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Ocean Outbreak: Confronting the Rising Tide of Marine Disease
Winner of the Sustainability Science Award 2020, Ecological Society of America
Winner of the PROSE Award (Biological Sciences category) 2020, Association of American PublishersThere is a growing crisis in our oceans: mysterious outbreaks of infectious disease are on the rise. Marine epidemics can cause mass die-offs of wildlife from the bottom to the top of food chains, impacting the health of ocean ecosystems as well as lives on land. Portending global environmental disaster, ocean outbreaks are fueled by warming seas, sewage dumping, unregulated aquaculture, and drifting plastic.
Ocean Outbreak follows renowned scientist Drew Harvell and her colleagues into the field as they investigate how four iconic marine animals—corals, abalone, salmon, and starfish—have been devastated by disease. Based on over twenty years of research, this firsthand account of the sometimes gradual, sometimes exploding impact of disease on our ocean’s biodiversity ends with solutions and a call to action. Only through policy changes and the implementation of innovative solutions from nature can we reduce major outbreaks, save some ocean ecosystems, and protect our fragile environment.
Winner of the PROSE Award (Biological Sciences category) 2020, Association of American PublishersThere is a growing crisis in our oceans: mysterious outbreaks of infectious disease are on the rise. Marine epidemics can cause mass die-offs of wildlife from the bottom to the top of food chains, impacting the health of ocean ecosystems as well as lives on land. Portending global environmental disaster, ocean outbreaks are fueled by warming seas, sewage dumping, unregulated aquaculture, and drifting plastic.
Ocean Outbreak follows renowned scientist Drew Harvell and her colleagues into the field as they investigate how four iconic marine animals—corals, abalone, salmon, and starfish—have been devastated by disease. Based on over twenty years of research, this firsthand account of the sometimes gradual, sometimes exploding impact of disease on our ocean’s biodiversity ends with solutions and a call to action. Only through policy changes and the implementation of innovative solutions from nature can we reduce major outbreaks, save some ocean ecosystems, and protect our fragile environment.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published April 16, 2019
11 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 30, 2020
Those of us who live on the Pacific Coast won't forget the sea star wasting disease that hit in 2014. It was disheartening to watch the colorful starfish disintegrate and disappear from tide pools. Ocean Outbreak: Confronting the Rising Tide of Marine Disease by Drew Harvell, puts that grisly loss into critical, broader perspective.
As a marine ecologist, Harvell has worked at the forefront of epidemics affecting many sea creatures, from corals in the Caribbean to salmon in the Pacific Northwest. With the human influences of ocean pollution, plastics, travel, aquaculture, and warming, she shows how we've inadvertently given underwater pathogens an upper-hand that increasingly puts whole ecosystems at risk.
What I like most about this book is that it gives readers a firsthand account of how marine scientists work, revealing that science is not just a body of knowledge but rather a process for solving mysteries and devising solutions. It's fascinating and inspiring to learn how Harvell and her colleagues tackle problems.
In the end, Harvell pulls no punches in calling out how poorly prepared we are to deal with marine epidemics and urges support for research and better policies, surveillance, and response.
Reading about marine epidemics now, at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, reminds me that we humans are not the only ones vulnerable to pathogens. Moreover, Harvell's account underscores the important ways that scientists have been telling us about what's coming down the pike and the steps we might take to avert disaster. Surely, we'd better start to listen.
As a marine ecologist, Harvell has worked at the forefront of epidemics affecting many sea creatures, from corals in the Caribbean to salmon in the Pacific Northwest. With the human influences of ocean pollution, plastics, travel, aquaculture, and warming, she shows how we've inadvertently given underwater pathogens an upper-hand that increasingly puts whole ecosystems at risk.
What I like most about this book is that it gives readers a firsthand account of how marine scientists work, revealing that science is not just a body of knowledge but rather a process for solving mysteries and devising solutions. It's fascinating and inspiring to learn how Harvell and her colleagues tackle problems.
In the end, Harvell pulls no punches in calling out how poorly prepared we are to deal with marine epidemics and urges support for research and better policies, surveillance, and response.
Reading about marine epidemics now, at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, reminds me that we humans are not the only ones vulnerable to pathogens. Moreover, Harvell's account underscores the important ways that scientists have been telling us about what's coming down the pike and the steps we might take to avert disaster. Surely, we'd better start to listen.
May 19, 2020
Perfect blend of accessible science & storytelling with a rich list of references that allows you to dive deeper when you want more details.
March 15, 2020
In the oceans today, new epidemic diseases are killing wildlife of a massive scale. Ocean Outbreak describes the efforts of scientists — often badly underfunded — to find the causes and propose cures. The author looks in depth at “mass mortality events” affecting abalone, sea stars, coral reefs and farmed and wild fish, particularly salmon.
Harvell warns that “warming the climate and polluting the sea will give new opportunities to underwater microorganisms, resulting in explosive new outbreaks of infectious disease.”
While Ebola was traumatizing human communities across West Africa in 2013, another virulent disease attacked a very different species from California to Alaska — sea stars. In both cases, the outbreaks resulted from environmental conditions that allowed a virus to overwhelm a population. Both people and sea stars were suffering from environmental degradation and biological stress.
As with Ebola, a slow and underfunded response by neo-liberal governments led to thousands of deaths that could have been prevented. We understand the agonies of Ebola victims, only specialists knew about hundreds of thousands of sea stars dying with their arms twisting away from their disintegrating bodies along thousands of miles of sea shore in the United States.
Harvell is brilliant at making complex science accessible to non-scientists. Her descriptions of coral reefs, kelp forests, coastlines and the species they support are wonderful. She explains what we know about marine ecology and disease and where the gaps are, while showing that that the work of scientists who actually study them is truly amazing and often unglamorous.
Harvell shows that there are different ways into working in science and how collaborative strong science is. As younger people join labs and projects they bring experience of the latest technological processes and teach their teachers. It is also extremely refreshing to read about the many women scientists involved in different aspects of virology and marine biology.
Outbreaks of disease in marine life are not new but while primary school children raised money with the Save our Stars campaign, US politicians failed even to vote on the Marine Diseases Act, proposed in 2014 and 2015 to unlock emergency government funding.
Global warming is a major contributor to marine disease outbreaks. Some species escape high temperatures temporarily by heading north for cooler water, but many including abalone, sea snails and sea stars cannot move. Some species of sea stars appear to developed immunity to sea star wasting disease, but others including the magnificent sunflower stars that grow up to a meter across, did not and their populations collapsed.
Capitalism’s destructive impact on marine populations can be seen most directly in the chapter on wild and farmed salmon where the drive for profit has overridden all ecological concerns.
Farmed salmon, which now exceed wild salmon in numbers and profitability, are promoted as a sustainable way to save wild fish and feed the world’s growing population.
The PR departments for aquaculture strenuously deny that marine farms infect wild fish. But it is undeniable that fish farms spend a lot of time and money fighting disease, because they concentrate large numbers of fish in relatively small areas. Any outbreak can spread beyond the boundaries of tanks or nets because disease-causing bacteria moves with water. Also farmed fish often escape. Farmed fish can carry disease to wild stocks but they also breed with wild fish, producing offspring that are genetically less able to survive in open waters.
The author's evidence strengthens the case for a fundamental challenge to the system behind all this destruction, for a break from the drive for profit. When this is achieved we will be able to nurture our environment and its species in a convivial co-existence. Without such changes, we won’t stop the heat events that are killing large parts of our planet. Abalone, salmon and sea stars will disappear and the world as a whole will be far less hospitable for remaining species too.
Harvell warns that “warming the climate and polluting the sea will give new opportunities to underwater microorganisms, resulting in explosive new outbreaks of infectious disease.”
While Ebola was traumatizing human communities across West Africa in 2013, another virulent disease attacked a very different species from California to Alaska — sea stars. In both cases, the outbreaks resulted from environmental conditions that allowed a virus to overwhelm a population. Both people and sea stars were suffering from environmental degradation and biological stress.
As with Ebola, a slow and underfunded response by neo-liberal governments led to thousands of deaths that could have been prevented. We understand the agonies of Ebola victims, only specialists knew about hundreds of thousands of sea stars dying with their arms twisting away from their disintegrating bodies along thousands of miles of sea shore in the United States.
Harvell is brilliant at making complex science accessible to non-scientists. Her descriptions of coral reefs, kelp forests, coastlines and the species they support are wonderful. She explains what we know about marine ecology and disease and where the gaps are, while showing that that the work of scientists who actually study them is truly amazing and often unglamorous.
Harvell shows that there are different ways into working in science and how collaborative strong science is. As younger people join labs and projects they bring experience of the latest technological processes and teach their teachers. It is also extremely refreshing to read about the many women scientists involved in different aspects of virology and marine biology.
Outbreaks of disease in marine life are not new but while primary school children raised money with the Save our Stars campaign, US politicians failed even to vote on the Marine Diseases Act, proposed in 2014 and 2015 to unlock emergency government funding.
Global warming is a major contributor to marine disease outbreaks. Some species escape high temperatures temporarily by heading north for cooler water, but many including abalone, sea snails and sea stars cannot move. Some species of sea stars appear to developed immunity to sea star wasting disease, but others including the magnificent sunflower stars that grow up to a meter across, did not and their populations collapsed.
Capitalism’s destructive impact on marine populations can be seen most directly in the chapter on wild and farmed salmon where the drive for profit has overridden all ecological concerns.
Farmed salmon, which now exceed wild salmon in numbers and profitability, are promoted as a sustainable way to save wild fish and feed the world’s growing population.
The PR departments for aquaculture strenuously deny that marine farms infect wild fish. But it is undeniable that fish farms spend a lot of time and money fighting disease, because they concentrate large numbers of fish in relatively small areas. Any outbreak can spread beyond the boundaries of tanks or nets because disease-causing bacteria moves with water. Also farmed fish often escape. Farmed fish can carry disease to wild stocks but they also breed with wild fish, producing offspring that are genetically less able to survive in open waters.
The author's evidence strengthens the case for a fundamental challenge to the system behind all this destruction, for a break from the drive for profit. When this is achieved we will be able to nurture our environment and its species in a convivial co-existence. Without such changes, we won’t stop the heat events that are killing large parts of our planet. Abalone, salmon and sea stars will disappear and the world as a whole will be far less hospitable for remaining species too.
August 24, 2019
A fascinating discussion about the health of our oceans. The author is a marine ecologist and tells her story about the devastating loss of large numbers of marine organisms and subsequent threats to entire ecosystems. It turns out that these organisms are actually dying from infections. Coral reefs, which are living organisms, have been so stressed by plastics, warming temperatures and waters polluted by human sewage, that they can get infections and die. Also, abalones have died off in huge numbers after succumbing to infections caused by a rickettsia like organism. Salmon have been infected by a virus similar to rabies. Stars have been wiped out in large numbers and their killer has been identified as a parvovirus, similar to the one that affects dogs.
In spite of all this bad news, the author ends the book on a hopeful note. There are some steps we can take to lessen the risk of infection to the animals of the ocean. For example, we can do a better job keeping plastic and untreated sewage out of the ocean. We can also encourage coastal sea grass which helps clean the water.
This book is an important source of information and that information needs to get to the public before it’s too late.
In spite of all this bad news, the author ends the book on a hopeful note. There are some steps we can take to lessen the risk of infection to the animals of the ocean. For example, we can do a better job keeping plastic and untreated sewage out of the ocean. We can also encourage coastal sea grass which helps clean the water.
This book is an important source of information and that information needs to get to the public before it’s too late.
September 6, 2020
It is difficult to read about world wide ocean pandemics but this is must read. It is very personal, full of the names scientists, researchers and others. With a big bibliography of references at the back. Details of their work and observations. Volunteers who dive the sound and keep counts of marine life for years.
There are significant interwoven connections between human activities and the health of our planet. We are simply intimately tied together.
The last chapter ' Nature's services to the rescue' talked about the Indonesian coral islands. The presence of plastics, sewage, and trash make the corals sick; 84% of the population sick. Seems the city of Victoria BC releases its entire municipality's raw sewage into the sound.
Well, there's cause for nobodies like me to do something.
Our own global viral spread is a wake up call to do better at just about everything.
There are significant interwoven connections between human activities and the health of our planet. We are simply intimately tied together.
The last chapter ' Nature's services to the rescue' talked about the Indonesian coral islands. The presence of plastics, sewage, and trash make the corals sick; 84% of the population sick. Seems the city of Victoria BC releases its entire municipality's raw sewage into the sound.
Well, there's cause for nobodies like me to do something.
Our own global viral spread is a wake up call to do better at just about everything.
July 19, 2020
A fascinating story of Harvell's research into disease outbreaks in coral, abalone, salmon, and starfish, especially along the US West Coast. Harvell does a good explaining the science, as well as the process of the science, and balances this with her personal perspective. For me, the balance was perfect. This is a niche subject, but the book is accessible and not overly long.
I was disappointed, though, by how hard Harvell plugs more funding for her work as a "solution" to ocean outbreaks. Better monitoring of diseases will do nothing to ameliorate them. We cannot treat or vaccinate wild ocean species. Since these outbreaks are all connected to global warming, the only way to stop them is with policy changes to stop greenhouse gas pollution. Throwing Harvell and her collaborators a few million dollars seems worthwhile in terms of getting interesting science, but it won't solve any problems. (Possibly it could help with aquaculture outbreaks, or with localized pollution problems that cause disease.)
> The world's coral reefs, our most diverse and valuable marine ecosystems, are being sickened by a variety of factors all at once. Our only chance to limit their loss lies in understanding how all the threats to coral interact with and affect each other.
> With the threat of the imminent extinction of tropical corals, white abalone, and our sunflower star, and their cascading ecological impacts, we crossed a line in the sand. As a society, we can no longer stand by idly. We have let loose many destructive forces over which we have little control, but science can still make a difference. The problem is that inadequate funding remains a major impediment to scientists identifying the causes of disease outbreaks in the ocean, investigating the contributing factors, and developing solutions. … The whole thing would have played out differently if we had had the right resources from the start—not only funds from school children who stepped up to help, but also government funding. If the starfish outbreak was instead a deadly virus epidemic among humans, like Ebola, we would have had massive resources at our disposal to investigate the pressing questions surrounding the outbreak. Instead, many people acted as if this huge epidemic affecting a keystone species in the ocean was simply a curiosity and assumed scientists would figure it out.
A few other quotes:
> rickettsia is a very slowly incubating disease agent. It took almost a year before the abalone were conclusively infected. The long incubation period was also why the range of the pathogen initially looked much larger than the range of sick abalone … On land, rickettsial bacteria are never free living and can survive only inside the cells of a host. Scientist call them obligate intracellular parasites. They are always transmitted by a bite from an insect vector like a tick or a mite. Two diseases of terrestrial animals caused by rickettsial bacterial are Rocky Mountain spotted fever and typhus. It is tricky to confirm a rickettsia as the cause of a disease, since they hide inside cells and thus cannot be detected by a simple blood test. … since seawater has essentially the same salinity as abalone blood, the bacterium can survive briefly outside a host and can thus be transmitted in seawater. She and her student Lisa Crosson tested infectivity and found that the rickettsia remains viable in seawater for at least twenty-four hours. It is extraordinary that this rickettsial bacterium deviates from the normal transmission biology of requiring a vector on land
> A mere eight months after this Atlantic salmon spill, Governor Jay Inslee banned all Atlantic salmon farming in Washington State. His legislation will prevent new farms and will phase out all existing farming by 2025, bringing to an end three decades of non-native fish farming. Washington State now joins Alaska in banning commercial finfish aquaculture
> Following Bob's experimental manipulation, the stretch of shore without ochre stars became encrusted with what Bob called a "mussel glacier"—a huge dark mass of thousands of mussels packed together stretching from the subtidal to far up in the intertidal. The mussel bed crowded out many other species, like green sea anemones, green sponges. and pinkish sea squirts … Bob coined the term keystone species in a 1969 note about food webs for the kind of ecological role the starfish assumed in the rocky intertidal.
> a big outbreak of disease in sunflower stars in British Columbia. On the blog of echinoderm expert Chris Mah, Echinoblog, people were posting striking photos
> The almost complete loss of the mighty sunflower stars and several other species in deeper waters has allowed a huge influx of sea urchins, whose populations from California to Alaska had previously been controlled by the voracious sunflowers. The hordes of hungry sea urchins have decimated kelp beds … A paper published in 2018 by a team of scientists from the University of California at Merced, led by Laura Schiebelhut, reported some very good news: big increases in populations of the ochre stars and newly recruited baby stars that were growing up. Most exciting, their complete genetic analysis of stars before the outbreak compared to after the outbreak showed a big genetic change. They suggested that the epidemic had killed all the susceptible stars and the survivors were hardy genetic stock that was resistant to the virus. The bad news is that new surveys in 2017 show that the sunflower star is virtually gone from California to Alaska.
> I find it particularly galling that the entire municipality of Victoria, Canada dumps all its sewage, untreated, into the richest waters on our continent
I was disappointed, though, by how hard Harvell plugs more funding for her work as a "solution" to ocean outbreaks. Better monitoring of diseases will do nothing to ameliorate them. We cannot treat or vaccinate wild ocean species. Since these outbreaks are all connected to global warming, the only way to stop them is with policy changes to stop greenhouse gas pollution. Throwing Harvell and her collaborators a few million dollars seems worthwhile in terms of getting interesting science, but it won't solve any problems. (Possibly it could help with aquaculture outbreaks, or with localized pollution problems that cause disease.)
> The world's coral reefs, our most diverse and valuable marine ecosystems, are being sickened by a variety of factors all at once. Our only chance to limit their loss lies in understanding how all the threats to coral interact with and affect each other.
> With the threat of the imminent extinction of tropical corals, white abalone, and our sunflower star, and their cascading ecological impacts, we crossed a line in the sand. As a society, we can no longer stand by idly. We have let loose many destructive forces over which we have little control, but science can still make a difference. The problem is that inadequate funding remains a major impediment to scientists identifying the causes of disease outbreaks in the ocean, investigating the contributing factors, and developing solutions. … The whole thing would have played out differently if we had had the right resources from the start—not only funds from school children who stepped up to help, but also government funding. If the starfish outbreak was instead a deadly virus epidemic among humans, like Ebola, we would have had massive resources at our disposal to investigate the pressing questions surrounding the outbreak. Instead, many people acted as if this huge epidemic affecting a keystone species in the ocean was simply a curiosity and assumed scientists would figure it out.
A few other quotes:
> rickettsia is a very slowly incubating disease agent. It took almost a year before the abalone were conclusively infected. The long incubation period was also why the range of the pathogen initially looked much larger than the range of sick abalone … On land, rickettsial bacteria are never free living and can survive only inside the cells of a host. Scientist call them obligate intracellular parasites. They are always transmitted by a bite from an insect vector like a tick or a mite. Two diseases of terrestrial animals caused by rickettsial bacterial are Rocky Mountain spotted fever and typhus. It is tricky to confirm a rickettsia as the cause of a disease, since they hide inside cells and thus cannot be detected by a simple blood test. … since seawater has essentially the same salinity as abalone blood, the bacterium can survive briefly outside a host and can thus be transmitted in seawater. She and her student Lisa Crosson tested infectivity and found that the rickettsia remains viable in seawater for at least twenty-four hours. It is extraordinary that this rickettsial bacterium deviates from the normal transmission biology of requiring a vector on land
> A mere eight months after this Atlantic salmon spill, Governor Jay Inslee banned all Atlantic salmon farming in Washington State. His legislation will prevent new farms and will phase out all existing farming by 2025, bringing to an end three decades of non-native fish farming. Washington State now joins Alaska in banning commercial finfish aquaculture
> Following Bob's experimental manipulation, the stretch of shore without ochre stars became encrusted with what Bob called a "mussel glacier"—a huge dark mass of thousands of mussels packed together stretching from the subtidal to far up in the intertidal. The mussel bed crowded out many other species, like green sea anemones, green sponges. and pinkish sea squirts … Bob coined the term keystone species in a 1969 note about food webs for the kind of ecological role the starfish assumed in the rocky intertidal.
> a big outbreak of disease in sunflower stars in British Columbia. On the blog of echinoderm expert Chris Mah, Echinoblog, people were posting striking photos
> The almost complete loss of the mighty sunflower stars and several other species in deeper waters has allowed a huge influx of sea urchins, whose populations from California to Alaska had previously been controlled by the voracious sunflowers. The hordes of hungry sea urchins have decimated kelp beds … A paper published in 2018 by a team of scientists from the University of California at Merced, led by Laura Schiebelhut, reported some very good news: big increases in populations of the ochre stars and newly recruited baby stars that were growing up. Most exciting, their complete genetic analysis of stars before the outbreak compared to after the outbreak showed a big genetic change. They suggested that the epidemic had killed all the susceptible stars and the survivors were hardy genetic stock that was resistant to the virus. The bad news is that new surveys in 2017 show that the sunflower star is virtually gone from California to Alaska.
> I find it particularly galling that the entire municipality of Victoria, Canada dumps all its sewage, untreated, into the richest waters on our continent
May 28, 2020
Great book for looking into well known as well as lesser-known marine diseases. Was introduced to this book through reading it in class, but this would also be a great read on its own. Have always wanted to be a marine biologist and this book solidifies the desire to be a biologist/ecologist even more!
Read
September 17, 2024It's well known that we are in the grief-stricken days of extinction, of cardiac arrests and last gasps of ecosystems. What may not be so well known is that species are dying off not simply due to climate change maladaptibility, but also due to the rise and spread of pathogens that have been enabled by temperature rise, pollution runoff and sewage, and globalized transport that could introduce pathogens to whole new regions.
This book is an incredible science book that shows accurately and systematically how pathogens impact the ocean. For instance, in terrifying news, 200 entire species of frogs were wiped out in one lethal swipe due to pathogen spread. Starfish in the Salish Sea region underwent harrowing mass die-offs, in visually arresting moments of starfish tearing their arms off and ultimately ripping their own internal organs out due to infection. Sea fans that flutter beautifully in the sea, acquired ghastly lesions that caused their deaths and withering from a fungal infection. Abalone, the lovely snails with single-cup shells and powerful muscular foot, suffered their own dieoff from the spread of Rickettsia bacteria. Corals not only die from sensitivity to warmed waters, but due to a pathogen producing yellow band disease, which spreads due to high temperatures and turns the algae symbiont yellow. Salmon dieoffs have knock-on effects as they are primary food source for pods of orca, which could starve in their absence.
Despite all this garish news, the other thing I learned from this book is the interventions or coping mechanisms of immunity that help some members of these species to hold on and survive. The book talks a bit about the epidemiological triad, how the factors of pathogen, host and environment can influence the level of susceptibility or spread of mass disease. For instance, sea fans were able to recover since their immune systems release antifungal mechanisms. This signals resilience of the host. Abalone recovered a bit when the bacteria that infected them, were themselves infected by a virus phage that slowed their roll. It's an instance where the factor of the pathogen's own characteristics influence the turnout and grasp of the outbreak. And lastly, of course, global warming conditions are a good example of the impact of the environment, on disease for ocean organisms.
I highly recommend this book, because it goes in detail about the steps scientists take to detect, study, and mitigate the diseases in ocean species. For instance, in one dramatic triumph of scientific assistance, sea fans were inoculated with weak versions of the invasive fungus as a way of strengthening their survival chances. It's a book that's accessible to laymen yet contains so much informative detail about ocean science, disease control, and conservation.
This book is an incredible science book that shows accurately and systematically how pathogens impact the ocean. For instance, in terrifying news, 200 entire species of frogs were wiped out in one lethal swipe due to pathogen spread. Starfish in the Salish Sea region underwent harrowing mass die-offs, in visually arresting moments of starfish tearing their arms off and ultimately ripping their own internal organs out due to infection. Sea fans that flutter beautifully in the sea, acquired ghastly lesions that caused their deaths and withering from a fungal infection. Abalone, the lovely snails with single-cup shells and powerful muscular foot, suffered their own dieoff from the spread of Rickettsia bacteria. Corals not only die from sensitivity to warmed waters, but due to a pathogen producing yellow band disease, which spreads due to high temperatures and turns the algae symbiont yellow. Salmon dieoffs have knock-on effects as they are primary food source for pods of orca, which could starve in their absence.
Despite all this garish news, the other thing I learned from this book is the interventions or coping mechanisms of immunity that help some members of these species to hold on and survive. The book talks a bit about the epidemiological triad, how the factors of pathogen, host and environment can influence the level of susceptibility or spread of mass disease. For instance, sea fans were able to recover since their immune systems release antifungal mechanisms. This signals resilience of the host. Abalone recovered a bit when the bacteria that infected them, were themselves infected by a virus phage that slowed their roll. It's an instance where the factor of the pathogen's own characteristics influence the turnout and grasp of the outbreak. And lastly, of course, global warming conditions are a good example of the impact of the environment, on disease for ocean organisms.
I highly recommend this book, because it goes in detail about the steps scientists take to detect, study, and mitigate the diseases in ocean species. For instance, in one dramatic triumph of scientific assistance, sea fans were inoculated with weak versions of the invasive fungus as a way of strengthening their survival chances. It's a book that's accessible to laymen yet contains so much informative detail about ocean science, disease control, and conservation.
September 5, 2020
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars):
Most memorable quote from the book: "... this response taught me a lesson about the power of public perception. If enough people know what's at stake, if they can imagine what we might lose, they will act. It's my hope that increasing awareness of the ocean's vulnerability and our dependence on it will force a major shift in how we treat this great expanse of our planet." (Harvell, 175)
Dr. Drew Harvell is a marine ecologist studying marine diseases and based her research for this book out of Friday Harbor Labs in WA state USA as well as places around the world. She completed her research with the help of a team of esteemed scientists to figure out some of the most prevalent and ecosystem changing diseases plaguing the species of coral, abalone, salmon, and seastars.
Overall, this book is a great read for people involved with the scientific community and people who have nothing to do with the scientific community. I read it for my school's summer read and I have learned so much from this book (which is under 200 pages, if that entices you) that I will never think about the ocean the same again... I will forever want to protect it and make sure that it stays as healthy as possible for all generations (current, and ones to come). :)
Most memorable quote from the book: "... this response taught me a lesson about the power of public perception. If enough people know what's at stake, if they can imagine what we might lose, they will act. It's my hope that increasing awareness of the ocean's vulnerability and our dependence on it will force a major shift in how we treat this great expanse of our planet." (Harvell, 175)
Dr. Drew Harvell is a marine ecologist studying marine diseases and based her research for this book out of Friday Harbor Labs in WA state USA as well as places around the world. She completed her research with the help of a team of esteemed scientists to figure out some of the most prevalent and ecosystem changing diseases plaguing the species of coral, abalone, salmon, and seastars.
Overall, this book is a great read for people involved with the scientific community and people who have nothing to do with the scientific community. I read it for my school's summer read and I have learned so much from this book (which is under 200 pages, if that entices you) that I will never think about the ocean the same again... I will forever want to protect it and make sure that it stays as healthy as possible for all generations (current, and ones to come). :)
August 6, 2021
A very interesting and readable book about marine diseases. The author concentrates on four different animals that have faced pandemics of their own, coral, abalone, salmon and starfish. Published several years before the coronavirus hit the human population, many statements could easily be applied to our own pandemic. The most heart-breaking of all the marine outbreaks is the one that is killing starfish. The sunflower star seems to have completely disappeared from California.
The author maintains that rising temperatures of the water exacerbate the spread of disease by weakening the immune systems of the animals so it makes them die quicker. The author thinks some actions can be taken to mitigate the problems described in her book, but it will require determination and a continual commitment of money for scientific research.
I don't personally see the willpower of most people in this country to support science and scientists, so I am not hopeful that much will be done until the problem affects our pocketbooks and food supply. Then there will be squawks about why nothing was done!
The author maintains that rising temperatures of the water exacerbate the spread of disease by weakening the immune systems of the animals so it makes them die quicker. The author thinks some actions can be taken to mitigate the problems described in her book, but it will require determination and a continual commitment of money for scientific research.
I don't personally see the willpower of most people in this country to support science and scientists, so I am not hopeful that much will be done until the problem affects our pocketbooks and food supply. Then there will be squawks about why nothing was done!
March 2, 2021
For those of us into ocean conservation and marine biology or follow lovers/residents of California...this book highlights a microcasm of what is happening all over the world and how much we have left out our own care and concerns for not just microplastics but also contagion based illnesses.
Also not so directly related to the reading but some after thoughts regarding this book and how it might relate to Covid19 and other Zooanotic diseases:
We are so concerned with ourselves but if only we as humans would look more forward and realize that we are so connected to other forms of life that our entire lack of respect and care for other species has gotten us to this point...i.e. how easily the zooanotic disease has bleeding into the human pipeline...i.e..more and more frequently...
Also not so directly related to the reading but some after thoughts regarding this book and how it might relate to Covid19 and other Zooanotic diseases:
We are so concerned with ourselves but if only we as humans would look more forward and realize that we are so connected to other forms of life that our entire lack of respect and care for other species has gotten us to this point...i.e. how easily the zooanotic disease has bleeding into the human pipeline...i.e..more and more frequently...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 26, 2023
I was assigned this reading for a class of mine. I will 100% say this is one of the few books that I completed all of the reading for in class my entire 4 years of college, and one i insisted i keep in my personal collection. I even finished it ahead of what was outlined in the course because I was just so genuinely invested in this book. My class also invited Dr. Harvell for a guest lecture to talk about some of the topics. Overall, it was one of the most informative but still readable non-fiction works I've ever read.
September 3, 2025
I enjoyed Dr. Harvell's approach to make this book approachable for people without a scientific background. Scientific communication is so important for marine disease-something Harvell points out multiple times. With the fast spreading changes in the oceans due to climate change, it's essential people support changes in ocean policy to prevent further marine disease outbreaks. I loved Harvell's personal experiences spread through her explanations, and her emphasis on encouraging women's involvement in scientific discovery.
November 11, 2021
Essential reading to save our oceans
This book was very readable and full of interesting scientific references regarding ocean born diseases. It is devastating to read about the demise of Star fish in our own backyard. Fortunately the author offers suggestions and hope for the future, if we are willing to follow it.
This book was very readable and full of interesting scientific references regarding ocean born diseases. It is devastating to read about the demise of Star fish in our own backyard. Fortunately the author offers suggestions and hope for the future, if we are willing to follow it.
November 1, 2022
Another very relevant book for our times that was told in an easily digestible manner. Very interesting. I especially liked the descriptions of the author’s experiences in the field and found them very relatable.
April 28, 2019
must read though too simplistic look into the infectious disease aspects of climate change and oceanic health
December 28, 2021
A summary of collaborative efforts around the world, between scientists and citizen scientists to identify and understand disease threats to our oceans.
March 17, 2025
crazy how little funding ocean disease research gets when the implications of them are ever important to human health. Now it’s time to apply to ocean health PhD programs! SCARY
January 2, 2026
very interesting, art from artist and all that
August 11, 2024
so cool hearing the behind the scenes of the science, but it read a little dry. still a super interesting read!
October 2, 2023
NF - DNFCD - some parts interesting
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