ochre

"These changes occurred after the loss of adult ochre sea stars due to an epidemic of sea star wasting disease and during a three-year marine heatwave when water temperatures were extremely warm," said Zechariah Meunier, a doctoral graduate of the OSU College of Science and the lead author on the paper.

While sunflower stars have not recovered, adult ochre sea stars on rocky shores are growing in size and number to what was measured before the disease epidemic.

Mike Love is sitting in a blah-looking room in a Sheraton hotel in North Carolina, the garish pattern of his signature Hawaiian shirt popping against the ochre wallpaper behind him.

The researchers discovered traces of a mixture of ochre and bitumen on several stone tools, such as scrapers, flakes, and blades.

Ochre is a naturally occurring earth pigment; bitumen is a component of asphalt and can be produced from crude oil, but also occurs naturally in the soil.