TOP STORIES
World's Largest Dead Zone Suffocating Sea
. . . But there is a new danger to the eagle and many other marine species: An explosion of microscopic algae called phytoplankton has inundated the Baltic's sensitive waters, sucking up oxygen and choking aquatic life.
Though a natural phenomenon at a smaller scale, these blooms have recently mushroomed at an alarming rate, fed by nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers and sewage. When it rains, farm fertilizers are washed into the sea. Sewage-treatment facilities also discharge waste into the Baltic ecosystem.
As a result, the Baltic is now home to seven of the of the world's ten largest marine "dead zones"—areas where the sea's oxygen has been used up by seabed bacteria that decompose the raining mass of dead algae.
05 Mar 2010
J Owen
Photo credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA
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Growing low-oxygen zones in oceans worry scientists
Popular Nanoparticle Causes Toxicity in Fish, Study Shows
A nanoparticle growing in popularity as a bactericidal agent has been shown to be toxic to fish, according to a Purdue University study.
Tested on fathead minnows -- an organism often used to test the effects of toxicity on aquatic life -- nanosilver suspended in solution proved toxic and even lethal to the minnows.
When the nanosilver was allowed to settle, the solution became several times less toxic but still caused malformations in the minnows.
05 Mar 2010
Cited Journal Article
The effects of silver nanoparticles on fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) embryos. Ecotoxicology. 2009 Sep 02; 19(1): 185-195.
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Road Salt is Affecting Aquatic Life And Drinking Water Across North America
Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center UpdatedUSGS and a network of partners across the country work on documenting wildlife mortality events in order to provide timely and accurate information on locations, species and causes of death. This information was updated on March 08, 2010 on the USGS National Wildlife Health Center web page, New and Ongoing Wildlife Mortality Events Nationwide. Quarterly Mortality Reports are also available from this page. These reports go back to 1995.
08 March 2010
Area: United States
>>>Updated Wildlife Mortality Event Table
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo credit: Pierre De Wit
New Species Discovered on the Great Barrier Reef- Bonobos opt to share their food
- Humans driving extinction faster than species can evolve, say experts
- Warming Coastal Water, Thinning Marine Populations: Tracking of 2010 El Niño Reveals Marine Life Reductions
WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Browse complete Digest publication library here.
Prevalence of the pathogenic chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, in an endangered population of northern leopard frogs, Rana pipiensBMC Ecol. 2010 Mar 4;10(1):6. [Epub ahead of print][free full-text available]
MJ Voordouw et al.
Avian influenza virus monitoring in wintering waterbirds in Iran, 2003-2007
Virol J. 2010 Feb 19;7(1):43. [Epub ahead of print][free full-text available]
SR Fereidouni et al.
Biochemistry. What makes a prion infectious?
Science. 2010 Feb 26;327(5969):1091-2.
S Supattapone
Generating a prion with bacterially expressed recombinant prion protein
Science. 2010 Feb 26;327(5969):1132-5. Epub 2010 Jan 28.
F Wang et al.
Darwinian evolution of prions in cell culture
Science. 2010 Feb 12;327(5967):869-72. Epub 2009 Dec 31.
J Li
Surveillance for west nile virus in american white pelicans, montana, USA, 2006-2007
Emerg Infect Dis. 2010 Mar;16(3):406-11. [free full-text available]
G Johnson et al.
