An article about the 7th annual Martha’s Vineyard Environmental Film Festival (May 27-30) recaps the history, which began with Jesse Ausubel + Jacques Perrin. Jesse will host a set of short films about the oceans on Sunday 30 May at 1pm.
Area of Research: Oceans
As plant and animal diversity wanes, is microbial life changing too?
PHE Guest Investigator and microbiologist David Thaler has published the paper, “Is global microbial biodiversity increasing, decreasing, or staying the same?” in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. The answer is, we do not know.
The paper arose from Zoom discussions PHE began holding every Tuesday and Thursday noon during COVID lockdown of our NYC group members with colleagues in California, Israel, Switzerland, and elsewhere. Bravo to David for asking a bold question and putting it onto the research agenda. Thanks to Gary Borisy (Forsyth Institute) and Jessica Mark Welch (Marine Biological Laboratory) for sharing images. A Press Release from the journal summarize the paper.
The Guardian, Microbes are ‘unknown unknowns’ despite being vital to all life, says study (another excellent article from Guardian science reporters!)
Agencia EFE, Spain, Un estudio resalta la “profunda ignorancia” de la biodiversidad de microbiosAargauer Zeitung, Switzerland, Biologie – Gilt das Artensterben auch für die Mikroben?
IndoAsian News Service, India Is microbial life, including viruses, changing too?
COSMOS Magazine, Australia The great unknown of global microbial diversity
Mongabay, ‘Profound ignorance’: Microbes, a missing piece in the biodiversity puzzle by Ian Morse on 26 April 2021
2020 declared Year of Quiet Ocean – News from International Quiet Ocean Experiment
The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research has issued the 7th Newsletter chronicling the progress of the International Quiet Ocean Experiment, which helped spur this Press Release reporting on the progress, including the MANTA software and the data archive.
Some coverage:
The Guardian, United Kingdom, Pandemic made 2020 ‘the year of the quiet ocean’, say scientists especially good article!
Agence France Presse Lull in shipping activity gives scientists chance to listen to sounds of the ocean https://ca.news.yahoo.com/lull-shipping-activity-gives-scientists-042755282.html
German: Internationales Forscherteam untersucht Tierlaute im Ozean während Corona-Krise https://de.nachrichten.yahoo.com/internationales-forscherteam-untersucht-tierlaute-ozean-214115152.html
French: Un réseau mondial d’écoute sur les océans apaisé par Covid https://yourtopia.fr/un-reseau-mondial-decoute-sur-les-oceans-apaise-par-covid-france-24/
BBC News Online, Ocean noise: Study to measure the oceans’ ‘year of quiet’ https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56676820
BBC World Service Radio, 1st story, with Ed Urban (here)
Agencia Efe,Científicos aprovechan la pandemia para hacer un mapa del sonido de los mares
Gizmodo, United States International Project Will See How Quiet of Covid-19 Affected Oceans https://earther.gizmodo.com/international-project-will-see-how-the-quiet-of-covid-1-1846630821
IndoAsian News Service, India Amid slowdown, scientists assess changes in marine life behaviour https://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a1148781.html
Down To Earth magazine, India What happened when the oceans went quiet during the pandemic? Scientists set to find out https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/what-happened-when-the-oceans-went-quiet-during-the-pandemic-scientists-set-to-find-out-76387
The National News, United Arab Emirates Oceans silenced by Covid to reveal impact of human activity on marine life https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/oceans-silenced-by-covid-to-reveal-impact-of-human-activity-on-marine-life-1.1199684
COSMOS Magazine, Australia Year of the quiet ocean https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/oceans/year-of-the-quiet-ocean/
Courthouse News Service, United States Emerging Ocean Listening Network Will Study Seas Uniquely Quieted by Covid https://www.courthousenews.com/emerging-ocean-listening-network-will-study-seas-uniquely-quieted-by-covid/
Heidi News, La pandémie accélère la recherche sur le bruit dans les oceans par Florent Hiard, French Switzerland
Inter Press Service Opinion Studying Marine Life’s Brief Break from Human Noise by Jesse Ausubel and Ed Urban
Baidu, People’s Republic of China, The “Year of Quiet Sea” created by COVID-19: How does the sound of the ocean environment change under the epidemic?
1-hour video about Ocean Decade
24 March 2021 Jesse Ausubel formed part of a lively 70-minute panel discussion on Oceans with:
Ms. Maya Gabeira, Big Wave Surfer, 2X World Record Holder, Oceana Ambassador
Mr. Romain Troublé, Director-General, Tara Foundation
Mr. David Eades, Chief Presenter, BBC TV News, Moderator 1
Ms. Taylor Goelz, Program Manager, Shipping Decarbonization Initiative, Aspen Institute | Member, Ocean Decade Early Career Ocean Professional Informal Working Group, Moderator 2
The full 4’42” video of the UNESCO Forum on Biodiversity: On the road to Kunming is here on YouTube.
The Ocean session starts at 1:57 and lasts to 3:09. Jesse’s opening remarks (about better measurement of abundance of ocean life) start at 2:07 (3 minutes) and his pitch for soundscapes is at 2:41:35 (1.5 minutes). The entire session is good listening (and some video too).
Let’s measure the abundance of marine life
The lively website Real Clear Science publishes Jesse Ausubel’s short essay Time to Measure the Abundance of Ocean Life prepared for the 24 March 2021 UNESCO FORUM: Our Planet, Our future
Maritime Executive also shares the piece as an Op-Ed: Time to Measure the Abundance of Ocean Life.
How eDNA Could be a Cornerstone of the New Blue Economy
Measuring Ambient Ocean Sound During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Eos article on Measuring Ambient Ocean Sound During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Measuring Ambient Ocean Sound During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An expanded nonmilitary hydrophone network provides new opportunities to understand the variability and trends of ocean sound and the effects of sound on marine organisms by Peter L. Tyack, Jennifer Miksis-Olds, Jesse Ausubel, and Edward R. Urban Jr. appears in Eos magazine. Let’s learn from the COVID-19 pause to help achieve safer operations for shipping industries, offshore energy operators, navies, and other users of the ocean.
A slighly abbreviated version appeared in Maritime Executive as COVID-19 Downturn Creates an Opportunity to Study a Quieter Ocean.
eDNA in Maritime Executive
The excellent magazine and website Maritime Executive runs an editorial by Jesse Ausubel and Alan Curry How eDNA Could be a Cornerstone of the New Blue Economy The essay draws on their chapter in the forthcoming book: Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue Economy: People, Products and Policies, Liesl Hotaling and Richard W. Spinrad (eds).