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Fieseler CM, Al-Mudaffar Fawzi N, Helmuth B, Leitão A, Al Ainsi M, Al Mukaimi M, Al-Saidi M, Al Senafi F, Bejarano I, Ben-Hamadou R, D'Addario J, Mujthaba Dheen Mohamed A, Giraldes BW, Glowka L, Johnson MD, Lyons BP, Mateos-Molina D, Marshall CD, Mohammed S, Range P, Reza Shokri M, Wong JMK, Pyenson ND. Expanding ocean protection and peace: a window for science diplomacy in the Gulf. R Soc Open Sci 2023; 10:230392. [PMID: 37771965 PMCID: PMC10523068 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023]
Abstract
The ecological state of the Persian or Arabian Gulf (hereafter 'Gulf') is in sharp decline. Calls for comprehensive ecosystem-based management approaches and transboundary conservation have gone largely unanswered, despite mounting marine threats made worse by climate change. The region's long-standing political tensions add additional complexity, especially now as some Gulf countries will soon adopt ambitious goals to protect their marine environments as part of new global environmental commitments. The recent interest in global commitments comes at a time when diplomatic relations among all Gulf countries are improving. There is a window of opportunity for Gulf countries to meet global marine biodiversity conservation commitments, but only if scientists engage in peer-to-peer diplomacy to build trust, share knowledge and strategize marine conservation options across boundaries. The Gulf region needs more ocean diplomacy and coordination; just as critically, it needs actors at its science-policy interface to find better ways of adapting cooperative models to fit its unique marine environment, political context and culture. We propose a practical agenda for scientist-led diplomacy in the short term and lines of research from which to draw (e.g. co-production, knowledge exchange) to better design future science diplomacy practices and processes suited to the Gulf's setting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare M. Fieseler
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | | | - Brian Helmuth
- Coastal Sustainability Institute and School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Mehsin Al Ainsi
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Mohammad Al Mukaimi
- Marine Science Department, College of Science, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait
| | - Mohammad Al-Saidi
- Center for Sustainable Development, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Fahad Al Senafi
- Marine Science Department, College of Science, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait
| | - Ivonne Bejarano
- Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE
| | - Radhouan Ben-Hamadou
- Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Ahmad Mujthaba Dheen Mohamed
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Lyle Glowka
- Biodiversity Strategies International, Abu Dhabi, UAE
| | - Maggie D. Johnson
- Red Sea Research Center, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | | | | | - Christopher D. Marshall
- Department of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University, Galveston Campus, Galveston, TX, USA
- Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | | | - Pedro Range
- Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Mohammad Reza Shokri
- Department of Animal Sciences and Marine Biology, Faculty of Life Science and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., Tehran, Iran
| | - John M. K. Wong
- Aquatic Research Center, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Doha, Qatar
| | - Nicholas D. Pyenson
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
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Pyenson ND, Al-Ansi M, Fieseler CM, Al Jaber KH, Klim KD, LeBlanc J, Mohamed AMD, Al-Shaikh I, Marshall CD. Fossil Sirenia from the Pleistocene of Qatar: new questions about the antiquity of sea cows in the Gulf Region. PeerJ 2022; 10:e14075. [PMID: 36275454 PMCID: PMC9586076 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
One of the largest and least documented populations of dugongs (Dugong dugon) resides in the coastal waters of the United Arab Emirates, and waters surrounding Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar. The archaeological record of dugongs in the Gulf Region is abundant, but little is known about their fossil record in the region. Here we report an isolated sirenian rib fragment from the Futaisi Member of the Fuwayrit Formation near the town of Al Ruwais, in northern Qatar. The Fuwayrit Formation is a marine Pleistocene deposit exposed onshore in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Based on the correlative dating of the basal Futaisi Member with other onshore platforms, the rib fragment is approximately 125 ka. We propose that this isolated rib (likely the first rib from the right side) belongs to Dugongidae, with strong similarities to extant Dugong. We cannot, however, eliminate the possibility that it belongs to an extinct taxon, especially given its similarities with other fossil dugongid material from both Qatar and elsewhere in the world. Aside from reflecting the presence of Gulf seagrass communities in the Pleistocene, this occurrence also suggests that different (and potentially multiple) lineages of sirenians inhabited the Gulf Region in the geologic past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas D. Pyenson
- Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, United States,Department of Paleontology and Geology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, Washington State, United States
| | - Mehsin Al-Ansi
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Clare M. Fieseler
- Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
| | | | - Katherine D. Klim
- Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
| | | | | | | | - Christopher D. Marshall
- Department of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University-Galveston, Galveston, Texas, United States,Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States
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Tice-Lewis M, Zhang YS, Redding SG, Lindquist NL, Rodriguez AB, Fieseler CM, Walker QA, Fodrie FJ. Coastal squeeze on temperate reefs: Long-term shifts in salinity, water quality, and oyster-associated communities. Ecol Appl 2022; 32:e2609. [PMID: 35366045 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Revised: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Foundation species, such as mangroves, saltmarshes, kelps, seagrasses, and oysters, thrive within suitable environmental envelopes as narrow ribbons along the land-sea margin. Therefore, these habitat-forming species and resident fauna are sensitive to modified environmental gradients. For oysters, many estuaries impacted by sea-level rise, channelization, and municipal infrastructure are experiencing saltwater intrusion and water-quality degradation that may alter reef distributions, functions, and services. To explore decadal-scale oyster-reef community patterns across a temperate estuary in response to environmental change, we resampled reefs in the Newport River Estuary (NRE) during 2013-2015 that had previously been studied during 1955-1956. We also coalesced historical NRE reef distribution (1880s-2015), salinity (1913-2015), and water-quality-driven shellfish closure boundary (1970s-2015) data to document environmental trends that could influence reef ecology and service delivery. Over the last 60-120 years, the entire NRE has shifted toward higher salinities. Consequently, oyster-reef communities have become less distinct across the estuary, manifest by 20%-27% lower species turnover and decreased faunal richness among NRE reefs in the 2010s relative to the 1950s. During the 2010s, NRE oyster-reef communities tended to cluster around a euhaline, intertidal-reef type more so than during the 1950s. This followed faunal expansions farther up estuary and biological degradation of subtidal reefs as NRE conditions became more marine and favorable for aggressive, reef-destroying taxa. In addition to these biological shifts, the area of suitable bottom on which subtidal reefs persist (contracting due to up-estuary intrusion of marine waters) and support human harvest (driven by water quality, eroding from up-estuary) has decreased by >75% since the natural history of NRE reefs was first explored. This "coastal squeeze" on harvestable subtidal oysters (reduced from a 4.5-km to a 0.75-km envelope along the NRE's main axis) will likely have consequences regarding the economic incentives for future oyster conservation, as well as the suite of services delivered by remaining shellfish reefs (e.g., biodiversity maintenance, seafood supply). More broadly, these findings exemplify how "squeeze" may be a pervasive concern for biogenic habitats along terrestrial or marine ecotones during an era of intense global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxwell Tice-Lewis
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, North Carolina, USA
| | - Y Stacy Zhang
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, North Carolina, USA
| | - S Gray Redding
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Niels L Lindquist
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, North Carolina, USA
| | - Antonio B Rodriguez
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, North Carolina, USA
| | - Clare M Fieseler
- Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Quentin A Walker
- National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Beaufort Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
- CSS-Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, USA
| | - F Joel Fodrie
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, North Carolina, USA
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Fawzi NAM, Fieseler CM, Helmuth B, Leitão A, Al-Ainsi M, Al Mukaimi M, Al-Saidi M, Al Senafi F, Bejarano I, Ben-Hamadou R, D’Addario J, Mohamed AMD, Giraldes BW, Glowka L, Johnson MD, Lyons BP, Mateos-Molina D, Marshall CD, Mohammed S, Range P, Shokri MR, Wong JMK, Pyenson ND. Diplomacy for the world’s hottest sea. Science 2022. [DOI: 10.1126/science.add1555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Clare M. Fieseler
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Brian Helmuth
- Coastal Sustainability Institute and School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | | | - Mehsin Al-Ainsi
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Mohammad Al Mukaimi
- Department of Marine Science, College of Science, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait
| | | | - Fahad Al Senafi
- Department of Marine Science, College of Science, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait
| | - Ivonne Bejarano
- Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
| | - Radhouan Ben-Hamadou
- Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Ahmad Mujthaba Dheen Mohamed
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | | | - Lyle Glowka
- Biodiversity Strategies International, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Maggie D. Johnson
- Red Sea Research Center, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Brett P. Lyons
- Weymouth Laboratory, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Weymouth, UK
| | | | - Christopher D. Marshall
- Department of Marine Biology, Texas A&M University, Galveston Campus, Galveston, TX 77554, USA
- Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
| | | | - Pedro Range
- Environmental Science Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - Mohammad Reza Shokri
- Department of Animal Sciences and Marine Biology, Faculty of Life Science and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - John M. K. Wong
- Aquatic Research Center, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Doha, Qatar
| | - Nicholas D. Pyenson
- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
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Abstract
Cumulative, repetitive microtrauma can cause tissue damage that leads to overuse injuries, which constitute a large share of sports-related disorders. The authors explain their five-step approach to treating overuse injuries: establishing a pathoanatomic diagnosis, controlling inflammation, promoting healing, increasing fitness, and controlling tissue abuse. The case of a 28-year-old male runner with heel pain demonstrates their management of overuse injuries.
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Affiliation(s)
- F G O'Connor
- Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, 20814-4712, USA
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Fieseler CM. Special considerations for the female runner. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil 1996; 6:37-47. [PMID: 24572329 DOI: 10.3233/bmr-1996-6105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
There are a number of physiologic and anatomic differences between males and females which affect performance and the rate of injury. In addition, there are several disorders which occur with some frequency in female runners - eating disorders and amenorrhea, which warrant review. Most pregnant runners should be encouraged to remain active, with appropriate medical supervision. Providing good medical care for female runners requires a working knowledge of their unique features.
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Affiliation(s)
- C M Fieseler
- Primary Care Sports Medicine Center, DeWitt Health Care System, Fort Belvoir, VA, USA
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