Sponges on Conch Reef by Barbora Misakova

Imagine you are living all alone under the water. Your only place to stay is a school-bus-sized metal tube and all your fellows are just fishes and sponges of Conch Reef, what is more than three miles off the coast of Florida. Are you scared of this idea? Then you will admire Chris Finelli, scientist who monitors these sponges and who has stayed under the surface for more than a week. But do not worry he is not actually all alone. Finelli, along with several UNCW grad students and technicians, has been living deep under water for nine days now. The Aquarius, where they are all staying, is the only seafloor laboratory and habitat in the world owned by the National Oceanic an! d Atmospheric Administration. Thanks to Aquarius, ocean researchers can conduct much longer dives than are possible from a boat. Research concentrates on giant barrel sponges – bottom-dwelling filter-feeders. They were recently revealed to be among the oldest living organisms on the planet. What is the most fascinating on them is the fact they can grow up to 20 feet (6 meters) across and live up to 2,000 years! So what are they for? All sponges, doesn’t matter how enormous or old they are, play important role in maintaining water quality. They also provide a home for diverse creatures. As sponges are leading a silent battle for supremacy against algae, the team is trying to find out who is actually winning. Although Finelli’s team discovered a huge number of young sponges, it is still not clear whether the total amount of sponge biomass is increasing or not.

related story (sgx18082): http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100826/sc_livescience/...

by Barbora Misakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

Cantell TV is the fastest growing provider of digital broadcasting coupled with telecommunications, allowing people to easily control, view, upload and share digital content through proprietary interface coupled with free phone calls. Cantell TV is committed to delivering infinite choices to your world of entertainment at the tip of your fingers.

Bacteria fighting oil spill in Mexican Gulf by Milota Sidorova

One of the most effective regulation tools in the nature is a biological food chain. Nature keeps the balance by creating exact amount of different organisms on different hierarchy layer – that way there should be a majority of organisms serving as a food supply to higher forms of life, for instance some animals depend on plants, but some predators are feeding by herbivores and some higher predators are eating lower predators. Above all there are large amounts of bacteria...What is their purpose? They decompozite, they return everything back to the start.They live on dead bodies and turn them into elements, light chemicals that can be absorbed by soil, then by plants,! then by animals and so on. This food chain will never stop until the balance of the Earth remains. Bacteria colonies invisible to our eyes, but essential prevent our planet from turning into one huge cemetery.Sometimes they can be used for different purposes – in food industry, chemical industry, medicine or another technologies.What now looks potentially interesting for American people is a bacteria recently found in Mexican Gulf. This microorganism is so precious, since it's eating oil. It appeared deep underground, living with the temperature around 5 degrees Celsius and despite fears it could create dead zones by absorbing all oxygen from the water, the difference is not that significant.Researchers at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory in Berkley California reported a new specie, closely related to members of Oceanospirallales. They detected microbe in 200 deepwater samples taken between May 25 and June 2. The microbe was increasing its amounts and living insi! de deepwater oil spills that represent the greatest danger fro! m April catastrophe.Although there is still a long way from using that microbe in oil reduction fight, it may be a great success to use easy natural way. However, scientists remain still pragmatic – for instance increased amount of bacteria of this type may be dangerous for another species and create great disbalance and change in underwater ecosystem. These changes are closely tied together and it would be just a matter of time until it would reach a man.

related story (sgx18065): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100824/ap_on_sc/us_sci_gulf_oil...

by Milota Sidorova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

Cantell TV is the fastest growing provider of digital broadcasting coupled with telecommunications, allowing people to easily control, view, upload and share digital content through proprietary interface coupled with free phone calls. Cantell TV is committed to delivering infinite choices to your world of entertainment at the tip of your fingers.

Mexický záliv: Objavila sa baktéria živiaca sa ropou by Milota Sidorova

Jedným z najúčinnejších prírodných regulačných mechanizmov je potravový reťazec. Príroda si udržuje rovnováhu tým, že vytvorí presné množstvo rôznych organizmov na rôznych hierarchických úrovniach - tak by mala byť zabezpečená ako potravová potreba, tak mnôžstvo prežívajúcich organizmov schopných vytvoriť novú generáciu potomstva. V tomto systéme väčšina organizmov slúži ako zdroj potravy pre vyššie formy života, napríklad niektoré zvierat! 5; sú závislé na rastlinách, ale niektorí dravci sa živia, bylinožravcami a niektorí vyšší dravci zasa jedia predátorov na nižšej úrovni. Nie je to systém lineárny, ale dostatočne zložitý, aby v prípade výpadku mohol okamžite a flexibilne reagovať bez straty vnútornej a vonkajšej stability. A nad tým, resp. pod tým všetkým sa nachádza obrovská skupina baktérií...Aký je ich účel? Dekompozícia, návrat prvkov späť na začiatok, späť do kolobehu. Žijú na mŕtvych telách, ktoré premieňajú na prvky, jednoduchšie chemikálie, ktoré sú spätne adsorbované v pôde, neskôr v rastlinách, tým pádom vo zvieratách a tak ďalej. Tento potravový reťazec – predpokla! d aj našej existencie na zemi sa nikdy nezastaví. K! oló nie baktérií sú pre nás síce neviditeľné a ich význam sa prakticky nedá vyčísliť – zabraňujú tomu, aby sa naša planéta premenila na jeden obrovský cintorín. Človek v priebehu histórie našiel pre baktérie rôznorodé využitie – či už v potravinárstve, chemickom priemysle, medicíne a ďalších technológiách. Jedným z posledných príkladov môže byť znova ropná katastrofa v Mexickom zálive – Vedci z Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory v Kalifornii na obrovských podvodných, ropných škvrnách objavili nový druh baktérie. Organizmus príbuzný Oceanospirallales sa živí ropou, ktorú premieňa na menej toxické splodiny. Našli ho v 200 vzorkách odobratých medzi 25. májom a 2. j&#! 250;nom tohto roku. Baktéria sa živí ropou pri teplote okolo 5 stupňov celzia. Hoci sa vedci obávali, že jej premnoženie môže rapídne znížiť obsah kyslíku vo vode a de facto vytvoriť “mŕtvu zónu” pre ostatný život, namerané rozdiely nie sú tak značné. Bežná úroveň kyslíka sa pohybuje okolo 67 percent, pričom vo vnútri ropných prúdov sa pri pôsobení baktérii znížil obsah na 59 percent. Kým však nový objav budú môcť v tomto prirodzenom boji použiť, budú musieť zistiť čo najviac vedľajších dôsledkov a technologické využitie. Ide o doteraz nový druh, ktorý pri premnožení nemusí mať predátora, ktorý by ho mohol eliminovať. Taktiež by mohol predstav! ovať nebezpečenstvo pre ostatné mikroorganizmy ! a zabera ť ich životný priestor. Nateraz je to však perfektná sila evolúcie a prírody vôbec – dokázala vytvoriť organizmus, ktorý sa živí toxickým odpadom, ktorý by človek rozkladal s použitím nepredstaviteľných finančných a energetických nákladov.

related story (sgx18066): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100824/ap_on_sc/us_sci_gulf_oil...

by Milota Sidorova for Cantell TV (http:/! /cantell.tv)

Cantell TV is the fastest growing provider of digital broadcasting coupled with telecommunications, allowing people to easily control, view, upload and share digital content through proprietary interface coupled with free phone calls. Cantell TV is committed to delivering infinite choices to your world of entertainment at the tip of your fingers.