
Spencer FireFlorida Institute of Technology · Department of Biological Sciences
Spencer Fire
Ph.D. Ocean Sciences
About
41
Publications
11,173
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
February 2014 - July 2014
October 2006 - January 2014
March 2003 - August 2006
Sarasota Dolphin Research Program
Position
- Biologist
Publications
Publications (41)
A mass mortality of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus and Florida manatees Trichechus manatus latirostris co-occurred with a severe bloom of the toxic algal species Karenia brevis along the eastern coast of Florida, USA, between October 2007 and January 2008. Brevetoxin (PbTx), a potent neurotoxin produced by this marine alga, was detected in...
During February–April 2008, an unusual mortality event occurred in Texas coastal waters that resulted in over 100 bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) deaths. This mortality event overlapped spatially and temporally with a harmful algal bloom (HAB) composed of the toxin-producing genera Dinophysis spp. and Prorocentrum spp., and was associated w...
Unusually high concentrations of the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) were detected in a minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) carcass recovered during a severe harmful algal bloom (HAB), which occurred in southern California in April 2007. Cell fragments of the toxigenic diatom Pseudo-nitzschia australis were observed in whale gastric fluid and fece...
Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) along the Gulf of Mexico are frequently exposed to blooms of the toxic alga, Karenia brevis, and brevetoxins associated with these blooms have been implicated in several dolphin mortality events. Studies on brevetoxin accumulation in dolphins have typically focused on analyses of carcasses from large-scale d...
The neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) was detected in urine and fecal samples recovered from pygmy sperm whales (Kogia breviceps) and dwarf sperm whales (Kogia sima) stranding along the U.S. Atlantic coast from 1997 to 2008. Of the 41 animals analyzed from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, 24 (59%) tested positive for DA at concentrat...
Microcystin (MC), a hepatotoxin produced by cyanobacteria, was introduced into the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida, in 2005 through freshwater outflows. Since then, MC has been detected in humans, domestic animals, and wildlife in the lagoon. Potential public health effects associated with MC exposure along the IRL include an increased risk of n...
The harmful algal bloom (HAB) liver toxin microcystin (MC) and trace element biomagnification were previously detected in organisms in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida. Since there are no routine screening programs for these contaminants, liver tissue from North American river otters (Lontra canadensis), an important sentinel species in the I...
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) such as those produced by Karenia brevis have acute negative impacts on common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Florida coastal waters, frequently causing illness and death. However, much less is known about chronic, sub-acute effects on these important sentinel species. This study investigates whether bottlen...
Harmful algal bloom (HAB) toxins have severe negative impacts on marine mammals, particularly for Florida bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) which frequently experience mass mortality events. Dolphins on the Florida Atlantic coast inhabit a region endemic to two HAB species, Karenia brevis and Pyrodinium bahamense, which produce the neurotoxi...
Harmful algal blooms (HAB) occur periodically in coastal waters worldwide and are increasing in frequency and duration, and expanding in geographic distribution. This chapter provides a comprehensive list of marine mammal mortality events associated with HAB toxins. It also provides a review of each toxin class and documented impacts on marine mamm...
An unusual mortality event (UME) involving primarily common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus of all size classes stranding along coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, USA, started in early 2010 and continued into 2014. During this northern Gulf of Mexico UME, a distinct cluster of perinatal dolphins (total body length <115 cm) stranded...
Península Valdés (PV) in Argentina is an important calving ground for southern right whales (SRWs, Eubalaena australis). Since 2005, right whale mortality has increased at PV, with most of the deaths (~90%) being calves <3 mo old. We investigated the potential involvement of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in these deaths by examining data that include...
A northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) cetacean unusual mortality event (UME) involving primarily bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama began in February 2010 and continued into 2014. Overlapping in time and space with this UME was the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, which was proposed as a contributing cause o...
An unusual mortality event (UME) was declared for cetaceans in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) for Franklin County, Florida, west through Louisiana, USA, beginning in February 2010 and was ongoing as of September 2014. The 'Deepwater Horizon' (DWH) oil spill began on 20 April 2010 in the GoM, raising questions regarding the potential role of the...
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/TE-1729_web.pdf
The dynamics of Dinophysis acuminata and its associated diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins, okadaic acid (OA) and dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX1) as well as pectenotoxins (PTXs), were investigated within plankton and shellfish in Northport Bay, NY, USA, over a four year period (2008–2011). Over the course of the study, Dinophysis bloom densities...
In 2007, the apparent increase in the number of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) stranding along the central California coast compared to the number of strandings the previous year resulted in the declaration of an Unusual Mortality Event by the National Marine Fisheries Service. A statistically significant increase in strandings occurred in 20...
In the Florida Panhandle region, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have been highly susceptible to large-scale unusual mortality events (UMEs) that may have been the result of exposure to blooms of the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis and its neurotoxin, brevetoxin (PbTx). Between 1999 and 2006, three bottlenose dolphin UMEs occurred in the Flo...
Dolphin strandings and
K. brevis
cell counts across space and time in the Florida Panhandle region, USA during the 1999/2000 UME event.
(MP4)
Brevetoxin concentrations in various tissues from stranded dolphins in the 1999/2000 UME. Values are reported in ng PbTx-3 equiv./g.
(DOCX)
Dolphin strandings and
K. brevis
cell counts across space and time in the Florida Panhandle region, USA during the 2004 UME event.
(MP4)
Dolphin strandings and
Pseudo-nitzschia
spp. cell counts across space and time in the Florida Panhandle region, USA during the 2004 UME event.
(MP4)
Dolphin strandings and
K. brevis
cell counts across space and time in the Florida Panhandle region, USA during the 2005/2006 UME event.
(MP4)
Dolphin strandings and
Pseudo-nitzschia
spp. cell counts across space and time in the Florida Panhandle region, USA during the 2005/2006 UME event.
(MP4)
Brevetoxin concentrations in various tissues from stranded dolphins in the 2004 UME. Values are reported in ng PbTx-3 equiv./g or ng/mL.
(DOCX)
Brevetoxin concentrations in various tissues from stranded dolphins in the 2005/06 UME. Values are reported in ng PbTx-3 equiv./g or ng/mL.
(DOCX)
Saxitoxin (STX)-producing blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate genus Alexandrium have been responsible for devastating ecosystem-wide impacts in coastal waters of the northeastern USA. In the summer of 2009, a severe Alexandrium bloom in New England coastal waters cooccurred with a shortnose sturgeon Acipenser brevirostrum mortality event in Sagadaho...
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) affect aquatic ecosystems around the world, adversely affecting marine animal and human health, coastal ecosystem integrity, and economies that depend on coastal resources. Shellfish poisoning events involving humans who had ingested bivalves contaminated with HAB toxins primarily drove early scientific and social intere...
Data collected by NOAA Phytoplankton Monitoring Network volunteers, from the beginning of the program (2001) through 2010, was used to assess the spatial and temporal trends of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. from North Carolina through northern Florida along the southeastern US coastline. Pseudo-nitzschia spp. was present from North Carolina to Florida, and...
A collaborative study was conducted on a microplate format receptor binding assay (RBA) for paralytic e shellfish toxins (PST). The assay quantifies the composite PST toxicity in shellfish samples based on the ability of sample extracts to compete with (3)H saxitoxin (STX) diHCl for binding to voltage-gated sodium channels in a rat brain membrane p...
Concentration of brevetoxin (ng/mL or ng/g) in various animal samples.
(PDF)
Concentration of domoic acid (ng/mL or ng/g) in various animal samples.
(PDF)
Sentinel species such as bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) can be impacted by large-scale mortality events due to exposure to marine algal toxins. In the Sarasota Bay region (Gulf of Mexico, Florida, USA), the bottlenose dolphin population is frequently exposed to harmful algal blooms (HABs) of Karenia brevis and the neurotoxic brevetoxins (...
Harmful algal blooms are an increasing problem for coastal waters world-wide. The presence of the toxigenic diatom genus Pseudo-nitzschia is of concern in the Gulf of Mexico, due to the potential for several species in this genus to produce the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA). Louisiana coastal waters are of particular interest due to the presence of b...
Blooms of the brevetoxin-producing dinoflagellate Karenia brevis have been linked to
high mortality of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus on Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coast. A clear
understanding of trophic transfer of brevetoxin from its algal source up the food web to top predators
is needed to assess exposure of affected dolphin populations....
Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) face a variety of threats, including risk of exposure to brevetoxins produced by blooms of the harmful alga Karenia brevis. This study investigated brevetoxin exposure in a population of dolphins inhabiting Sarasota Bay, Florida, USA (27°N, 82°W),
utilizing tissues from dolphins recovered between 1994 and 20...
Fish caught from piers are an important part of the recreational fishery and are not routinely monitored for phycotoxins. Species taken in this catch are often different from those obtained in the commercial catch further offshore, and diets of pier-caught fish may differ from those of offshore species, resulting in different toxin exposure. Here w...