Download Climate Change: Its Effects on Healthy Aquatic and Marine Wildlife

Climate Change: Its Effects
on Healthy Aquatic and
Marine Wildlife Populations
Leslie A. Dierauf, VMD
U.S. Geological Survey
National Wildlife Health Center
Institute of Medicine
December 4. 2007
Washington, DC
…Advancing Wildlife and
Ecosystem Health
Climate Change Affects
Plants & Animals
Common Overlap
of Effects/Impacts
Climate
Change
Plants
Animals
2
Expected Changes In Deep Water
Oceans with Climate Change
1. Increased Wave Intensity
2. Increased Nutrient Turnover
3. Changes in Nutrients
4. Changes in the Food Web
Elements of the Marine Food Web
4
Animal Responses to Climate
Change (esp. ▲temperature)
Changes in range (shift poleward, up in elevation)
Changes in abundance (▲or ▼ in numbers)
Changes in phenology (timing of an event)
Changes in morphology
Changes in physiology
Changes in community composition
Changes in animal behavior
Examining Affected Elements –
Freshwater to Intertidal to Marine
Great Lakes
Gulf of Mexico
7
What Might Flow from Freshwater
to Marine Ecosystems?
• Invasive Species
• Viruses
• Parasites
• Fungi
• Watermolds
• Perkinsus-Like Organisms
• Bacteria
8
Katrina and Potential Release
Nile Tilapia in Mississippi
Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (sometimes Tilapia nilotica)
Native range: Widely distributed in tropical Africa, Middle East.
Used extensively in aquaculture world-wide.
9
Pam Schofield – FISC-Gainesville
Photos of
damaged
aquaculture facility
on Mississippi
coast.
In October 2006 we treated
ponds at the damaged
aquaculture facility with
rotenone.
Flooding from Hurricane
Katrina was about 30 ft at
this site.
>10,000 individual
fishes were
collected, the
majority of which
were Nile tilapia.
10
Ranaviruses
Viral Infections
infected
normal
Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia
(VHS) rhabdovirus
Tiger salamander
11
What Else Besides Viruses Might
Flow from Freshwater to Marine
Ecosystems?
infected
healthy
Leyogonimus polyoon
Lake Onalaska, WI
Bothriocephalus acheilognathi
Colorado River, AZ
12
Chytridiomycosis
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
Harlequin frog (Panama)
Chiricahua leopard frog (New Mexico)
Mountain yellow-leg frog (California)
Karl’s robber frog (Puerto Rico)
Extinct
Electron Micrograph of sporangia
13
What Else Might Flow from
Freshwater to Marine
Ecosystems?
Watermolds
14
Perkinsus-like Organism in Frogs
Definition: A severe
systemic fatal infection
of ranid tadpoles
Agent: Spherical protozoa
molecularly related to
the oyster disease
agent, Perkinsus
Wood frog
(Rana
sylvatica)
tadpole with
massively
enlarged
yellow liver
15
Examining Affected Elements –
Freshwater to Intertidal to Marine
Consequences of Hurricane-Induced
Fragmentation of Mangrove Forests
on Habitat and Fish
Big
Big Sable
Sable Creek
Creek complex,
complex, SW
SW Florida
Florida
Carole McIvor, Noah Silverman – USGS FISC-St. Petersburg
and Victor Levesque – USGS FISC-Tampa
17
Species in intertidal waters whose population numbers
may improve with mangrove habitat restoration
18
Bill Loftus – USGS FISC-Fort Lauderdale
Diseases of Shellfish in
Nearshore Areas
Presence of the pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus
can be predicted per gram of oyster meat based on
remotely sensed data collected by satellites such
as sea surface temperature
(high levels shown in red).
Photo credit: J. Grimes
19
And What About Marine Species
in Intertidal Areas That Eat
Shellfish?
20
And How About Anadromous Fish
that Must Travel from Marine to
Freshwater Habitats to Spawn?
21
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)
The Terra and Aqua
Earth observing
satellites acquire
data on ocean
chlorophyll
fluorescence.
Anomalies in ocean
chlorophyll
fluorescence are
used in the
detection of HABs.
This MODIS image
from July 8, 2005,
shows a potential
harmful bloom in the
Baltic Sea.
Photo credit: NASA
22
HABs in
Nearshore Areas
Many species of algae are responsible for
producing harmful algal bloom toxins.
Photo credit: With permission from TOS and source:
http://dinos.anesc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Jpeg/index.htm
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Examining These Elements –
Freshwater to Intertidal to Marine
Global Climate Change and
Coral Reefs
Changes in ocean carbonate
chemistry resulting from
increases in atmospheric
carbon dioxide levels are
making it harder for marine
organisms to calcify.
26
Ilsa Kuffner – USGS FISC-St. Petersburg
This 9-month experiment showed that corals did not acclimate
to lower saturation states, and crustose algal growth was
drastically inhibited at pCO2 levels
predicted for the year 2100.
treatment
control
27
Ilsa Kuffner – FISC-St. Petersburg
Effects on Coral Reef Communities
sea grass beds
and people
snowy grouper
conger eel
rare raggedtooth shark
Ken Sulak – USGS FISC-Gainesville
Plankton and Baleen Whales
29
Climate Change Effects on Penguins
in the Antarctic
30
Climate Change Effects on Petrels
in the Antarctic
31
Climate Change Effects on Seals
Weddell Seals and Pups
Antarctica
32
Arctic Sea Ice Changes 1981-2007
Keep your eye
on the dark
blue (warmer
waters) just
offshore of the
North Slope of
AK and the
reduction in the
necessary older
thicker ice
(shown in red)
Extreme and Variable- month by month changes
From the National Snow and Ice Data Center
33
August Arctic Ice Loss 1978-2007
34
The Effects of Climate Change on
Walrus
35
Walrus Life History –
Highly Dependent on Sea Ice
Long lived – up to 30 yrs
Low reproductive rates
Reproductive interval = 2+ yrs
Breeds and gives birth on the
sea ice
• Forages almost exclusively
on clams on the sea floor
• Top predator of the ocean
floor (benthic) food chain
•
•
•
•
36
Pacific walrus
Winter
Ice Edge
Breeding Aggregations
37
Pacific walrus
Autumn
Ice Edge
Females
Ice Haulouts
Males
Land Haulouts
38
Females with calves on beaches
39
A. Kochnev
And finally… The Effects of
Climate Change on Polar Bears
40
Polar Bear Life History – also
Highly Dependent on Sea Ice
Long lived – up to 30 yrs
Low reproductive rates
Reproductive interval= 3 yrs
Give birth in maternity dens
on land and on sea ice
• Forage almost exclusively
from sea ice on seals
• Top of the food web predator
•
•
•
•
41
Findings Related to Polar Bears
§ Sea ice breakup is 3 wks earlier & retreats more offshore
§ Declines in polar bear body condition recorded
§ Reduced survival rate of young polar bears
§ 22% decline in PB population between 1987 and 2004
§ Proportion of polar bear dens on sea ice in Beaufort Sea
has declined
42
What Does All This Mean?
• We still have much to discover about the effects of
climate change on aquatic and marine wildlife/health
• Wildlife health specialists, resource managers, and
climatologists will need to better collaborate on
monitoring, modeling and research efforts
• Adaptive management efforts will play a large role
• This presentation’s intent was to get you to start
thinking about interconnections between freshwater,
oceans, wildlife health and climate change
• It is the new generation of scientists who
will lead this new realm of discovery