Students Dig Into Decades of Turtle Data
Two grad students in the math department at UNCW are crunching three decades’ worth of raw data on sea turtle nesting at Bald Head Island as part of an effort to better understand their behavior.
Plants & Animals
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Venus Flytraps Don’t Eat Their Pollinators
These carnivorous plants native to the Wilmington area rely on insects as pollinators and prey, but researchers have discovered that Venus flytraps don’t feast on the bugs that pollinate them.
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Study: Corals Prefer the Taste of Plastic
Plastic debris in the ocean is often mistaken for food by marine animals, but researchers at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort recently discovered that coral found off the N.C. coast prefer it to food.
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Studies: Right Whales’ Extinction More Likely
A recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration review of the endangered North Atlantic right whale’s status paints a grim picture for the species’ survival.
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Reefs As Carbon Sinks? Location Matters
Researchers at the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences have found that oyster reefs may help in mitigating climate change, but near-shore reefs sequester carbon better than others.
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Mysterious Squid Washes Up on Portsmouth
A mysterious squid found in late March on a Portsmouth Island beach was later discovered to be a species that’s commercially fished in Japan.
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MAGIC Team Reveals Algae’s Hidden Powers
Duke Marine Lab researchers with the Marine AlGae Industrialization Consortium are developing ways to create both liquid fuel and livestock feed from naturally oily, nutrient-rich algae.
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Study: Seismic Testing Disrupts Fish Behavior
Researchers in North Carolina recently published a study that shows fish “went missing” from a normally populated reef during seismic blasting for geological mapping.
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Wildlife Photo Project Expands Statewide
Candid Critters, a photography experiment launched on the coast last year to gauge the diversity and range of wildlife for conservation and management, is going statewide.
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Sea Turtle Doctor Pioneers New Science
Dr. Craig Harms of N.C. State’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology in Morehead City not only treats sick and injured sea turtles and other marine life, he and others here advance the science.
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NC Aquarium Staff Releases 33 Sea Turtles
Specialists at the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores invited paying guests for a boat ride to the Gulf Stream Wednesday to release 33 rehabilitated juvenile sea turtles rescued from area beaches.
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Humpback Whales Recover; Threats Remain
NOAA recently determined that most populations of humpback whales have rebounded and are no longer threatened or endangered, but some conservation groups say the status change is premature.
