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Medical copays reduce health care access in MS prisons; Israel planted explosives in pagers sold to Hezbollah according to official sources; Serving looks with books: Libraries fight 'fast fashion' by lending clothes; Menhaden decline threatens Virginia's ecosystem, fisheries.

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JD Vance calls for toning down political rhetoric, while calls for his resignation grow because of his own comments. The Secret Service again faces intense criticism, and a right to IVF is again voted down in the US Senate.

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A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

FL Researchers Study Links Between Prey Fish, Predators and Algal Blooms

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Friday, June 11, 2021   

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- For the most part, if you're a fish, you're either prey or predator, but Florida research is finding the symbiotic relationship is at risk after outbreaks of harmful algal blooms.

Dakota Lewis, a graduate student at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and a 2020 fellow in the Forage Fish Research Program, has studied algal blooms and fish kills in the Indian River Lagoon, which stretches along 40% of Florida's East Coast.

Using data sets from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and a new computer-modeling framework, she found faster declines of forage fish, like mullet and anchovies, after an algal bloom, and years of decline for fish-eating species, like trout and redfish.

"And so, there's a potential for a loss of that balance, due to that decoupling of those two communities that are so intertwined and, in the food web, related to one another," Lewis outlined.

Lewis thinks shifts in community dynamics for forage fish and sport fish could have harmful effects on popular recreational fisheries, now and in the long term. Lewis' research is published in the journal Ecological Indicators.

Emily Farrell, another UCF graduate student, uses an emerging new genetic technique, known as environmental DNA or 'eDNA,' to help get a high-resolution snapshot of the marine ecosystem in the lagoon.

"The dust in our houses is mostly shed skin cells; that would be environmental DNA," Farrell explained. "But in a fisheries context, it's mucus or scales, or other things that fish are releasing into the water by swimming through it."

Farrell's method can account for even the smallest species, like forage fish, simply by collecting seawater samples along the lagoon. The eDNA analysis will help create a map of local biodiversity hotspots.

The Forage Fish Research Program is a public-private partnership between Florida Wildlife Research Institute, leading academics and a coalition led by the International Game Fish Association.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.


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