Seabird Deaths Linked To Soap-like Foam Produced By Red-tide Algae
Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - 10:39
in Earth & Climate
In late 2007, hundreds of dead and stranded seabirds washed up on the shores of Monterey Bay, their feathers saturated with water and coated with an unknown substance. After an intensive investigation, scientists determined that a massive "red tide" bloom of marine algae had produced a foamy soap-like substance that stripped the natural waterproofing from the birds' feathers.