Big break in dolphin die-off: It's an 'outbreak' of measles-like virus

[BlueGin]

Apparently they have found out what has been killing some of the dolphins washing ashore. Kind of interesting since we have been hearing of measles outbreaks in humans recently also.

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Genetic tests have confirmed that an outbreak of a measles-like virus known as morbillivirus is playing a major role in the massive dolphin die-off on the Mid-Atlantic coast.

This is the second big strike for the virus, which was the chief agent behind a wave of infections that struck bottlenose dolphins between June 1987 and March 1988, killing more than 700 animals before retreating into the blue.

"We are now calling it a morbillivirus outbreak," Teri Rowles of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program said during a telephone press briefing on Tuesday. As of Monday, 333 animals have died on coasts between New York and North Carolina.

Among 33 dolphins tested this summer, 32 dolphins have turned up with a suspected or confirmed case of the virus, Rowles said. Additional genome sequencing tests have confirmed that the cetacean morbillivirus was present in 11 animals.

Big break in dolphin die-off: It's an 'outbreak' of measles-like virus - NBC News.com

 

[waltky]

Massive sea star die-off...

Sea star death triggers damaging ecological domino effect
June 23, 2016 - "Howe Sound lost nearly 90 percent of its sunflower stars in a matter of weeks," said researcher Jessica Schultz.

Researchers are just now understanding the ecological consequences of the massive 2013 die-off of sea stars along North America's Pacific Coast, and the findings aren't good. The loss of sea stars along the West Coast as a result of wasting disease was one of the largest die-offs in recent decades. A new study by marine scientists at Simon Fraser University suggests the mortality event had an ecological domino effect, affecting biodiversity and abundance in local ecosystems.

Scientists specifically looked at the decline of sunflower sea stars in Howe Sound, a series of interconnected fjords connected to the Strait of Georgia just northwest of Vancouver, British Colombia. "Howe Sound lost nearly 90 percent of its sunflower stars in a matter of weeks," Jessica Schultz, a grad student at SFU and Vancouver Aquarium's Howe Sound research program manager, said in a news release.

Underwater surveys showed that the population of sea urchins, a favorite food of sunflower stars, quadrupled in the two years following the die-off. As a result, kelp, a favorite food of sea urchins, declined by 80 percent. "This is a very clear example of a trophic cascade, which is an ecological domino effect triggered by changes at the end of a food chain," said Isabelle Côté, a marine ecologist at SFU. Researchers expect the domino effect to remain apparent, with sea urchin populations growing and kelp volume declining, until sunflower stars make a comeback.

Sea star death triggers damaging ecological domino effect

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Fish have adapted to dry land more often in history than previously thought
June 22, 2016 -- When fish that can travel across dry land and exist outside of water for more than a few moments are discovered, they're usually presented as a rare phenomenon.

While they're in the minority, especially among modern fish species, new research suggest such fish are more common than previously thought. When looking at evolutionary history more broadly, fish adapted to dry land aren't all that exceptional. "Amphibious behavior has evolved repeatedly in a wide diversity of present day fish, and the move onto land does not appear to be as difficult as has been presumed," researcher Terry Ord, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of New South Wales, explained in a news release.

Ord and his UNSW colleague Georgina Cooke analyzed the evolutionary relationships between fish species with out-of-water adaptations, and also looked at the ecological and evolutionary conditions that might inspire fish to move from water to land. The pair identified 33 fish families with at least one species that showcases amphibious tendencies. They published their findings in the journal Evolution. "These forays onto land have occurred in fish that live in different climates, eat different diets and live in range of aquatic environments, from freshwater rivers to the ocean," atted Ord. "While many species only spend a short time out of water, others, like mudskippers and some eels can last for hours or days."

The new study also documents a unique group of intertidal fish called blennies, which includes several species that hop around on land full-time as adults, staying within the vicinity of crashing waves and hiding in the crevices of wet rocks at low tide. "In this one family of fish alone, an amphibious lifestyle appears to have evolved repeatedly, between three and seven times," added Ord.

Though the movement of several species from sea to land is thought to have given rise to all land vertebrates, scientists have presented the transition as rare -- citing the challenge of breathing, moving and mating on land as too great of a barrier. The latest findings suggest these challenges aren't all that problematic. "The real difficulty in developing a fully-fledged terrestrial lifestyle may be in preventing drying out," Ord said. "This has direct consequences for them breathing on land because they still require their gills, which need to stay moist to function properly."

Fish have adapted to dry land more often in history than previously thought