Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Marine Biology
An explainable machine learning prediction system for early-warning of heat stress on Florida’s Coral Reef
Published: 2025-06-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Marine Biology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Coral reefs are facing increasing threats from rising ocean temperatures, necessitating timely and localized prediction tools to inform reef management and conservation. This study introduces a machine learning framework capable of forecasting the onset of moderate coral heat stress at site-specific resolution on Florida’s Coral Reef. Leveraging the XGBoost algorithm, the data-driven prediction [...]
Assessment of heavy metal contamination in seawater, sediments, and fish tissues from Msimbazi Bay, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Published: 2025-06-25
Subjects: Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
Heavy metal pollution in marine environments is a growing concern globally due to its potential threats to aquatic ecosystems and human health. Major industrial zones in Tanzania, including Dar es Salaam city, significantly contribute to heavy metal pollution in aquatic ecosystems. The samples for heavy metal analysis in seawater, sediments, and fish tissues were collected, prepared, and [...]
Coral microatoll partial mortality after multi-hour subaerial exposure: Implications for relative sea-level studies
Published: 2025-05-31
Subjects: Geomorphology, Marine Biology, Other Earth Sciences, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Some intertidal corals, known as microatolls, have a distinct morphology that reflects changes in local relative sea level. While past observations have shown that the top surface of these corals may be killed by subaerial exposure, little is known about the exact oceanographic or environmental conditions that cause a coral to die down to a particular level. Here, we combine field surveys, [...]
Coral Reefs Span Borders, So Must Solutions: A Blueprint for International Cooperation for Coral Reef Conservation in Complex Political Environments
Published: 2025-05-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Studies, Marine Biology
Coral reefs face escalating threats from climate change, yet reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone will not ensure their survival. Local and regional conservation efforts are urgently needed to address immediate, human-induced stressors and build resilience. Although conservation often begins locally, the interconnected nature of reef systems that span borders demands transboundary management, [...]
Temporal dynamics of biotic homogenization and differentiation across marine fish communities
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Marine Biology
Humans have transformed ecosystems through habitat modification, harvesting, species introduction, and climate change. Changes in species distribution and composition are often thought to induce biotic homogenization, defined as a decline in spatial beta diversity through time. However, it is unclear whether homogenization is common in ocean ecosystems and if changes in beta diversity exhibit [...]
Temporal dynamics of biotic homogenization and differentiation across marine fish communities
Published: 2025-01-09
Subjects: Marine Biology
Humans have transformed ecosystems through habitat modification, harvesting, species introduction, and climate change. Changes in species distribution and composition are often thought to induce biotic homogenization, defined as a decline in spatial beta diversity through time. However, it is unclear whether homogenization is common in ocean ecosystems and if changes in beta diversity exhibit [...]
Towards statistical modeling of chlorophyll-a concentrations in Balikpapan Bay, Indonesia: Implications for algal bloom detection
Published: 2024-10-26
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Biogeochemistry, Environmental Monitoring, Marine Biology, Oceanography
This study presents a comprehensive statistical analysis of chlorophyll-a dynamics in Balikpapan Bay, Indonesia, combining time series analysis, extreme value modeling, and machine learning techniques to understand phytoplankton variability near Indonesia's planned new capital city. Analysis of daily chlorophyll-a concentrations (2019-2021) revealed a non-Gaussian distribution (skewness = 2.212, [...]
Seasonal variability of coccolith fluxes in sediment traps of the Perdido and Coatzacoalcos regions in the Southern Gulf of Mexico
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Marine Biology
We present new results of the coccolith fluxes in the Perdido and Coatzacoalcos regions of the Gulf of Mexico and explore the environmental variables that may control them. Two sediment trap moorings located at a water depth of 1100 m collected settling particles from June 2016 to July 2017. Both regions showed similar seasonal distributions in total coccolith fluxes, with the highest recorded [...]
A Community-Centric Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure for Addressing Nitrogen Pollution using Web Systems and Conversational AI
Published: 2024-09-13
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Agriculture, Environmental Studies, Marine Biology, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
The Blue-Green Action Platform (BlueGAP) information system (IS) is an intelligent cyberinfrastructure framework designed to support large-scale water quality assessments in the context of demographic statistics and community stories about water issues. The system prioritizes collaboration with interested parties in three pilot watersheds with test cases implemented in US locations including [...]
Carbon storage in Northern Ireland’s aquatic ecosystems: an evidence synthesis to support policy development.
Published: 2024-09-06
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Marine Biology, Oceanography
Blue carbon is defined as carbon that is naturally sequestered and stored in the world’s aquatic ecosystems. Governments around the world are currently seeking to develop a range of tools to help meet their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and potentially reverse anthropogenic climate change. As such, there is growing interest from policy makers in natural processes which may be [...]
Win, lose, or draw: evaluating dynamic thermal niches of northeast Pacific groundfish
Published: 2024-06-27
Subjects: Marine Biology
Understanding the dynamic relationship between marine species and their changing environments is critical for ecosystem based management, particularly as coastal ecosystems experience rapid change (e.g., general warming, marine heat waves). In this paper, we present a novel statistical approach to robustly estimate and track the thermal niches of 30 marine fishes along the west coast of North [...]
Characterizing regional oceanography and bottom environmental conditions at two contrasting sponge grounds on the northern Labrador Shelf
Published: 2024-01-23
Subjects: Marine Biology, Oceanography, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Deep-sea sponge grounds are distributed globally and are considered hotspots of biological diversity and biogeochemical cycling. To date, little is known about the environmental conditions that allow high sponge biomass to develop in the deep sea. Here, we characterize oceanographic conditions at two contrasting sites off the northern Labrador Shelf with respective high and low sponge biomass. [...]
Overview of the MOSAiC expedition: Ecosystem
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Marine Biology, Oceanography
An international and interdisciplinary sea ice drift expedition, the ‘The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate‘ (MOSAiC), was conducted from October 2019 to September 2020. The aim of MOSAiC was to study the interconnected physical, chemical and biological characteristics and processes from the atmosphere to the deep sea of the central Arctic system. The [...]
Rebuilding Coral Reefs: How tourism can be a driver behind solutions in a changing ocean
Published: 2023-07-06
Subjects: Marine Biology
Coral reefs are threatened by multiple stressors that have driven a decline in the cover of reef-building coral species, resulting in a loss of reef structure and function. Restoration reef science provides useful conservation tools to preserve and restore the key species and ecological functions of these ecosystems. However, gaps remain in restoring ecosystem functions at large scales. This [...]
Seafloor shaping in mesophotic reefs, role of internal waves and bottom currents (Southeastern Mediterranean Sea)
Published: 2023-01-25
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Geology, Marine Biology, Other Environmental Sciences, Sedimentology
Mesophotic reefs are located in low light conditions which, depending on the region, found in water depths greater than ~30 m. They are less affected by ocean warming than reefs found in shallower water depth and thus might become increasingly important for the sustainability of marine biodiversity. Here we explore the physical mechanisms controlling the sediment distribution around a [...]