What Causes Algal Blooms to Become Toxic?

By on    Featured, Science/Education  

What Causes Algal Blooms to Become Toxic?

The disastrous 2015-16 Dungeness crab season, delayed and shortened by an unprecedented bloom of toxic algae, is a bitter memory for the West Coast fishing industry. The culprit was domoic acid, a potent neurotoxin produced by marine algae and discovered in 1987 as the cause of amnesic shellfish poisoning. Scientists at UC Santa Cruz have […]

Invisible Helpers of the Sea: Marine Bacteria Boost Growth of Tiny Ocean Algae

By on    At Sea, Featured, Science/Education  

A glass of seawater is teeming with life, and a recent expedition revealed more about what ocean water contains. Microscopic creatures in the world’s oceans weigh more than all of the fish in the sea and produce about half of the Earth’s oxygen. Yet the ecology of marine microbes, which are crucial for everything from […]