Starving Dolphins in Florida Traced to Algae Bloom Fueled by Human Waste

In 2013, dozens of dolphins living in the Indian River Lake in Florida began in mysterious circumstances. Their remains were washed, which show that animals have been humiliated. Now, after more than a decade, environmental scientists believe that they have discovered the cause of strange death.

Although the deaths have long been linked to giant algae in the water, it took it so far to determine how exactly the two events were connected, and it turned out that humanity’s mistake is mostly. It may be difficult to believe, but it seems that dumping huge amounts of human waste and fertilizers in waterways can be bad.

Environmentalists are also noted in the magazine Borders in marine scienceLong -term plant flowers began in 2011. The spread of small plants that resemble plants led to a widespread change in the environment of the Indian River Lake. Their presence has caused the amount of seaweed in the water by more than 50 %, and the loss of 75 % of the total algae (known as sea herbs).

This was not alone killing dolphins, but when environmentalists examined the proportions of isotopes in dental samples taken from the bodies, and compared them to the teeth taken from 44 dolphins that were not part of the death, they realized that their meals had been changed. Dolphin ate 14 % to 20 % of the Lady, which is the main dolphin Ferry, but it ate up to 25 % of the marine cream, which is a less nutritious fish. In essence, the presence of such large quantities of plant plankton has reduced the amount of food available to the usual dolphins. When the prey numbers diminished, the dolphins had to pick up more prey to consume the same amount of energy. The effects were not only felt by those dolphins that died, but in the population of the dolphin in the region as a whole. At that time, 64 % of the noticeable dolphins were weight loss, while 5 % were ranked as meager.

“A community, the shift in diets and a wide range of malnutrition indicates that dolphins were struggling to capture enough prey of any kind,” said Windy Dorden, a research scientist at the Hubbs-Seaworld Research Institute, who worked in the statement. “The loss of major structural habitats may have reduced the success of feeding in general by causing changes in abundance and distribution of prey.”

The historical record carries this. According to the recorded records of the causes of the death of the dollars that were cut off, hunger was the cause of death in 17 % of the dolphin’s deaths registered in the region between 2000 and 2020. This number increased to 61 % in 2013.

“The flowers of plant plankton are part of the productive environmental systems,” said Charles Jacobi, director of the Strategic Program at the University of South Florida, who also worked in the study. “Harmful effects arise when the quantities of nutrients that enter an unusually, large, or long -term system are pushing. In most cases, people’s activities are pushing these extra loads. Managing our activities to maintain foodstuffs at a safe level is the key to preventing flowering that disrupts environmental systems.”

There is a small silver lining for this horrific discovery. As the researchers noted, waste and other nonsense in the Indian River Lake are gradually reduced and are expected to reach safe levels in 2035.

However, it is not surprising that human activity is harmful to ecosystems – from cutting shocking quantities of rainforests, to the melting of the polar ice, to the unintended introduction to thousands of invasive species to new regions. This last example explains that in addition to the clear initial effects, our habit of throwing God-what is in natural environments can have all kinds of hanging results-including the killing of some of our beloved wild lives.