How Might We Assess and Manage the Effects of Underwater Noise on Populations of Marine Animals?

The European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) aims to achieve good environmental status (GES) in European seas by 2020. One of the features of GES is that underwater sound should not adversely affect the marine environment. Direct injury of marine life may occur, but a more pervasive effect is likely to be through the cumulative indirect effects on behavior.

What caused the UK's largest common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) mass stranding event?

On 9 June 2008, the UK's largest mass stranding event (MSE) of short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) occurred in Falmouth Bay, Cornwall. At least 26 dolphins died, and a similar number was refloated/herded back to sea. On necropsy, all dolphins were in good nutritive status with empty stomachs and no evidence of known infectious disease or acute physical injury.

The magnitude of global marine species diversity.

Background: The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine species of the world and used this baseline to estimate how many more species, partitioned among all major eukaryotic groups, may be discovered.

Results: There are ∼226,000 eukaryotic marine species described.