The impact of climate change on infection of salmonid fish with Saprolegnia

鱼对环境的变化非常敏感，众所周知，这种变化会导致压力增加，并可能改变鱼的免疫状态，进而导致更容易患上疾病。我们将研究水温和氧气变化对鲑鱼和鲑鱼感染寄生腐霉和双生腐霉的发生率和严重程度的影响。这两种病原体都会引起腐殖病，这是一种致命的鲑鱼卵和鱼的疾病。腐殖症往往会导致养鱼场10%或更多的损失。目前，在英国水产养殖业中，这些卵菌病原体位居虹鲑鱼和大西洋鲑鱼最相关病原体的前3名。将通过实验和现场研究收集有关温度和氧气依赖的病原菌动态和宿主免疫反应的数据，这将为预测这些病原体可能因气候变化而造成的影响提供基础。将使用空间分析和测绘技术来确定养鱼场位置、河流环境条件和病原体丰度之间的基线关系。基于对英国气候变化的预测，我们将尝试预测我们研究中的病原体的影响在未来几十年可能会发生什么变化。该项目涉及BBSRC/NERC关于水产养殖：鱼类健康和疾病的联合呼吁的所有优先领域，最终将使农民能够更好地规划和设计缓解策略，这在欧盟范围内禁止在水产养殖中使用福尔马林的禁令执行后将特别重要。改变水产养殖管理程序、生物安全和处理(摄取的水或鱼)可能使养鱼户能够抵消这些鱼类病原体对气候变化的一些预期影响。该项目还将使人们能够预测CC和Saprolegnia感染对野生鲑鱼的影响。这些信息将对未来的保护战略起到重要作用。

Fish are very sensitive to changes in their environment and it is known that such changes can lead to increased stress and can alter the immune status of the fish, which in turn can lead to higher susceptibility to diseases. We will investigate the role of water temperature and oxygen changes on the incidence and severity of salmon and trout infection with Saprolegnia parasitica and Saprolegnia diclina. Both pathogens cause saprolegniosis, which is a deadly disease of salmonid eggs and fish. Saprolegniosis can often lead to losses of 10% or more in fish farms. Currently these oomycete pathogens rank amongst the top 3 of most relevant pathogens on rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon in the aquaculture industry of the UK. Data on temperature and oxygen dependant pathogen dynamics and host immune response will be collected through experimental and field studies, which will provide a basis for predicting the likely impact of these pathogens as a result of climate change. Spatial analysis and mapping techniques will be used to identify baseline relationships between fish farm locations, environmental conditions in the river and pathogen abundance. Based on climate change predictions for the UK, we will try to predict how the impact of the pathogens in our study is likely to change over the next decades. The information generated from this project, which addresses all priority areas of the BBSRC/NERC joint call on Aquaculture: Fish Health & Disease, will ultimately allow better planning and design of mitigating strategies for farmers, which will be especially relevant after the enforcement of the EU-wide ban on the use of formalin in aquaculture. Changes in aquaculture management procedures, biosecurity and treatment (of intake water or fish) may allow fish farmers to counteract some of the expected impacts of these fish pathogens in response to climate change. The project will also allow making projections about the impact of CC and Saprolegnia infection on wild salmonid fish. This information will be important to inform future conservation strategies.