Yup, it’s that magical time of the year again: SHARK WEEK on the Discovery Channel, when we can enjoy the awe of the fascinating creatures from the comfort and safety of our own homes. Although there are no great whites, makos or even spiny dogfish in Cayuga Lake, several researchers in landlocked Ithaca are involved in the study of sharks.
Ecology and evolutionary biology professor Willy Bemis is currently astounding students with his tales of the approximately 1,000 living species of sharks, skates, rays and chimaeras that collectively make up the group Chondrichthyes as part of a summer course at Shoals Marine Laboratory. He and his graduate student Josh Moyer have also revived the study of shark teeth using super high tech imaging techniques. Watch a video of their work here.
Marine microbiologist Ian Hewson is diving into a little understood shark killer: viruses. Scientists don’t come across many sick sharks, but is that because they don’t get sick? More likely, they get eaten or fall to the bottom of the ocean before being studied. Working with spiny dogfish sharks in the Gulf of Maine, Hewson has been collecting blood samples and analyzing them for clues. He believes he may have found evidence of viral genomes similar to the parvoviruses that infect cats and dogs. He is now trying to understand transmission rates, diversity and implications.
The shark study is part of his wider research into the marine environment as the largest biome on the planet.
“As the most abundant biological entities on Earth, marine viruses have significant impacts on their bacterial and archaeal hosts, causing significant mortality, controlling host assemblage structure, and conferring genomic capabilities via lysogenic conversion and gene transfer,” Hewson said. “Despite their global-scale importance, we are only starting to get a foothold on the diversity, distribution and activities of microorganisms in the marine environment.”
Ecology and Evolutionary biology professor Drew Harvell is also studying infectious diseases in oceans, and their effects on coral in particular. In a recent review article in Science, she argues that climate changes have increased the occurrence of infectious diseases in some natural and agricultural systems, and developing predictive early-warning systems will be crucial to combat their spread. You can also check out what she’s been up to this summer by following her blog.
