The sea turns red! Researchers discover a breakthrough that can help to predict dangerous algae flowers
Scientists can imagine that when SEE turns red soon – and don’t worry, it has nothing to do with the apocalypse.
For the first time, the researchers identified about a dozen viruses associated with red tides on the shores of Florida and are harmful and costly.
Red tides, also known as harmful algae flowers – large growth of algae -related algae – wind and water flows, water entering the water, excessive weather events and unusual temperatures.
They can kill birds, fish and other sea creatures and cause health problems in people, including shortness of breath and even death. Blooms may force health authorities to close the beaches.
“We know that viruses play an important role in the dynamics of harmful algae flowers, but we didn’t know which viruses may be related. Karenia Brevis Blooms, ”Post -PhD at USF Naval Sciences College, researcher Jean Lim, expression. “Now that we have defined several viruses in Red Tide Blooms, we can work to determine which viruses have an impact on these events.”
The identification of viruses can help estimate the flowers when it occurs and can better understand what causes what stops.
The red tide blooms a naturally formed algae that affects the sunlight state almost every year: usually occurs in late summer or autumn, Florida Fish and Wildlife Protection CommissionThe partner of the research.
They usually remain between three and five months, may cause losses that are estimated to be millions of dollars and affect hundreds of miles. An area extending more than 200 miles from Tampa Bay to Key West last month, WusfAnd Argentina saw that the beaches returned a shocking red material at the same time.
Karenia Brevis It is the organism that causes the red tide.
Researchers gathered during the red tide events Karenia Brevis Samples of flower to analyze in a laboratory. To find viruses, they used a method called viral metagenomic, a process that determines the make -up of the DNA of the sample.
They do not yet know how the viruses they find affect the red tide flowers, but researchers say that certain viruses can only be infected because they aim for certain organisms of viruses Karenia Brevis.
Researchers are trying to determine if viruses have an effect on others on this organism or red tide flowers. Finding a potential connection between how blooms occur and the presence of viruses can help predict these events in the future.
“For example, an increase in the number of viruses in an example may suggest that a red tide flowering is about to begin or end, or he says Journal of American Microbiology Journal msphereannounced.
