demands. This, in turn, is likely to result in a rise in the extraction of marine … Continue reading Questioning the Evidence: Re-analyzing studies on the impact of mechanical dredging on invertebrate communities and associated bird life in the Dutch Wadden Sea

Juvenile natural mortality is a hard parameter to estimate, but it can be done with pop-up archival tags

New research published today (9th May 2018) uses electronic tags to highlight the risk of shark mortality through unintentional capture in fishing gear. Associate Editor, Andre Punt, comments on the new paper by Benson et al., Juvenile survival, competing risks, and spatial variation in mortality risk of a marine apex predator. One of the most influential parameters in any population dynamics model is the rate of … Continue reading Juvenile natural mortality is a hard parameter to estimate, but it can be done with pop-up archival tags

Eyes in the sky see the secrets of the sea

This guest post is by Kylie L. Scales (@KylieScales) on her recent review paper “On the Front Line: frontal zones as priority at-sea conservation areas for mobile marine vertebrates.” The oceans may seem like Earth’s last remaining wilderness, but are in fact teeming with human activity as a result of intense and growing demand for marine resources. Consequently, large marine vertebrates such as seabirds, turtles, … Continue reading Eyes in the sky see the secrets of the sea