Month: March 2026

Dr. Nathan Spindel publication in Ecological Applications

Lauren Bayne

A new study led by MLML Postdoctoral Researcher Nathan Spindel was recently published in Ecological Applications. His research focuses on red sea urchins, and many MLML graduate students are currently working with him on related projects!

Nate is especially grateful to Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and San José State University for covering the open-access publication charges, which allowed the article to be made freely available.

The paper, titled “Consumer resilience suppresses the recovery of overgrazed ecosystems,” can be read here: https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.70196.

A brief overview of the paper:

A new study led by Nathan (Nate) Spindel, published in Ecological Applications, shows that red sea urchins can endure prolonged food scarcity by lowering their metabolic demands and then rapidly resume grazing and reproduction when food becomes available. Using field observations and controlled experiments, the study found that both food quantity and quality strongly influence urchin performance. Urchins collected from adjacent kelp forests and food poor urchin barrens exhibited reciprocal physiological and dietary shifts when subjected to kelp, mixed algae, or starvation treatments. Metabolically depressed barren urchins recovered when re-fed, while kelp forest urchins depressed their metabolism under starvation. Feeding trials also validated the use of fatty acid biomarkers to reconstruct diet composition, revealing parallel reciprocal changes in assimilated nutrients. Barren urchins incorporated kelp derived fatty acids when fed algal diets, while starved kelp forest urchins increasingly assimilated biofilm biomarkers associated with bacteria and diatoms. By calibrating fatty acid biomarkers against known diets, the study provides a stronger framework for estimating wild diet composition and tracing how shifts in primary production reshape the nutritional seascape, offering a practical tool for evaluating habitat quality and guiding kelp forest restoration and management decisions."

New Funding Supports Dustin Carroll’s Modeling of Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal

Lauren Bayne

Dustin Carroll, a researcher here at MLML who leads the Ocean Modeling Lab and an affiliated scientist with San José State University, is leading new research on marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR), an emerging approach to addressing climate change. His team has recently received $150,000 in funding from Google.org, along with an additional $150,000 from the nonprofit Ocean Visions.

The project aims to identify effective and environmentally responsible ways to enhance the ocean’s natural ability to absorb human-generated carbon dioxide (CO₂). While the ocean already serves as a major carbon sink, Carroll’s research focuses on evaluating how different mCDR strategies can safely increase long-term carbon storage.

To carry out this work, Carroll and collaborators at NASA utilize advanced tools including the Pleiades supercomputer and the ECCO-Darwin ocean biogeochemistry model. These systems enable researchers to run millions of simulations to assess carbon storage potential, ecosystem impacts, and large-scale changes in ocean systems.

The team is specifically investigating methods that enhance natural ocean processes, such as increasing ocean alkalinity to accelerate CO₂ neutralization and iron fertilization, adding small amounts of iron to stimulate phytoplankton growth, which can transport carbon to the deep ocean.

Together, this research represents a growing, collaborative effort to develop ocean-based climate solutions. By combining advanced modeling, cross-institutional partnerships, and emerging technologies, scientists aim to better understand both the potential benefits and environmental risks of marine carbon dioxide removal.

This article includes a feature from Dr. Sarah Smith, MLML's Biological Oceanography lab lead, who will also be collaborating on the mCDR project.

Check it out and be sure to offer congratulations!