Marine biology articles from across Nature Portfolio

The Indian summer monsoon plays a key part in influencing marine life in the Bay of Bengal. Palaeoceanographic records reveal that both extremely weak and strong monsoon phases led to declines in marine productivity. Future monsoon shifts pose a disruptive threat to the stability of regional ecosystems and fisheries.

Arctic marine ecosystems have experienced significant change through the Holocene. Here, the authors used sedaDNA from Northern Greenland to reconstruct marine mammal occurrence, demonstrating the impact of air temperature and sea ice cover over the past 12000 years.

Climate change is altering bioaccumulation and biological effects of persistent organic pollutants in marine organisms, impacting toxicity, thermal regulation, and energy usage of exposed organisms with broad implications for ecological health.

Animal migrations are extensive and crucial for ecosystem health but are in decline. This study identifies 1,787 sites and links among them for 109 marine species, highlighting the need for international cooperation and providing policymakers with essential knowledge for effective conservation.

The Indian summer monsoon plays a key part in influencing marine life in the Bay of Bengal. Palaeoceanographic records reveal that both extremely weak and strong monsoon phases led to declines in marine productivity. Future monsoon shifts pose a disruptive threat to the stability of regional ecosystems and fisheries.

Deep-pelagic ecosystems are critical for climate regulation, food security and global economic activities, yet the focus of deep-sea research and conservation remains on seafloor-associated ecosystems. We discuss the overlooked deep-pelagic ecosystems and call for their recognition as social–ecological systems.

Mary Garson is an Emerita Professor of the University of Queensland and President-elect of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). In 2024, The Royal Australian Chemical Institute awarded the inaugural Mary Garson medal for mid-career organic chemists. Here, we speak with her about her life in science.

The oxygen inventory of the global ocean is declining. This phenomenon, known as ocean deoxygenation, has emerged as a fundamental pathway for climate change to alter marine ecosystems. An important concern is how this global oxygen decline will manifest in coastal and oceanic systems that are already subject to low oxygen, or hypoxic conditions. There is also a clear need to understand how the intensification and/or expansion of hypoxia will affect ocean food webs and biogeochemical cycles. Building a predictive understanding of ocean hypoxia is a multi-scaled and multi-disciplinary research endeavor. Recent advances in ocean observation, experimental biology, and ecosystem modeling are being applied to ocean hypoxia research to reshape our understanding of the future ocean.