Advances in molecular biochemistry have pushed the limits of the analytic measurements of brevetoxins and their metabolites in "certain substrates to nanogram levels, making it possible to isolate pure brevetoxins for use in the laboratory (Mini pp). During the 1996 prolonged red tide, the manatees' exposure to brevetoxins included chronic inhalation of the red tide toxin aerosol and ingestion of contaminated seawater over several weeks (Mini pp). Researchers, using a newly developed immunohistochemical stain, have found that brevetoxins accumulated in the respiratory tract, liver, kidneys, and brains of the manatees, thus concluding that the manatee deaths resulted from brevetoxin exposure (Mini pp). Despite the ecological havoc that red tides cause, there are a few potential beneficial effects of K. brevis blooms that have been suggested (Environmental pp). For example, there have been reports of increased numbers of bottom-dwelling invertebrates following a red tide, and increased nutrients and https://www.paperdue.com/essay/red-tides-and-manatees-the-66399
brevis blooms are not a new phenomenon, and fish kills that result from red tides caused by K. brevis in the Gulf of Mexico have been described in the scientific literature since 1960 or so and have been reported anecdotally for more than two centuries (Naar et al. 2002). In this regard, Backer and her associates (2005) emphasize that, "The human health effects from consuming shellfish with high concentrations
Manatees The Endangered Manatee The manatee, or sea cow, has been on the endangered species list for a long time. There has been some talk of changing their actual status to 'threatened' but whatever researchers and scientists choose to call them, the manatees are still in danger. There are many things that can cause problems for manatees because the large and slow-moving animals are not really expecting many of the dangers that
Further efforts to secure warm water wintering sites need to be initiated as well as ongoing maintenance of critical spring flows in the Upper St. John's River and other reliable sites in northwest, southeast, and southwest Florida. And finally, it is essential that conservation efforts focus on ensuring that there is enough seagrass and other aquatic vegetation available to support a recovered population. Overall, it appears that the greatest threat to
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