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Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 45(1), 2009, pp. 109-121
© Wildlife Disease Association  2009
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ASSOCIATION OF AN UNUSUAL MARINE MAMMAL MORTALITY EVENT WITH PSEUDO-NITZSCHIA SPP. BLOOMS ALONG THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COASTLINE

 Gretel Torres de la Riva1, Christine Kreuder Johnson1, Frances M. D. Gulland2, Gregg W. Langlois3, John E. Heyning4, Teri K. Rowles5 and Jonna A. K. Mazet1,6

1 Wildlife Health Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave., California 95616, USA
2 The Marine Mammal Center, Marin Headlands, California 94965, USA
3 California Department of Health Services, Environmental Management Branch, 850 Marina Bay Parkway, Building G, Room 165, Richmond, California 94804, USA
4 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90007, USA
5 National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources, 1315 East-West Hwy., Silver Spring, Maryland 20910, USA
6 Corresponding author (email: jkmazet{at}ucdavis.edu)

ABSTRACT:   During 2002, 2,239 marine mammals stranded in southern California. This unusual marine mammal stranding event was clustered from April to June and consisted primarily of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis) with severe neurologic signs. Intoxication with domoic acid (DA), a marine neurotoxin produced during seasonal blooms of Pseudo-nitzschia spp., was suspected. Definitively linking harmful algal blooms to large-scale marine mammal mortalities presents a substantial challenge, as does determining the geographic extent, species composition, and potential population impacts of marine mammal die-offs. For this reason, time series cross-correlation analysis was performed to test the temporal correlations of Pseudo-nitzschia blooms with strandings occurring along the southern California coastline. Temporal correlations were identified between strandings and blooms for California sea lions, long-beaked common dolphins, and short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis). Similar correlations were identified for bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), but small sample sizes for these species made associations more speculative. The timing of the blooms and strandings of marine mammals suggested that both inshore and offshore foraging species were affected and that marine biotoxin programs should include offshore monitoring sites. In addition, California sea lion-strandings appear to be a very sensitive indicator of DA in the marine environment, and their monitoring should be included in public health surveillance plans.
  Key words:  California sea lion, common dolphin, domoic acid toxicity, harmful algal blooms, marine mammal strandings, Pseudo-nitzschia spp.






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