Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogel Bam, and this is another
Speaker 1: classic brain Stuff episode. In this one, we dig into
Speaker 1: how the life giving nutrients and Earth's oceans come from
Speaker 1: a perhaps unlikely source, dust from deserts. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb Here. The Sahara Desert is a long
Speaker 1: way from the Caribbean, but that doesn't matter. What happens
Speaker 1: in Africa doesn't necessarily stay in Africa. Take dust, for instance,
Speaker 1: The dirt on the ground in North Africa is dry
Speaker 1: and the desert is windy. Every summer, dust from the
Speaker 1: dunes of the world's largest desert pours into the atmosphere
Speaker 1: over the North Atlantic to see the world's oceans with
Speaker 1: nutrients that are sorely limited in many marine ecosystems, most
Speaker 1: notably iron, which is essential to the growth of plants.
Speaker 1: What happens to that dust after it leaves home can
Speaker 1: be very good or very bad. It's sort of a crapshoot.
Speaker 1: Nothing is stationary or permanent or simple on this wild
Speaker 1: planet of ours. The major dust related pro the iron
Speaker 1: that gives Saharan dust its rich red color, feeds the
Speaker 1: phytoplankton in the Caribbean and along the coast of the
Speaker 1: southeastern United States, which is important because you want to
Speaker 1: know a big reason why you're breathing air right now phytoplankton.
Speaker 1: We spoke with Jason west Ritch, a postdoctoral research scientist
Speaker 1: in the University of George's Department of Microbiology. He said,
Speaker 1: for a long time it's been assumed the tropical forests
Speaker 1: of the world or the primary source of oxygen in
Speaker 1: the atmosphere, but now it's more appreciated that the production
Speaker 1: in the ocean acts as a second lung for the planet.
Speaker 1: Phytoplankton photosynthesis is responsible for half of the oxygen and
Speaker 1: also a substantial uptake of carbon dioxide on this planet.
Speaker 1: Now for the dust related khan In a study, a
Speaker 1: research team led by west Ritch found that phytoplankton isn't
Speaker 1: the only organism in the Caribbean using the magic desert
Speaker 1: dust bacteria. Notably, twelve different species of pathogenic bacteria from
Speaker 1: the genus Fibrio use these nutrient infusions to create blooms
Speaker 1: of their own. Vibrio bacteria are pretty ubiquitous in the
Speaker 1: world's oceans, but there are freshwater species too. You've probably
Speaker 1: heard of cholera, the disease brought to you by the
Speaker 1: freshwater Vibrio colare, which infects millions of people worldwide each year,
Speaker 1: especially in developing countries. A color outbreak after the earthquake
Speaker 1: in Haiti killed an estimated ten thousand people, and in Yemen,
Speaker 1: an ongoing cholera epidemic has infected over a million people
Speaker 1: and killed two thousand and counting. Another fibrio, the flesh
Speaker 1: eating marine Vibrio volnificus, is also deadly to humans. It
Speaker 1: can gain entry through an abrasion or puncture wound, such
Speaker 1: as a fish hook, leading to severe infection, especially for
Speaker 1: immunocompromised individuals. Marine Fibrio species also play a role in
Speaker 1: many diseases of ocean organisms. You know how, you're not
Speaker 1: supposed to eat shellfish from some places during the summer.
Speaker 1: That's because there are more Vibrio in the water when
Speaker 1: it's warmer and filter feeding shellfish accumulate two species of
Speaker 1: Vibrio in their meat, which caused the majority of seafood
Speaker 1: related sickness and death in the United States. Other Vibrio
Speaker 1: species are known to be associated with diseased coral that
Speaker 1: are already facing so many environmental stressors. Vibrio disease and
Speaker 1: mortality has even placed economic strain on the fishing and
Speaker 1: shrimp farming industries. West Ritch said, understanding what drives fluctuation
Speaker 1: of Vibrio in the environment can help to inform our
Speaker 1: predictive potential of when to expect increased disease risk in
Speaker 1: humans and other marine organisms. For example, we can track
Speaker 1: sahir and dust by satellite over the typical five day
Speaker 1: transit across the Atlantic before it arrives in US coastal waters,
Speaker 1: allowing us to warn a swimmer, scuba diver, or fisherman
Speaker 1: that there might be a peak and potentially harmful Vibrio
Speaker 1: in surface water in the Keys. Because Vibrio are one
Speaker 1: of the most researched marine bacterial genuses, researchers already know
Speaker 1: a lot about their biology, ecology, physiology, and genetics. And
Speaker 1: because they can reproduce so quickly under the right nutrient conditions,
Speaker 1: one of its species has a population doubling time of
Speaker 1: just ten minutes. Vibrio make a great model to probe
Speaker 1: the lifestyle strategy of an organism capable of quickly blooming
Speaker 1: when the nutrient circumstances are right next Westritch and his
Speaker 1: colleagues will be working to better understand the role of
Speaker 1: Vibrio blooms on marine iron availability to see if they're
Speaker 1: competing with phytoplankton for that sweet, sweet iron dust. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is based on the article Saharan Dust, The Good,
Speaker 1: the Bad, and the Gritty on houst works dot Com,
Speaker 1: written by Jesslin Shields. Brainstuffs production of by heart Radio
Speaker 1: in partnership with house to works dot Com and is
Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang and Ramsey Out. For more podcasts
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