Sunday, May 15, 2016

Warmer temperatures increase mortality from sea star wasting disease

In this article a recent phenomena was discussed in which, sea stars have begun to perish at the hands of a virus called sea star wasting disease. Certain populations started exhibiting symptoms of decreased appetite, lesions, uncharacteristic arm twisting, arm loss, and eventually death. The reason that these recent outbreaks of the virus are so curious is because the virus can be found in samples of sea stars dating back at least 72 years. This raises the question of what has recently changed in the life of these sea stars that has made them ill equipped to fend of the virus that has otherwise been harmless in the past. A hypothesis was formed which stated that the reason for the outbreaks was rising water temperatures. Outbreaks in the past were studied and warm water seemed to be a common factor. This hypothesis was tested by taking star fishes from their natural habitats and putting them in either warm or cool tanks. It was observed that those who were placed in the colder tanks displayed a greater ability to fend off the virus but they eventually did succumb at a slower rate. 

While sea stars may not play an integral part our ecosystem, they are very important in their own. If water temperatures continue to rise as they have been then there are bound to be detrimental effects to reef environments amongst others. The question also arises of how often scenarios similar to this one will occur in other animals if the ever warming environment is not counteracted? How many other species will be affected and possibly be eradicated?

The article was very effective at explaining the experiment. The trial and error was described in depth along with the conclusions that were drawn from the results but there was a certain lack of background. There was no description of the nature of the virus or what the discoveries mean for the future. The article concluded that sea stars in cold water survived better but I would have liked to have known what that meant. What about the virus makes it unfit to survive in the cold and how can we use that information to stop the outbreaks?

Blair, Austen. "Wasting Away in Virus-ville." Oceanbites. Oceanbites, 12 May 2016. Web. 15 May 2016.
http://oceanbites.org/wasting-away-in-virus-ville/ 

1 comment:

  1. Great review Michael! You gave a good summary-- it was cohesive and easy to understand, while also giving all the important information and covering all the points of the article. Additionally, your explanations were well written. I really understood the problem by the questions that this new discovery raises regarding the future of sea stars and their ecosystems.

    Although your review was extremely strong, to make it even stronger I would add a quote from a scientist. Getting an expert’s opinion on a topic is always a good idea because it increases the credibility of the reviewer.

    The most interesting thing to me in this article was the fact that it made me think about the effect that sea stars dying would have on their ecosystem. It is something that had never occurred to me and is fascinating to think about.


    Blair, Austen. "Wasting Away in Virus-ville." Oceanbites. Oceanbites, 12 May 2016. Web. 15 May 2016. http://oceanbites.org/wasting-away-in-virus-ville/

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