{"id":157183,"date":"2022-04-04T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T19:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=157183"},"modified":"2022-06-17T12:43:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T22:43:18","slug":"flesh-eating-bacteria-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/04\/04\/flesh-eating-bacteria-increase\/","title":{"rendered":"Flesh-eating bacteria in Ala Wai Canal could increase threefold by end of century"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Field team casting off at the Ala Wai Harbor. (Photo credit: Brian Glazer, 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> SOEST<\/abbr>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vibrio vulnificus<\/em>, a “flesh-eating” bacterium that lives naturally in the water of the Ala Wai Canal in Waikīkī is likely to increase substantially in coming decades, but infections are rare. In recently published research<\/a>, University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa scientists highlight the potential for using oceanographic sensors to make accurate predictions of V. vulnificus<\/em>. By assessing rainfall, water temperature, dissolved nutrients and organic matter the team can forecast potential spikes in levels of the bacteria.<\/p>\n

V. vulnificus<\/em> has been relatively understudied in tropical ecosystems and further, the implications of climate change for this and other coastal human pathogens are generally unknown.<\/p>\n

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Lab team setting up to process samples at C-MORE. (Photo credit: Jessica Bullington)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The research team collaborated with the 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Strategic Monitoring and Resilience Training in the Ala Wai Watershed (SMART Ala Wai Program<\/a>) where at least 20 undergraduate students and six graduate students from the 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a> (SOEST<\/abbr>) participated in sample collection from the canal and processing at the Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Consistent with another published 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> study<\/a>, rainfall was found to be critically important for both elevating the pathogen\u2019s abundance in the canal and transporting V. vulnificus<\/em> to the adjacent Ala Wai Boat Harbor.<\/p>\n

“We also found that measuring the amount of a particular kind of dissolved organic matter in the water significantly improved our model\u2019s accuracy in predicting V. vulnificus<\/em> abundance,” said lead author Jessica Bullington<\/strong>, who was pursuing her master\u2019s degree in the SOEST<\/abbr> Department of Oceanography at the time of this work.<\/p>\n

Ocean sensors provide necessary data<\/h2>\n

Water quality monitoring that involves collecting samples and analyzing them in a laboratory is expensive and often limited to select locations. Fortunately, there are oceanographic sensors<\/a> that continuously monitor water quality at the mouth of the Ala Wai Canal.<\/p>\n

“What is really exciting about our research findings is the ability to use real-time and forecast data from the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System<\/a>—which includes water temperature, salinity, currents and dissolved organic matter—to predict V. vulnificus<\/em> abundance in the canal and harbor now and three days into the future,” said Bullington, who is now a doctoral student at Stanford University. “The next steps are to make these predictions accessible and communicate the risk of infection, both for short-term use and adaptation to the impacts of climate change.”<\/p>\n

Bacteria to increase with climate change<\/h2>\n

V. vulnificus<\/em> abundance was higher when temperatures were warmer, and climate change is predicted to increase water temperature in the Ala Wai Canal.<\/p>\n

By combining climate change projections of rainfall and air temperature with their computer model of bacteria dynamics, the team found that average V. vulnificus<\/em> abundance in the canal may increase twice or three times current levels by the end of the century. Armed with this information, communities can make decisions on how to adapt to the changing conditions.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, we wanted to generate something that would be useful for people,” said Bullington. “This project is a great example of one of the many ways in which our departmental expertise can be of service for our local community and coastal management.”<\/p>\n

This effort is an example of 糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n

–By Marcie Grabowski<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By assessing rainfall, water temperature, dissolved nutrients and organic matter scientists can forecast potential spikes in levels of the bacteria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[93,1363,238,158,92,9],"class_list":["post-157183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-climate-change","tag-manoa-research","tag-pacific-islands-ocean-observing-system","tag-publication","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157183"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160857,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157183\/revisions\/160857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}