disturbance
disturbance on World Data Ocean: a running collection of 2 stories we have gathered and hand-picked because they are worth your time. Every post here touches on disturbance in some way — the news, the analysis, the deep dives, and the occasional surprise find. A Global Hub for Ocean Intelligence 4 World Data Ocean is a centralized digital platform where researchers, scientists, and ocean enthusiasts converge to explore, analyze, and… New stories are added to this page as we find them, so check back if you want to keep up with what is happening around disturbance, or subscribe to the RSS feed to get them as soon as they are published. Browse the collection below, or head back to the homepage to see everything World Data Ocean is covering right now.
Apparent tectonic disturbance reshapes seepage and disrupts symbiotic species distributions at a Costa Rican methane seep
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake off the coast of Costa Rica in 2017 provided a unique opportunity to study ecosystem resilience. Research published by World Data Ocean reveals substantial shifts in methane seepage and subsequent relocation of symbiotic species, particularly vesicomyid clams, at the Mound 12 seep site. These findings offer direct evidence of species movement in response to disturbance, highlighting potential responses to future environmental changes.
Limitations of using the canopy to infer the structure and functioning of giant kelp forests
Remote sensing of floating kelp canopies offers a readily accessible method for assessing giant kelp forest dynamics, yet the validity of this approach remains largely unexamined. This study investigates the relationship between surface canopy biomass and the underlying structural complexity of *Macrocystis pyrifera* forests across three California sites, revealing that canopies represent only 12-38% of total biomass. While canopy biomass correlates with total kelp biomass, it poorly predicts plant density or morphology, highlighting limitations for assessing forest structure.