Page 19 - Science

for all other factors, the loss of a pet because Census Bureau and covers New Orleans’s NATURE’S STRATEGIES
of the storm had lasting negative effects. changing demographics. The other is drawn
Abramson, meanwhile, developed an from a random sampling of people who had
analytical tool to gauge recovery on the lived there before Katrina and includes in-
basis of measurements in five areas: physi- formation on health and well-being. The
cal and mental health, economic stability, study’s findings could help other communi-
stable housing, and “social role adapta- ties traumatized by fires, floods, and earth-
tion,” or how people feel that they fit into quakes, by identifying people at highest risk
their community. That framework allowed and how best to help them.
him to identify prestorm factors that Abramson already has a hunch about
most contributed to long-term recovery. one factor that will rise to the top, on the
For example, measures of “psychological basis of unpublished data from his cohort,
strength”—which included religiosity and which started off in those FEMA trailers.
the perceived ability to adapt to stressors— “The faster you move somebody into stable
Fish that switch
were most predictive of a strong recovery. housing, the faster, more accelerated, and
Having a household income of at least more durable their recovery will be,” he
$20,000 was close behind. Being older predicts. If he can confirm that suspicion sex to thrive
than 50 or disabled had strongly negative in the larger Katrina@10 cohort, it could
ish are masters of reproductive
effects on recovery, as did spending a pro- help improve how emergency response resilience. About 450 species
longed period displaced from one’s home. agencies operate. For example, recovery
switch sexes over their lifetimes
How returning home versus resettling programs could invest in more durable to maximize their number of
elsewhere influenced recovery remains an housing for evacuees rather than provi- F offspring. The fish do so by
open question. sional camps, he says. undergoing hormonal changes that
VanLandingham’s study took yet another But the researchers also come back to transform their organs from those Downloaded from
tack: It became a deep dive into the role of what they’ve seen firsthand: Different com- of one sex to the other. Patterns
culture and history in resilience. Interviews munities have different needs, and different of sex switching vary by species. Big
with some of his original study participants strengths and weaknesses. Abramson envi- females produce more eggs than
and community leaders suggested that the sions a future in which organizations that little females, so for some species,
shared experience of the Vietnam War and step in to help after a disaster can gauge how such as clownfish, it’s best to be
immigration had united neighbors, motivat- resilient the person sitting in front of them a male early in life when more runty
ing them to rebuild. In a book published is likely to be. and then switch to a female later on.
last year, Weathering Katrina: Culture and For now, Katrina@10 has a more prosaic But among males that fight each http://science.sciencemag.org/
Recovery among Vietnamese-Americans, task at hand: rounding up its megacohort other for females or territories—such
VanLandingham also suggested that this of the roughly 2200 participants from as groupers, sea breams (pictured
community’s members bounced back faster the three original studies for one last in- above), and porgies—being a too-
than many black residents of similar means terview. A team of graduate students has small male can mean no offspring at
because they faced less discrimination. helped track participants online when the all. In that case, it’s better to stay a
numbers and contacts on file led nowhere. small female instead.
LONG-TERM RESILIENCE studies such as One student found a participant by tracing Now, this age-old strategy is allow-
these are unusual, in part because funding the auto body shop uniform he was wear- ing fish like the sea bream to adapt to on March 1, 2018
for them is hard to sustain. And in 2012, ing in a Facebook photo. a modern challenge that also disrupts
VanLandingham’s prospects for continuing In the most recent round of interviews, the sex balance: overfishing. Fishers
his project looked bleak. His application some participants seemed befuddled that favor the biggest catch. Because one
for new funding from the U.S. National the researchers were still at it. But Tran sex is usually bigger than the other,
Institutes of Health (NIH) was rejected. noticed a change in their attitudes after the bigger sex risks being fished out.
Reviewers were mostly positive, but they Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, a city But researchers have found that
complained that he had no comparison that welcomed many New Orleans refu- sea breams—flavorful, reddish fish
group, no way to put his findings into con- gees in 2005. Harvey’s landfall last sum- common in warmer Atlantic Ocean
text. Then, an NIH program officer told mer, almost exactly 12 years after Katrina’s, coastal waters—are ready. Removing
him that he wasn’t alone. brought back memories—and nurtured big males prompts earlier-than-usual
“She said, ‘There’s this woman at Harvard a grim camaraderie. “It was like, ‘Oh my sex changes in some females, so
having the same problem,’” VanLandingham gosh, now we’ve got to find some way to the sex balance is preserved. Still, it’s
recalls. He contacted Waters, and they re- help the Houston community because of more a short-term strategy than a
cruited Abramson. In 2015, the trio won what they did for us,’” Tran says. long-term solution, researchers say.
PHOTO: D. P. WILSON/FLPA/SCIENCE SOURCE the storm, a unified effort: Katrina@10. people coping with the aftermath of Hur- to grow big. That trend translates
about $6 million in NIH funding over
Abramson is plotting studies of resilience
The fish are switching sex at younger
5 years for what was finally, a decade after
in Hurricane Harvey survivors—along with
ages, so females don’t have a chance
ricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico weeks
The study has an ambitious goal: to build
into fewer offspring and a shrinking
later—to compare their trajectories to what
a crystal ball that uses a few characteristics
population. That resilience strategy
to predict disaster recovery in the long term.
he’s seen in Katrina survivors. If common
keeps them reproducing for now—
of
drivers
resilience emerge across
varied
The effort includes a new round of standard-
but the fish can’t save themselves all
participants
may
Katrina@10
ized surveys
original
in
cohorts,
disasters,
the
three
on their own. —Elizabeth Pennisi
sets to put
other
data
two
plus
broader context. One data set is from the U.S.
ways than they ever imagined. j
SCIENCE sciencemag.org them in a end up helping fellow survivors in more 2 MARCH 2018 • VOL 359 ISSUE 6379 975
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