Superbugs Super Suck

So by “tomorrow” I would have another post, I meant “the tomorrow after I trying to learn how to poach eggs and twerk in my kitchen”. Also no, I’m not joking; I’ve never poached an egg before.

ANYWAY. Superbugs.

You know I have one of these.

Like the lice that evolved as humans and human habits changed, so have superbugs have evolved. “Superbug” is a blanket term referring to any bacteria that has evolved antibiotic resistance. Strains that were once easily susceptible to mild antibiotics, now require stronger and stronger drugs to be eradicated. So not only are the chances or prolonged illness and death increased, but more people have to deal with harsher drugs to cure an infection. Not good.

How does this happen? By frequent exposure, or infrequent, low-level exposure to antibiotics. I can explain how this works with one of my convoluted analogies (cause I haven’t done one of those in a while).

Many of you have probably heard of the businesses that will blast classical music outside in order to discourage hoodlums. The idea being that angry punks have no appreciation for Bach and Brahms and, finding the music annoying, will leave. If only one business were pumping the Baroque jams, then the kids would leave and find somewhere else to hang. Should a lot of businesses try this (whether or not angry punks are actually a problem), the kids would quickly become accustomed to the music. Similarly, if only a few businesses tried it, but not at volumes loud enough to be a proper annoyance, the kids would easily develop a tolerance and never leave. As a result, the businesses that actually have a problem with angry punks and hoodlums will have to play less and less mainstream music (like opera or free-form jazz) louder in order to clear their sidewalks. But at a certain point, they’ll alienate their own customers on top of the kids that want to smoke and curse outside. Either way, the business now has a lot of Classical Resistant Angry Punks (CRAP) to deal with.

In this scenario, the kids are the bacteria and the music is the antibiotic. When people use antibiotics unnecessarily (like when folks demand some for a viral infection), not only does it kill off your natural microbiota, but the frequent exposure ensures that only bacteria tough enough to withstand the drugs will survive. Remember, even your natural bacteria can be dangerous in the right place or population size.

Another problem occurs when patients do not finish their course of antibiotics. Many people assume that just because they feel better, they can stop taking medicine. However, this can end up only killing off the weaker bacteria, leaving resistant strains to proliferate and evolve stronger resistance. Bacteria can also pass their resistance on to or receive resistance from others. That’s how we get multiple-resistant pains in the neck like Staph.

If you have a bacterial infection that will not clear up on its own (like many ear infections), ABSOLUTELY take the antibiotics your doctor prescribes. Just make sure you finish the dose and do NOT demand antibiotics if they’re not necessary. Many people (especially parents) want to feel like they’re doing something about an infection, but antibiotics are not always the answer.

Hugs not drugs, guys.

Although hugs will not cure TB.

I strongly recommend drugs if you have TB.

The RIGHT ONES though.

Minocin will not help.

Just talk to a doctor, OK?

Ophid out.

Source

–. 2014. “Stop The Spread of Superbugs.” NIH News In Health. March 6, 2015. < http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/feb2014/feature1&gt;

The Urban Wild- Addendum

Five second after hitting “publish” on my last post, I realized I neglected to mention some of the fun parts of wildlife adapting to urban life. Survival favors the smart in urban environments. Animals that do not figure out how to avoid cars become wildlife pancakes. Some go beyond basic survival and into making man’s machines work for them:

THEY FIGURED OUT THE CROSSWALK YOU GUYS. I mean, maybe that’s not so impressive, crows and ravens were already super smart. But I will tell you something else: way back when I worked at Woodland Park Zoo as a teenaged volunteer, I was walking to lunch when I noticed this great blue heron winging over to the North end of the zoo. There were so many people around I was surprised it would hang out here. I kept walking and saw that it had perched itself by the penguin exhibit. What the hell for? But in a few minutes it was obvious: it was Friday, the penguins received live fish every Friday at noon, they would chase the fish around the tank, but inevitably the heron was able to snag a few. This was not a one time deal, that heron was there every Friday, right at noon (or just before) to steal some fish. It not only figured out that, despite the zoo having no wetlands, there were fish somewhere, but also the exact day and time said fish would be available.

Now, if only the danged things could learn to take tickets, then maybe they’d EARN their fish…

The Urban Wild Part 2

Apparently after 87 pages filled with uncommon scientific terms, Microsoft Word just gives up on spell checking. Basically I killed spell check. FUN FAKTS.

Anyway, back to Tuesday’s urban ramble.

Before continuing, I would like to clarify that I am addressing the recolonization of wildlife following human development. That is, how wildlife communities respond as human settlements urbanize (eg. develop into large towns or cities). Why is this an important clarification? Because developing land for settlement rather than for agriculture places different pressures on the local wildlife. For instance, there may be less concrete to cover potential burrow space or fewer people to scare away grazers, but farmers will discourage any potential threat to their livelihood. Farming is a tough business without Bambi’s family eating everything.

Damn adorable jerks.

Now, back to business.

Given my understanding of ecology, I can give a rough idea of how recolonization by wildlife in urban areas works. This is not perfect (you could teach a whole class on this very subject), so bear with me.

Consider urbanization of a habitat like a natural disaster; everything is changed and initially there is nothing but what humans have planted or allowed to remain (grass, trees, flowers, etc). Wild animals are exterminated or driven out to nearby wilderness, where their numbers grow to the point that some species move into human settlements just to find enough food. The order in which species move into urban areas does not follow set rules, but the order in which species successfully adapt does. Raptors, for instance, can fly in to the city all they want, but they won’t succeed unless prey animals recolonize first.

First to succeed are the small animals that can reproduce fast, these feed on/live in the surviving plants. Their size allows them to easily avoid humans (they may not have even been driven out in the first place) and their r-selected reproduction strategy (that is, they reproduce, really rell-I mean well) ensures that a few man-caused deaths do not greatly impact their population. Species that can rebound this quickly are small rodents like rats and mice (rabbits too if there’s spaces to build warrens), as well as many smaller birds that can fly away from disturbance and easily return to smaller urban trees.

Following the wee squinnies, scavengers like raccoons and crows will quickly move in, with the abundance of man-made trash and various rodents to feed on. Coyotes and foxes, being larger and slower to reproduce, do have a harder time. They stick out and come into contact with domestic animals more, so humans actively discourage their settling nearby. Even in rural areas, the presence of coyotes is met with violent opposition. However, they can and do learn to adapt.

As prey populations increase and the habitat stabilizes, predators can move in. However, urban environments severely limit the species that are able to colonize. Without large prey or any inclination to be near humans, large predators stay away from cities. As a result, the most common predators in urban areas are birds of prey. A variety of sizes, many species can coexist in a city, feeding on a variety of small birds and rodents. Besides any larger trees remaining, raptors can nest on building ledges and around support systems for bridges, overpasses and other raised structures.

That covers a general overview of wildlife recolonization. Something to keep in mind though, is that despite nature’s amazing ability to bounce back, urban environments are made to support humans, not wildlife and thus do not favor biodiversity. From the different categories I mentioned (small animals, scavengers, predators), it is a MUCH more limited number of species that will recolonize than that originally lived in a given habitat. I mean, the sheer amount of concrete in even a small city is enough to increase local temperature. Many species require some very specific conditions in order to live and reproduce.

So beyond “PEOPLE ARE BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD”, what am I getting at? DO SOMETHING. In a broad sense, support local, national and international conservation efforts. In a more personal sense, try to make your habitat a habitat for other species; plant some trees, build a bat box, set up an owl house, etc. See what species are hurting in your area, and how you can help. Maybe start a science blog and guilt trip strangers and friends into supporting conservation!

One of the most important things is, if you have a conflict with animals, try to find an eco-friendly solution. Pests like mice and rats may be far from even hearing of the endangered species list, but plenty of raptors that depend on them aren’t. Choosing to poison household pests means you could also be poisoning local wildlife that think they’ve scored a weak and easy meal. Options like sonic repellants and snap traps can keep EVERYONE happy without impacting the rest of the food chain.

For bothersome and/or scary animals that are not an immediate threat, choose avoidance first. For instance, if you choose to attack a rattlesnake rather than back away, 1. you’re ignoring its very helpful suggestion to GO AWAY AND WE’LL ALL BE HAPPY and 2. you’re prolonging contact, which means you’re more likely to get bitten then if you’d just left it alone. Remember: people are big and scary, animals do not react kindly when scared, so just walk away.

For immediate threats, well…I’ll leave y’all to assess the situation, but generally running and screaming is a bad idea.

Resources for those interested:

Humane Rodent Solutions

Create A Certified Wildlife Habitat

Barnowlboxes.com (They sell, you guessed it! Barn owl and bat boxes and make the important point that both provide natural pest control)

The Return! / The Urban Wild Part 1

GOLLY it’s been a while hasn’t it?? So now that it’s been almost a year since I began my “little” hiatus it is high time I got back into the saddle. I’d apologize for the length of said hiatus, but I had three jobs and wasn’t sleeping well for a good chunk of it so I APOLOGIZE TO NO ONE. I’ve actually been on just two jobs for a little while, now, but only recently started thinking to myself that I needed something to suck up more of my time. No really, I sit in my room and stare at the pictures of jellyfish on the wall and wonder what to do with the free time I actually have.

I have a problem.

But my problem means fun stuff for those few interwebbers out there still interested in what I have to say! Yaaaay!…?

I’d like to pick up right where I left off, answering some questions/addressing topics brought up in my little informal Facebook survey.

“How do animals adapt to urban areas, Are humans part of the biosphere? (if so what should our role be in conservation)”

Although I can quickly and easily answer this with a resounding YES, this is an excellent question that merits a longer response. Too often humans consider themselves separate from nature; we and our cities and town are outside the “natural world” even though we built our cities right in the “natural world”. Growing up, I would have not considered going to the tidepools on the beach near my house “getting out in nature”. I could see Taco Time from there, no way that’s “nature”. Do these things somehow, in their proximity from humanity, become domestic? No, it just indicates how separate most people feel from “real” nature.

Why is this? When you think about it, there is quite a few species that have found ways to thrive around humans. Squirrels, songbirds and rodents thrive in urban environments. Omnivores like raccoons, foxes and coyotes are also doing well. Others have niches that are in direct conflict with human development. Larger shore birds (herons, cranes), amphibians and sea turtles (to name just a few) are seriously impacted when people start developing around their homes. In the cases of the birds and amphibians, proximity and/or building right on top of their habitat drives them out, while sea turtles experience lower fertility because ocean-front high rises make beaches too cool for their sand-buried nests. Finally there are some species that humans just do not like, either due to real or imagined impact on themselves or their livestock. Wolves are making a comeback after being hunted to local extinction (exterminated from a given area) because of the danger they posed to livestock. While reptiles such as snakes and crocodilians excite an unreasonable amount of fear, to the point that some areas of the US host “Rattlesnake Round Ups” in an effort to exterminate an animal that is more danger to the vermin around their trash than to them.

Seriously, why be afraid of snakes? They have the WORST aim.

Getting into how animals adapt to life in the big city (beyond the basics, like learning the bus schedule, finding the best cafes, etc), knowing the species of animal in question is as important as knowing how a particular population adapts. Different species have different lifestyles better suited toward adapting to urban environments. I will get into more detail on this in my next post.

Scared Sticky

Some animals have armor, others are poisonous, still others put on light shows or hide to avoid predation. Then there are those…who just turn into a hot mess.

Slime Star

The slime star is probably the most exciting starfish you will meet.

GUESS HOW IT GOT ITS NAME. GUESS.

Brutal Shrimp

I was going to try and talk about something outside the ocean today but CERTAIN PEOPLE have given me sass and forced my hand. So now I’m going to talk about shrimp. Shrimp with cool adaptations to armored and fast prey. The one suggested to me will go second because I am contrary. Anyway, mantis shrimp!

The mantis shrimp is so named for the way it holds its forearms like a praying mantis. Unlike a praying mantis, mantis shrimp pack a powerful punch. Seriously, they may look pretty, but these are some brutal stomatopods. Muscles in the arm contract slowly, compressing a little structure called a saddle near the joint (see diagram).

A latch holds the club-like arm in place, and when released, the club levers forward and produces a punch strong enough to shatter snail shells (the chosen prey of the mantis shrimp). BUT WAIT, there’s more. This punch is so fast (14-23 m/s), it results in cavitation, a negative pressure area at the point of impact which vaporizes water. During cavitation, light and heat are generated. Only briefly, and the flash of light is small, but that burst of heat can be an upwards 1200˚ F. Imagine what trouble they make in aquariums! Actually, you don’t have to imagine, I will tell you: they destroy aquariums like they destroy this clam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ahuZEvWH8
My other Shrimp of the Day is the pistol shrimp. Unlike the mantis shrimp, pistol shrimp have only one badass claw, but that is all they need. That claw will shoot a jet of water so fast and powerful that the sound is enough to stun their speedy prey. Also, shatter your eardrum, but you shouldn’t be at the bottom of the ocean anyway. Like the mantis shrimp’s punch, the pistol shrimp’s blast will result in cavitation and momentarily sun-like temperatures. Starts to make the stun gun capabilities of odontoceti look like mis-assembled pea shooters, huh?

So remember, kids: the ocean is a dangerous place, always pack heat.

Sources

Horner, Will and Jules Weinstein. 2012. Mantis Shrimp: A Deceptive Foe. Biology 342. 22 Jan 2013. http://academic.reed.edu/biology/courses/BIO342/2012_syllabus/2012_WEBSITES/HW%20mantis%20shrimp/index.html

Yancey, Paul. 2011. “Feeding Adaptations.” Marine Biology. Whitman College. Walla Walla, WA. Lecture.

The Fast and Furious 4: Ocean Drift

Consider, if you will, the noble tuna. Not for lunch off the ala carte sushi menu, but in the ocean. The reason why Nat Geo and Animal Planet and heaven knows who else likes to put out shows about catching these suckers is because they are FAST. In the ocean, a smooth surface will actually disrupt flow and slow you down. So besides their aquadynamic design, they have grooves on their fins and body to guide water flow around them. But wait! There’s more…Warm muscles allow for more efficient use of muscles, so tuna are periodically warm-blooded (endothermic). But tuna aren’t the only hotties in the sea, certain sharks are also endothermic. Not only that, but besides possessing grooved, tooth-like scales (denticles) in their skin, sharks can form their own dimples with their muscles. Concentrate and you too can groove the muscles on your torso via sheer willpower. I’ll wait.

While I wait, I can tell you that these dynamic dimples and the grooved denticles, that generate a system of controlled turbulence to increase speed, are called riblets.

Riblets.

 

Source:

Yancey, Paul. “Nekton Motility.” Marine Biology. Whitman College. Walla Walla, WA. 5 4 2011. Lecture.