Great Lakes waterfowl die-offs

摘要

The disease, Type E botulism, a neuromuscular disease caused when birds eat fish infected with toxin-producing bacteria, is on the rise, killing approximately 10,000 more waterfowl in 2007 than when it was first reported in 1963. In order to understand die-off origins and distribution, ocean engineers from the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Institute for Ocean Systems Engineering in Dania Beach, Florida are using their expertise in experimental hydrodynamics to determine the source of lethal outbreaks that infect fish eaten by waterbirds. They have teamed up with the U.S. Geological Survey to help develop this novel way of tracking waterfowl carcasses.