Marine Mammals as Sentinel Species for Oceans and Human Health
Marine Mammals as Sentinel Species for Oceans and Human Health
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DOI：
10.1177/0300985810388525
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发表时间：
2011-05-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Bossart, G. D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bossart, G. D.
气候变化和潜在的环境退化的长期后果可能包括海洋动植物出现疾病的各个方面。反过来，这些新出现的疾病可能具有动物流行病的潜力、人畜共患病的影响，以及涉及其他辅助因素的复杂的发病机制，如人为污染负担、遗传学和免疫功能障碍。海洋哨兵生物的概念为评价水生生态系统健康提供了一种途径。这些哨兵是当前或潜在的对个体和种群一级动物健康的负面影响的晴雨表。反过来，使用海洋哨兵可以更好地描述和管理最终影响与海洋相关的动物和人类健康的影响。海洋哺乳动物是主要的哨兵物种，因为许多物种的寿命很长，是沿海的长期居民，在高营养水平觅食，并且有独特的脂肪储存，可以作为人为毒素的仓库。海洋哺乳动物可能会暴露在环境应激源中，如化学污染物、有害的藻类生物毒素以及新出现或重新出现的病原体。由于许多海洋哺乳动物物种与人类共享沿海环境，消费相同的食物，它们也可能成为解决公共卫生问题的有效哨兵。最后，海洋哺乳动物是极具魅力的大型动物，通常会刺激人类夸大的行为反应，因此更容易被观察到。
The long-term consequences of climate change and potential environmental degradation are likely to include aspects of disease emergence in marine plants and animals. In turn, these emerging diseases may have epizootic potential, zoonotic implications, and a complex pathogenesis involving other cofactors such as anthropogenic contaminant burden, genetics, and immunologic dysfunction. The concept of marine sentinel organisms provides one approach to evaluating aquatic ecosystem health. Such sentinels are barometers for current or potential negative impacts on individual- and population-level animal health. In turn, using marine sentinels permits better characterization and management of impacts that ultimately affect animal and human health associated with the oceans. Marine mammals are prime sentinel species because many species have long life spans, are long-term coastal residents, feed at a high trophic level, and have unique fat stores that can serve as depots for anthropogenic toxins. Marine mammals may be exposed to environmental stressors such as chemical pollutants, harmful algal biotoxins, and emerging or resurging pathogens. Since many marine mammal species share the coastal environment with humans and consume the same food, they also may serve as effective sentinels for public health problems. Finally, marine mammals are charismatic megafauna that typically stimulate an exaggerated human behavioral response and are thus more likely to be observed.