Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute
50th Anniversary Program Highlight
Physiology: Healthy Oceans – Healthy Planet
35 years of Healthy instead of Sea-Sick Solutions
The general public is becoming increasingly aware of the link between the healthy oceans and human health:
the oceans supply food for more than half the world’s population and they influence the global climate
system. The health, or “sick-ness”, of an ecosystem depends in part on the capacity for acclimation and
adaptation of the species that comprise it. Studying how animals react to a changing environment allows us to
make predictions about whether animals can survive and/or thrive under a particular set of natural or artificial
conditions.
Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI) has been
using marine mammals as models and sentinels to
examine underlying ecological processes impacting the
ocean and human health since the 1980s. Marine
processes that threaten human (and animal) health
include natural disasters and the ocean’s role as a
conduit for infectious and non-infectious disease. This
conduit tracks both ways: marine animals can be affected
by the harmful impacts of human and livestock sewage
outfalls on marine ecosystem health; humans can be
impacted via direct contact with seawater or ingestion of
contaminated seafood. The ocean’s benefits to human
health include new drugs developed from marine
organisms, food products high in protein and other
beneficial compounds like omega-3 fatty acids and the
use of marine organisms as models for biomedical
research.
HSWRI’s Physiology and Ocean Health Program include:
Physiological Ecology – How animals respond to changing conditions
HSWRI scientists have documented how marine animals’ adaptive responses may lessen the impact of environmental
changes (as when marine mammals in southern California forage farther north during El Nino events), but also can
backfire (as when manatees become ‘trapped’ in warm water refuges created by artificial conditions such as run-off from
power plants). Even though HSWRI is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Institute has access to
SeaWorld's zoological collections, and year-round access to cultured marine fish through its aquaculture program, both
which are critical to this research because the investigations require sensitive physiological measurements on animals
under controlled conditions.
Marine Mammal Stranding Investigations and Emergency Response
HSWRI has developed significant expertise in investigating the trends and causes of marine mammal strandings and
performing health assessments of marine mammals and reptiles during the course of ecological and physiological
research initiatives. The Institute’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program, one of the most active in the southeastern United
States, investigates strandings by examining live animals and by evaluating dead animals to determine cause of death
and collecting samples for life history analysis, contaminant studies, food habits evaluation and animal and human health
applications. HSWRI scientists also act as first responders during oil spills, and helped to develop the techniques used to
care for oiled wildlife and marine mammals, drafting protocols for their care, and demonstrating that simple dishwashing
detergent was better for cleaning oiled sea otters than more expensive and toxic industrial cleansers.
Health as an explanatory variable
HSWRI is involved in national and international collaborations in wildlife disease surveillance, including discovery and
characterization of new and emerging pathogens such as viruses, and development of new tools for conservation, such
as wildlife vaccination protocols. Wildlife diseases, once considered of minor importance to wildlife conservation efforts,
have become the focus of increased attention following an apparent increase in dramatic die-offs (e.g., viral outbreaks,
toxic algal blooms) and steep population declines attributed to disease (e.g., California sea otters, black abalone). The
impact of a disease outbreak in an endangered species such as the Hawaiian monk seal could be extinction. However,
smaller outbreaks and chronic infections may have a more significant overall impact on marine animal conservation, by
causing subtle changes in performance and reproductive success that affect the survival and vitality of many species.
For more information, or to make a donation to the Ecology program, please visit our website at
www.hswri.org, or contact Development Director, Eileen Sigler at (619)226-3881 or esigler@hswri.org.
Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, EIN: 95-2304740