Strategies for managing marine disease.

The incidence of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) has increased in wildlife populations in recent years and is expected to continue to increase with global environmental change. Marine diseases are relatively understudied compared with terrestrial diseases but warrant parallel attention as they can disrupt ecosystems, cause economic loss, and threaten human livelihoods. Although there are many existing tools to combat the direct and indirect consequences of EIDs, these management strategies are often insufficient or ineffective in marine habitats compared with their terrestrial counterparts, often due to fundamental differences between marine and terrestrial systems. Here, we first illustrate how the marine environment and marine organism life histories present challenges and opportunities for wildlife disease management. We then assess the application of common disease management strategies to marine versus terrestrial systems to identify those that may be most effective for marine disease outbreak prevention, response, and recovery. Finally, we recommend multiple actions that will enable more successful management of marine wildlife disease emergencies in the future. These include prioritizing marine disease research and understanding its links to climate change, improving marine ecosystem health, forming better monitoring and response networks, developing marine veterinary medicine programs, and enacting policy that addresses marine and other wildlife diseases. Overall, we encourage a more proactive rather than reactive approach to marine wildlife disease management and emphasize that multidisciplinary collaborations are crucial to managing marine wildlife health.

Sublethal biomass loss in Egregia menziesii (Phaeophyceae) reveals diffuse meristem tissue.

Sublethal biomass loss has been found to have a variety of effects on marine macroalgae, from decreasing reproductive output to increasing individual survival and frond density. The ability of an individual to recover and persist through herbivore and wave damage is facilitated by the location of several meristematic growth regions throughout an individual. In kelps (Order Laminariales), meristems are found basally at the holdfast, at the base of each blade, and/or apically on each frond. In the intertidal kelp Egregia menziesii, fronds are thought to have an intercalary meristem at a transition zone between the main frond's midrib and a small terminal lamina. This study examined the effect of removing the terminal blade and transition zone on the elongation of the frond and found no significant difference in growth, contrary to expectations. Elongation occurred in the 30 cm of midrib at the apical end of fronds and was not isolated at the base of the terminal lamina as was previously thought. These results indicate the presence of a diffuse meristematic growth region that has not been reported in other kelps and may be an advantage for this intertidal species.

Transformative Research Is Not Easily Predicted.

Transformative research (TR) statements in scientific grant proposals have become mainstream. However, TR is defined as radically changing our understanding of a concept, causing a paradigm shift, or opening new frontiers. We argue that it is rarely possible to predict the transformative nature of research. Interviews and surveys of 78 transformative ecologists suggest that most TR began with incremental goals, while transformative potential was recognized later. Most respondents thought TR is unpredictable and should not be prioritized over 'incremental' research that typically leads to breakthroughs. Importantly, TR directives might encourage scientists to overstate the importance of their research. We recommend that granting agencies (i) allocate only a subset of funds to TR and (ii) solicit more realistic proposal statements.