News Category: Science
“Helping people” attracts women to science and engineering
“Across the globe, women make up more than half the world’s population. And at UBC, women make up just over half of the undergraduate population.
So why is it that only 18 percent of UBC Engineering undergraduates are women? And why, after graduation, do attrition rates for women in engineering and high- technology careers soar as high as 40 percent?
SCWIST member and Mechanical Engineering Professor Elizabeth Croft has some ideas.
Recently named the NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering for the British Columbia and Yukon region, Croft’s focus will be on increasing the participation of women in science and engineering and providing role models for women active in and considering careers in these fields.
In other parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe and South America, women represent roughly 50 percent of the student body in these fields. To start, says Croft, North American institutions need to address and change young women’s perceptions that it’s not “normal or cool” to study engineering.
Croft also acknowledges differences in how young men and women approach career choices. For example, women are typically drawn to what they perceive as helping” professions. To many young women, engineering doesn’t obviously fit into that category, observes Croft, despite the fact that engineers envision, design and build the medical, environmental and consumer technologies that help people live healthier, greener and more connected lives.
Croft integrates community-service learning in curricula so students immediately recognize via hands-on experience how their skills and knowledge benefit others. This fall, 130 students earned credits while working on community and industry projects. The experience connects what students learn in the classroom with the impact it makes on their community.
“There is great demand for highly trained scientists and engineers to sustain economic development, and we need to attract and foster a diverse talent pool with a global perspective,” says Croft. ‘We cannot truly succeed as a profession—and, ultimately, a society—if we do not have the opportunity to attract and retain the brightest minds, male or female.”
To support workplace change, Croft is partnering with industry and existing networks for women in science and technology. She aims to help the traditional technical workplace find ways to accommodate the nonlinear trajectory for employees who may need flexibility to raise families, care for aging parents or nurture personal growth.
“This may end up benefiting all workers,” says Croft. Croft has spearheaded several initiatives to support women in engineering, including UBC’s Engineering’s Mentoring (formerly Tri-mentoring) Program, which connects students with engineering professionals, provides a sense of community and support and can help reduce feelings of isolation while increasing self-confidence. She also co-founded UBC’s Women in Engineering program, which organizes speakers, brown-bag socials and a retreat.
“Gender or ethnicity should not inhibit people from pursuing a career in which they can truly make a difference in our world,” says Dean Tyseer Aboulnasr.
‘With NSERC and industry support, coupled with Croft’s leadership, we will continue to build an inclusive and diverse community and work to inspire a new generation of professionals. Our future depends upon engineers and scientists who will develop the technology necessary to address the challenges facing us all. It only makes sense that those engineers and scientists reflect the diversity of our society,” she says.
NSERC contributed $350,000 in support of the chair for five years, with industry sponsors contributing matching funds.
Lead sponsors include BC Hydro, Dr. Ken Spencer (BASc ‘67, PhD ‘72), WorleyParsons Canada Ltd., Teck Resources Limited., Stantec Consulting, and Henry F. Man (BASc ‘83).
Contributing sponsors are Ms. Catherine Roome, Mr. Stanley Cowdell (BASc ‘73), the APEGBC Division for Advancement of Women in Engineering and Geoscience, Nemetz (S/A) & Associates Ltd., and Glotman Simpson Consulting Engineers. Karen Savage, P.Eng (BASc ‘86), and Golder Associates Ltd. have also supported the chair..
INGENUITY Fall 2010 / Winter 2011 p. 17
Brain research may head off major stroke
Numbness, vision change could signal greater damage
By Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun, January 28, 2011, p. A1
Scientists at the Brain Research Centre at UBC Hospital are using deep-brain stimulation to peer into the brains of people who have experienced temporary numbness or vision changes and finding far more damage than previously thought.
The researchers hope to use their technique to identify patients with the most damage from so-called transient ischemic attacks (TIA) for aggressive treatment to head off a major stroke.
In a study published Thursday in the journal Stroke, neuroscientist Lara Boyd and her colleagues revealed that people who have had transient ischemic attacks suffer lasting damage to their brains that is not detected by conventional brain scans. A TIA is an episode of sudden numbness, vision loss or difficulty speaking that disappears within 24 hours.
“The assumption has been made that these attacks are temporary and because the overt symptoms go away that there is no lasting damage,” said Boyd. “When you do an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] more often than not you don’t see anything.”
Boyd and her colleagues used transcranial magnetic stimulation—a device used to help heal the brains of stroke victims with pulses of energy—to create patterns of excitation that expose the damaged areas deep within the brains of people who have experienced a TIA. The researchers then compare responses from the affected side of the brain with those from the unaffected side.
“It is much harder to elicit a response from the affected side of the brain and that is a hallmark of brain damage,” she explained. “It’s eerily similar to what you see after an actual stroke.”
The researchers believe the effects of a transient ischemic attack are not transient at all. “We aren’t sure if the brain ever recovers,” said Boyd.
People who suffer a TIA are at much higher risk of stroke within 30 to 60 days and those with the most damage as measured by the asymmetric responses of their brain hemispheres are likely at the highest risk of suffering a stroke, Boyd said.
“We really want to be able to say that of 10 people who have had a TIA, these are the ones we are most worried about,” she said. “Then we can prioritize clinical intervention.”
Boyd’s group also received news this week of a $350,000 grant to continue their work from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. The research is a joint effort of the University of B.C. and Vancouver Coastal Health.
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WHAT IS A TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC ATTACK?
Symptoms of TIA can include sudden loss of vision or a change in vision, numbness or difficulty speaking. Symptoms may last only a few hours.
“People think that if it goes away after an hour or two or they wake up the morning and feel better that it is transient and they ignore it,” said Boyd.
Having a TIA indicates a high risk of stroke.
“A TIA is a medical emergency, even if it is transient, you need to get checked by a doctor.”
Canadian astronomer’s work will lead to better map of the universe
By Randy Boswell – Vancouver Sun – January 18, 2011, p. B4
A Canadian-led study of the distinctive, pulsating stars that astronomers use to calculate vast distances across galaxies is forcing a rethink of these “standard candles” and should lead to more accurate measurements of the key attributes of the universe—including its size, age and rate of expansion.
University of Western Ontario astronomer Pauline Barmby told Postmedia News that her team’s analysis of new images from NASA’s Spitzer space telescope show that the ebb-and-flow glow of so-called “Cepheid” stars—deemed indispensable in understanding the scale of the cosmos—can be altered through the erosion of their constituent plasma, gas and dust as the great balls of energy hurtle through space.
That means distance calculations based on Cepheid stars—winking lights long used for a measurement constant known as standard candles—will now need to account for estimated losses of the stellar material they’re made from.
“Everything crumbles in cosmology studies if you don’t start up with the most precise measurements of Cepheids possible,” Barmby says in a summary of the team’s findings.
“This discovery will allow us to better understand these stars, and use them as ever more precise distance indicators.”
The team’s research paper, published in the latest issue of the Astronomical Journal, was co-authored by astrophysicist Douglas Welch of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., and five other scientists from Italy and the U.S.
The discovery promises to help astronomers fine-tune the “cosmic distance ladder” that uses Cepheid stars like rungs to climb from one location in space to farther and farther locations, with the length of each galactic step measured accordingly.
“When we look at a star in the sky, we don’t have any obvious way of telling whether that’s far away from us but putting out a lot of energy, or a star close to us that’s putting out a little energy,” Barmby said.
“What’s special about this particular kind of star is that they pulsate, and the pulsation period—how long it takes them to get bright and dim again—is directly related to their luminosity.”
Knowing luminosity, or how much energy a star is putting out with each pulse, allows scientists to figure out, in effect, “whether it’s a 100-watt or a 40-watt bulb,” says Barmby—and once astronomers have that information, “you’ve got a distance.”
Positive Mood Seems to Boost Creativity
HealthDay News, Bloomberg Businessweek, December 20, 2010
People who are seeking creative inspiration should try to look on the bright side, the results of a new study suggest.
Canadian researchers used happy or sad video and music clips to put participants into different moods and then had them learn to classify sets of pictures with visually complex patterns.
People in a happy mood were better able to learn a rule to classify the patterns than those with sad or neutral moods, said Ruby Nadler, a graduate student at the University of Western Ontario, and colleagues.
The happy music used in the study was a lively Mozart piece, while the happy video featured a laughing baby. The sad music was from the movie Schindler’s List, and the sad video was from a news report about an earthquake.
“If you have a project where you want to think innovatively, or you have a problem to carefully consider, being in a positive mood can help you to do that,” Nadler said in an Association for Psychological Science news release.
The findings, published in the December 15 issue of the journal Psychological Science, may explain why some people watch funny videos on their computers at work.
“I think people are unconsciously trying to put themselves in a positive mood,” Nadler suggested.
Ruby Nadler is a third-year Ph.D. student in Cognitive Psychology at The University of Western Ontario. She is investigating how regulatory focus and regulatory fit influence cognitive processing. She is also interested in how affective states influence category learning.
Widely used rat poison threatens local barn owls
People encouraged to switch to old-fashioned traps
Larry Pynn – Vancouver Sun – December 16, 2010, p. A3
Powerful and widely available rat poisons are killing owls, including the threatened barn owl of the Fraser Valley.
Sofi Hindmarch, who completed her Simon Fraser University master’s thesis on barn owl habitat, said Wednesday that people should limit their use of such poisons, try to apply them in closed areas, consider safer alternatives such as old-fashioned traps, and clean up garbage and other attractants that entice rats.
She said barn owls are also at increasing risk from highway development and loss of grass habitat in the Fraser Valley and rural areas of Vancouver Island—and that poison is part of a cumulative problem.
A 2009 Environment Canada study of the livers of 164 barn, barred, and great horned owls from B.C. and Yukon found evidence of at least one anticoagulant rodenticide in 70 per cent of cases. Of those, more than 41 per cent contained more than one rodenticide, most often the second-generation poisons, brodifacoum and bromadiolone.
Six of the owls—three barred, two barn, and one great horned owl—had died of the poison, which is designed to produce a fatal hemorrhage in rats and other rodents.
Hindmarch said the “sublethal” effects of the poison can also contribute to the owls’ demise. “If they are hit by a car, is that because they were hunting and not paying attention because they’d just ingested rat poison?”
Most owls in the study died in rehabilitation centres. Fortythree per cent were from the upper Fraser Valley.
Rodenticides are commonly used to control the proliferation of rats in urban and agricultural areas. The poison is then transferred to non-target species such as owls that devour the rats.
The poison is available in the form of pellets, loose meal, paraffin blocks or packet baits.
Rodents may not die for days, potentially staggering around in open areas where they are easily caught by owls.
In November, the federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada rated the barn owl as threatened in southern B.C.
Sponge Bob they’re not—but B.C. discovery suggests sponges, humans are distant cousins
By Randy Boswell – Vancouver Sun – December 14, 2010, p. B1
Canadian researchers who probed the traits of a freshwater sponge from Vancouver Island say their findings about the species’ “skin” could rewrite the history of animal life and illuminate a primordial family connection between humans and the porous organisms best known for mopping up kitchen spills.
A study by three University of Alberta biologists, which appears in a journal published by the U.S.-based Public Library of Science, shows how the outer tissue of the B.C. specimen acts much like the protective layer of skin that distinguishes almost all other animals, including humans, from the seemingly flow-through sponges.
The discovery, the research team concludes, could eventually force scientists to reclassify sponges closer to our own “eumetazoan” set of animals, and to rethink humanity’s evolutionary roots among these absorbent creatures of the deep.
“It doesn’t quite make them into Sponge Bob,” study coauthor Sally Leys told Postmedia News on Monday. “But it very much does put sponges into the fold with the rest of us.”
The U of A team, including Emily Adams and Greg Goss, gathered samples of the common species Spongilla lacustris from Sarita and Rosseau lakes near Bamfield, B.C., about 120 kilometres northwest of Victoria.
Leys said the chief advantage of collecting sponges from Vancouver Island is that their habitats typically don’t ice over in winter—allowing access year-round—and that colder weather triggers a degree of shrinkage and dormancy that makes the specimens easier to handle in experiments.
The researchers tested the sponge’s “epithelial” membrane to determine whether it can effectively block certain molecules from penetrating the organism’s interior—the way a mammal’s skin or an insect’s outer layer does.
They found that the sponge’s membrane provided a “good, tight seal” akin to how a chimpanzee’s skin protects against unwanted microbes and chemical invaders.
“It shows that sponges share a physiology with other animals and are not just some odd offshoot,” Leys said.
Sponges, fossils of which have been found from about 550 million years ago, are known to be among the earliest complex creatures to appear following the evolution of life from unicellular to multi-celled organisms.”
The researcher argue that the specialization of cells resulting in skin “was therefore one of the first defining features of multicellular animals,” including the ancestors of modern sponges and humans alike.
Research opens door to new HIV treatments
29-year-old prof pioneers groundbreaking technique
By Cindy E. Harnett, Vancouver Sun, December 10, 2010, p. A1
Pioneering research by a University of Victoria researcher has “significantly” advanced how HIV is understood and ways to treat it by locating specific genes of the virus that are drug resistant.
And what’s more, UVic biomedical engineer Stephanie Willerth’s new research methods could be used to tackle other serious diseases, such as swine flu, influenza and the deadly Ebola virus.
Willerth and her team studied 15,000 different versions of HIV and replicated them millions of times, an effort never before done on such a large scale. They used a virus from a long-term HIV patient who had become drug-resistant to treatment.
Scientists used “next generation” DNA sequencing to study the virus’s genetic makeup, a new technique that enables researchers to study millions of molecules at a time.
“This information has allowed them to locate the specific genes of the virus that were resistant to the drugs—knowledge that could ultimately help researchers develop more effective treatments for HIV,” UVic said in a news release.
Willerth, who joined UVic a few months ago, carried out her groundbreaking post-doctorate research at the University of California, Berkeley.
“It’s really nice to know people are using the research,” said Willerth, 29, whose work was funded by biotechnology company Virxsys Corporation and published in the peer-reviewed science journal PLoS ONE.
Willerth, UVic’s first assistant professor of biomedical engineering, said her research may be used to help in the long-term treatment of HIV within the next decade.
Willerth’s method allowed her to study about 15,000 different versions of the human immunodeficiency virus. HIV mutates at a high rate, making treatment of patients difficult because the virus eventually develops resistance to medications.
To study complex viruses, such as HIV, they must be replicated millions of times. However, duplicating highly contagious viruses comes with risks and restrictions.
Willerth and her team isolated the genetic material from the HIV so that it was no longer alive when it was replicated.
After replicating the virus from a small sample obtained from a long-term HIV patient, who had developed a drug resistance to treatment, Willerth studied its genetic makeup using so-called next generation DNA sequencing, which allows researchers to study millions of molecules at a time.
The new and expensive equipment for such research can only be found at a few major universities and hospitals in the U.S. and Canada, including the University of B.C.
UVic has given Missouri-born Willerth her own lab, the Willerth Laboratory, in the department of mechanical engineering where she is studying stem cells.
“It’s really cool being at the university as one of the first professors they’ve hired in the field of biomedical engineering,” Willerth said.
Researchers discover new bacteria feasting on Titanic wreck
Organism a threat to offshore drilling equipment, could be used in disposal of naval, merchant ships
By Randy Boswell, vancouver Sun, December 7, 2010, p. B11
A team of Canadian and Spanish researchers has discovered a new—and voracious—species of bacteria that is feasting on the wreck of the Titanic, the famous ocean liner that sank off the coast of Newfoundland nearly a century ago.
In fact, the scientists suggest, the microscopic bugs may have already been on board the luxury cruise ship when it struck an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, killing more than 1,500 passengers in one of the world’s worst maritime disasters.
The previously unknown organism—named Halomonas titanicae in recognition of the location of the find nearly four kilometres below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean—is being described as a “potential new microbial threat” to offshore oil equipment and other undersea metal structures because of its insatiable appetite for iron.
But the microscopic bugs are also being touted for possible use in the eco-friendly junking of retired ships.
“We believe H. titanicae plays a part in the recycling of iron structures at certain depths,” co-authors Bhavleen Kaur, of the Ontario Science Centre, and Henrietta Mann, a researcher with Halifax’s Dalhousie University, stated in a summary of the study, published Monday in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.
“This could be useful in the disposal of old naval and merchant ships and oil rigs that have been cleaned of toxins and oil-based products and then sunk in the deep ocean.”
The newly identified organism is one of many forms of deepsea bacteria devouring the world’s most famous shipwreck.
As early as the 1980s, scientists researching the Titanic’s resting site about 600 kilometres off the southeast coast of Newfoundland were reporting the presence of giant “rusticles” on the ship’s hull. Like icicles made from blobs of rusted metal, the strange features were identified as the product of a bacteria-driven corrosion process that was rapidly destroying the sunken vessel.
The research team, which includes Spanish microbiologists Cristina Sanchez-Porro and Antonio Ventosa, said the 50,000 tonnes of metal used to build the Titanic has been “progressively deteriorating for the past 98 years” on the ocean floor.
Carleton University Researcher Reveals New Findings on Ferocious Fish
While most people like to admire barracuda from afar, Amanda O’Toole thought she would take the plunge and study this ferocious fish up close and personal.
As part of her master’s degree in science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, O’Toole journeyed to the Bahamas to learn more about these toothy creatures.
“Strangely, there is very little known about barracuda biology despite the fact that they are widely regarded as important predators in tropical marine waters,” says Steven Cooke, one of O’Toole’s two thesis advisers. “Amanda’s work is an important first-step in managing and conserving these fish.”
In order to collect her data, O’Toole became the first person to surgically implant telemetry transmitters in barracuda to study their movements.
“We were intrigued to find out that many of the fish were homebodies, staying close to where they were tagged,” says O’Toole. “However, just a few weeks ago, a barracuda that I tagged in 2007 was detected near Nassau, so that fish had swum more than 100 kilometres from where it was originally tagged.” O’Toole’s work also showed that barracuda would typically move offshore during the day and return to near shore habitats around dusk. “That’s good news for daytime swimmers,” shares the researcher.
As part of her research Amanda also studied what happens to barracuda when they are captured by recreational fishers. “We found that all fish that were landed survived the angling experience and were vigorous at the time of their release. But several barracuda were attacked by other predators while they were being reeled in.”
Although most fishers release barracuda, they are eaten in some areas despite the potential for poisoning from ciguatera. “This toxin can cause neurological problems and even death,” shares O’Toole. Working with researchers from the United States Marine Biotoxin Program, the Carleton student developed a technique to take blood samples from barracuda without killing them and validated that ciguatera could be detected in fish blood. She then took samples of blood from the fish, tagged and released them. “I found that the toxin levels in the blood of the tagged fish were associated with how mobile they were,” says O’Toole.
O’Toole’s co-supervisors, Dr. Andy Danylchuk at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Dr. Cooke at Carleton, intend to conduct additional research on barracuda that will involve use of satellite tags to track fish over larger distances. Cooke’s Carleton lab is a world leader in the use of telemetry to track aquatic animals. “Our team wants to ensure that fisheries are sustainable while providing students with the opportunity to address real-world problems,” says Cooke.
O’Toole says she is thrilled that her work has revealed new information about barracuda biology. “These are fascinating fish that deserve a better future than following the trend of global declines in marine predatory fish,” remarked O’Toole.
Stroke Research at UBC
The results of two studies involving patients who have survived severe strokes indicate that rehabilitation strategies for such patients need to be improved.
PhD student Jodi Edwards discovered that although more Canadians are surviving severe strokes, they are experiencing poorer quality of life after the event. Her study was published in the May issue of the journal Stroke.
Post-doctoral fellow Sean Meehan established that survivors of severe stroke use the prefrontal cortex area of the brain when learning new movements, to compensate for damage to the normally-involved motor region.
“Jodi’s study tells us that quality of life after stroke has decreased in the past decade,” says her supervisor, Lara Boyd, Canada Research Chair in Neurobiology of Motor Learning. “A potential reason for this decline is that while we’re good at rehabilitating patients who have suffered mild to moderately severe strokes, we have very little to offer the increasing numbers of Canadians who have survived a severe stroke. But Sean’s study is pointing to ways to make a major impact in post-stroke care.”
Edwards analyzed public health statistics from 1996-2005, a period when there were many advances in early-intervention treatment for severe stroke. Meehan studied functional magnetic resonance imaging results from health subjects and stroke patients to compare which parts of the brain were engaged in performing new tasks.
“This new information on how the brain compensates for damage suggests two potential strategies for rehabilitation: We could work on restoring the original brain function before the stroke occurred, or by promoting this new pathway,” says Meehan, who is Edwards’ lab mate and also supervised by Boyd.
“The convergence of these findings from seemingly divergent areas of research is telling us that the brain isn’t working in compartments with each area taking charge of certain functions that may be irrevocably damaged by injury or disease,” says Boyd. “Rather, the different domains of the brain are inter-related and may
work together to take on new challenges.”
UBC Alumni Magazine Trek Summer 2010, p. 9
Man, Mouse or Just Plain Chicken?
At the embryo stage, humans, mice and chickens apparently have a lot in common. Their faces, at least, are similar enough to allow Joy Richman to study chicken embryos to learn more about the development of the human face. Richman is a pediatric dentist and development biologist. Her work will provide new understanding around facial abnormalities such as cleft palate, today affecting one in 700 babies born.
“The chicken embryo is ideal to unravel these mysteries,” says Richman, who literally cuts postage-stamp sized windows into eggs that allow her to peer inside to the developing embryos with a microscope.
Many animal faces start out as a rudimentary oral cavity surrounded by buds of tissue called prominences that develop into a face. Richman is trying to discover what it is that, at the molecular level, stimulates indistinct cells to form specific structures of the face. To help, she has been awarded $900,000 from the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research.
Prior to receiving her grant, Richman had established that jaw development is linked to the presence of retinoic acid, a vitamin A derivative and a protein linked to bone formation. She did this by inserting beads containing the acid into a chicken embryo, which subsequently developed bones that would become a beak, where
normally there would be cheek bones.
Now she is investigating the genes that play a role in forming the centre of the face. She has already discovered a gene of interest “because it makes a protein that is secreted outside the cell and as such could play a pivotal role. It may act as an orchestrator, directing nearby cells into required patterns.” The protein is strongly
turned on during beak development, and placing a gene for the protein in an embryo caused the growth of an extra beak. Ongoing research will further determine the protein’s role in forming face and limbs.
“Our work will shed light on inherited birth defects that affect the skeleton including cleft lip, jaw size and shape abnormalities, and disturbances in the bones of the hands and feet,” says Richman. “Our results may also one day help to improve healing after injuries to the skeleton.”
UBC Alumni Magazine Trek Summer 2010, p. 5
Protected ocean areas can’t save coral reefs from climate change, new research shows
By Emily Jackson – Vancouver Sun – August 5, 2010, p. A9
The conventional wisdom that marine reserves can save coral reefs from climate change is wishful thinking, according to Simon Fraser University researchers.
In fact, marine reserves, areas of the ocean that are protected from overfishing and pollution, make coral reefs more vulnerable to higher temperatures, said Isabelle Cote, a professor of tropical marine ecology at SFU who has studied coral reefs for 25 years.
“If they can’t cope with fishing, they can’t cope with climate change either,” Cote said.
Experts have long agreed that reducing fishing and pollution would help coral reefs survive climate change, according to a 2008 report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.
But Cote’s research contradicts this.
If it held true, higher water temperatures would cause less suffering for protected reefs than for unprotected reefs, she said.
Cote and her research partner, Emily Darling, analyzed more than 50 publications on the vulnerability of coral reefs to climate change for evidence supporting the theory. None was found.
Coral reef species that can’t deal with typical ocean pressures such as fishing and pollution do survive in protected areas, Cote said.
However, “When there’s a period of really warm waters, these species drop like flies because they’re really sensitive,” she said.
Because coral reefs outside of protected areas deal with more stress, the species they house are more resilient. These “tougher” reefs are more likely to withstand climate change, Cote said.
But that doesn’t mean that marine reserves don’t have a purpose.
“Inside marine protected areas you do get massive increases in diversity, species that you don’t find anywhere else,” Cote said.
Climate models are advanced enough now to predict which areas of the ocean will warm the most in the next 50 to 100 years, she said, and planners should use this information to ensure marine reserves are put in places that are the least likely to warm up.
Even without factoring in the potential for climate change, experts predicted that 15 per cent of the world’s coral reefs will be seriously threatened in 10 to 20 years, according to the 2008 report.
Coral reefs act as barriers during storms, provide seafood, are a source of sand for beaches and are home to millions of species.
And, says Cote, “We’ve only scratched the surface of the potential for these organisms to solve health problems.”
While Cote’s research was done in tropical climates, she said her conclusions might also apply to the temperate waters off B.C. “There are lots of strong parallels between tropical coral reefs and temperate kelp forests,” she said.
B.C. has 148 marine protected areas in place to conserve kelp beds, abandoned canneries and archeological sites.
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