The great Atlantic belt.

Pelagic is abundant in the Sargasso Sea, but a recurrent great Atlantic belt (GASB) has been observed in satellite imagery since 2011, often extending from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. In June 2018, the 8850-kilometer GASB contained >20 million metric tons of biomass. The spatial distribution of the GASB is mostly driven by ocean circulation.

Climate-change-driven accelerated sea-level rise detected in the altimeter era.

Using a 25-y time series of precision satellite altimeter data from TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3, we estimate the climate-change-driven acceleration of global mean sea level over the last 25 y to be 0.084 ± 0.025 mm/y Coupled with the average climate-change-driven rate of sea level rise over these same 25 y of 2.

The relationship between land use and emerging and legacy contaminants in an Apex predator, the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), from two adjacent estuarine watersheds.

Background: Persistent organohalogen contaminant (POC) exposure is of concern in marine mammals due to the potential for adverse health effects. Studies have examined POCs in marine mammals on a regional scale; however, limited data exists on POC concentrations relative to land use and watersheds.

Objective: Examine geographical variation of POC concentrations in bottlenose dolphins as it relates to land, and watershed, use.

Contaminant blubber burdens in Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from two southeastern US estuarine areas: concentrations and patterns of PCBs, pesticides, PBDEs, PFCs, and PAHs.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides (i.e., dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites, chlordanes (CHLs), dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and mirex), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in blubber biopsy samples collected from 139 wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) during 2003-2005 in Charleston (CHS), SC and the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), FL.

Cytochrome P4501A1 expression, polychlorinated biphenyls and hydroxylated metabolites, and adipocyte size of bottlenose dolphins from the Southeast United States.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) bioaccumulate in blubber of marine mammals. Therefore, it is important to understand the structure and dynamics of blubber layers and how they affect the accumulation of POPs and subsequent biochemical responses. We used established histological and immunohistochemical methods to document the structure of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) blubber and to assess the expression of cytochrome P4501A1 (CYP1A1) in skin-blubber biopsies of dolphins sampled in the waters off Charleston, SC (CHS) (N=38), and Indian River Lagoon, FL (IRL) (N=36).

Blubber morphology in wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from the Southeastern United States: influence of geographic location, age class, and reproductive state.

This study investigated blubber morphology and correlations of histological measurements with ontogeny, geography, and reproductive state in live, wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from the southeastern United States. Surgical skin-blubber biopsies (N=74) were collected from dolphins during capture-release studies conducted in two geographic locations: Charleston, SC (N=38) and Indian River Lagoon, FL (N=36). Histological analysis of blubber revealed stratification into superficial, middle, and deep layers.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in blubber of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from two southeast Atlantic estuarine areas.

Blubber tissue samples from bottlenose dolphins collected during the summers of 2003 and 2004 were screened for 13 (17, 28, 47, 66, 71, 85, 99, 100, 138, 154, 153, 183, 190) polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) from dolphin populations in the Indian River Lagoon, FL (n = 58) and the Charleston Harbor estuary, SC (n = 53). Within each population, we investigated contaminant levels of PBDEs and the effects of factors including age, sex, the interaction of age and sex, and location. Six PBDE congeners (28, 47, 99, 100, 153, and 154) were routinely detected in all samples using gas chromatography/mass spectometry methods.

Geographic variation in polychorinated biphenyl and organochlorine pesticide concentrations in the blubber of bottlenose dolphins from the US Atlantic coast.

Concentrations of polychorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other organochlorine contaminants (OCs) were measured in blubber collected from live bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at three sites along the United States Atlantic coast. Dolphins were sampled via surgical biopsy during capture-release studies near Charleston, South Carolina and Beaufort, North Carolina. Additional animals were sampled using remote biopsy techniques in estuarine waters near Charleston and from the Indian River Lagoon, Florida.

Probabilistic risk assessment of reproductive effects of polychlorinated biphenyls on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from the Southeast United States Coast.

High levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been reported in the tissues of some species of marine mammals. The high concentrations are of concern because a growing body of experimental evidence links PCBs to deleterious effects on reproduction, endocrine homeostasis, and immune system function. Much of the recent research has focused on determining the exposure of marine mammal populations to PCBs, but very little effort has been devoted to the actual risk assessments that are needed to determine the expected impacts of the documented exposures.