The World is Your…Sewer??

My Lead Science Cutie on staff (who I pay with milkshakes and bizarre postcards) has given me an excellent topic. Recently I chose to donate to a group looking to limit/control the dumping of human waste into the ocean from cruise ships. Science Cutie naturally wondered how big an impact this could have on a body of water as large as the ocean. My answer was “very” and “because eutrophication”.

Eutrophication is enrichment of an aquatic environment with nutrients. It’s natural in lakes and ponds over time, I’m sure most people reading have been around some stinky, algae filled ponds in their time and will have seen what I mean (even if you didn’t all know it at the time). Besides clouding the water and filling pond and lake bottoms with sediment, thereby reducing clarity (and light available underwater), eutrophication allows algal blooms to flourish and grow. Without enough light, they’ll start consuming oxygen. During particularly intense eutrophication, this can essentially suffocate other species.

This can radically change a habitat, but natural eutrophication is VERY slow, and though the build-up of sediment and nutrients may result in the lake or pond disappearing completely, local species have been adapting along with the changing water body. I mean, the fish and stuff are toast, but the lake/pond would have been supporting less and less of those things for a WHILE. But then there’s Unnatural eutrophication…That is, human-induced eutrophication.

Now we get to the cruise ships…

Human-induced eutrophication is a result of organic pollution, as with agriculture runoff or the dumping of human waste from ships or poorly managed sewers. Dee-lightful. Besides the aforementioned depletion of oxygen and light availability, toxic algae and bacteria can effectively poison local species. In the ocean, we are most familiar with this process as Red Tide. Toxins build up in the food chain as predators eat many things with a little toxin, then something bigger eats many of those and so on. This also impacts us because, considering we have found a away to eat almost everything in the sea, our big tasty fish dinner may have consumed enough toxic smaller fish to make it toxic to US. Yay. So now we have Red Tide warnings to let us know when and where we’ve totally messed everything up. If that’s not enough, you see large die-offs as the algal blooms suffocate or poison local species, thereby significantly reducing biodiversity.

Lead Science Cutie is correct that while you may not see the full effect of ocean eutrophication on a global scale, the ocean is composed of many ecosystems supporting a WIDE variety of life on which eutrophication can have a profound impact. Furthermore, if you dump enough waste in one area (as happens when many ships cover the same routes), it will spread. Even if we took the impact on our fishing industry out of the equation, the kinds of dieoffs that result from that are BAD NEWS.

Fortunately, the effects are reversible. However, we should support high water quality standards to allow such affects to reverse where eutrophication has already occurred, and to prevent it from spreading elsewhere.

Which is why I’m going to link to the fundraiser that started all this:

Protect the ocean from raw sewage

Support if you like.

Sources

Mack, Jeremy. 2015. Lake Scientist. Water Quality. “Eutrophication” April 13, 2015 < http://www.lakescientist.com/lake-facts/water-quality/&gt;

Seaweed Revelations Part 2

I know you were all right on the edges of yours seats waiting to hear about the life cycles of seaweed so I will get right to the point. Here is also where I get to clarify things I learned way long ago but didn’t look at again because I’m not a botanist.

I know many of you are still reeling from yesterday’s revelation that algae are not and have never been a member of the Communist party Plant kingdom. But you’ll have to sit down and clutch your pearls again because I have more news (“news”). Now I must tell you that all plants and many algae display alternating generations. “What is that?” you ask, “Where did I get these pearls I am now clutching??” you exclaim. All will be answered in due time. The phrase ”alternating generations” indicates that the plants or algae alternate haploid and diploid generations. So one generation has double chromosomes (one set doubled, like you’re supposed to) the next has only half/one set of chromosomes (like gametocytes, that is, cells like sperm or eggs, are supposed to). So you have one organism with the appropriate number of chromosomes (2n, with n being one set of a given number) that produces spores to grow into ANOTHER organism with half the chromosomes of its parent (n chromosomes), which in turn produces sperm or eggs to help produce a new, diploid generation. The haploid generation producing the sperm and eggs may be a distinct organism or it may be closely associated/attached to its diploid parent (although subsequent diploid generations will not be). OK, this explanation is all well and good for biologists, but how can everyone else understand it?

First, look at this diagram:

LOOK AT IT.
This will give you an illustration of things to come.

 

Now stick with me for a very bizarre analogy. Imagine your reproductive bits are not an organ. You produced them, they are a part of you (they’re attached to you, anyway), but you can’t control them directly. They are their own entity. Creepy, huh? That is how MANY plants and algae function, they grow their haploid generation on the diploid generation. Now for the REALLY weird part: imagine those reproductive bits DO NOT remain a part of you. Once you have grown them, they live freely. That is how other plants and algae live. To summarize both: the children are like the sexual organs and the grandchildren are new organisms. This system seems confusing, but it does help weed out deleterious genes (haploid generations being more vulnerable to the effects of bad genes) while still allowing for either self-fertilization or non-self-fertilization (plants and algae can effectively mate with themselves or other, unrelated plants and algae). Advantages to self-fertilization would be preventing introduction of bad genes while non-self fertilization means the possibility of BETTER genes being introduced. Basically, all the options are still available, so it’s a win-win situation.

I hope that all makes some (albeit VERY WEIRD) sense. Let me know if it doesn’t. I’d like to do another algae-related thang, but I just had some projects come up so WE SHALL SEE.

 

Source

–. 2010. GRE Subject Test: Biology 5th Ed. Kaplan, New York.

 

Photo credit Pearson Education.

Seaweed Revelations Part 1

Continuing with my topic suggestions, here is one from my sister from another mister who’s doing top-secret research in the North Pole (probably spying on Santa Claus) which you can read about on her blog here–> Snow Kidding

“I want to know more about macro algae… life cycle, what it needs to live, where it grows etc.”

That is not actually a question, Angie-bear, but I will let it slide cause you’re cute.

The term macroalgae encompasses the many species of large, multicellular algae found in marine and freshwater environments. For now I am going to focus on the marine species, but most of the information is applicable to freshwater species.

Now, before I go any further I need to say something important: algae are not plants. Sorry to shatter all y’all’s dreams (assuming you dream of algae-plants), but it’s true, ALGAE ARE NOT PLANTS. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t figure this out before, I only learned this when I took marine biology. Even college-level high school science classes can have gaps (I would say this is a pretty tiny one, anyway) and besides, algae are just not a thing most people think about.

Algae actually belong in the kingdom Protista, along with the animal-like protists (protozoans) and the fungus-like protists (slime molds). Because algae photosynthesize using chlorophyll, we say they are plant-like protists. Besides seaweed, this includes diatoms and dinoflagellates. Seaweed are divided into three main divisions (term for taxonomic rank equivalent to phylum but used in for plants, fungi and protists) that are defined by their photosynthetic accessory pigments. These divisions are chlorophyta (uses chlorophyll a and b), phaeophyta (uses uses chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and fucoxanthin) and rhodophyta (uses chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, phycoerythrin and phycocyanin). Algae in these divisions are called green, brown and red algae, respectively. Why? Because, well, they are green, brown and red, respectively.

See?

In general, the structure of macroalgae includes leaf-like blades (for photosynthesis), a gas-filled float (to raise the blades closer to the light) and the stipe (basically a stem, it’s not present in all species) that leads down to the holdfast (which anchors macroalgae to the seafloor). Although many of these structures seem analogous to those in plants, realize that the holdfast is NOT an algal root system. Macroalgae do not uptake nutrients from the seafloor so the holdfast is really just an anchor. Besides that important difference, the leaves and blades of plants and macroalgae are very different on a cellular level. Plant leaves, besides having more complex and complexly arranged tissues (includes vascular system, spongy layer and palisade layer, besides epidermis), have distinct functions for their different sides. The top side of the leaf takes in light and have a waxy cuticle to limit water loss, while the under side only takes in CO2 through the stoma (openings in the leaf). Conversely, macroalgae blades are composed of simple layers of epidermal, cortex and medullar cells with zoospores on theoutside surface. Furthermore, the blades are double-sided so that macroalgae can take in light, nutrients and H3CO from both sides.

Macroalgae also have some life cycle similarities to plants, but I will be getting to that tomorrow. So sit tight, folks.

Sources

-. 2010. GRE Subject Test: Biology 5th Ed. Kaplan, New York.

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

Photo credit

–. “Marine Algae” Marine Education Society of Australasia. Jan 13, 2014 < http://www.mesa.edu.au/marine_algae/default.asp&gt;

–. 2013. “Canadian Aquaculture R & D Review 2011.” Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Jan 13 2014 <http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/enviro/aquaculture/rd2011/cimtan-rcamti-eng.html&gt;

Q & A

Like I said yesterday, I’ve got a lot of suggestions for topics. Because some of them have pretty short and sweet answers, I’m going to post them all here.

“How does ink come out of pens?”

Depends on the pen! I have calligraphy styluses that draw ink up grooves in their metal tips via capillary action (motion of liquid in a tube as a result of surface tension) and then pressing them to paper (which is at least a little absorbant) similarly draws ink out.

Ballpoint pens on the other hand, have a tiiiny ball at the tip that rolls as you write or draw. It brings a little air into the ink reservoir as you push the tip against paper. Then, some of the ink in the reservoir sticks to the ball and is rolled out and onto paper. Ta da!

“Have you done bioluminescence?”

BAM: Bioluminescence.

“Do jellyfish dream?”

There’s no way to know for sure, considering they don’t talk or even make sounds  (besides SQWSSSH when you step on them), but I highly doubt they dream, or even sleep. Jellyfish have no true organs, so instead of a brain, they have a simple nerve net that allows them to react to their environment. Besides box jellies, most don’t even have eyes.

“Bananas. They constantly confuse me.”

What about them?

“Everything! WHY ARE THEY YELLOW?!?!? AND BANANA SHAPED?!?!”

BECAUSE THEY’RE BANANAS. PLEASE STOP YELLING.

EXHIBIT A. WILL YOU STOP YELLING NOW.

“Volcanism!”

Volcanism is anything involved in the processes or formation of volcanoes. Volcanoes are formed as a result of subduction, in this case, the movement of oceanic tectonic plates beneath continental plates. This occurs near underwater spreading centers, where magma from the earth’s core moves up, is cooled by the water and spreads out to form new section of plate. The subducted plate pushes magma toward the surface and explodes from volcanoes formed by the buckling of colliding plates. Mt. St. Helens is one such volcano.

You can also find volcanoes at “hot spots”, non-moving magma chambers away from plate margins where magma has risen to the surface and explodes out, rather than form a spreading center (Ex: Hawaii). Subduction of oceanic plates can also lead to volcano formation, as in the Aleutian and Japanese island volcanoes.

“Vulcanism!”

Another word for volcanism. Not a Star Trek reference, sorry.

“What are the most common chemical reactions in cooking?”

The chemistry of cooking merits a long post, if not an entire class. However, there are a few common chemical reactions I can think of right off the bat: denaturation of proteins (with heat or acid), osmosis, diffusion and controlled burning (of non-proteinatious things). Also controlled spoilage, as with cheese.

Hope this answered all y’all’s burning questions that keep you up at night. I know I will rest easier.

Sources

“volcanism”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 09 Jan. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/632078/volcanism>.

Laidler, Keith. 2009. Animals: A Visual Guide to the Animal Kingdom. Quercus Publishing Plc, London.

Yancey, Paul. “Environmental Factors- Tectonic Factors.” Marine Biology. Whitman College. Walla Walla, WA. 5 4 2011. Lecture.

Sharks Have A Crap Life

Let’s have a show of hands: who here is afraid of sharks? Now, who is afraid FOR sharks? Uh huh, cool…OK, who here is wondering why I’m telling people I can’t see to raise their hands? Excellent question.

OH LOOK A SHARK.

WHAT. WHERE.

For those of you afraid of sharks, I understand. They’re big and scary and carnivorous and they’re real shitty at telling the difference between fat seals and skinny guys on surfboards. So a strong respect for the shear carnage they can wreak upon your person is good, healthy, even. But trust me, when it comes to human-shark relations, sharks deserve much more concern for THEIR well being than you do for yours. Hell, they deserve more concern in general.

Sharks have a crap time of it from day 1. I don’t mean from the minute of they’re out of mama, I mean the moment they’ve developed enough inside mama to wriggle around. Because if they have any siblings in there, the fight for survival has BEGUN. Sand tiger and mackerel shark pups have been known to eat one another WHILE STILL IN THE WOMB. How metal can you get? They’ll even eat unfertilized eggs until only the strongest pups remain (the uterus is divided or there would be only one). Cue sick guitar solo.

Although this just occurs in viviparous (live-bearing) and ovoviparous (eggs hatch in the uterus), oviparous sharks have it rough too. Their little egg cases are just left behind, abandoned in the sand or reef to hatch alone…

Cue sad violin.

However! At least when they hatch it’s not a race to escape mama. Shark parturition (birth) actually induces feelings of satiety in mama so that she’s not tempted to eat her pups. Not like they’ll stick around to test that.

If you want still more reasons to feel for the sharks, consider our interactions with them. In China, shark fin soup is a delicacy (despite the fin being mostly cartilage) and fisherman will catch sharks just to cut off the dorsal fin and leave the shark to die. Now, I am no vegetarian, but I believe that if you’re going to eat an animal, it’s life should not be so miserable that death is a mercy (see treatment of veal calves, if you can) and the method in which the animal is killed should be quick and relatively painless. Not to mention the rest of the shark is edible too. Not that we should be eating sharks anyway, because between our weird eating habits and shark-killing freakouts every time one wanders near a tourist site, there are many threatened and endangered shark species. Shark attacks are terrible, but more people are mauled by dogs and killed by cows each year than are attacked by sharks. That’s right, cows are the real Public Enemy Number One. Sharks are just more exciting and gruesome so they make the news. No one wants their family to be The Guy That Got Killed By a Cow Last Yeat; they hush that shit right up.

There are plenty of resources out there for avoiding shark encounters. Beach signs, defense tips, checklists shark threat level (Murky water? Fishing nearby? Maybe read on the sand today)…some beaches even have Twitter feeds for alerting beach-goers of shark sightings. It’s OK to be cautious, but when you’re feeling scared and wish they’d all just disappear, remember: sharks have a crap life.

So don’t hate a shark, hug a shark!

But like, one of the little ones, maybe a dogfish.

Cause let’s not tempt fate here, people.

Also those guys are pretty damn cute.

If you don’t think this is cute, then we’re not friends.

Sources

Frances, Peter and Angeles Gavira Guerrero. 2008. Ocean: The World’s Last Wilderness Revealed. 1^st American ed. New York. DK Publishing

Greven, H. 2000. “Viviparous Sharks.” Shark Info. Jan 3 2014 < http://www.sharkinfo.ch/SI1_00e/vivipary.html>

Photo Credit

Franco Banfi/Barcroft Media, Matthew Oxley and Doug Perrine.

Mustelid-day 2: Do As You Otter

Yeah, so when I said I was going to write about ferrets and otters “in the next couple of days” I should have known it would be “the next couple of days in which forms and packing are not consuming my life”. I would say mission accomplished today, except there’s a small stack of papers by my elbow that look suspiciously form-like. HMMMMM.

Anyway, while I decide what to do about my potentially devious paperwork. I promise you otters and by God you lot shall have otters!

 

Sea otters and river otter belong to a subfamily of Mustelidae called Lutrinae. All thirteen species share a similar brown coloring and highly playful and social nature. They are so damn fun that a group of otters is called a “romp”. Because they do. Romp, that is. Although all otters are social, different species will form different kinds of romps, some separate into romps of females with pups and males, while others will forms random, mixed sex romps. Which sounds a bit more exciting that it probably is. But what do I know, Giant Amazon River Otters do that and they can be up to six or seven feet long (tail included). That’s pretty exciting, right?

Another common feature of Lutrinae, is their dense, highly insulating and unfortunately soft fur. I say “unfortunately” because human demand for otter fur has seriously endangered certain species. Sea otters are one such species, who have not only experienced severe population reduction, but their reduced presence has had an immense impact of marine habitats. This is because sea otters are a keystone species. I don’t mean that they prefer cheap and terrible beer, I mean that they occupy such an important niche in their community (that is, the biotic aspects of a given environment) that anything affecting them affects the entire community. You know that adorable way that otters bash shit open on rocks they set on their stomachs? So cute! Well, besides various mollusks, sea otters love bashing open sea urchins. In turn, sea urchins LOVE kelp (they’re really only able to eat the bottom bit, or the holdfast, though), which form the base of kelp forest communities. Starting to see where this is going? If you don’t, here’s a hint: imagine an animal that eats tree roots (holdfasts are NOT equivalent, they’re an anchor, but you get the idea). Though they only eat the tree’s roots, this cripples the tree and ultimately kills it. This animal is voracious and prolific and can destroy whole forests if unhindered. This does not just affect the trees, but all the plants and animals that live in them and among them. Birds that nest, rodents that burrow under roots, shade-loving plants and more. Without trees they are toast. Thankfully, this tree-ravening animal has a few predators and one of these predators can eat enough of this animal that their impact is minimal. I think you get it now: the tree-killer is the sea urchin and the predator is the sea otter. By reducing sea otter populations, entire kelp forests and their supported communities become vulnerable. As it stands, many forests have been destroyed, with only urchin barrens remaining. While some areas possess other predators able to pick up the slack, others suffer terribly as sea otter populations make their slow recovery. It certainly does not help that the otters need anchored kelp to rest on as part of their habitat.

Moral of the story? Support habitat conservation and reintroduction efforts! Also eat more urchin.

 

Source

Cogger, Harold G., Joseph Forshaw, Edwin Gould, George McKay and Richard G. Zweifel. 2002. “Carnivores”. Encyclopedia of Animals. Barnes and Noble Books, New York.

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

Photo credit, me.

And Now For Something Completely Different…

Those “shameless little libertines” (periwinkles) are the tiiiny little snails you see covering rocks on rocky beaches. Shameless or not, they are adorable; scooting along the rock face and scraping algae off with their radula (a kind of tooth) like little gooey shelled cows. OK, yeah, they’re nothing like cows. But even their genus name is cute. Littorina. Of course, there are plenty of cute animals in the world, certainly cuter than one snail, so what is so special about Littorina? LUNGS. That’s right, amongst their rocky intertidal adaptations, besides a strong grip, shell and densely packed groups to resist water loss and wave shock, Littorina have LUNGS. Barring hypertonicity and dehydration, Littorina actually prefer life above water.

And now for something else seemingly completely different.
But I’ll explain soon.

Pop quiz! What is “polyandry”?
Is it:
A. A species of chiton
B. The little floaters on your eyes
C. A social system in which a female will acquire a male harem or mate with multiple males
D. Shut up, it’s summertime now quiz time!
E. Drag queen name

To everyone who answered C, you are correct! To everyone who answered D, cut the sass mouth, I will make you learn and assess your knowledge retention if I please.
Previously when I discussed polyandry, I pointed out the logistical problems of female promiscuity and caring/bearing offspring. However, sea horses proved an excellent example. Since the males carry the sea foals to term, the costs of polyandry on baby birthin’ are low. Dolphins, though followers of the fission-fusion social system, found another way that polyandry works. Female dolphins may not bear multiple calves by multiple males, but promiscuity ensures that the local males leave her alone as any of them could be the baby daddy. Trust me, this is a solid plan. If you had to deal with gangs of aggressive/randy/aggressively randy male dolphins on a daily basis, you’d get it.
Why am I rehashing polyandry? Because Littorina.
Monty Python didn’t know it at the time, but they were right about how fast and loose the Littorina play it. For each 70 baby brood, there is an average of 19 fathers responsible. The bigger the brood (or clutch), the more baby daddies. It’s pretty incredible that the lady Littorina can fertilize one clutch with more than one mate’s sperm, but WOW. Showing off maybe? Maybe. I’ve heard of increasing genetic diversity with multiple mates, but this is overkill. Over-fertile? Anyway, that’s a lot of mates. You would think that much business going down would get in the way. Or at least knock a gal off her rock. But the running theory is that dissuading all those ardent suitors would be more work and less reward then just going on with life. Scrape some algae, scoot about, mani-pedi with the girls…just ignore the impassioned fellow tagging along. Can you imagine? “I don’t know about this guy but…ehhh, asking him to leave sounds like WORK. Better not.”
Lazy little libertines.

Source
Marshall, Michael. March 24, 2010. “The world’s most promiscuous…snail.” Zoologger. New Scientist. June 19, 2013.
Yancey, Paul. “Rocky Shore- Abiotic Factors and Adaptations.” Marine Biology. Whitman College. Walla Walla, WA. 5 4 2011. Lecture.

Inspiration credit Paul Yancey.

NOTE: I do not, nor do I believe Monty Python does, approve of the gay-bashing featured in the video. Whelks should live however they please without fear of abuse. Seriously though, Monty Python enjoyed lampooning such behavior to point out its ridiculousness, but this was a bit much. Anyway, this is me awkwardly explaining the video was funny and relevant to recent scientific discoveries, and no offense was intended.

Hard Core-al

So sorry for the prolonged bouts of silence, guys. I’m just finishing up an online stats class and I’ve had a quiz, a final project and a final to work on/prepare for. The madness will end soon, but until then my posts will be a little sparse. Now onto more fun things.

Coral is fun, right? Right. They are colonial polyps of the phylum Cnidaria, and what’s more fun than saying “polyp”? NOTHING. Possibly cake. But anyway! As cnidarians, coral are related to jellyfish and anemones, and like anemones, they possess nematocysts (stinging cells) on their tentacles for filter feeding. Unlike anemones, they maintain a symbiotic relationship with algae, they help out with stuff like cooking, cleaning, provide energy through photosynthesis, etc. You know, symbiont stuff. However environmental stressors (like ocean acidification) can cause the coral to eject the algae, a process called bleaching (for the color change that accompanies the algae eviction) from which the coral do not usually recover. Barring changes in/removal of temporary stressors. For those of you crazy chemistry people, my marine bio professor has been researching the protective, anti-bleaching role of organic osmolytes (imagine a chemical cushion against change) in coral. You can check some of it out here and here.

Although coral colonies have a wide variety of shapes, species follow one of three strategies: columnar, planar and massive. Columnar coral grow tall, fast, in order to stay in the sun and avoid getting shaded out. Planar coral would be the ones doing the shading; they don’t grow tall, but they grow wide and flat (like the one in my picture) to prevent other coral from growing around them. The wide plates of these coral are also great for absorbing sunlight. Finally, there are the massive coral. These grow slowly, it may take hundreds of years for one to actually qualify as “massive” and in the meantime, they have competitors ready and willing (or at least as willing as a coral can be) to destroy them. However, massive coral have a secret weapon, massive coral have war tentacles. Excuse me, WAR TENTACLES. WAR TENTACLES are TENTACLES used in WAR. Territorial coral of any species just stretch out their stingy tentacles and go at it, massive coral are just better at it and have evolved to possess TENTACLES particularly suited to WAR. It’s a slow war, but give them a break. They’re coral.

 

Sources

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

Picture credit: me.

Sea Penning an Apology

I’ve come down with a bug and I’m not feeling too well (see: John Mayer was Wrong). I’ve got something fun planned for tomorrow, but until then, here’s a sea pen to keep y’all entertained. Sea pens are cnidarians and colonial (one “pen” is made up of many individuals, here called polyps) relatives to jellyfish and anemones. They are benthic (sea-floor dwellers) but can detach and swim away if threatened. Also they bioluminesce when poked (see: A Glowing Review of Bioluminescence).

Okay, time now for me to settle in with some hot curry and a blanket. Probably a lot of tissues, too.

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.