Disease outbreaks associated with recent hurricanes cause mass mortality of sea urchins in Nova Scotia
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Date
2010Author
Scheibling, Robert Eric
Feehan, C.
Lauzon-Guay, J. -S
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Show full item recordAbstract
Field observations and laboratory experiments support the hypothesis that disease-induced mass
mortality of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis can be associated with hurricane
events that introduce a pathogenic amoeba Paramoeba invadens to coastal waters. The temporal pattern
of morbidity and mortality of sea urchins observed in a large embayment on the Atlantic coast of
Nova Scotia following Hurricane Juan in September 2003 and Hurricane Bill in August 2009, and in
laboratory infection experiments during the 2009 event, closely conformed to that expected based on
the known temperature-dependent dynamics of this amoebic disease.
Citation
Scheibling, R. E., C. Feehan, and J. -S Lauzon-Guay. 2010. "Disease outbreaks associated with recent hurricanes cause mass mortality of sea urchins in Nova
Scotia." Marine Ecology Progress Series 408: 109-116. doi:10.3354/meps08579