The Ecosystems Center
"The Ecosystems Center was founded four decades ago to investigate the structure and functioning of ecological systems and to predict their response to changing environmental conditions. At that time the changing global carbon cycle was just becoming recognized as an urgent environmental issue and became one of the focal points for research at the Center."
--Anne Giblin, Ecosystems Center Director
In the News
Five New Faculty to Arrive, Expanding MBL’s Resident Science Program
The MBL is growing. Three new scientists are joining the Ecosystems Center over the next year, and two more will join the Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Heat-loving microbes recycle organic carbon in the seafloor | Microbiology
It is cold in the depths of the world’s oceans; most of the seafloor and overlaying water is a chilly 4 °C. However, this is not so at the seafloor of Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California. There, the Baja California peninsula is separating from North America, and heat from Earth’s interior...
Slow Research to Understand Fast Change | Ecological Society of America
In a world that’s changing fast, the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network can seem almost an anachronism. Yet the patience and persistence that have generated 40 years of careful, reliable science about the Earth’s changing ecosystems may prove to be just what’s needed in this rapidly...
Crabby New Neighbors: Climate Change in the Plum Island Ecosystem | The Well
A changing climate means changing habitats. For the Plum Island ecosystem north of Boston, it means some new, unexpected residents have moved into the marsh.
Salt Marshes Trap Microplastics in their Sediments, Creating Record of Human Plastic Use | The Well
Plastics are everywhere. From cell phones to pens and cars to medical devices, the modern world is full of plastic— and plastic waste. New research from scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) Ecosystems Center found that some of that plastic waste has been accumulating in salt...