Collaborator of the Month: Lucas Brotz

Photo courtesy of Lucas Brotz

Lucas Brotz holds a Bachelor’s degree in Astrophysics and a Master’s degree in Oceanography. Currently, he is undertaking his doctorate in Zoology at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries under the guidance of the esteemed Dr. Daniel Pauly. He is also working with the Sea Around Us.

His research focuses mainly on changing jellyfish populations and jellyfish fisheries, as well as the economic impacts of jellyfish blooms. A study that he published in 2012 together with UBC scientists was the first attempt to identify changes in global jellyfish abundance. Analysis of available data from 1950 to the present confirmed a remarkable rise in their populations. This was evident in 28 of the world’s Large Marine Ecosystems, or 62 percent of the regions analyzed.  

Consequently, this study has immense implications for humans and ecosystems. Negative impacts of this global phenomenon are felt on human activities like fishing, aquaculture, tourism, power generation, and desalination, among others. Aside from exploiting jellyfish as a food source, people may have to resort to creative ways to reduce economic loss. No single factor is responsible for increasing jellyfish blooms, but mounting evidence suggests that pollution, aquaculture, fishing, shipping, global warming, and coastal development are likely to contribute to this observed rise. UBC scientists urge that subsequent studies on jellyfish populations and awareness are vital to make sure we still have fishes, and not just jellyfishes, on our plates.

Lucas Brotz makes use of SeaLifeBase for jellyfish taxonomy as well as FishBase, since he is also studying the dynamics between jellyfish populations and fisheries. He has contributed data on taxonomic updates of jellyfish, photographs of jellyfish, and scientific papers on jellyfish populations as well as the results of his MSc Thesis.

Cheers to more years of collaborating with you!

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The University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre . http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/students/lucas-brotz [Accessed 6/29/2015]

The University of British Columbia. http://news.ubc.ca/2012/04/18/jellyfish-on-the-rise-ubc-study/  [Accessed 6/29/2015]

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FishBase Symposium: Art Contest 2015 is now ON

FishBase Symposium Art Contest is now officially on, with the theme "Under the sea connections: different relationships among aquatic organisms". This activity features a poster-making contest, open for all elementary, high school and colleges in Los Baños, Laguna, and a digital photo contest which invites all amateur Filipino photographers. Read through the details and be among the winners!

Note: Open image in new tab to enlarge

Artwork by: Mike Yap

Seven Sea Turtle Wonders

Artwork by Mike Yap

To develop an appreciation for something can take as little as a glimpse – an instant connection – or sometimes a profound amount of time to see the beauty within. In the life of James Spotila, a remarkable sea turtle biologist, it only took a sighting of a healthy leatherback about to lay its eggs to be held captivated by it forever. Such a moment held a big part of him, enough to commit his lifetime into studying these wonderful, often miraculous sea creatures.

Since World Sea Turtle Day, June 16, is especially dedicated to the 7 sea turtle species (Green turtle, Leatherback, Kemp’s Ridley, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill, Loggerhead and Flatback) we have today, let us take the time to see how amazing and resilient they really are.

1. Did you know that sea turtles don’t have sex chromosomes? Instead, sex is determined by temperature at which eggs incubate. In the case of green turtles, at 28^oC, hatchlings develop into males; at 31^oC the hatchlings grow into females [1]. This has great implication in conservation [2].

2. The largest recorded leatherback turtle weighs nearly a ton [1]. With jellyfish as its main food, it’s kind of hard to imagine how much it has to eat to weigh that much.

3. Sea turtles have magnetite in their brains; they use it as their internal magnetic compass [1]. They don’t have the superpowers of Magneto but they are tuned to migrate thousands of miles in the ocean and get back to the beach were they hatched.

4. Different species bury their eggs in sand at varying depths. Don't worry the eggs have porous shells so they can breathe. The shallowest depth is observed for Olive ridley and Kemp’s rildey nests at 15 inches while the deepest is for leatherback eggs buried at 25 inches. The deeper it is, the more stable the temperature [2].

5. Sea turtles have to spend at least a decade or more in the open sea before going to back to mate and reproduce in their natal beach [1]. Imagine that they are already independent from the time that they were hatchlings, racing to the open sea. It only becomes tougher (and tougher) for the succeeding years as they have to avoid being captured in destructive shrimp trawls, longlines, and gillnets. What is more worrisome is their affinity to ingest plastics which they mistake for a sumptuous jellyfish.

6. Sea turtles are excellent divers and can prolong their breathing underwater for 45 minutes. The deepest dive a leatherback has bagged is 4250 m [3], beating that of a sperm whale at 3686 m [1].

7. They have survived the mass extinction which obliterated dinosaurs and so have lived for 110 million years now [1]. And it is of course in our hands to make certain that they get to be seen and conserved by the next generations.

The list of how beautiful sea turtles are goes on. Never cease to see and celebrate what’s amazing.

We have considerable information on the seven species of sea turtles. Feel free to visit us at SeaLifeBase, or become a collaborator. Happy World Sea Turtle Day!

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[1] Spotila, J.R. (2004). Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to their Biology, Behavior and Conservation. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

[2] Spotila, J.R. (2011). Saving Sea Turtles. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

[3] OBIS Search Interface. http://www.iobis.org/mapper/ [Accessed 6/8/2015]. 

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World Oceans Day 2015: Healthy Oceans, healthy planet

Artwork by: Mike Yap

The ocean provides us with many things, including food and medicine, and is an important reservoir of carbon and oxygen, things that are necessary for our survival. Other than these, it serves as a home to vast numbers of organisms and it also regulates the Earth’s climate. Simply put, oceans since the dawn of time, have been caring for all organisms including the human race, but the question is, do we care for the oceans? Unfortunately, humans have misused its resources and unknowingly put 71 percent of the Earth’s surface at risk. However,  it is never too late for man to change this kind of situation.

Today, the whole world celebrates World Oceans Day, an annual event to celebrate the beauty, the wealth and the promise of the ocean. This was first proposed in 1992 by the Government of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and in 2008 during the United Nations General Assembly, it was officially set to be celebrated every 8th day of June. May this celebration remind and unite us all in making plans into actions toward a sustainable management of the world’s oceans. Healthy oceans, healthy planet.

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World Oceans Day 8 June. Accessed from http://www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/.

World Oceans Day History. Accessed from http://www.worldoceansday.org/about/history/.

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Today is WED!

Artwork by: Mike Yap

We often used “WED” as an abbreviation for “Wednesday”, which is the day between Tuesday and Thursday, the fourth day of the week, or the third day of the working week. Well aside from that, “WED” is also an acronym for “World Environment Day”. It may sound something new for some individuals.

World Environment Day is initiated by the United Nation as a worldwide awareness and action for the environment. It encourages humans to take full responsibility in managing and utilizing the planet’s natural resources. Earth’s ecosystems are getting closer to critical depletion or irreversible change caused by increasing population growth and economic development. By 2050, if this continues and with a 9.6 billion population it is presumed that man will need three planets in order to sustain his ways of living and consumption.

As we celebrate WED with the theme, “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.”,  may we all realize our own responsibility to take care for our planet. Let’s keep in mind that to secure good and healthy future need not cost the Earth. Your action counts. My action counts. Every action counts. Be an agent of change.

“Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global threats and trends, when billions of people join forces in common purpose, we can make a tremendous difference.”

–        UN Scretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

Source: 

UNEP. World Environment Day 2015. SevenBillion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care. June 5 [Accessed 06/05/2015].

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