Sunday, December 30, 2018

Warming warning over turtle feminization

Up to 93 percent of green turtle hatchlings could be female by 2100, as climate change causes 'feminization' of the species, new research suggests.

from Oceanography News -- ScienceDaily http://bit.ly/2QZfLL5
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Saturday, December 29, 2018

Wake up, people of Penang - The Malaysian Insight

Wake up, people of Penang  The Malaysian Insight

AS we come to the end of 2018, we note that Penang environment has gone through annus horribilis two years in a row. Two landslide tragedies took place ...



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Living for the turtles: Continuing the Turtle Warrior's legacy - New Straits Times

Living for the turtles: Continuing the Turtle Warrior's legacy  New Straits Times

Noisily, the car grinds to a halt in front of a mud-sodden clearing. The sound of waves gently lapping against the shore serenades my ears as I gingerly step out ...



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A fool's fantasy, by Amelia Cai: When we were younger, there was a mangrove tree where we used to meet - Stuff.co.nz

A fool's fantasy, by Amelia Cai: When we were younger, there was a mangrove tree where we used to meet  Stuff.co.nz

St Cuthbert's College student Amelia Cai, 16, has won the secondary school category of the respected Sunday Star-Times Short Story Awards 2018 with this ...



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India claims to be on track to achieve its 2020 biodiversity targets - Times of India

India claims to be on track to achieve its 2020 biodiversity targets  Times of India

NEW DELHI: India on Saturday submitted its Sixth National Report (NR6) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), claiming that the country is on ...



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Pay TV: Australia's Bloom is quirky with bursts of raunch and violence - The Sydney Morning Herald

Pay TV: Australia's Bloom is quirky with bursts of raunch and violence  The Sydney Morning Herald

This watery new Australian series with a cracking cast is sly, quirky and poignant.



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There's benefit in them mangroves - New Straits Times

There's benefit in them mangroves  New Straits Times

The 2004 catastrophe in one way drove home the lesson that Malaysia was not entirely safe from geological disasters. More importantly, the killer waves also ...



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Land users may have to rehabilitate swamp - Nation - The Star Online

Land users may have to rehabilitate swamp - Nation  The Star Online

GEORGE TOWN: The state may require those who “raped” a mangrove swamp in Batu Maung to remove the hundreds of tonnes of soil, sand and construction ...



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All activity on Uran wetlands must stop, orders panel - Times of India

All activity on Uran wetlands must stop, orders panel  Times of India

The bird-rich wetlands of Dastan Phata in Jasai region of Uran taluka may yet be saved from being wiped out.



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Destruction of Penang mangrove land more extensive than estimated, says environs group - Free Malaysia Today

Destruction of Penang mangrove land more extensive than estimated, says environs group  Free Malaysia Today

GEORGE TOWN: An environmental group today said the mangrove land that was recently cleared illegally in Batu Maung, Penang, was equivalent to the size of ...



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Giving back is as easy as A to Z - Hawaiimagazine.com

Giving back is as easy as A to Z  Hawaiimagazine.com

Giving is about acts of intention, seeing what needs to be done and doing it.



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A Keys man posted a photo of his ex-wife on Facebook. Now he’s in jail. - Miami Herald

A Keys man posted a photo of his ex-wife on Facebook. Now he’s in jail.  Miami Herald

A Marathon, FL man was jailed after police said he posted a sexually explicit photograph of his ex-wife on Facebook. He has threatened to kill her before, Florida ...



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Grandfather dies, 2 kids rescued after boating mishap on Myakka River - WFLA

Grandfather dies, 2 kids rescued after boating mishap on Myakka River  WFLA

A man's body was recovered from the Myakka River early Thursday evening, authorities said.



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After mangroves cleared, Penang warned against letting off culprits with slap on wrist - Free Malaysia Today

After mangroves cleared, Penang warned against letting off culprits with slap on wrist  Free Malaysia Today

Clearing of mangrove lands is both a federal and state offence, says an environmentalist.



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Mangrove Bay - Florida Weekly

Mangrove Bay  Florida Weekly

Built on Old Naples' last remaining significant waterfront property for residential development, the homes at Mangrove Bay are designed for those with.



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Where to celebrate New Year's Eve in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah - gulfnews.com

Where to celebrate New Year's Eve in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah  gulfnews.com

Check out how the other emirates are celebrating NYE in the UAE.



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Final On-Site Sustainable Favela Exchange of 2018 Visits the Sepetiba Ecomuseum [VIDEO] - RioOnWatch

Final On-Site Sustainable Favela Exchange of 2018 Visits the Sepetiba Ecomuseum [VIDEO]  RioOnWatch

The Sustainable Favela Network (SFN) is a project of Catalytic Communities (CatComm)* designed to build solidarity networks, bring visibility, and develop joint ...



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History society to help state mangrove cell set up skeletal frame of 43-ft blue whale for display - Daily News & Analysis

History society to help state mangrove cell set up skeletal frame of 43-ft blue whale for display  Daily News & Analysis

Maharashtra State Mangrove Cell has approached the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) to set up the skeletal frame of the mammoth 43-feet long blue ...



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Restoring Ghana’s Mangroves and Depleted Fish Stock - Inter Press Service

Restoring Ghana’s Mangroves and Depleted Fish Stock  Inter Press Service

ACCRA, Dec 20 2018 (IPS) - It was just three and a half years ago that the Sanwoma fishing village, which sits between the sea and the mouth of the Ankobra ...



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Friday, December 28, 2018

Marine debris study counts trash from Texas to Florida

Trash, particularly plastic, in the ocean and along the shoreline is an economic, environmental, human health, and aesthetic problem causing serious challenges to coastal communities around the world, including the Gulf of Mexico. 

from Oceanography News -- ScienceDaily http://bit.ly/2Rjr53X
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Thursday, December 27, 2018

Photoshop Battles with this Image Hydrothermal Vent Polychaete Worm

I love that the internet can bring together collectives of people working toward a common goal on something for the greater good.  In beauty that is Reddit, we have the community of r/photoshopbattles that bring users together for “Photoshop contests on Reddit. A place to battle using image manipulation software, play photoshop tennis, create new images from old photos, or even win Reddit gold.”

User u/Karzdan posted the above image** of Nereis sandersi  to the Reddit forum. The polychaete worm is known from hydrothermal vents and described relatively recently by Blake in 1985.   Interestingly, N. sandersi is eyeless.

Furthermore, the presence of sunken depressions in places where eyes usually occur in N. sandersi is unique for the genus. The occurrence of such depressions is reminiscent of blind cave-dwelling vertebrates which have only vestigial, non-functional eye rudiments remaining from ancestral progenitors which had sight. The very large peristomial ring and enormous palps would appear to be appropriate sensory replacements for a sightless animal in the deep sea. -Blake (1985)

And so begins the Photoshops

u/mandal0re
Cookies. Not even once.

u/ 241baka

u/xprmntng

u/fluxrez
Manamana

u/ xprmntng
Rudolph

u/Quintilllius
SmileFix can bring back your laugh!

u/PakoSpin
Effective advertisement

**note I am trying to track down the original photographer of the image to credit them here.

 



from Deep Sea News http://bit.ly/2AjJ9kF
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Exploring New England's coastal ecosystems in the dead of winter

In early January 2018, a nor’easter pummeled the East Coast. A record-breaking high tide rendered many streets in Boston impassable and seawater rushed down Seaport Boulevard in Boston’s Seaport District. A deluge of water poured down the steps leading down to the Aquarium subway station, forcing it to close.

Less than a week later, in a dry classroom on MIT’s campus, a group of students discussed how coastal cities like Boston can cope with worsening floods due to rising sea levels.

“We live in a coastal city, so obviously we are being significantly impacted by sea level rise,” says Valerie Muldoon, a third-year mechanical engineering student. “We talked about the bad nor’easter earlier in January and brainstormed ways to mitigate the flooding.”

Muldoon and her fellow students were enrolled in 2.981 (New England Coastal Ecology), a class that meets during MIT’s Independent Activities Period. The course is offered through the MIT Sea Grant College Program, which is affiliated with MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

MIT Sea Grant instructors Juliet Simpson, a research engineer, and Carolina Bastidas, a research scientist, use the four-week class to introduce students to the biological makeup of coastal ecosystems, to the crucial role these areas play in protecting the environment, and to the effects human interaction and climate change have had on them.

“We want to give a taste of coastal communities in New England to the students at MIT — especially those who come from abroad or other parts of the U.S.,” says Bastidas, a marine biologist who focuses her research primarily on coral and oyster reefs.

Muldoon, who is a double minor in energy studies and environment and sustainability, says she was “so excited to see a Course 2 class on coastal ecology.”

“I’m passionate about protecting the environment, so the topic really resonated with me,” she says.

The course begins with an introduction to the different types of coastal ecosystems found in the New England area, such as rocky intertidal regions, salt marshes, eelgrass meadows, and kelp forests. In addition to providing an overview of the makeup of each environment, the course instructors also discuss the physiology of the countless organisms who live in them.

Halfway through the course, students learn about how human impacts like climate change, eutrophication, and increased development have affected coastal habitats.

“We focus on climate change as it impacts coastal communities like rocky shores and salt marshes,” says Simpson, a coastal ecologist who studies how plants and algae respond to human interference. “There are a lot of interesting implications for sea level rise for intertidal organisms.”

Sea level rise, for example, has forced organisms that live in salt marshes to migrate upland. Changes in both water and air temperature also have a drastic effect on the inhabitants of coastal regions.

“As temperatures rise, all of those organisms are going to need to adapt or the communities are going to change, possibly dramatically,” explains Simpson.

Protecting coastal ecosystems has far reaching implications that go beyond the animals and plants that live there, because they offer a natural defense against climate change. Many coastal are natural hot spots for carbon capture and sequestration. Salt marshes and seagrass meadows all capture vast amounts of carbon that can be stored for several thousand years in peat.

“I was shocked at how much carbon the plants in these ecosystems can hold through sequestration,” recalls Muldoon.

Protecting these areas is essential to continue this natural sequestration of carbon and prevent carbon already stored there from leaking out. Coastal ecosystems are also instrumental in protecting coastal cities, like Boston, from flooding due to sea level rise.

“We talk about the ecology of coastal cities and how flooding from storms and sea level rise impacts human communities,” adds Simpson.

The class culminates in a field trip to Odiorne Point State Park in New Hampshire, where students get to interact with the communities they’ve learned about. Using fundamental techniques in ecology, students collect data about the species living in the salt marsh and rocky shore nearby. 

Bastidas and Simpson will expand the class’ scope beyond New England in a new course — 2.982 (Ecology and Sustainability of Coastal Ecosystems) — which will be offered in fall 2019.

While the effects of climate change on coastal ecosystems often paint a dire picture, the instructors want students to focus on the positive.

“Rather than have students focus on the gloom and doom aspect, we want to encourage them to come up with novel solutions for dealing with climate change and carbon emissions,” adds Bastidas.

Muldoon sees a special role for mechanical engineers like herself in developing such solutions.

“I think it’s so important for mechanical engineering students to take classes like this one because we are definitely going to be needed to help mitigate the problems that come with sea level rise,” she says.



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Wednesday, December 26, 2018

This month, 53 trucks caught dumping debris - Times of India

This month, 53 trucks caught dumping debris  Times of India

On Monday, revenue department officials caught 50 trucks dumping debris at Daastan Phata wetland in Uran's Jasai village.The officials were visiting t.



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Navi Mumbai: It’s official! 4,500 mangrove trees destroyed in Uran this year - Times of India

Navi Mumbai: It’s official! 4,500 mangrove trees destroyed in Uran this year  Times of India

NAVI MUMBAI: Buckling under pressure from environmentalists and the local fishing community to save the depleting marine green cover from 'mindless de.



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Green Plains Inc – Mangrove Partners Master Fund, Ltd Got New Holding - K Reviewer

Green Plains Inc – Mangrove Partners Master Fund, Ltd Got New Holding  K Reviewer

During Q3 2018 the big money sentiment decreased to 1.06. That's change of 0.58, from 2018Q2's 1.64. 12 investors sold all, 40 reduced holdings as Green ...



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Are Deep Sea Reefs Really a Lifeboat for Our Vanishing Corals? - Pacific Standard

Are Deep Sea Reefs Really a Lifeboat for Our Vanishing Corals?  Pacific Standard

A new study has cast doubt on the extent to which mesophotic reefs may be a refuge for shallower species hit by overfishing, warming waters, and extreme ...



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Saudi Arabia Unveils Plans To Create Massive Red Sea Wellness Destinations - Forbes

Saudi Arabia Unveils Plans To Create Massive Red Sea Wellness Destinations  Forbes

The Saudi Kingdom Public Investment Fund recently announced plans for a new luxury development on the coast of the Red Sea. Led by luxury hospitality ...



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What’s happening Thursday in the north valley - Chico Enterprise-Record

What’s happening Thursday in the north valley  Chico Enterprise-Record

Gray Lodge Wildlife Area: Sunrise to sunset. 9,100 acres of fields, riparian areas, ponds, waterways; shelter for 300+ species of resident and migrant birds and ...



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9,050 mangrove trees razed in Uran in 2018 for government projects - Hindustan Times

9,050 mangrove trees razed in Uran in 2018 for government projects  Hindustan Times

In what may be one of the major cases of mangrove destruction in Maharashtra, 9,050 mangrove trees across 10 hectares have been destroyed in the Uran ...



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Three eco-rich sites declared environmentally protected areas - Maldives Independent

Three eco-rich sites declared environmentally protected areas  Maldives Independent

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has decided to declare three eco-rich sites in the northernmost atolls as environmentally protected conservation areas.



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Penang council stops unsanctioned mangrove clearing, orders full restoration - Malay Mail

Penang council stops unsanctioned mangrove clearing, orders full restoration  Malay Mail

GEORGE TOWN, Dec 26 — The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has issued a stop-work order against a firm that cleared a mangrove swamp in Batu Maung ...



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Person trapped after vehicle crashes into mangroves near Rawene, Northland - Hawthorn Caller

Person trapped after vehicle crashes into mangroves near Rawene, Northland  Hawthorn Caller

Emergency services are battling to free a person from their car after it left the highway and crashed into mangroves in Northland. A Fire and Emergency.



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Mangroves yet to shield coast vulnerable to tsunami waves - Times of India

Mangroves yet to shield coast vulnerable to tsunami waves  Times of India

It's been 14 years since the tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Indonesia hit the Tamil Nadu coast killing more than 1500 people including more t.



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Mangrove removal sparks outcry, but yacht buyer says he had permission - BVI Beacon

Mangrove removal sparks outcry, but yacht buyer says he had permission  BVI Beacon

After a backhoe cleared a wide swath of mangroves and other vegetation as part of efforts to remove a grounded yacht from the Paraquita Bay lagoon last month ...



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‘Infra work debris being dumped on mangroves at JNPT’ - Times of India

‘Infra work debris being dumped on mangroves at JNPT’  Times of India

Navi Mumbai: Residents and activists have alleged that mangroves along the Karal phata are being destroyed with land filling being done for the construction of ...



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One-day wellness event, from yoga to swamp walks, set for Jan. 19 at Naples-area sites - Naples Daily News

One-day wellness event, from yoga to swamp walks, set for Jan. 19 at Naples-area sites  Naples Daily News

The first Paradise Coast Wellness Experience will offer everything from yoga to swamp walks. Residents and visitors alike will be welcome.



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Mangrove forests used to breed aquatic species - http://bit.ly/1cGJmbd

Mangrove forests used to breed aquatic species  http://bit.ly/1cGJmbd

Tra Vinh (VNS/VNA) - Farmers in Tra Vinh province's coastal areas expanded the breeding of shrimp and other aquatic species to an additional 1,700ha of ...



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A development project in a Bali mangrove bay gets a new lease on life - Mongabay.com

A development project in a Bali mangrove bay gets a new lease on life  Mongabay.com

JAKARTA — Four months after activists in Bali celebrated what they believed was the end of a controversial plan to develop part of the island's mangrove-rich ...



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In the Know: La Trattoria pizzeria debuts in downtown Naples - Naples Daily News

In the Know: La Trattoria pizzeria debuts in downtown Naples  Naples Daily News

A new Italian pizzeria and restaurant debuted Friday in the Fifth Avenue South space occupied briefly by Kitchen and for many years by Mangrove Cafe.



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Ghana: Restoring Ghana's Mangroves and Depleted Fish Stock - AllAfrica - Top Africa News

Ghana: Restoring Ghana's Mangroves and Depleted Fish Stock  AllAfrica - Top Africa News

It was just three and a half years ago that the Sanwoma fishing village, which sits between the sea and the mouth of the Ankobra River on the west coast of ...



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Monday, December 24, 2018

Can you afford to be a marine biologist? Or a scientist?

The early years

1. Could your parents afford to live on the good side of town? The one with the right schools? Did they send you to that elite private school?

There are clear advantages to attending a top-tier high school as is evidenced in a study of college admissions data. The Harvard Crimson recently reported that in Harvard’s Class of 2017, 6 percent of admitted students came from only 10 high schools. Eleven percent of high schools with students admitted to Harvard sent 36 percent of students, while 74 percent of schools sent only one student. [link]

2. For Christmas, your birthday, or because, did you get your own computer?

In every country, students reporting “rare” or “no use” of computers at home score lower than their counterparts who report frequent use…gains in educational performance are correlated with the frequency of computer use at home. [link]

3. Could they afford for you to participate in all those afterschool STEM activities with their fees and hidden expenses?

Afterschool programs can have an impact on academic achievement. Improved test scores are reported in evaluations of The After-School Corporation (TASC) programs in New York City (Reisner, White, Birmingham, & Welsh, 2001; White, Reisner, Welsh, & Russell, 2001) and in Foundations, Inc. elementary school programs (Klein & Bolus, 2002). A more recent longitudinal study showed significant gains in math test scores for elementary and middle-school students who participated in high-quality afterschool programs (Vandell, Reisner, & Pierce, 2007) [link]

Those who are admitted to UC are likely to participate in more precollege activities. The study also shows that there is a positive correlation between student precollege participation in these activities and their college experience, academic and civic engagement although the relationship is rather weak. The results also reveal that the participation in extracurricular activities and volunteer and community services is a significant predictor on first-year GPA and persistence. The more activities students participate in, the higher their first-year GPA is and the more likely they persist with their current college programs. [link]

However, we found that a substantial portion of students, particularly those in lower-income groups, are not fully engaged in a well-rounded school experience that includes activities — and too often, it’s because of cost. [link]

4. Did they send you to that cool summer camp?

Steven Infanti, associate vice president for admissions at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, said a STEM camp experience is something that makes him take a closer look at a student’s application. “When I look at an applicant who has a 2.5 [GPA], which would be kind of a borderline admit for us, but I see on his application, I participate in this camp…that shows a lot of initiative and someone who has a passion,” he said. [link]

5. Did you get to travel to the ocean on vacation? Could you afford to travel abroad?

From a prominent university’s website,

High school study abroad programs, and even international vacations, are fantastic opportunities for cross-cultural understanding, learning, and personal growth. For that reason, they can certainly be helpful experiences to draw on when applying for colleges. [link]

6. Did you get to learn to scuba dive?

Being a scuba certified is not at all recquired for being a marine biologist.  Although I do scuba dive and am a divemaster, I rarely if ever use it for my research.  However, many “career advice” websites online definitely recommend it.

There are no certification requirements for marine biology. However, because diving is a large part of marine biology, many schools recommend that students become open water certified and take a course in scientific diving. [link]

7. Did you get to participate in all kinds of wonderful experiences because you had free time? Were you blessed and did not have to work a full- or part-time job?

Data was collected from a very large sample of students when they were in 8th, 10th and 12th grades, and again two years after they graduated. The researchers compared groups by controlling for their economic background, ethnicity, gender, and prior educational experiences. They measured outcomes including standardized test scores, school grades, courses taken, attendance, staying out of trouble, educational and occupational aspirations, post-secondary employment and college enrollment. In general, results showed a pattern of negative effects for students who worked during high school. In particular, working in the final year of high school had a significantly negative effect. These negative effects occurred even from working a small number of hours per week… working during high school undermines students’ commitment to and identification with school and subverts traditional academic goals. [link]

8. Could you even afford to stay in high school?

Using data from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey, researchers at the Urban Institute found that nearly a third of the 563,000 teenage dropouts left school to work. These 16- to 18-year-olds were disproportionately male and Hispanic, and ended their education either at the beginning of high school or nearing the end. Roughly 75 percent of them are native-born Americans, the new study said. [link]


The college years

9. Could you afford not to go to the best school?

Of the 113 Supreme Court Justices, 40% of them attended an Ivy League university. Currently, all of the nine Justices went to an Ivy League. In CNN’s top 100 startups list, 34 of the CEOs went to Harvard…A study conducted by the US Department of Education in 2015 revealed that a decade after enrolling in a four-year college degree, the average income of a typical student is $40,500 USD a year…at the very least you’ll receive on average $19,200 USD more than the standard US college graduate [by attending an Ivy Leage University] [link]

Even when there isn’t a policy of exclusion, students at elite universities join networks of professors and alumni whose members offer each other information, support, and advice that isn’t available to outsiders. [link]

In a corporate environment that still largely favors white men, an Ivy League college degree opens doors that would otherwise remain closed for most. In recent years, I’ve interviewed successful people in a variety of industries. Among them: One of two black presidents in the history of the Harvard Law Review (the other was Barack Obama) who now runs a multi-billion dollar private equity firm, and a Yale graduate Latina female CEO of the Girl Scouts. In both cases, intelligence and perseverance got them far. But they also both agreed that an Ivy League education afforded them pivotal opportunities for their careers today, decades after graduation from those hallowed institutions. For both minorities – the Ivy “stamp of approval” became the first in a long list of achievements. [link]

Tech founders with Ivy League degrees also tended to start companies that produced higher revenue and employed more workers than the average, the report added. [link]

And while Princeton and some other Ivy League schools have generous financial aid programs, this is not the case among all universities.  It is near impossible to get an accurate view of what a typical amount of loans a student is burdened with after four years.  Take Duke University,  several reports suggest the average student loan debt is $25,000.  However, take note of the term average.  Only 37% of the student body is receiving Federal Student Loans.  This begs the question, how is this average actually calculated?  In my time at Duke as a faculty member, the dozen or so students worked in my lab as part of the Federal Work Study Program, meaning they come from lower and middle socioeconomic classes, were taken on $25,000 per year.  So pardon me if I don’t believe the average total student loan debt for Ivy League schools is low.  These universities have large student populations who can afford to attend and not take out student loans as reflected in that 37% amount.

Just keep in mind that low-income students cannot afford 95% of colleges.

10. Did they tell you that they would meet 100% of your financial aid only for you to realize that meant pile you up with school loans and work study?

Yeah me too.

11. Could you afford to leave your home and not financially help your elderly, sick, or young family members while you pursue your dreams? Could you afford not financially support your spouse and children?

Likely to be parents of young children: Roughly half of independent college students, or 4.8 million students, are parents of dependent children. Seven in 10 student parents are women, with women of color in college are especially likely to be student parents.

Twice as likely to be living in poverty: 42 percent of independent students live at or below the federal poverty line, compared with 17 percent of dependent students. In fact, nearly two in three college students living in poverty (72 percent) are independent. [link]

12. Could you afford to move to college? What about all those hidden fees and costs? Parking? Transportation?

Almost 74% said extra activities like study abroad programs and unpaid internships are important to reaching professional goals. But the same percentage (74%) had to turn down such activities due to a lack of money.  Expenses beyond tuition were higher than they thought, too. The top 5 expenses students said were “much more than expected” include: Textbooks: 63% Housing: 56% Food: 46% Exam prep classes: 45% Moving: 41% [link]

13. Could you afford your books?

the average cost of college textbooks has risen four times faster than the rate of inflation over the past 10 years. That has caused 65 percent of students to skip buying required texts at some point in their college career because of a lack of affordability. [link]

14. Could you afford a computer?

Yeah its time to update that one from high school. It should be obvious how not having your own computer could be damaging but take this one students perspective (also see this post),

The problem with not having a laptop comes with online assignments. It may be even more for me as a cs major, but even in gen ed courses we often had to submit assignments online or do readings online which is easier with a laptop. You can survive without one as you can use the library computers at your college or if you have a desktop you can do all your online things there- but it would be easier to just whip out your laptop wherever you are (cafeteria, empty classroom waiting for class to start, etc) to work on assignment [link]

15.  Could you afford the time for extracurricular activities, lectures, clubs, student events? Did you need to work a full- or part-time job while attending college?

More than two-thirds of independent students work on top of going to school, and the majority work at least 20 hours per week…39 percent of dependent students work at least 20 hours per week). [link]

16. Did you not participate in that marine biology volunteer opportunity because you needed to work?

Volunteer research that prevents a student from making money. Remember that most financial aid packages REQUIRE a student to make a certain amount of money over the summer. If they aren’t getting paid to do research, then they are either adding to their debt or working two jobs, neither of which is setting them up for scientific success. [link]

17. Did you not do that great educational experience at sea because you could not afford the hefty fees?

While again I don’t agree, the Semester at Sea Program is often promoted for the aspiring marine biologist.  That at least $25,074.  Keep in mind that both the University of Pittsburg and Virginia pulled out of the program for “safety concerns and complaints that its suggestions for program improvement were being ignored.”

18. Did you not take those field summer courses because you couldn’t afford it? Did you not participate in a summer research opportunity because you could not afford to not work for a summer?

I am obviously biased serving as the Executive Director of a marine laboratory.  As an undergraduate, I took summer marine biology courses for credit…at the marine lab I currently serve as the director.  These courses were invaluable for round out my education and kick-starting my career in marine science by offering experiential learning.  Likewise, a paid Research Experience for Undergraduate one summer launched my career in deep-sea biology.  These experiences are vital.

In conclusion, students with research experiences reported disproportionate gains in their ability to apply critical thinking skills in a novel context, and gain a greater understanding of the scientific research process. Many students who did not participate in research reported gains in general critical thinking skills from their coursework, but out-of-class research experiences were more effective in helping students to develop the intellectual abilities and capacities particularly valued for doing research…students who engaged in an authentic research experience, with adequate amounts of both challenge and support, described gaining an appreciation of the process of scientific research and an understanding of the everyday work and practice of research scientists. Though other out-of-class experiences clearly offered a host of benefits, student reports indicated that participation in research is a more effective way to socialize novices into the scientific research community by helping them to develop the mastery, knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to become a scientist. [link]

19. Did you not participate in a great paid opportunity on overseas or even across the nation because you did know how you would afford your travel there?

20. Did you purchase all those extra study guides for the GRE? Did you take the GRE training course? Could you afford to take the GRE multiple times? Could you afford to send it to numerous graduate programs?

You can read all about my views on the GRE here.  I’m not a fan but the fact of the matter is many schools still require this boondoggle of a test.

21. Did you apply to multiple graduate programs and pay all those additional application fees? Did you pay to travel to the visit those prospective graduate schools?

Given that most acceptance rates are less than 20%, applying to several programs is advised.  The application fees typically range from $50 to $100 per graduate program.

If you don’t think all of this matters, consider that,

The percentage of students enrolling in graduate school increases with family income. Among dependent 2007–08 four-year college graduates, 39 percent of those from families in the lowest income quartile, 42 percent from middle-income families, and 45 percent from the highest income quartile had enrolled in graduate school within four years of college graduation. [link]


Graduate School Years

22. Did you have enough money to take a gap year and travel abroad to visit the oceans you want to study?

In my experience, students that have traveled more extensively and have more life experiences fair better in graduate school.  No hard data here merely anecdotal but worth considering nonetheless.

23. Could you afford to move to graduate school?

Moving from Arkansas to Boston was more costly than I anticipated.  Gas, U-Haul trailer, food, and one night in a very cheap hotel all added up.  I couldn’t afford any of this and charged it all to my credit card.

24. Did you buy all those books your advisor recommend you have and read? What about the ones you will need for your research and courses?

Several books a scientist needs on a regular basis, far more often than would be convenient or practical to obtain from a library.  In many cases, these highly specialized books may not even be in the university’s library.  And because these are specialized and low print run volumes, the prices can be astronomical.  These are often out of pocket purchases.  Right now there are three books on my wishlist I simply cannot justify or find the extra fund for: Compendium of Bivalves: Full-color Guide to 3,300 of the World’s Marine Bivalves for $294.51, Reproduction, Larval Biology, and Recruitment of the Deep-Sea Benthos for $169.07, and Pattern and Process in Macroecology for $106.45.

25. Can you afford the computer and software you needed for your research?

That cheap, outdated, and slow laptop leftover from college is going to need a major upgrade.  Time for a new computer because science is becoming more and more computational and data driven.

Referring both to the modelling of the world through simulations and the exploration of observational data, computation is central not only to astronomy but a range of sciences, including bioinformatics, computational linguistics and particle physics…Computation has been an important part of science for more than half a century, and the data explosion is making it even more central.  [link]

26. Could you afford to travel to that conference or collaborators when you grant, or travel awards weren’t available?

If your advisor has grant money to cover your travel or you are lucky enough to obtain a travel grant or award you are set.  However, if not then you will need to find a creative way to pay for it on your own.  These professional conferences are tremendous benefits to your career and you cannot afford to miss the opportunity to network and hear about the latest advances in the field.

Nearly all (91%) gained new contacts that improved their research, in-the-field conservation, science communication, and/or conservation policy making. Two thirds (64%) gained ideas, contacts, and/or lessons could lead to publications. Over a third (39%) gained new ideas, contacts and/or lessons that led to grant proposals, and 36% gained contacts that led to funding. A conference is not just an avenue for a scientist to present their research to the wider community, but it can be an important venue for brainstorming, networking and making vital connections that can lead to new initiatives, papers and funding, in a way that virtual, online meetings cannot. This is why conferences matter. {link]

27. Can you afford to live on an income of $10-25k per year? Could you afford not to support your family while you pursue your career? Does your partner have a stable and high paying job?

The current poverty levels in 2018 are for 

  • One person $12,140 $15,180
  • Two people $16,460 $20,580
  • Three people $20,780 $25,980
  • Four people $25,100 $31,380

The average graduate stipend in science is $20,000-$30,000 per year.  This puts any graduate student with a family below or near the poverty level and nowhere near the middle class.  “Middle-income households – those with an income that is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income – had incomes ranging from about $45,200 to $135,600 in 2016

28. Can you afford your own health insurance?

Most universities do not offer health insurance to graduate students.  Health insurance for a graduate student is going to be obscenely expensive if you need to get it independently.  Current cheapest plans with high deductibles, i.e. do not ever, ever need any medical assistance, will average $440 per month.

29. Can you afford that scuba or field gear you will need for your research?

Some gear, e.g. wetsuit, hiking boots, backpacks, binoculars, is considered personal and will not be covered by a grant or your advisor.  There may not even be funds currently available to purchase these things.  When I worked in the Antarctica Seas as part of my graduate research, I needed a set of good set of wrap around polarized glasses.  There was $100 I did not have.  You need to get in the field to get that data though.

30. Can you afford to be social over drinks and food with other scientists you need to network with?

Networking is a must and nobody in science seems to give a damn if you cannot pay.  You can try to drink cheaply but at some point, that restaurant or bar bill is going to be out of your control.  When I was a graduate student, this senior professor came to dinner and charged up a tremendous bill with a fancy entree and a bottle of expensive wine. This while ordered water and the cheapest dish I could find on the menu.  When the bill was brought, the professor stated we would just split the bill evenly “because it was easier”.  By the way, as aside, here if you are a faculty member and ever pull stunts like this YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE.  Pardon my language but its true.  If you are faculty member you should really be following the pay down rule; the faculty member should always pay for the food and drinks of the all the students.

31. Can you afford to wait a long time to be reimbursed for expenses from your university?

The major invisible difficulty that I’ve observed has been the reimbursement process. It’s common practice for people to spend their own money on scientific supplies and then apply for reimbursement from their grant, actually receiving the money 3-8 weeks later. For people without substantial cash flow, this can lead to credit card debt and future problems. [link]


Postdoctoral Fellow and Faculty Years

32. Can you afford that new set of clothes to interview in?

if you’re interviewing for a job, you might want to pay some attention to the way you dress. Because interviewers — yes, even a committee of curmudgeonly old tenured faculty members, most of whom don’t wear Armani themselves — are going to make judgments about you, fair or not, based on how you present yourself. And what you wear is part of your overall presentation. [link]

33. Can you afford to be social over drinks and food with other scientists you need to network with?  Do you have the funds to take care of the people in your lab group?

See above. Don’t be an asshole.

34. Did you just realize you are 35-40 haven’t paid off your school loans and just started to contribute to retirement?

A scientist doesn’t start thinking or paying into retirement plans until that first faculty position is landed.  With the current track record of 5-6 years of postdoctoral or soft money research positions until landing a permanent position could mean being 40 before landing that first job.

To afford a comfortable retirement, a 40-year-old couple with household income of$100,000 should have amassed savings of 2.6 times salary, or $260,000, according to research by J.P. Morgan [link]

35. Can you afford for your partner not work or do they have a mobile job?

Yeah with all that moving around for graduate school, postdocs, and faculty positions good luck to your partner trying to find a meaningful career.

36. Can you afford to wait a long time to be reimbursed for expenses from your university?

See above

38. Can you personally afford to float your research and travel needs between grants?

It happens and it sucks.  Are you just going to stop doing research?  Not go to conferences?

39. Do you have the funds to pay for society memberships?

A lot of grants will not pay for society memberships.  So there is that.


So this all leaves us needing a lot of money to get from Point A to Marine Biologist.  Conservatively, I estimate that cost, to ensure the greatest amount of success, to be $591,395 to make it to Associate Professor. Granted you could choose not to do some of these things, I didn’t do many of the things listed above as undergraduate or high school student and here I am.  But it was a tremendous amount of struggle and sacrifice for me being from a lower socioeconomic group.  If you poor and then non-white and non-male on top of that, the disadvantage is even greater, the proverbial one-two punch.

But let this sink in for a moment.
Nothing above is out of the recommended, ordinary, or expected.
We have created a system that to succeed it costs
half a million dollars.

This is not the kind of science I want.  The beauty of being a marine biologist and scientist should not be only those privileged enough to pay the price.


More reading

Below the tab, my calculations for putting real numbers on the costs of this pathway.


Cost Amount Reference and Notes
Private Elementary School $69,930 https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/100115/private-school-your-child-good-value.asp (9 years)
Private High School $52,120 https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/100115/private-school-your-child-good-value.asp (4 years)
HP Stream 14t Computer $249 https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-laptops-for-high-school-students/
Extracurricular Activities $4,446 https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/childrens-health/pay-to-play-may-keep-some-kids-out-of-school-activities (13 years)
Summer Day Camps $1,256 https://www.care.com/c/stories/3326/what-does-summer-camp-cost/ (4 Summers)
Specialty Overnight Camp $2,000 https://www.care.com/c/stories/3326/what-does-summer-camp-cost/ (2 Years)
Travel Abroad $2,000 https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-cost-vacation (Inexpensively)
Scuba Certification and Supplies $450 https://www.scuba-diving-smiles.com/cost-of-scuba-diving.html
School Loan Debt $37,172 https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/heres-how-much-the-average-student-loan-borrower-owes-when-they-graduate.html (Conservative)
Personal Expenses in College $12,860 https://affordableschools.net/hidden-costs-college/ (4 years)
Cost of Parking and Other Hidden Fees $4,000 https://affordableschools.net/hidden-costs-college/ (4 years)
Textbooks $4,800 https://affordableschools.net/hidden-costs-college/ (4 years)
HP 13t Envy Computer $749 http://bit.ly/2ibn0vt
Loss of wages $20,880 20 Hours a Week for 36 Weeks of College at Minimum Wage for 4 Years
Loss of wages $13,920 40 Hours a Week for 36 weeks of College at Minimum Wage for 3 Summers and Holidays
Semester at Sea $25,074 https://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/fall-2018/program-fees/
Two 3-Credit Summer Courses $5,000 Based on Current LUMCON Summer Courses
Two Cross Country Trips for Opportunities $800
GRE Test, Prep, and Distributing $1,989 http://www.deepseanews.com/2018/11/lets-kill-the-gre/
Travel to Two Graduate Schools $800
Graduate School Application Fees $500 10 Programs at $50
Travel Abroad $2,000 https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-cost-vacation (Gap Year Inexpensively)
Moving to Graduate School $1,000
Graduate School Books $2,000
A Conference Registration, Flight, Room, and Board $1,500
Annual Income Addition $25,000 $5000 Needed While In Graduate School to Go Above Poverty Line (5 years)
Health Insurance $26,400 https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/much-health-insurance-cost-without-subsidy (5 years)
Incidental Personal Research Gear $1,000
Miscenallenous Networking Food and Beverage $1,000 Costs Over 5 years
Interest Incurred on Credit Card Waiting for University to Reimburse You $1,000 Costs Over 5 years
Interview Clothes $500
Retirement Account Catch at Age 40 $260,000 http://bit.ly/2ELqa6p
Miscenallenous Networking Food and Beverage Costs $2,500 Costs Over 5 years as Assistant Professor
Miscenallenous Waiting on the University to Reimurse YouCosts Over 5 years $2,500 Costs Over 5 years as Assistant Professor
Floating Your Program Before the Grant $3,000 Costs Over 5 years as Assistant Professor
Society Memberships $1,000 Costs Over 5 years as Assistant Professor
Total $591,395


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Saving the Newry Island mangrove forests - Bellingen Courier Sun

Saving the Newry Island mangrove forests  Bellingen Courier Sun

MANGROVE populations are beginning to thrive along the riverbanks of Newry Island following stabilisation and restoration work undertaken as part of a ...



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Chico gas station robbed in Saturday night stick-up, suspect at large - KRCRTV.COM

Chico gas station robbed in Saturday night stick-up, suspect at large  KRCRTV.COM

The Reliance/Chevron gas station in Chico was robbed at gunpoint Saturday night and the suspect made off with all the money in the register, according to ...



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1 hospitalized after 2 sailboats catch fire in Upper Keys - WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale

1 hospitalized after 2 sailboats catch fire in Upper Keys  WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale

UPPER KEYS, Fla. (WSVN) — Passengers jumped into the water to escape from flames after two sailboats caught fire in the Upper Keys. Fire crews responded ...



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Plant Primer: Mangrove fan palm, spiny fan palm - The Columbus Dispatch

Plant Primer: Mangrove fan palm, spiny fan palm  The Columbus Dispatch

Light: full- to partial sunHeight: 6 to 15 feetSpread: 6 to 8 feetUSDA Hardiness Zones: 9 to 11Origin: Malaysia, IndonesiaNot all palm trees are the same, as you ...



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Armed robber holds up Reliance gas station on Mangrove, police say - Chico Enterprise-Record

Armed robber holds up Reliance gas station on Mangrove, police say  Chico Enterprise-Record

CHICO — A man robbed the Reliance Chevron gas station Saturday night at gunpoint. A robber entered the Reliance Chevron gas station around 10:44 p.m. ...



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Mangroves, vultures and gigantic palms in beautiful Mtunzini - North Coast Courier

Mangroves, vultures and gigantic palms in beautiful Mtunzini  North Coast Courier

Just north of the Dolphin Coast is the coastal village of Mtunzini, a Zululand gem that overlooks an unspoiled lagoon winding its way through pristine coastal ...



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Penn Virginia Co. (PVAC) Major Shareholder Mangrove Partners Master Fund, Purchases 67,500 Shares - Fairfield Current

Penn Virginia Co. (PVAC) Major Shareholder Mangrove Partners Master Fund, Purchases 67,500 Shares  Fairfield Current

Penn Virginia Co. (NASDAQ:PVAC) major shareholder Mangrove Partners Master Fund, purchased 67500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on ...



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Man seriously hurt when 2 sailboats catch fire in Florida Keys - WPLG Local 10

Man seriously hurt when 2 sailboats catch fire in Florida Keys  WPLG Local 10

A man was seriously hurt when two sailboats caught fire Friday at a marina in the Florida Keys, authorities said.



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Coringa mangroves, Hope Island turn saviour - The Hindu

Coringa mangroves, Hope Island turn saviour  The Hindu

RTGS updates help authorities in minimising loss due to Phethai.



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Bougainville move to highlight importance of mangroves - Herdon Gazette

Bougainville move to highlight importance of mangroves  Herdon Gazette

Next month a policy paper promoting the protection of mangroves will be considered by political leaders in Bougainville. Photo: Pixabay It is driven by NGO,



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How Mumbai’s residents fought, and won, a battle on behalf of flamingos - The Hindu

How Mumbai’s residents fought, and won, a battle on behalf of flamingos  The Hindu

Talawe wetlands in Navi Mumbai is one of at least six in the Maximum City where flamingos converge in thousands.



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Restoring Ghana's mangroves and depleted fish stock - IPPmedia

Restoring Ghana's mangroves and depleted fish stock  IPPmedia

IT was just three and a half years ago that the Sanwoma fishing village, which sits between the sea and the mouth of the Ankobra River on the west coast of ...



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Collector to hand over 700 hectares to mangrove cell - The Asian Age

Collector to hand over 700 hectares to mangrove cell  The Asian Age

The cell has been taking back ownership rights of mangrove properties belonging to state agencies.



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Fresh fire incidents at Ulwe mangroves - The Asian Age

Fresh fire incidents at Ulwe mangroves  The Asian Age

The forest department tried to control the fire and is investigating the matter to find the culprits.



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Latest threat to cyclone-resistant mangroves - Daily Pioneer

Latest threat to cyclone-resistant mangroves  Daily Pioneer

At a time when countries around the world have recognised the value of mangroves as a tool to arrest global warming by sequestering carbon, the Government's ...



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Preparing Philladelphia and Puerto Rico for the Next Climate Disaster: Penn Design Students Took on the Challenge. - Government Technology

Preparing Philladelphia and Puerto Rico for the Next Climate Disaster: Penn Design Students Took on the Challenge.  Government Technology

On International Migrants Day, they presented solutions intended to make Philadelphia and cities in Puerto Rico better prepared for future climate-related threats ...



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Volunteers do their bit to regenerate mangroves - Metro News - The Star Online

Volunteers do their bit to regenerate mangroves - Metro News  The Star Online

GREAT Heart Charity Association (GHCA) held a mangrove rehabilitation and clean-up project at Kampung Sungai Janggut, Kapar, as part of its Earth Warriors ...



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Bribie Island fisherman Ben Bayati reeled in a “catch of a lifetime” mangrove jack in the Pumicestone Passage | Quest News - Courier Mail

Bribie Island fisherman Ben Bayati reeled in a “catch of a lifetime” mangrove jack in the Pumicestone Passage | Quest News  Courier Mail

Fisherman Ben Bayati has seen it all, from giant trevally, Bluefin tuna and Marlin — but its a 60cm beast caught on the shores of Banksia Beach that hes hailing ...



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Infra boost puts mangrove under threat - Kalinga TV

Infra boost puts mangrove under threat  Kalinga TV

Mangroves plays an important role. But these valuable cover across the shoreline in Odisha is being destroyed in the name of development.



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Relief for Lamu mangrove harvesters after MP's announcement - Hivisasa

Relief for Lamu mangrove harvesters after MP's announcement  Hivisasa

The leadership of Lamu East Constituency has issued an alert over the impending dangers of the ban on Mangrove tree cutting across the constituency.



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Guide to catching mangrove jack around Brisbane - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

Guide to catching mangrove jack around Brisbane  Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

I have been fishing quite a lot over the past few months in the hope of catching mangrove jack. These fish can be extremely hard to catch...



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BMC goes the Bigg Boss way to watch over Mumbai s mangroves - Mid-Day

BMC goes the Bigg Boss way to watch over Mumbai s mangroves  Mid-Day

In a first-of-its-kind initiative to prevent illegal activity in Mumbai's eco-sensitive zones, the BMC has tied up with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to ...



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No sign of 24 acres of mangroves in DP 2034 - Mumbai Mirror

No sign of 24 acres of mangroves in DP 2034  Mumbai Mirror

Environmentalists allege deliberate omission of Colaba mangroves to favour builders' lobby; DP chief says waiting for coastal zone management plan.



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Saturday, December 22, 2018

A Tale of One Opening

I was just listening to a podcast about how sea sponges use the pores all over their body to “bring in food and release wastes” and I’m pretty sure that’s a scientific way of saying the holes in sponges are all just mouths and buttholes so does that mean that when I’m using a sponge in the shower I’m cleaning my body with mouths and buttholes? Someone get me a marine biologist. And a loofah. And maybe some bleach.  -The Bloggess

All around you are animals with a single hole serving as both a mouth and anus.  These mono-orifice animals have an incomplete digestive system.  In contrast, those animals blessed with two holes, a tubular digestive system with an in and out hole, possess a complete digestive system.

Sponges are a bit of a unique case as a loose conglomeration of cells in a body full of pores and channels.  None of this really resembles organs or a digestive system with digesting occurring within individual cells.  However, the Cnidarians, including jellyfish, anemones, and corals,  are all uni-aperture.  We can also add the Ctenophores, the comb jellies, into this lone door group of animals.

In the flatworms, the Platyhelminthes, its mixed bag of one, two, and even more bodily gateways.  Most flatworms have no anus, but some particularly long species do possess an anus. In rare cases, flatworms with very complex branch guts can have more than one anus.  By the way, the plural can be either anuses or ani.

Peeping at the underside of a starfish, you might have only noticed a giant mouth.  You may be thinking to yourself, “I’ve never seen another opening.  Do starfishes have an anus?”  Of course, this is one of the great questions of life.  Indeed,  most starfishes have a complete digestive system with the anus being a small opening on the top. However, there is a large order of starfish, the Paxillosida, that lack an anus.  The only other group of Echinoderms to lack an anus, and even an intestine, is the brittle stars.

Flatworm (Platyhelminthes)

A solitary black hole may also occur during specific phases of animals life cycle.  An incomplete digestive system is known in some insects including the sap-sucking aphid relatives, the Phylloxera, during their sexual phase.  Some larvae including those of some fish and proboscis worms can be anally deficient.  Certain lifestyles also can lead to solo agujero such as in parasitic species, like parasitic copepods.

It’s important to remember that all animals start development with one hole, the blastopore.  In the ventrally chosen, a second hole forms later.  So the question remains if some animals form only a single hole is it a mouth that used as anus or anus used as a mouth?  The proverbial digestive pore chicken and egg scenario.

As described in this excellent post, 

Blastopore formation is started by a protein called disheveled, which gets stuck at the top of the egg and then activates a specific set of genes. In the same location of jellyfish embryos, however, there are genes strikingly similar to the mouth genes of bilaterians. In the sea urchin, a bilaterian, these same mouth genes are also on the top of the embryo. However, disheveled has moved to the bottom. The blastopore forms at this new site of disheveled accumulation, rather than at the mouth. The mouth genes that remain on top still direct the formation of the mouth there. Martindale and Hejnol posit that moving disheveled from the top to the bottom of the embryo in some animals moved the location of blastopore, but that the mouth stayed put. In some bilaterians, like urchins and humans, the blastopore then became the anus. In this scenario all mouths are homologous to each other, whether the animal has one or two holes.

Evolution can be a truly wonderful thing and then sometimes it can produce an animal with a mouth that still uses its anus to feed.

 

 

 

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Dr. M (1785 Posts)

Craig McClain is the Executive Director of the Lousiana University Marine Consortium. He has conducted deep-sea research for 20 years and published over 50 papers in the area. He has participated in and led dozens of oceanographic expeditions taken him to the Antarctic and the most remote regions of the Pacific and Atlantic. Craig’s research focuses on how energy drives the biology of marine invertebrates from individuals to ecosystems, specifically, seeking to uncover how organisms are adapted to different levels of carbon availability, i.e. food, and how this determines the kinds and number of species in different parts of the oceans. Additionally, Craig is obsessed with the size of things. Sometimes this translated into actually scientific research. Craig’s research has been featured on National Public Radio, Discovery Channel, Fox News, National Geographic and ABC News. In addition to his scientific research, Craig also advocates the need for scientists to connect with the public and is the founder and chief editor of the acclaimed Deep-Sea News (http://deepseanews.com/), a popular ocean-themed blog that has won numerous awards. His writing has been featured in Cosmos, Science Illustrated, American Scientist, Wired, Mental Floss, and the Open Lab: The Best Science Writing on the Web.



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Friday, December 21, 2018

Why You Should Go to Belize Now - Condé Nast Traveler

Why You Should Go to Belize Now  Condé Nast Traveler

A low-key corner of Belize's Caribbean Coast is drawing beachcombing wanderers with its offbeat charm. Now *fresh* hotel openings are sending out ripples, with ...



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12 positive environmental stories from the past 12 months - BirdLife International

12 positive environmental stories from the past 12 months  BirdLife International

January – China Halts Coastal Land Reclamation 2018 began with an unexpected bang: in January, China announced it was to halt all 'business-related' land ...



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Coca-Cola is going to use captured CO2 to carbonate its drinks - Treehugger

Coca-Cola is going to use captured CO2 to carbonate its drinks  Treehugger

This won't solve the climate crisis, but it could help direct air capture of CO2 to scale up.



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Jackal strays into Mumbai home, injures eight-month-old - Hindustan Times

Jackal strays into Mumbai home, injures eight-month-old  Hindustan Times

A jackal entered a residence in Bhandup (East) on Thursday morning and attacked an eight-month-old child. The child, Jigar Kaltaniya, sustained injuries on the ...



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Chacahua Lagoons - Planeta.com

Chacahua Lagoons  Planeta.com

Oaxaca – The Chacahua Lagoons National Park (Parque Nacional Lagunas de Chacahua) comprises a series of lagoons and beach shoreline between the ...



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The Goodland Stars Tradition - coastalbreezenews.com

The Goodland Stars Tradition  coastalbreezenews.com

"And having heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the.



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New tourism facilities in Frazerganj, Henry's Island - United News of India

New tourism facilities in Frazerganj, Henry's Island  United News of India

Uniindia: Kolkata, Dec 21 (UNI) Several new facilities for tourists are coming up at 10 Mile in Frazerganj and in Henry's Island, including resorts, watchtowers ...



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Exploring the 10,000 Islands by Boat - coastalbreezenews.com

Exploring the 10,000 Islands by Boat  coastalbreezenews.com

The 10000 Islands span a vast majority of land and water, and without proper guidance, it is easy to become lost. The 10000 Islands area is rich with mangrove.



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The wintertime sheepshead bite is in full swing for Tampa Bay area anglers. - The Ledger

The wintertime sheepshead bite is in full swing for Tampa Bay area anglers.  The Ledger

Strike Zones: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Compiled By Michael Wilson/Ledger correspondent 1: At Big Pier 60 in Clearwater, before the front, some small bonnethead and ...



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Mega Storm Smashes Coast - Triple M

Mega Storm Smashes Coast  Triple M

AUSGRID crews are working flat out to get the power back on to around TWO thousand properties still blacked out across the Central Coast following last night's ...



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Cool air is energizing the flounder bite - Florida Today

Cool air is energizing the flounder bite  Florida Today

Flounder, sheepshead and black drum fishing is getting better.



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Mumbai Coastal Road Project: Disastrous challenges that Mumbaikars should know - Afternoon Voice

Mumbai Coastal Road Project: Disastrous challenges that Mumbaikars should know  Afternoon Voice

As the BMC has begun work on the south section of the proposed coastal road, a four-lane project that will start from the Princess Street.



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Mangrove Bay - Florida Weekly

Mangrove Bay  Florida Weekly

An outstanding waterfront address close to Old Naples, Mangrove Bay provides a world-class lifestyle combining estuary views and Gulf of Mexico access. The.



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The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats - Nature.com

The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats  Nature.com

Increasing human populations around the global coastline have caused extensive loss, degradation and fragmentation of coastal ecosystems, threatening the ...



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Top bureaucrats of Maharashtra government to check the ground reality of mangroves - Hindustan Times

Top bureaucrats of Maharashtra government to check the ground reality of mangroves  Hindustan Times

Top bureaucrats of the state government will now ensure protection of mangroves. A government resolution (GR) released by the administrative wing of the ...



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