What is it about?
Marine mammals are often seen as sentinels of ocean health, but accessible, cohesive data on their health changes are rare. Toxicoses from harmful algal blooms appear to be increasing. Viral epidemics are common along the Atlantic coastline, while bacterial epidemics are common along the Pacific coast. Human-caused trauma remains a large threat to marine mammal health. A real-time system for reporting marine mammal disease data is needed to be able to understand how marine mammal diseases are changing with ecosystem changes.
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Why is it important?
Marine mammals provide insight about the health of the ocean, and impacts on their health often have the potential to greatly impact human health as well. A system is needed to centralize health data for the United States, in order to predict and respond to large-scale changes in marine mammal health.
Perspectives
Marine mammals are a vital part of marine ecosystems, and they are affected by many of the same threats that humans face, including biotoxins, infectious diseases, cancer, and contaminants. The Marine Mammal HealthMAP is a centralized database that provides a platform for visualizing changes in marine mammal health: (https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/marine-mammal-health-and-strandings/marine-mammal-health-and-monitoring-analysis-platform-marine-mammal-health-map/)
Dr Claire A Simeone
The Marine Mammal Center
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Systematic Review of Changes in Marine Mammal Health in North America, 1972-2012: The Need for a Novel Integrated Approach, PLOS One, November 2015, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142105.
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