Introduction The invention of the light bulb brought massive changes to society. Suddenly, we were no longer inhibited by the hours of daylight or seasonal darkness. Building lights and giant screens made cities become beacons of light. Today, lights from cars, towns, and billboards block out the darkness for miles and even outshine the stars at midnight. However transformational people thought the lightbulb would be, it is unlikely they realized the effect it would have beyo

Introduction A story about forests may seem unrelated to marine biology, but there is one unique tree that actually plays a critical role in supporting marine life. Mangrove trees are tropical plants that grow in wet soil frequently submerged in saltwater by the tides. Their “prop roots” branch down into the water providing habitat and nursery grounds for many marine organisms. Mangroves protect shorelines by absorbing waves and preventing erosion. They are also efficient car

Introduction As climate change progresses, marine systems are in increasingly hot water – literally. Water has a high heat capacity and as such our oceans have absorbed 90% of the excess heat created by greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere. These warming waters have led to four major global coral bleaching events. The fourth and most devastating started in 2023 and is ongoing. In this article, we’ll dive into the mechanisms behind coral bleaching, the impacts of bleaching even

The ocean faces many threats from pollution to climate change. In this new series “Disasters at Sea” we will be covering environmental disasters and their effects on marine systems. In this, the first article of the series, we're covering one infamous environmental disaster that sparked the beginning of the environmental movement of the 1970s and led to the creation of America’s first Earth Day: the Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969. The Disaster: The Santa Barbara Oil Spill of