A study carried out just off of the coast of Washington State in America observed the rising of temperature in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans which is linked to disease epidemic. Epidemic is a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. Different disease outbreaks were seen in the Starfish off the west coast of the US and Canada and the Lobster off the coast of New England. The starfish endured high levels of a physically degenerative wasting disease which cause them to loose their limbs and die between 2013 and 2014. Whereas the lobsters experienced an increase in shell disease. Scientists conducting this study have linked both of these diseases to the rising temperature of the sea. Drew Harvell, Cornell professor of Ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of this study said that "This outbreak came so quickly, by the time we knew enough about it, a lot of it had already happened". He says that this year they are looking out especially in areas in Alaska where there used to be copious amounts of Sunflower starfish and are now gone. They suppose it could have been a virus that knocked these starfish out of the ocean which becomes more active and dangerous in warmer waters. This outbreak occurred when the water temperature started to rise. In lab conditions they put some starfish into cold water and some into warm water and found that the ones in warmer water succumb to disease more quickly. They also found that the disease was more prevalent in temperatures between 12.2 and 18.8 degrees celsius. In the lab they also tested the disease that affected the lobsters and found that at colder temperatures the disease made less progress then at warmer temperatures. And as it got warmer, it affected females more then males. This may be because female lobsters shed their shells less frequently then male lobsters. Professor Harvell says that they can predict when disease will outbreak in these species based on temperature projections of water.
Warmer seas linked to disease epidemics affecting Pacific starfish and Atlantic lobster
Warmer seas linked to disease epidemics affecting Pacific starfish and Atlantic lobster