“While wandering a deserted beach
at dawn, stagnant in my work, I saw a man in the distance bending and throwing
as he walked the endless stretch toward me. As he came near, I could see that
he was throwing starfish, abandoned on the sand by the tide, back into the sea.
When he was close enough I asked him why he was working so hard at this strange
task. He said that the sun would dry the starfish and they would die. I said to
him that I thought he was foolish. There were thousands of starfish on miles
and miles of beach. One man alone could never make a difference. He smiled as
he picked up the next starfish. Hurling it far into the sea he said, "It makes a difference for this one."
I abandoned my writing and spent the morning throwing starfish.” ~ Loren Eiseley
One thing I have learned: On this road called "life" you never know for sure where the twists and turns will take you, so it's best to just enjoy the journey...
It did
not take us long to survey the situation, choose our area of study, measure and
record its dimensions, and then set to work on the sea stars.
(For
information: BEACH EXPLORATION: SEA STARS)
You might know them as starfish - the current scientific term is sea stars - and here on the American west coast, they are in serious trouble; from Alaska through California, they are dying by the millions. Although this phenomenon has been reported before, never has it been seen with this severity and magnitude.
Because
the three of us are part of a volunteer beach naturalists' group and frequently
work on our local beaches, we jumped at the chance to take some training and
commit to collecting data to help researchers find the cause of this terrible
affliction known as Sea Star Wasting
Syndrome.
(For information on this syndrome click HERE)
ochre/purple sea star
Because
of the excellent information provided to us and an "on-top-of-it"
line of communication to assist us, the actual data collection has not been
difficult.
mottled sea star
Basically, we need to identify and target two specific species of
sea stars (ochre/purple star Pisaster
ochraceus and mottled star Evasterias
troschelii) in a given area, measure the widest distance across each of
them, decide whether or not they appear healthy - if they do not, we assign
each a number according to how advanced the disease is on them, record all of
this and photograph them.
Although
I am a true naturalist at heart, with some training, I have to say that I have
never been involved in actual scientific data collection of this nature. So why start now?
Meegan M. Reid for the Kitsap Sun
We are three mostly retired ladies of a "certain age" who happen to love the out-of-doors, all creatures, and enjoy a good challenge. We have varying degrees of education, vast and diverse life experiences, are fiercely devoted to our families and friends, and have an insatiable desire to learn about, contribute to, and improve the world around us. So why not?
Linda is undoubtedly the scientist among us - quiet
and reserved, she has the ability to size up a situation quickly, an eye for
detail, and a determined stubbornness when it comes to preserving the
environment and all creatures within it.
What
amazed me was how quickly the three of us fell into roles that seemed to fit our
skills and personalities to a T!
She easily gravitated toward taking the measurements and identifying the most minute evidence of disease.
Peg is a
chatterbox - a warm, caring person with a heart as big as all outdoors and a
fierce enthusiasm to throw herself whole-heartedly into any endeavor she is
a part of. She became our recorder - rapidly filling in the blanks on the form
as Linda called out the measurements and other details.
Innately honest, she is
humorously quick to say "Wait, WAIT - I got that wrong. Let me correct
it..." or "Aaaaw, look at all the babies! I LOVE all these babies...!"
Meegan M. Reid for the Kitsap Sun
That first night out we were optimistic because we found lots of adult sea stars that appeared fairly healthy and a great many juveniles.
We
soon fell into a routine of visiting this site every two weeks or so. For
several summers we had been hosting beach explorations at a state park not far
from this private dock, so we began to unofficially monitor it also. We
continued with our chosen roles, but found that we could easily switch tasks if
we needed to when one of us was unable to come on a particular day.
Tides here vary with the seasons: winter low tides tend to be higher and often occur in the wee hours; summer low tides tend to be lower and may occur in the middle of the day or afternoon. Changing tides always present a challenge to intertidal sea life with the accompanying stress leaving them more vulnerable to disease. As the
seasons progressed and the temperatures warmed, we began to see more and more
sick seas stars.
First we would notice the unusual twisting of their arms,
then a gooey white appearance on their bodies,
and finally the total disintegration of their arms and central disks - it was devastating to observe...
In June, we were contacted by an environmental reporter for one of our local newspapers wanting to know if he could accompany us on one of our excursions to do a story on the study. As luck would have it, we all were witness that day to a huge die-off in our local area as dead and dying sea stars littered the site under the dock and at the state park. We had never seen anything like it.
Meegan M. Reid for the Kitsap Sun
First we would notice the unusual twisting of their arms,
then a gooey white appearance on their bodies,
and finally the total disintegration of their arms and central disks - it was devastating to observe...
In June, we were contacted by an environmental reporter for one of our local newspapers wanting to know if he could accompany us on one of our excursions to do a story on the study. As luck would have it, we all were witness that day to a huge die-off in our local area as dead and dying sea stars littered the site under the dock and at the state park. We had never seen anything like it.
Meegan M. Reid for the Kitsap Sun
The ochre/purple sea stars are what are known as a keystone
species, which means that they have a disproportionately large effect on their environment relative
to their abundance. These sea stars play a critical role in maintaining the
structure of their ecological community, affecting many other organisms and
helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the
community.
These stars feed off of mussels and clams and we've heard local reports that there has now been an increase in these shellfish, but it remains to be seen what the overall effect might be in the future.
These stars feed off of mussels and clams and we've heard local reports that there has now been an increase in these shellfish, but it remains to be seen what the overall effect might be in the future.
Finally,
a researcher in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has
identified the deadly culprit as the Sea Star Associated Densovirus (SSaDV), a
type of parvovirus commonly found in invertebrates. The study was published this
Fall; according to Ian Hewson, associate professor of microbiology and lead
author of the study “There are 10 million viruses in a drop of seawater, so
discovering the virus associated with a marine disease can be like looking for
a needle in a haystack. Not only is this an important discovery of a virus
involved in a mass mortality of marine invertebrates, but this is also the
first virus described in a sea star.” Although
this discovery provides evidence for a link between a densovirus and sea star
wasting syndrome, there is still much work to be done before this mysterious
disease is fully understood.
On another cold, dark night this January, we were again under the dock checking on "our" sea stars. Strange as it may seem to some, we've become somewhat attached to them and had not been to see them since early October. Back then we'd found around seven total, and not all looked well.
We were pleasantly surprised
by this most recent visit, as we counted around fifty or so and quite a few
were juveniles. It's too early to be overly optimistic, however, as we still
have another warm summer to get through which well may bring a recurrence of
the virus. Only time will tell.
On our
recent visit to the dock we knew there was supposed to be a spectacular display
of the Quadrantid
meteor shower. Unfortunately, we learned that the best viewing time was after
midnight; the skies were cloudy and the moon nearly full, so meteors were not
to be seen - in this part of the world, by us anyway.
It didn't really matter,
because we only came to do our small bit to help these incredible creatures survive.
We have no idea where this will all lead - what other factors might influence the course of this disease, what other living things might be affected, how long the study might go on... We are ordinary people doing ordinary things hoping that we can make some difference.
What we do know is that all life is precious and that everything is connected. Whatever happens to one of us will affect the rest of us - whether we know or acknowledge it or not.
Cold, stiff, and odd as they may appear, we share a certain deep affection for and appreciation of these sea stars - and of each other.
We came to see if the stars were out, but really we found much more than that...
Kitsap Memorial State Park 2012
Kitsap Memorial State Park 2014
Cold, stiff, and odd as they may appear, we share a certain deep affection for and appreciation of these sea stars - and of each other.
We came to see if the stars were out, but really we found much more than that...
Beautifully written!
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Thanks for this lovely story of your efforts to understand and report on the sea star wasting syndrome.
ReplyDeletewow. what a story to inspire. and to repeat what cheryl already said...beautifully written, as always.
ReplyDeleteyou are doing such a good thing!! i can definitely see how you could get attached to 'your sea stars'.
i had never even heard of this wasting disease.
the Eiseley story at the beginning is a very nice & fitting intro...and Kintz's quote at the end too...i like that a lot.
continue with your work for these sea stars! it's with people like you 3, who can make a big difference in finding a fix for this!!
"There are 10 million viruses in a drop of seawater, so discovering the virus associated with a marine disease can be like looking for a needle in a haystack." wow!! i was stunned when i read this.
thanks for sharing. and much congrats on good luck with this much needed work you're doing!!
:)