Abstract
We compiled findings from 15 years (1998–2012) of southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) necropsies, incorporating data from 560 animals. Sensitive diagnostic tests were used to detect biotoxins, bacteria, parasites and fungi. Methods to classify primary and contributing causes of death (COD) and sequelae utilized an updated understanding of health risks affecting this population. Several interesting patterns emerged, including identification of coastal regions of high mortality risk for sea otter mortality due to shark bite, cardiomyopathy, toxoplasmosis, sarcocystosis, acanthocephalan peritonitis and coccidioidomycosis. We identified demographic attributes that enhanced the risk of disease in relation to age, sex, and reproductive stage. Death due to white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) bite increased dramatically during the study period and was the most common primary COD. However, when primary and contributing COD were combined, the most prevalent COD was infectious disease (affecting 63% of otters), especially fatal infections by acanthocephalans (Profilicollisspp.) and protozoa (e.g.,Sarcocystis neuronaandToxoplasma gondii). Fatal bacterial infections were also extremely common as a primary process or a sequela, affecting 68% of examined otters. Substantial advances were made in identifying sea otters that died following exposure to the pervasive marine neurotoxin domoic acid (DA), and DA intoxication was conservatively estimated as a primary or contributing COD for 20% of otters. Cardiomyopathy was also highly prevalent as a primary or contributing COD (41%) and exhibited significant associations with DA intoxication and protozoal infection. For adult and aged adult females in late pup care through post-weaning at the time of death, 83% had end lactation syndrome (ELS) as a primary or contributing COD. This comprehensive longitudinal dataset is unique in its depth and scope. The large sample size and extensive time period provided an opportunity to investigate mortality patterns in a changing environment and identify spatial and temporal disease “hot spots” and emerging threats. Our findings will help improve estimates of population-level impacts of specific threats and optimize conservation and environmental mitigation efforts for this threatened species.
Highlights
As a federally listed threatened species, southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) have been necropsied by veterinary pathologists at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) since 1998, providing a robust longitudinal dataset that can be used to identify threats to population recovery
Two decades have passed since the last comprehensive analysis of southern sea otter mortality patterns (Kreuder et al, 2003), and much has been learned about the effects of marine predators (Tinker et al, 2016), viruses (Tuomi et al, 2014; Ng et al, 2015; Siqueira et al, 2017), bacteria (Johnson et al, 2003; Stavely et al, 2003; Miller et al, 2010a, 2018; Bartlett et al, 2016), parasites (Miller et al, 2004, 2008, 2010b, 2018; Shapiro et al, 2012, 2016, 2019; Shockling-Dent et al, 2019), fungi (Huckabone et al, 2015), and biotoxins (Miller et al, 2010c; Fire and Van Dolah, 2012) on sea otters
Some otters could not be accurately assessed for every condition, but all potential cause of death (COD) were evaluated for most cases
Summary
Two decades have passed since the last comprehensive analysis of southern sea otter mortality patterns (Kreuder et al, 2003), and much has been learned about the effects of marine predators (Tinker et al, 2016), viruses (Tuomi et al, 2014; Ng et al, 2015; Siqueira et al, 2017), bacteria (Johnson et al, 2003; Stavely et al, 2003; Miller et al, 2010a, 2018; Bartlett et al, 2016), parasites (Miller et al, 2004, 2008, 2010b, 2018; Shapiro et al, 2012, 2016, 2019; Shockling-Dent et al, 2019), fungi (Huckabone et al, 2015), and biotoxins (Miller et al, 2010c; Fire and Van Dolah, 2012) on sea otters. Detailed review of core mortality patterns should be performed every 10–15 years, with more frequent re-assessment performed upon identification of mortality events, novel health threats, or new tests that are informative for shaping conservation policy. Effective management requires monitoring fundamental causes of mortality and their biological and environmental associations, and rapid identification of potential emerging threats
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