An indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) for detection of Toxoplasma gondii infection was validated using serum from 77 necropsied southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) whose T. gondii infection status was determined through immunohistochemistry and parasite isolation in cell culture. Twenty-eight otters (36%) were positive for T. gondii by immunohistochemistry or parasite isolation o...

The late Pleistocene extinction of so many large-bodied vertebrates has been variously attributed to two general causes: rapid climate change and the effects of humans as they spread from the Old World to previously uninhabited continents and islands. Many large-bodied vertebrates, especially large apex predators, maintain their associated ecosystems through top-down forcing processes, especial...

The marine biotoxin domoic acid (DA) is an analog of the neurotransmitter glutamate that exerts potent excitatory activity in brain, heart, and other tissues. Produced by diatom Pseudo-nitzschia spp., DA accumulates invertebrates, fish, sediment. Southern sea otters ( Enhydra lutris nereis ) feed primarily on including crabs bivalves, concentrate slowly depurate DA. Due to their high prey consu...

Steller's sea cow, a giant sirenian discovered in 1741 and extinct by 1768, is one of the few megafaunal mammal species to have died out during the historical period. The species is traditionally considered to have been exterminated by 'blitzkrieg'-style direct overharvesting for food, but it has also been proposed that its extinction resulted from a sea urchin population explosion triggered by...