Current Intramural Research Projects

Conservation medicine and environmental health

“Bats and Bat-Associated Pathogens on St. Kitts” 

• PI: Amanda Loftis, Haeyon Anna Lee
• Co-PI: Jason Beck, Will Reeves

Overview: Bats play a significant role in the ecosystem as pollinators, seed-dispersers, and as fish and insect-predators, and they are important reservoir hosts for emerging pathogens. Researching bats on St. Kitts will help us identify diseases which might harm bat populations or be potentially transmissible to other species; information will be used as the basis for community outreach programs to address misconceptions that might interfere with efforts in conservation.

“Potential of Artificial Reefs for Fisheries Enhancement and Mitigation of Coral Reef Degradation in St. Kitts, W.I.” 

• PI: Emma Grigg
• Co-PI: John T. Kelly, Trenton Moore, Anthony Hall 

Overview: Degradation of coral reefs worldwide is well documented, and the reefs of the Caribbean have been heavily impacted by human activities such as coastal development, agricultural land use and overfishing (Mora 2008). In many areas, artificial reefs are employed to mitigate loss of coral reef fish stocks, although artificial reefs projects have sometimes been criticized for lack of scientific evaluation of effectiveness (Seaman 2000). Such structures presently exist in St. Kitts waters, primarily as recreational dive sites, but have never been systematically studied. This project will evaluate recruitment of reef fish assemblages and benthic organisms to artificial reefs in the near-shore waters of St Kitts, with the goal of documenting usefulness of artificial reefs as a management strategy under the proposed national marine zoning plan (TNC 2010).

“Sea Turtle Management, Health Assessment, and Tissue Sampling“

• PI: Kimberly Stewart
• Co-PI: Terry M. Norton, Esteban Soto

Overview: Few studies have been conducted on free ranging leatherback, hawksbill, and green sea turtle health and nutrition. Additionally, sea turtle nutrition in a rehabilitation setting needs significant refinement. In the case of greens, many United States centers feed seafood to these herbivorous turtles leading to a number of potential complications. Sea grass (Thalassia testudinum) was recently analyzed in a study evaluating sea grass and manatee nutrition. To date, no studies have been conducted to analyze leatherback, hawksbill, and green sea turtle diets. Sea turtles fill very specific ecological niches within the marine ecosystem and because they are such long lived highly migratory species; they are excellent indicators of the health of our marine ecosystem. Zoonotic diseases such as Salmonella are potential concerns for fisherman and their families that still consume sea turtle meat, sea turtle management teams, and ecotourists who come into contact with nesting females. The prevalence of Salmonella in St. Kitts sea turtle populations is unknown.

The objectives for this study are to establish baseline nutritional and health parameters for nesting leatherback sea turtles and foraging juvenile and adult hawksbill and green sea turtles captured (both by the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network and those taken in the sea turtle harvest) in the waters around St. Kitts. Also to nutritionally analyze sponges, jellyfish, and sea grass commonly fed upon by St. Kitts leatherbacks, hawksbills, and greens; as well as to establish capabilities to culture Salmonella spp. at the microbiology laboratory at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine from various biomaterials obtained from hawksbill, green, and leatherback sea turtles.

“Effects of temperature and salt concentration on Francisella asiatica infections in tilapia nilotica”

• PI: Esteban Soto 

Overview: Francisella asiatica is now recognized as one of the most significant pathogens of cultured tilapia. Due to the emergent nature of the bacteria, almost nothing is known of the ecology of this bacterium in water or fish tissues; moreover in order to develop an in depth understanding of the pathogenesis of this bacteria within its host, one must understand the environmental conditions that are permissive for the pathogen to infect, colonize and cause diseases in the fish host.

The objectives of this study are to evaluate the survival of F. asiatica in salt and fresh water utilized to culture tilapia at different temperatures, the capability of F. asiatica to infect tilapia at different temperatures and salinities and the survivability of latently infected tilapia with F. asiatica at different temperature and salinities.

“Pathogenesis and tissue distribution of Francisella asiatica in tilapia fingerlings”

• PI: Esteban Soto 
• Co-PI: Alvin Camus, John P. Hawke 

Overview:  Piscine francisellosis is one of the most devastating illnesses affecting cultured tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) and other important warm water species. Although it is known that the bacterium causes chronic granulomatous lesions in its fish host, the pathogenesis of this diseases and the tissue distribution of the bacteria during early infection remains poorly characterized. Moreover, new models to study mammalian pathogens in evolutionarily distinct species are needed to provide comparative insight, and to answer general and specific questions about host-pathogen interactions via an evolutionary approach.