Parasitism and climate change: A tipping point for blue mussel populations?

Descrizione del progetto

In che modo i parassiti delle cozze influenzano gli ecosistemi costieri?

Le comuni cozze blu (Mytilus edulis), una risorsa economica chiave per il settore dell’acquacoltura, sostengono la biodiversità nelle regioni costiere. La produzione di cozze è la principale attività di allevamento di molluschi in Europa. Comprendere come queste rispondono ai cambiamenti ambientali sta diventando sempre più importante poiché l’aumento della temperatura dell’oceano influenzerà anche i loro modelli di infezione da parassiti. Il progetto TPOINT, finanziato dall’UE, esaminerà gli effetti combinati dei cambiamenti climatici e dei parassiti sulle popolazioni di cozze. Offrirà nuove informazioni sugli impatti ecologici associati di tali mutevoli dinamiche e contribuirà alla gestione sostenibile degli ecosistemi.

Obiettivo

Global warming constitutes an urgent challenge to humanity, and predicting the far-reaching impacts on ecosystems remains a major scientific task. Blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) are a dominant species along European coastlines, where they play central ecological roles and are of high economic importance. Increases in ocean temperature will not only affect mussels directly but also increase transmission dynamics of their parasites. Together, the effects of a rise in temperature and parasitism will result in increased pressure on M. edulis and their ability to perform vital ecosystem services. How this will impact mussel populations, and ultimately the whole ecosystem, is currently unexplored and impossible to predict due to our lack of experimental data and predictive models. In a worst-case scenario, these combined stressors could lead to a tipping point for mussel populations and the presently balanced coastal ecosystem.
In the project TPOINT, I will analyse the synergetic effects of temperature and trematode infections on blue mussels, ranging from individual effects to impacts on population and community structure at the ecosystem level. I will do this through a set of specifically designed mesocosm and field experiments under projected warming scenarios that will provide data for a novel predictive model of the combined parasite and climate change pressure on mussel populations. This project is the first to test these combined effects on blue mussel populations and their role as ecosystem engineers, and will provide novel insights into the ways global changes will influence species interactions and impact sensitive and complex ecological systems. The data gained from TPOINT will significantly advance our understanding of how host-parasite systems will respond to climate change and will help us predict the associated ecological impacts of such changes. This practical knowledge can support the sustainable management of ecosystems in the future.