Coral Transplantation

Figure 1: Coral transplantation on ropes (photo available from: https://www.instructables.com/id/Transplanting-Corals/ )

All over the world coral has steadily been dying off or destroyed.  Before 1998 the waters were full of life, but after the heat wave that occurred in 1998 the coral levels have steadily been declining (Riley, 2016).  Now when snorkeling there is decreasing life and motion underwater, and decreasing wonderful sounds filling your ears from the majestic sea life, instead there’s just silence (Riley, 2016).  There are many reasons the coral is dying off.  Some of these reasons include coral mining, warming oceans, overfishing, and tourists stepping on them while snorkeling (Environmental issues with coral reefs, 2018).  Many of these reasons can be changed, just by the tourists and fisherman changing their habits; however, things like warming water temperatures and waves cannot be changed solely by a few people changing their behaviour.  So, what can be done to help this wonderous part of the sea environment?

Coral Transplantation has been around since the 1970s, however until recently the true effects of how coral transplantation can help has not been truly shown (Riley, 2016).  There are many reasons why coral transplantation may occur.  Some of these reasons include 1) replace coral that is destroyed by tourists, waves, pollution, and ships running aground 2) move coral to areas that are less frequented by tourists thus decreasing the tourists effect on the ecosystem 3) make the habitats in areas of tourism more appealing to the eye, and the sounds of sea life once again present, and 4) accelerate the corals recovery in areas that have been completely destroyed thus restructuring the ecosystem (Edwards & Clark, 1999). 

So, what is Coral transplantation?  Coral transplantation is when you take chunks of coral which are glued/attached to bits of rope or nets (Riley, 2016).  After some time, these pieces of coral start to grow into more mature and stronger coral, and they start to reproduce.  Depending on the type of coral they are they will either release larvae which will land beside them and grow, or they will release larvae which will travel throughout the water far from their “parents” (Riley, 2016).  Either way the hope is that a large percentage of new coral will grow and make a more extensive and healthier ecosystem.  Through certain studies, it has been found that in areas where the coral transplantation has occurred the number of baby corals was 6times higher then in areas that have been left alone (Riley, 2016).  When doing the transplant two major facts need to be considered.  The transplant cannot occur in areas that have poor water quality because the new coral will likely become polluted and die.  Also, depending on how the coral is attached to the rope and nets, the transplant cannot occur in areas where there is a lot of water movement, because they may be pulled off and not reproduce (Edwards & Clark, 1999). 

Figure 2: Various stages of coral transplantation (photo available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Examples-of-coral-reef-transplantation-a-Reviving-coral-reefs-in-the-Maldives_fig1_285458843 )

So, to put this information into perspective.  The great barrier reef is one of the oldest and largest coral structures around and is being greatly affected by the warming water temperatures (France-Presse, 2017).  In 2015, some scientists took larvae that they had grown and transplanted it off the coast of another part of Australia.  They returned 8months later to find very encouraging news.  They found that around the mesh where they had put the transplanted coral, there was young coral growing (France-Presse, 2017).  This was the second time this scientist had seen that coral transplantation does work to grow new coral in areas of severely degrading ecosystems (first time was by the Philippines).  The scientists found these two positive results exciting because, it means that coral transplantation could help the steadily decreasing coral population, and thus have a positivize effect on the marine ecosystem (France-Presse, 2017).

So, if coral transplantation does work to grow young coral, why is it not being used around the world currently?  The simple answer to this is studies still need to be completed to figure out how to do mass coral transplantation (France-Presse, 2017).  To help the depleting ecosystem not just one area of coral needs to be renewed, therefore it would take many years to transplant every depleting area one at a time. A way needs to be discovered that would allow for marine biologists and other ecologist to transplant large areas at one time.  Hopefully, within the near future new technology will be discovered that will allow for this to occur, but at least we now know that coral transplantation could be a possible fix for the increasing degradation of coral.              

  Figure 3: Beautiful, healthy coral ecosystem (photo available from: https://www.enca.com/technology/specially-bred-coral-transplanted-on-great-barrier-reef )

Words: 750

References:

Edwards, A. J., & Clark, S. (1999). Coral Transplantation: A Useful Management Tool or Misguided Meddling? Marine Pollution Bulletin, 37(8-12), 474-487. doi:10.1016/s0025-326x(99)00145-9

Environmental issues with coral reefs. (2019, January 16). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_with_coral_reefs

France-Presse, A. (2017). A successful coral transplant gives scientists hope for the Great Barrier Reef. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-11-26/successful-coral-transplant-gives-scientists-hope-great-barrier-reef

Riley, A. (2016). Saving a Coral Reef, One Transplant at a Time. Retrieved from https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/saving-coral-reef-one-transplant-time/

Photos:

Elawady, M.  (2001).  Figure 2.  Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Examples-of-coral-reef-transplantation-a-Reviving-coral-reefs-in-the-Maldives_fig1_285458843

Instructables. (2017, September 22). Transplanting Corals. Retrieved from https://www.instructables.com/id/Transplanting-Corals/

Specially bred coral transplanted on Great Barrier Reef. (2017, November 26). Retrieved from https://www.enca.com/technology/specially-bred-coral-transplanted-on-great-barrier-reef

 

 

What about the amphibians?

Figure 1: Frog sitting on a stick (available from: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2011/05/happy-endangered-species-day.html)

When thinking of conservation people quite often think about the mega fauna (polar bears or elephants) but what about the amphibians.  Amphibian population (frogs, toads and newts) have been progressively decreasing, with over 40% of the known species being classified as in danger of extinction (Lӧtters, 2008).  One of the main areas that is greatly affected by this decline in population of amphibians is Madagascar, with one quarter of their endemic amphibian species being threatened of extinction. 

There are two main factors that are causing this decline in population size.  The first major factor is the loss of habitat.  The other major factor that may be leading to this decline in population is the chytrid fungus, which in turn leads to chytridiomycosis (Dawson et al., 2015).  Chytridiomycosis is an emerging disease within amphibians.  This disease has affected approximately 30% of the amphibian species throughout the world, generally being fatal for any species that contracts it.  Although researchers have figured out that this fungus is causing this disease, it is hard to come up with a plan on how to stop the amphibians within the wild from contracting this disease (Chytridiomycosis, 2015).        

 

Figure 2: Spotted newt larva over top of rocks (available from: http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/kaisers-spotted-newt-larva-with-external-high-res-stock-photography/475186419)

 

So how exactly are we going to help these amphibian species?  The answer to this question may be fairly simple, zoos.  For years zoos only brought in amphibians if they looked pretty or if they were poisonous (Lӧtters, 2008).  However, since the populations have continued to decline certain zoos have taken on the load of trying to save some of these amphibians.  In fact as of 2014 6.2% of the endangered amphibian species can now be found within zoos (Dawson et al., 2015). 

So, you may be asking yourselves, why zoos?  Well there are a few main reasons (Goldman, 2016).  The first is that within a zoo setting less amphibians will contract chytridiomycosis.  Zoos are a closed environment, which is very easy to monitor which plants are growing within the habitat, and it’s very easy to remove any harmful plants.  Another reason is that, the zoo provides a habitat/shelter that the amphibians may not otherwise have. 

However, there is a problem with getting amphibians into zoos (Goldman, 2016).  Generally, the public don’t care very much about these frogs and newts, especially because a lot of the time these animals cannot be seen as their hidden within vegetation.  However, interest does seem to be increasing in these animals, as the education about the decreasing populations continues to grow.  Zoos are steadily trying to implement education programs, especially ones for young children.  These education programs will hopefully allow for children and adults to understand that the amphibian populations are decreasing, and what we can do in order to stop this steady decline.  These education programs are also causing for an increase in interest of these endangered species.

The overall goal within the next couple of years is to help 40% of the endangered amphibians (Goldman, 2016).  However, at the current pace of getting these species into zoos, this percentage will not be reached for over 20 years.  This is a large amount of time, which may lead to some endangered species becoming extinct. 

Then comes the question, what can we do in order to stop this steady decline, and how can we get these species into zoos faster before they become extinct?  At this point in time the answer is not completely clear. 

Figure 3: Frog hanging on a leaf (available from: http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/how-you-can-help-protect-endangered-frogs/)

Word: 562

Cites:

Chytridomycosis.  2015.  Wikipedia.  Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chytridiomycosis

Dawson, Jeff; Patel, Freisha; Griffiths, Richard A.; and Young, Richard P.  2015.  Assessing the global zoo response to the amphibian crisis through 20-year trends in captive collections.  Conservation Biology, 30: 82-91 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12563

Goldman, Jason G.  2016.  Can zoos save amphibians?  Available from: http://conservationmagazine.org/2016/01/can-zoos-save-amphibians/

Lӧtters, S.  2008.  Afrotropical amphibians in zoos and aquariums: will they be on the ark?  Amphibian Conservation, 42: 136-142.  DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-1090.2008.00042.x7

Photos:

Gettyimages.  2015.  Kaisers spotted newt larva with external gills.  Available from: http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/kaisers-spotted-newt-larva-with-external-high-res-stock-photography/475186419

Good news network.  2013.  How can you help protect endangered frogs.  Available from: http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/how-you-can-help-protect-endangered-frogs/

Sierra.  2011.  Today is endangered species day. Do you care?  Available from: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2011/05/happy-endangered-species-day.html

Sea Turtles

Figure 1: Sea turtle swimming through the water. (Available from: http://nsbturtles.org/)

Sea turtles are considered one of the longest living species that is known today (Defenders of Wildlife, 2016).  These turtles vary in color, and are not able to contract their front legs like most other turtles.  Sea turtles dietary needs vary, from seaweed to crabs.  Most of this food can be found in the coral reefs within the shallows.  They spend most of their life within the water, however, they reproduce on the sandy beaches.  However, these sea turtles are being severally affected to the point of being classified as critically endangered or vulnerable (World Wildlife Fund, 2016).  There are many factors that are having a major effect on the population size of many different species of sea turtle.  These factors include bycatch, disease, habitat loss, egg predation, pollution, and nutrient loss (Lucchetti et al., 2016).  However, for the sake of this blog I will be focusing on two main areas that seem to be affecting the population of sea turtles: 1) Tumors and 2) habitat loss.

Tumors

Figure 2: A sea turtle with a massive tumor growing off its face (Available from: https://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/hfs/Globals/Products/Tumors-in-Sea-Turtles-Final-PDF.pdf )

                One of the causes for the population decline in sea turtles is the disease fibropapillomatosis (Work and Balazs, 2013).  This disease is mainly detectible by the tumors that grow on the sea turtles flippers, eyes, neck, corners of their mouth, and sometimes on their internal organs.  Since these tumors grow all over the turtles bodies, they can cause great problems.  The tumors that grow within the mouth and trachea can cause many problems.  It can cause the turtle to be unable to eat, or it can close the trachea thus causing the sea turtle to aspirate.  The tumors can also cause the turtles to become blind, and generally these symptoms can lead to death.  Research is being conducted in order to see what the main cause for these tumors is. 

                Right now there are three main theories to what is causing these tumors.  The first is that environmental contaminates (such as certain types of metals) may be causing this disease; however more research is needed in order to better understand the mechanism behind this theory (Carneiro da Silva et al., 2016).  The second theory is that flatworms may be causing the tumors (Work and Balazs, 2013).  In fact research has shown that 100% of the turtles affected by fibropapillomatosis are infected by flat worms.  The last theory is that it may be a virus.  Certain research has been able to support this, by showing that when tumor free turtles are introduced to contaminated water, (contained sea turtles with tumors), they later were found to have this disease. 

                Therefore, these tumors are a major problem for sea turtles that must be dealt with.  However, lots of future research is needed in order to completely understand what is causing this disease, and what we may be able to do to help.        

Habitat loss

Figure 3: A sea turtle crawling across the beach, while tourists look on, resorts can be seen in the background showing habitat disturbance (Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwULuR9txcg)

 

                Habitat loss seems to be one of the major factors that is affecting sea turtle population sizes.  As coastal regions continue to be impacted by humans, the sea turtles have less areas to reproduce as well as less areas to find their food and dietary needs.  This destruction is caused by many factors including pollution, development (mainly of resorts and homes), fisheries, and newly introduced invasive species (Santos et al., 2011).

                In 2011 it was found that approximately 65% of sea grass areas and coral areas were destroyed (Santos et al., 2011).  These areas are the main feeding grounds for the sea turtles.  Since the sea grasses seem to be greatly affected, some research was conducted by Santos et al. to see how the decreasing availability of food affected the sea turtles.  They found that as the sea grasses were diminished, the diet of the sea turtles was also diminished, thus causing for the sea turtles to have less access to the nutrients they needed in order to stay healthy.

                Other research was done in order to see how development on the coast lines is affecting the reproduction of the sea turtles (García et al., 2015).  As more developments on the coast line and as the sea line continues to rise, there is less available beach area for turtles to reproduce.  The estimates in 2007 showed that the sea level was going to continue rising by 4.2 mm per year, until no nesting habitats of sea turtles were available.  As you can probably guess this would have adverse effects on not only the reproductive success as well as their survival overall.  Some research conducted in 2015 wanted to see how three different rises of water would affect the reproduction of the sea turtles.   It was found that a rise of 5m or more would have the greatest effect on sea turtles, by causing a loss of 54% of the beach area.    

               As it can be seen, all of these factors are having major effects on the survival and reproductive success of sea turtles.   Hopefully, as more research is conducted more ways to try and mitigate these factors will arise, thus allowing us to find ways to help the sea turtles.    

Figure 4: A sea turtle eating some sea grass (Available from: http://marinecreaturesstockphoto.com/creature-feature/ ) 

Words: 798

Citations:

Carneiro de Silva, Cinthia; Klein, Roberta Daniele; Barcarolli, Indianara Fernanda; and Bianchini, Adalto.  2016.  Metal contamination as a possible etiology of fibropopillomatosis in juvenile female green sea turtles Chelonia mydas from the southern Atlantic Ocean.  Aquatic Toxicology, 170: 42-51 DOI: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2015.11.007

García, Yuritzi Calvillo; Ramírez-Herrera, María Teresa; Delgado-Trejo, Carlos; Legorreta-Paulin, and Gabriel; and Corona, Néstor.  2015.  Modeling sea-level change, inundation scenarios, and their effect on the Colola Beach Reserve- a nesting-habitat of the black sea turtle, Michoacán, Mexico.  Geofísica Internacional, 54: 179:190 DOI: 10.1016/j.gi.2015.04.013

Lucchetti, Alessandro; Pulcinella, Jacopo; Angelini, Valeria; Pari, Sauro; Russo, Tommaso; and Cataudella, Stepfano.  2016.  An ineraction index to predict turtle bycatch in a Mediterranean bottom trawl fishery.  Ecological Indicators, 60: 557-564 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.07.007

Santos, Robson G.; Martins, Agnaldo Silva; Farias, Julyana da Nobrega; Horta, Paulo Antunes; Pinheiro, Hudson Tercio; Torezani, Evelise; Baptistotte Cecília; Seminoff, Jeffrey A.; Balazs, George H.; and Work, Thierry M.  2011.  Coastal habitat degradation and green sea turtle diets in Southeastern Brazil.  Marine Pollution Bulletin, 62: 1297-1302 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.03.004

Work, Thierry; and Balazs, George H.  2013.  Tumors in Sea Turtles, The insidious menace of Fibropapillomatosis.  Health and Disease, 44-47

World Wildlife fund. [Internet] 2016.  Green Turtle. [Cited March 7, 2016]  Available from: http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/green-turtle

Photos:

Endangered sea turtles return to New Smyrna Beach from May through September after a long migration in the Atlantic Ocean.  NSB Turtle Trackers Available from: http://nsbturtles.org/

January 2015 Creature Feature The Endangered Green Sea Turtle.  Creature feature this month.  Available from: http://marinecreaturesstockphoto.com/creature-feature/

Cancun sea turtle going back to the beach after laying 98 eggs.  Screenshot from Youtube.  Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwULuR9txcg

 

Bear Bile Trade

Figure 1: Asiatic Black Bear, which is the bear most affected by the bear bile trade. http://beartrust.org/asiatic-black-bear

Many different bear species populations are continually declining due to a variety of reasons such as habitat loss and nuisances kills (Traditional Medicine Trade, 1983).  However, one of the main reasons for this decline in bear populations is the hunting and killing of bears in order to extract their gall bladders (Cima, 2015).  Gall bladder is an organ that is connected to the liver and produces bile.  Bile is a substance which helps in digestion, and in bears it contains high amounts of urosdeoxycholic acid which helps break down cholesterol and does not allow for cholesterol to be absorbed.  For these reasons, bile is often used for medicinal reasons.  These reasons include helping with liver disease, epilepsy (Dutton et al., 2011) digestive problems and inflammation (Traditional Medicine Trade, 1983). 

It has been found that many of the known bear species (6 of the 8 bear species) are being affected by this trade (Dutton et al., 2011).  This includes American black bears, sloth bears, sun bears, and the bear that is currently the most affected is the Asiatic black bear.  All of these bears are considered threatened species (Handwerk, 2009).

The selling of bear bile generally occurs on the black market, so the trade of these products is hard to quantify and track (Traditional Medicine Trade, 1983).  Depending where the gall bladders are sold, dictates how much you get.  In the United States gall bladders are sold for about $15, however in Japan bear bile costs more than the cost of gold (Cima, 2015).  Therefore, if a poacher sells the bear bile in Japan they can get up to $153 per pound of bear bile.  Generally, the larger the gall bladder, the more money the poachers are able to get.

Figure 2: A graph showing the price per gram of bear bile compared to the price per pound for gold in Japan. http://priceonomics.com/why-is-bear-bile-so-expensive/ 

For a long while, the only way to collect this bile was for the bears to be hunted and killed outright.  However, in the 1980s certain farms were opened in order to extract bear bile without having to kill the bears (Malcolm et al., 2013).  In 2010 there was 97 farms in China alone.  Many of these farms have very poor living conditions for the bears, and many of the methods to extract the bile is very cruel and gross.

There are around 54 alternative substances that can be used for the same medicinal purposes as bear bile (Traditional Medicine Trade, 1983).  Some of these substances are rhubarb and gardenia, as well synthesized ursodeoxycholic acid from cattle.     

However, even with these alternatives, people still prefer wild bear bile.  Recent research by Dutton et al. was conducted to see which people prefer wild bear bile or farmed bear bile.  From their research it was found that many people have a preference for wild bear bile, and will in fact pay more for this bile.  Within the questionnaire that was conducted there were two main reasons why people chose the wild bile over the farmed bile.  First reason is that they “trust more expensive medicines”.  The second reason was that doctors (practitioners) seem to prescribe wild bear bile over the farmed or synthetic kind. 

Finally, poachers are continuing to trap and sell bear gall bladders, even with these farms in place.  In fact in 2015 Yunhee Kim was found guilty in multiple accounts of the trafficking of bear gall bladders (CBC News, 2015).  He was found trafficking these bear gall bladders in Merritt and Coquitlam.  Therefore, even though Asia seems to be the main problem for these bears, the trafficking is also occurring a little closer to home.

There is a few things we can do to try and help out these bears.  First thing is to educate practitioners and the general public about the alternatives to bear bile.  The other is to continue to investigate these farms further and see what good they may be doing.

Words: 634

Citations:
Asiatic Black Bear. [Internet] Bear Trust International. [Cited February 23, 2016]  Available from: http://beartrust.org/asiatic-black-bear

CBC News.  [Internet] 2015.  Bear parts trafficker pleads guilty to dealing in gall baldders, paws.  [Cited February 23, 2016] Available from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bear-parts-trafficking-paws-gall-bladders-dealing-burnaby-coquitlam-merritt-1.3323157

Cima, Rosie.  [Internet] 2015.  Why is bear bile so expensive?  Priceonomics.  [Cited February 23, 2016]  Available from: http://priceonomics.com/why-is-bear-bile-so-expensive/

Dutton, Adam J.; Hepburn, Cameron; and Macdonald, David W.  [Internet] 2011.  A stated preference investigation into the Chinese demand for farmed vs. wild bear bile.  PLoS One, 6: 1-10 [Cited February 23, 2016] DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021243

Handwerk, Brian.  [Internet] 2009.  U.S. bear gallbladders gold on black market.  National Geographic News.  [Cited February 23, 2016]  Available from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090811-bear-parts-trade.html

Malcolm, K.D.; McShea, W.J.; Van Deelen, T.R.; Bacon, H.J.; Liu, F.; Putman, S.; Zhu, X.; and Brown, J.L. [Internet]  2013.  Analyses of fecal and hair glucocorticoids to evaluate short- and long-term stress and recovery of Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) removed from bile farms in China.  General and Comparative Endocrinology, 185: 97-106 [Cited February 23, 2016] DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2013.01.014

Traditional Medicine Trade.  [Internet]  Endangered Species Handbook.  [Cited February 23, 2016] Available from: http://www.endangeredspecieshandbook.org/trade_traditional_bears.php

Bluefin Tuna

Figure 1: Bluefin Tuna, jumping through the water. (Photo Source: http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/bluefin-tuna)

 

Bluefin Tuna are one of the largest vertebrates and can currently be found on the endangered species list.  They can live to be 40 years old, and can grow to be 1000 lbs (Walsh, 2013).  In the wild Bluefin Tuna are the top of their food chain, with almost no predators (except humans).  Generally these tuna are split into two categories, the eastern and the western Bluefin Tuna.      

The main reason for the Bluefin Tuna being on the endangered species list is because of overfishing.  There are a few reasons why the Bluefin Tuna is so sought after.  First, is the fact that the tuna is so large.  Second is the fact that the tuna is a very tasty fish, which many people look for and order at restaurants.  Finally there is the fact that the Bluefin Tuna goes for a lot of money, mainly being bought by sushi restaurants.  This tuna generally goes for about $15000, however the most expensive fish in 2013 was $1.76 million.  This large amount of money for each fish, causes for there to be greater incentive for fisherman to go out and catch them. 

Certain reports in 2013 showed that the population of Bluefin Tuna had decreased by nearly 96%.  Even though this number has increased slightly since then, the population of Bluefin Tuna is still only at about 50% of its past population number from 1970 (CBC News, 2014).  This major decline occurred before a quota was put into place.  However, this quota has been hard to calculate due to little data on the migration and movement patterns of the Bluefin Tuna (World Wildlife Fund). 

A study done by Cosgrove et al. in 2014 tried to get better information on the movement patterns of the tuna, and thus help the government produce a better fishing quota.  Within this research they tagged certain tuna, and followed their movements and recorded the data they collected.  The research found that the tuna dove to different depths at different times of the year.  These depths were consistent with all of the tuna who were tagged.  Knowing the depth at which the tuna will be at certain times of the year would allow for researchers to be able to accurately calculate the population of the Bluefin, and thus allow them to accurately calculate a quota.           

There is a few considerations that must be taken by the government in order for the quota to work, and for the recovery of the Bluefin Tuna.  First, they must consider the Bluefin “ranches” (Heffernan, 2014).  These are certain tuna farms, which raise Bluefin Tuna until they have become fattened, by nearly 20%.  Generally the tuna that are taken and placed into these farms are very young, immature tuna.  This affects the reproductive success of the tuna by removing the ones which are able to reproduce and pass on their genes.  The next consideration that must be taken into account is illegal fishing.  Within the fishing quota every place has their own percentage of the quota they can catch legally (Figure 2).  Most of the tuna that are caught are not reported and thus are not considered when looking at what the current quota should be.  There is also the idea among fisherman to declare a lie (say you only brought in the quota) even if you brought in more. This would allow for the fisherman to continue fishing, thus making more money.  The last consideration is the Bluefin tuna’s migration pattern.  Through recent satellite studies it has been found that both western and eastern Bluefin Tuna migrate within the same area (Safina and Klinger, 2008).  However, when caught they are not counted as two separate entities even though there are two different quotas (one for the western tuna and one for the eastern tuna).  This is mostly an important consideration when it comes to the western tuna.  Since this is the more endangered tuna, if they are caught on the eastern side (and counted toward the eastern side) then the western population will decline whether the fisherman follow the quota or not.     

Figure 2: The quotas for different countries in 2013. (Photo Source:http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/science/article/pii/S0308597X14001444?)

 

I believe that future research is needed in order to make sure the recovery of the Bluefin Tuna continue.  Research is needed in order to better understand the migration patterns of these tuna, as well as the government taking into consideration illegal fishing and tuna “ranches” when making up the fishing quotas. 

Word:   730

Citations:

Cosgrove, Ronan; Arregui, Igor; Arrizabalaga, Haritz; Goni, Nicolas; and Sheridan, Michael.  [Internet]  2014.  New insights to behavior of North Atlantic albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) observed with pop-up satellite archival tags.  Fisheries Research, 150: 89-99  [Cited February 3, 2016]  Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165783613002403? DOI: 10.1016/j.fishres.2013.10.013

Heffernan, Joseph Paul.  [Internet]  2014.  Dealing with Mediterranean Bluefin tuna: A study in international environmental management.  Marine Policy, 50: 81-88 [Cited February 3, 2016] Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/science/article/pii/S0308597X14001444?  DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2014.05.014

Safina, Carl; and Klinger, Dane H.  [Internet]  2008.  Collapse of Bluefin Tuna in the Western Atlantic.  Conservation Biology, 22: 243-246 [Cited February 3, 2016]  DOI: 10.111/j.1523-1739.2008.00901

CBC News.  [Internet]  Bluefin tuna catch limits increased to 2,000 tonnes for 2015.  [Cited February 3, 2016]  Available from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/bluefin-tuna-catch-limits-increased-to-2-000-tonnes-for-2015-1.2837862

Walsh, Bryan.  [Internet]  2013.  The Pacific Bluefin Tuna is Going, Going…  [Cited February 3, 2016]  Available from: http://science.time.com/2013/01/11/the-pacific-bluefin-tuna-is-almost-gone/

World Wildlife Fund.  [Internet]  Bluefin Tuna.  [Cited February 3, 2016]  Available from: http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/bluefin-tuna

Ocean Acidification

 

Figure 1: The PH of the ocean (past, present and future), and how this PH change will affect the oceans ecosystem (Photo source: http://www.globalwarmingsparks.com/386/global-warmings-equally-evil-twin/)

Ocean acidification is becoming an increasing problem as more CO₂ enters into the atmosphere.  The ocean absorbs about one third of the CO₂ from the atmosphere.  For a long period of time the amount of CO₂ absorbed by the oceans stayed fairly stable.  However, as humans continue to allow more CO₂ to enter the atmosphere, the ocean continues to absorb more and more of this available CO₂.

This increase in CO₂ concentration leads to a decrease in the PH of the water (acidity increase, moving towards 7 on a PH scale).  This is a progressive change that occurs, and is known as ocean acidification. This change affects many different organisms which range from copepods to much larger organisms (such as ones that need calcium carbonate to build their shells), in all different levels of development.  This change in PH is causes for a change in concentrations of certain chemicals in the water.  These chemical changes are an increase in the concentration of hydrogen ions, and a decrease in the concentration of carbonate ions.  These changes can have major effects on many organisms.  The two major effects to organisms are the inability to form shells by shell forming organisms, as well as the life cycles and reproductive success of many marine organisms may be altered.

Ocean acidification is seeming to have a major influence on the organisms that need to use calcium carbonate to build their shells (Kerr, 2010).  There are two different ways that the calcium carbonate in the water is being depleted due to the change in PH (and thus the change in hydrogen ion concentration).  First is that as the hydrogen ion concentration gets higher, the calcium carbonate produced by these organisms begins to dissolve.  The second problem is that the increased hydrogen ion concentration will combine with the free calcium carbonate in order to form bicarbonate.  From this reaction all of the free calcium carbonate in the water is used up and is not replenished.  Without this calcium carbonate being available the organisms are unable secrete or collect enough calcium carbonate in order to produce their shells.

Figure 2: Example of a copepod that may be affected by ocean acidification (Photo source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Copepodkils.jpg)

Although large organisms can be affected by the PH change, organisms that are lower down on the food chain (such as copepods) can also be affected.  All life stages of the copepods are affected by the increasing concentration of CO₂ in the water (Cripps et al., 2014).  However, the larval stage of the copepods are most affected.  At this stage in their life cycle, they are unable to adapt to the increasing concentration of CO₂.  There is also a drastic negative effect on reproduction in copepods.  There is a very clear trend that shows as the concentration of CO₂ increases the reproductive success decreases.  This lack of survival in the larval stages of the life cycle and the poor reproductive success leads for there to be less copepods surviving.

As it can be seen, many different organisms are affected by the decreasing PH (ocean acidification).  This includes the organisms that are on the bottom of the food chain (such as the cephalopods and zooplankton).  As the ocean acidification continues, the amount of these organisms will continue to decrease.  This will have dire effects on the marine food web in general, as there will not be enough food for the organisms above the bottom level to eat. 

These dire effects leads this to be a conservation issue.  Further research needs to be done to completely understand the effects of ocean acidification.  Research needs to be done in order to understand which species is effected the most.  Research also needs to be done in order to understand whether any marine species are able to adapt to the new conditions.  Finally, research needs to be conducted in order to understand whether these chemical conditions of the water can be changed back with time.

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Literature Cited:

Cripps, Gemma; Lindeque, Penelope; and Flynn, Kevin J.  [Internet]  Have we been underestimating the effects of ocean acidification in zooplankton.  Global Change Biology, 20: 3377-3385 [Cited January 20,2016]  Available from: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=38741adc-4f79-41a5-8a69-06a2a6089e24%40sessionmgr114&hid=127 DOI: 10.111/gcb.12582

Kerr, Richard A. [Internet] 2010.  Ocean acidification unprecedented, unsettling.  Science, 328: 1500-1501 [Cited January 20, 2016] Available from: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/328/5985/1500.summary DOI: 10.1126/science.328.5985.1500

National Geographic.  [Internet] Ocean Acidification.  [Cited January 20, 2016]  Available from: http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/explore/pristine-seas/critical-issues-ocean-acidification/ 

Photos From:

Figure 1: Ocean Acidification, "...global warming's equally evil twin..." [Internet] Available from: http://www.globalwarmingsparks.com/386/global-warmings-equally-evil-twin/

Figure 2: File: Copepodkills.jpg [Internet] Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Copepodkils.jpg