Dear All,
Apologies for cross posting.
We would like to inform you that the new three article have been published in Journal of the Black Sea/Mediterranean Environment.
http://www.blackmeditjournal.org/blackmeditjournal.org/pdf/vol18no1pdf3.pdf
Abstract
The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is one of the least studied areas for cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea. Lack of basic knowledge such as species composition and habitats makes it impossible to develop effective conservation measures. Therefore, in order to determine the species composition, size and distribution of cetacean populations, cetacean sighting data were collected during a research cruise carried out in summer (11- 24 July) 2008 in the international water of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, as well as the Turkish, Lebanese and Syrian territorial waters. Totally 860 nautical miles (nm) of survey effort was made and 16 sightings were recorded. During the study, five Physeter macrocephalus in one sighting, 53 Stenella coeruleoalba in five sightings, two Grampus griseus in one sighting (associated with S. coeruleoalba individuals), two Delphinus delphis in one sighting and 27 Tursiops truncatus in nine sightings were recorded. The overall sighting rate was 0.18 sightings/10 nm. This is a preliminary study for understanding cetacean populations in the Eastern Mediterrannean Sea, but the results of this study will provide basic information for developing conservation plans in the area.
http://www.blackmeditjournal.org/blackmeditjournal.org/pdf/vol18no1pdf5.pdf Abstract Between mid-July and early August, an unusual
mass mortality of cetaceans was detected on the Turkish Western Black Sea
coast. 114 cetaceans (53 harbour porpoises, 9 common dolphins, 7 bottlenosedolphins, 45 unidentified) were reported dead and nine common dolphins stranded
alive, 6 of which were returned to the sea. Only two freshly dead common
dolphins were subjected to a complete necropsy, sampling and tissue analysis.
Tissue samples from brain, lung, spleen, liver, kidney, muscle and testis were
fixed in formalin and embedded in paraffin. Histological analysis was conducted
and immunohistochemical technique to detect morbillivirus antigen was applied.
RNA and cDNA samples were examined for dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) detect by
reversetranscription–PCR (RT-PCR) and conventional PCR. Main histopathological
lesions were multifocal non-purulent meningitis, severe diffuse alveolar oedema
in lung samples, multifocal periportal macrovacuolar hepatic steatosis,
interstitial and tubular degeneration with protein casts and calcifications in
renal medulla. No evidence for DMV infection was analytically found in bothdolphins, and the cause of this unusual mortality is still uncertain.
Mitochondrial DNA sequences of three individuals
of the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) sampled in the Black Sea, Marmara Sea and Aegean
Sea, revealed three polymorphic sites, resulting in three different haplotypes.
None of the haplotypes obtained in this study clustered with those in the
Atlantic populations, consistent with previous findings. The Black Sea and the
Aegean haplotypes sequenced in this study had been previously detected from the
Ukraine coast of the Black Sea, supporting the idea that harbour porpoises from
the Black Sea dispersed into the northern Aegean through the Istanbul and
Çanakkale Straits. The third sample from the Marmara Sea had the same unique
haplotype as the one found in three individuals from the same sea in an earlier
study. This structuring supports the possibility of an isolated population in
the Marmara Sea. It should also be noted that this is the
first genetic study of the harbour porpoise, in which a sample from the Turkish
coast of the Northern Aegean Sea was studied.
Arda M. TONAY PhD
Istanbul University Faculty of Fisheries
Marine Biology Dep.
Ordu Cad. No:200 Laleli, 34480 İstanbul, Turkey
Tel: 90 212 455 5700 Fax: 90 212 514 0379
atonay@istanbul.edu.tr http://suurunleri.istanbul.edu.tr/en/
Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV)
P.Box: 10 Beykoz İstanbul, Turkey
Tel: 90 216 4240 772 Fax: 90 216 424 0771