Sean K Todd
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 27
Language
English
Description
Although the irony is unmistakable, our understanding of marine mammals increased tremendously by having access to carcasses during the years of industrial whaling. Today, we focus on species protection while learning as much as we can via SCUBA, SONAR, tagging, biopsy darts, photo-identification, studying animals in captivity, and examining stranded individuals when available.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 24
Language
English
Description
Within their own species, marine mammals have developed sophisticated communication. In captivity, we know they can be trained to learn rules, which indicates higher cognitive function. And even in the wild, we have documented some extraordinary instances of learning and cultural transmission of information. But is their intelligence comparable to our own?
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 20
Language
English
Description
With plastic and nylon lines and nets becoming common in the last century, by-catch became an even greater problem for the marine mammals. When the media picked up the story in the mid-1960s, the public became engaged, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed in 1972. But whale entanglement remains a problem, and some argue that even whaling was far less cruel.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 29
Language
English
Description
Our high-tech use of the ocean for food, transportation, and energy has far-reaching effects, particularly on certain species. Focusing on issues from noise pollution to microplastics, we can mitigate our impact to provide better futures for ourselves as well as for marine life. The work begins with understanding the extent of our true impacts.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 2
Language
English
Description
No matter where you live, your climate, weather, and even available foods are determined to a great extent by ocean circulation. The uneven heating of the Earth by the Sun and the Coriolis effect result in vast circulation cells of air above the Earth, the movement of huge water masses in the oceans, and resultant "hot spots" of marine life.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 12
Language
English
Description
While the reptilian evolution of the amniotic egg allowed animals to move completely from the sea onto land, some reptiles retained strong marine ties. These include sea turtles and sea birds whose wide variety of adaptations allow for drinking saltwater, remaining underwater for long periods, and flying great distances using very little energy.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 21
Language
English
Description
Semi-aquatic marine mammals exhibit behaviors quite different than those who live fully in the water. In the former, an entire female community in one geographic area can come into estrus simultaneously and needs relatively few males to reproduce. In the latter, reproduction appears to be one of the driving forces of whale songs that can be heard over thousands of kilometers.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 25
Language
English
Description
Are marine mammals to be exploited as a resource? Or are they intelligent creatures to be revered with an almost religious admiration? Your answer might depend to some extent on your country and culture of origin. Our relationship with these impressive animals continues to evolve as we increase our understanding of their biology, cognition, and sociality.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 5
Language
English
Description
Phytoplankton form the base of almost all marine food chains, including that of the blue whale, the largest animal known to have ever existed. But far below the penetration of sunlight, a very different and only recently discovered food web relies solely on the chemosynthetic ability of bacteria.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 4
Language
English
Description
Beach organisms exist with the constantly changing winds, waves, and tides (sometimes underwater, sometimes fully exposed to the air). Life in estuaries, where rivers meet the oceans, face constant fluctuations in environmental salinity. And hard corals are continually pummeled by wave action. Yet each of these physically challenging environments can be diverse and fecund ecosystems.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 8
Language
English
Description
Mammals are certainly represented in ocean life, but which species should be identified as "marine" when considering ocean productivity? The extremely complex marine food webs maintain long-term stability, even as they undergo natural perturbations over time. But when Homo sapiens enters as an apex predator, productivity can deteriorate, and systems can even collapse.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 1
Language
English
Description
So much of what we take for granted about our world (from our body's access to and use of nutrients, to our planet's liquid oceans, to the ice floating in your glass of soda) is a direct cause of the structure and polarity of H2O. Learn how those specific properties make water the essential ingredient for life as we know it.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 14
Language
English
Description
Through tens of millions of years, evolution has resulted in a fascinating array of marine mammal adaptations. With the ability to process thousands of gallons of water each day or dive to a depth of almost three kilometers, and with numerous methods of locomotion or extraordinary social behaviors, these whales, porpoises, phocids, and more can thrive in varied environments around the globe.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 6
Language
English
Description
When we think of healthy marine ecosystems, we should be thinking about phytoplankton. In many ways, we owe our existence to these diatoms, dinoflagellates, green algae, cyanobacteria, and others. Not only do scientists believe they are the ancestors of terrestrial plants, but phytoplankton continues to produce about half of all the oxygen available in our atmosphere today.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 9
Language
English
Description
Through 550 million years of evolution, fish have developed a wide variety of adaptations to the unique demands of living in a watery and mostly dark world. Learn how gills, swim bladders, bioluminescence, chemosensory glands, echolocation, and electrolocation have allowed fish to succeed in almost every type of ocean environment. Which fish are our ancestors? You might be surprised.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 22
Language
English
Description
From individual whales that corral their confused prey to highly coordinated bubble-net feeding and aunts who "babysit," marine mammals have developed an extraordinary variety of social and hunting behaviors developed over millions of years. If the energy expenditure does not support the goal of passing on genetic material, natural selection will eventually drop the adaptation.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 13
Language
English
Description
Marine mammals did not evolve from marine species. Rather, they evolved from land mammals who found a plethora of "suddenly" open ecological niches when the dinosaurs became extinct. Today's marine mammals might resemble each other because convergent evolution has led to similar adaptation. But best as scientists can tell, they have five separate lineages and no single common ancestor.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 30
Language
English
Description
Although there was a time when we treated the oceans as if they were too vast to feel our impact, we now know the truth: we have contributed to global climate change, ocean acidification, and overfishing. The results are potentially catastrophic - both to marine life and to our own health. But there is a bit of light at the end of this tunnel, and it depends in part on our own daily actions.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 11
Language
English
Description
Fish certainly have good reason to fear these top-of-their-game predators, with their multiple rows of teeth and ability to detect electrical current better than any other animal. But while four species have been known to assault humans with no provocation, almost 99 percent of the many hundred shark species would rather swim away from us than attack.
Author
Series
Life in the World's Oceans volume 3
Language
English
Description
How and where did life begin on Earth? The existence of both photosynthetic and chemosynthetic food chains points to the possibility that life could have originated through two different paths. While many questions remain unanswered, two things seem certain: Life began in the oceans, and bacteria are the most successful organisms on the planet.