Since I have
focused most of my research on the Red Tide algae blooms this semester, this
was an article I came across. For those of you who don’t know, The Red Tide
Algae is a toxic bloom that occurs mainly in the Gulf of Mexico, it is pretty
harmless to humans, but it is known for killing massive amounts of sea life.
What I didn’t know, is that manatees are suffering greatly from it.
Manatees are already
an endangered species. There are only 5,000 manatees in the Floridian waters
and 241 manatees have been killed because of these algae. Experts say the
numbers are surely to rise. The dino flagellate microbes that make up the red
tide live in warm waters, as do manatees, and the water in Florida is the place
for that. Even though the numbers of red algae has dissipated, the toxins from it
still live on the grasses and seaweed in the water, and manatees can eat 100
pounds of grass daily.
Scientists are
still puzzled to see why the toxin levels are so high. The brevetoxins can kill
mammals, birds, aquatic life, and there have even been cases of respiratory problems
in humans. Some think that the mild winters helped the algae live longer. “So
far this year, at least 463 manatees have died from a range of causes, more
deaths than had been recorded previously” (April 6, 2013). Most deaths tied to
poison.
This article was
shocking. I couldn’t believe how many manatees have died from the brevetoxins,
and scientists still don’t know what to about it. It contained a bunch of
information about the problem, and was very well written. I didn’t find any
information on this year’s death rates, but hopefully it has gone down, and
scientists are coming up with ideas to help stop this problem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/science/earth/algae-bloom-in-florida-kills-record-number-of-manatees.html?action=click&module=Search®ion=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry953%23%2Fred+tide+algae&_r=0
No comments:
Post a Comment