Although careful statements can be made about specific pathogen transport or survival under certain landscape alteration scenarios or given climatic factors, there is a notable lack of robust literature on the relationship between pathogen pollution and climate change. Trichostatin A solubility dmso This knowledge

gap illustrates the dire need for research to assist accurate model building efforts for predicting pathogen emergence and disease outbreaks given certain landscape and climate change scenarios. Efforts to address this gap will depend on successful transdisciplinary interactions that encourage collaborative research between disease experts such as veterinarians, physicians, and epidemiologists with physical scientists including hydrologists, oceanographers, and engineers. While this editorial is intended to draw attention to yet another harmful outcome of climate and landscape change, it is not intended to be all grim. Clearly defining problems and their associated variables

provide the building blocks for accurately predicting disease risk, and the power to implement practices aimed at reducing further coastal pathogen pollution. Human behavior, policy, and science must come together to implement solutions that will improve nearshore water quality and promote human and marine animal health. Reducing the carbon footprint is an obvious goal, though many readers of this editorial would agree that a

certain degree of change is inevitable, given present climate observations Bortezomib and lack of immediate international action. An adjunct and immediate goal that should also be targeted is to reduce our “fecal footprint”. Keeping pet cats indoors and picking up after dogs on a walk, incorporating vegetation buffers between livestock and waterways (Miller et al., 2008), and implementing Mirabegron “green” urban design practices that promote rainwater percolation and storm water treatment (Cook, 2007), are just a few examples. Our scientific community should take a leading role in educating policy makers and the public on the consequences of pathogen pollution, and in providing science-based guidance on monitoring coastal water quality and reducing further pollution. The health of our oceans and all the life they support depend on it. “
“Most marine protected areas are only partially protected in that they commonly permit fishing, a primary ecosystem-distorting activity. Many indeed are no more than ‘paper parks’. The creation of no-take MPAs lags well behind several national declarations of intent and certainly lags behind need. A letter calling for more of these no-take zones has been signed by 250 of the world’s leading scientists (http://www.globaloceanlegacy.org/).