Marine Mammals as Sentinel Species for Oceans and Human Health
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TLDR
The long-term consequences of climate change and potential environmental degradation are likely to include aspects of disease emergence in marine plants and animals, and the concept of marine sentinel organisms provides one approach to evaluating aquatic ecosystem health.Abstract:
The long-term consequences of climate change and potential environmental degradation are likely to include aspects of disease emergence in marine plants and animals. In turn, these emerging diseases may have epizootic potential, zoonotic implications, and a complex pathogenesis involving other cofactors such as anthropogenic contaminant burden, genetics, and immunologic dysfunction. The concept of marine sentinel organisms provides one approach to evaluating aquatic ecosystem health. Such sentinels are barometers for current or potential negative impacts on individual- and population-level animal health. In turn, using marine sentinels permits better characterization and management of impacts that ultimately affect animal and human health associated with the oceans. Marine mammals are prime sentinel species because many species have long life spans, are long-term coastal residents, feed at a high trophic level, and have unique fat stores that can serve as depots for anthropogenic toxins. Marine mammals may be exposed to environmental stressors such as chemical pollutants, harmful algal biotoxins, and emerging or resurging pathogens. Since many marine mammal species share the coastal environment with humans and consume the same food, they also may serve as effective sentinels for public health problems. Finally, marine mammals are charismatic megafauna that typically stimulate an exaggerated human behavioral response and are thus more likely to be observed.read more
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Using Domestic and Free-Ranging Arctic Canid Models for Environmental Molecular Toxicology Research
John R. Harley,Theo K. Bammler,Federico M. Farin,Richard P. Beyer,Terrance J. Kavanagh,Kriya L. Dunlap,Katrina K. Knott,Gina M. Ylitalo,Todd M. O'Hara +8 more
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Maternal transfer and sublethal immune system effects of brevetoxin exposure in nesting loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from western Florida.
Justin R. Perrault,Katherine D. Bauman,Taylor M. Greenan,Patricia Blum,Michael S. Henry,Catherine J. Walsh +5 more
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Anthropogenic contaminants in Indo-Pacific humpback and Australian snubfin dolphins from the central and southern Great Barrier Reef
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In vitro PFOS exposure on immune endpoints in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and mice.
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