Part I: So, What's the Problem?

Hello again!

Hello, science enthusiasts! Hello, animal lovers! Hello, conservationists! Here's your second stream of bubbles containing interesting information from this little corner of the California coastline. I'm Shelby, and I'm here to offer some insight on the health and function of some of the most important features of Northern California's coastal ecosystems.

I left the last post talking fairly vaguely about the kind of damage I learned has been done to Sonoma and Mendocino county's kelp forests. I had heard some stuff about California Fish and Wildlife considering closing the red abalone fishing in 2016, but I didn't know why it was going to happen. I knew people were mad about it, but I couldn't form an opinion or view on the issue without more information. I had other stuff on my mind anyway; I was going in to my last year as an undergrad, I was going onto dialysis before my second kidney transplant...I had a lot to deal with. After graduating college and received my second transplant, I finally had the time and mind to start focusing on the big picture. I had time to set up a volunteer position to prepare me for grad school and a career as a scientist. But after entering that field, seriously, for the first time, I wish I had known more beforehand. I wish I had been informed.

A timeline of events that, compounded together, created an environment unsuitable for kelp forests. Source: https://cdfwmarine.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/perfect-storm-decimates-kelp/

The reason Fish and Wildlife were threatening to—and eventually did—close the abalone fishery, is because something scientists referred to as a “perfect storm” of environmental events had wreaked havoc on Sonoma and Mendocino county's kelp forest communities, unbalancing the food web to extremes (Catton, Rogers-Bennett, 2016). The events can be outlined as follows:

Here's an infrared map of HABs in California. Source: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-scientists-genetic-basis-algal-blooms.html

2011: Harmful Algal Bloom. Harmful algal blooms happen when the water is too stagnate and warm to properly circulate nutrients, trapping them in areas and encouraging the growth of poisonous phytoplankton (microscopic algae). The H.A.B in Sonoma county killed off large populations of marine invertebrates.

A sunflower sea star showing symptoms of wasting disease. Source: https://phys.org/news/2016-10-survey-impact-sea-star-disease.html

2013: Seastar Wasting Disease. Wasting disease is an illness that has been effecting sea stars and sunflower stars along the west coast of North America since 2013. It's a syndrome characterized by lesions and degradation of the tissues until the body and limbs melt apart; fragment. It can cause death within days. Large swaths of the North American sea star and sunflower sea star populations have died off because of this disease. As of now, the populations have not recovered in any substantial number, and the nature of the pathogen (microbe) causing the disease is still unknown. It is most likely aggravated by warm water.

Without sunflower stars to keep their numbers down, purple sea urchins have essentially taken over in areas where kelp normally grows. Source: https://noyocenter.org/help-the-kelp/

2014-Present: Purple Urchin Boom. Without the presence of their primary predator, purple sea urchins have been reproducing unimpeded since 2014, reaching 60 times their normal density (Catton, Rogers-Bennett, 2016). They're responsible for essentially mowing down Northern California's kelp forests.

Here's an infrared map of the development of the Blob from 2014 to 2016. Source: https://www.nps.gov/articles/theblob.htm 

2014-Present: Warm Water “Blob”: Northern California started to see unprecedented warming in 2014, starting with the formation of what was known as the “Blob”; a mass of stagnate, unusually warm water that refused to circulate with the usual currents.

That is a lot of hot water. Source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2015/10/14/godzilla-the-blob-son-of-blob-el-nino-reality-check/#.XEQPGlxKhPY 

2015-Present: El Niño: The addition of an El Niño, or a change in ocean temperature circulation on the currents, compounded the warmth to California's coast. This compounded with the Blob to create giant bodies of warm water. Both invertebrates and kelp are very sensitive to changes in water temperature, and warm water doesn't hold nutrients nearly as well as cold water. Kelp doesn't have a root system, so it relies on the surrounding water for their nutrient intake.

This tumbling of bad events over the past few years has radically altered the structure of Sonoma and Mendocino county's kelp forest food webs. I'll talk about this in more detail in the next post, but this extreme shift in environmental conditions has caused what is called a “trophic cascade”, meaning the tightly functioning system has wavered and collapsed. The lack of a keystone species allowed the purple urchins to multiply and eat at an uncontrolled rate, changing the kelp forests into what are known as “urchin barrens”.

This is what an urchin barren looks like; no food, no shelter, barely any diversity. Just bare rock covered in urchins mowing down anything that tries to grow, leaving nothing for the other animals that live there. Source: https://cdfwmarine.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/perfect-storm-decimates-kelp/ 

These are essentially the complete opposite of kelp forests; large expanses of mostly barren rock and sand where only hard pink algae—called crustose coralline algae—can grow. Urchins cover these rocks, eating anything and everything they possibly can. There's no food and no shelter for the other invertebrates and fish inhabiting these areas. The red urchins people harvest have poor egg quality, and the red abalone people dive for are shrunken and weak from starvation.

This is what a healthy abalone looks like, at least from the bottom. Their strong foot clings to the rocks, allowing them to withstand wave action and resist attack from predators. Source: https://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/06future/abintro.htm

This is what an abalone looks like when its starving; shriveled and weak, unable to cling to rocks to protect themselves from predators. Source: https://cdfwmarine.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/perfect-storm-decimates-kelp/ 

I was stricken when I realized this was happening. I was horrified at the thought of all these animals stuck in starvation mode, dying off in such large numbers it could seriously effect their conservation status. It didn't matter to me that abalone are basically just large sea snails; they're important, to both us and their community. And, they're living creatures; living creatures who are suffering, and that was enough for me.

I mean, look at this little guy! I hate it that he has to starve, don't you?

I wanted to help; I wanted to do something. That's why I've started this endeavor; I had no idea how many species were in such desperate conditions. Neither do most people; it's the kind of situation where, because people aren't seeing it right before their eyes, they don't know or don't bother to care. I hope to change that.

As I said, I plan on explaining the different aspects of this phenomenon and the ecology behind it in further detail over the course of this blog. I'll explain the physiological aspects of the animals involved, and I'll explain how this has affected us. Hopefully I can educate and interest you all enough to follow along and eventually take up the cause of helping these important communities in any way you can.

Stay curious.

"Sea" you next week!

Sources:

1. https://cdfwmarine.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/perfect-storm-decimates-kelp/
2.  https://phys.org/news/2016-10-survey-impact-sea-star-disease.html
3. https://noyocenter.org/help-the-kelp/
4. https://www.nps.gov/articles/theblob.htm
5. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/2015/10/14/godzilla-the-blob-son-of-blob-el-nino-reality-check/#.XEQPGlxKhPY 
6. https://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/06future/abintro.htm

Introduction: Welcome!

Hello there! Welcome to my cove!

Hello, science enthusiasts! Hello, animal lovers! Hello, conservationists! Welcome to the first ever stream of bubbles containing interesting information from this little corner of the California coastline. I'm Shelby, and I'm here to offer some insight on the health and function of some of the most important features of Northern California's coastal ecosystems.

I've always been interested in marine biology, every since I was a kid. What area I wanted to study changed several times from childhood to college. It went from marine mammals, to the rocky intertidal zone, to invertebrate zoology, to fisheries biology. The nice thing about the undergraduate stage of college is that you can go in with the first general idea of what you want to do, and then find the second, slightly smaller general idea of what you want to do. Six years of undergrad at Sonoma State University gave me fisheries biology as my main umbrella. I've always loved fishing, and college gave me a healthy appreciation for the kind of science that goes in to understanding the care and management of our this important resource. My undergraduate research units focused on the physiological aspect of marine biology, particularly in regards to marine invertebrates.

This is an abalone, my favorite marine invertebrate. It's basically a giant sea snail.

After graduating I spent a year volunteering as an assistant/intern under a team of Fish and Wildlife scientists at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. This experience did me a triple service. It gave me a clearer view of the path I wanted to take as a marine scientist, showing me that yes, I did want to go to grad school and get a higher degree (not just because getting a good job in marine biology with only a bachelor's degree is not an easy task). It showed me the specific, micro area of study I wanted to focus on should I conduct my own independent research. I therefore plan to study the physiological effects of long term starvation on marine invertebrates when I do get to grad school.

The third service my volunteer work performed was to, ultimately, open my eyes to the current state of my county's and a nearer county's coastal ecosystems. I went in hoping to learn about invertebrate fisheries biology and management. What I found, in addition, was a distressing reality reflecting the impact of climate change on the kelp forests of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. These changes have impacted the kelp forest ecosystems throughout the food web, and are even impacting us. But I never would have known this if I had not taken the opportunity to learn about it. And I realized that very few people are likely to learn about it. This plight on our kelp forests isn't exactly widely advertised, and the people who hear about it third hand tend to take it with either a grain of salt, or take it with outright antagonism. I learned about the plight, and it's driven me to do more. It's influence what area of marine science I want to focus on, what kind of career I want to have. I want to help in every way I can. But I've also realized that what I can do as a scientist, alone, isn't enough. This is a big problem that effects a wide pool, so to speak. There's only so much one—or even a dozen—scientists can do. More people need to know about it; more people need to care, if change is going to happen.

This is a comparison of  kelp forest coverage over four important Northern Californian abalone fishery sites between 2008 and 2014. The cause was climate change, and the effects of this change are still being felt today. Source: https://cdfwmarine.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/perfect-storm-decimates-kelp/ 

So, I've decided that in addition to my path towards becoming a career marine biologist, I also want to bring these issues more forward into the public eye. I want to raise awareness. I want to educate people. I want to inspire people to get involved. I want to give people the information needed to awaken that potential interest in preserving our marine resources. Eventually, I want to raise money to give to those organizations working to help fix this problem. But I can't do this alone. So, I'm turning to you, other people, to help me in this endeavor. Whether you are already scientifically inclined or not, I'd like your help. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, you are the first step. I want to teach you about marine science.

This abalone is looking for food in an unusual place, since there isn't enough to go around. Source:https://cdfwmarine.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/perfect-storm-decimates-kelp/ 

My hope is if people are able to learn about these things in a more digestible manner, they'll want to get involved. Seeing these animals and natural features will make people want to keep them around, even if it's just for resource use. If I can interest you, maybe you'll listen to me. Maybe you'll take these problems seriously. Maybe you'll want to help. That's what this blog, and other subsequent social media platforms (because I plan on making a lot), are for. This is just an introduction, step one of a much larger plan. My goal is to eventually build enough of a following to warrant a charity KickStarter by next year. It might be a long shot, but I think it's possible. I think we can do it.

If you're interested in learning some marine science and California's kelp forest ecosystems, please follow this blog and keep an eye out for more social media platforms. I'll start lessons with next week's post, starting with what specifically is happening to our kelp forests. If you're curious, tune in to find out!

Stay curious.

"Sea" you next week!