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A new study on global warming has established a connection between the fact that sea stars are so mbadive that scientists think that it could be the largest disease outbreak ever seen in humans. wild marine animals. Creatures with Starfish Loss Disease simply collapse and progress rapidly to death, often leaving … a collection of "disconnected members," say the researchers.
Scientists believe that a once insecure disease has wiped out the starfish population because of the warming of its waters. "Increasingly hot and abnormal temperatures have been shown to affect the prevalence and severity of marine infectious diseases," the study published in Science Advances reported on Thursday.
Researchers have found that starfish destruction appears to be most pronounced where water temperature is highest, for example in shallow waters near shore – although the temperature of the sea is high. water in the oceans usually increases too. The "sea heat wave" triggers a "continental-scale collapse of a pivotal predator," notes the study. Since 2013, starfish destruction disease has "caused mbadive and persistent mortality from Mexico to Alaska," says the study.
"What we are thinking is that the hot water anomalies have made these starfish more susceptible to the disease already present," Joe Gaydos, scientific director of the SeaDoc Society, told NPR. the University of California at Davis.
"Saying that the warmer water temperature can in itself get animals to contract the disease faster … is kind of a coup," added Gaydos. "It's a little scary."
The study did not determine exactly how the heat had exacerbated the disease, but only the more it seemed devastating as the temperature increased. The warmer waters are known to be more stressful for marine creatures, probably causing problems for their immune system.
Dying starfish can cause a cascading ecological collapse, as creature-dependent animals suffer in turn – and starfish-eating animals can proliferate in destructive numbers once starfish are gone.
The population of sea urchins once eaten by healthy starfish has exploded in areas without predators. Bears feed on kelp, destroying the forest ecosystems of kelp.
Posted in Daily Times, February 4th 2019.
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