News 2014

Climate change and shellfish research published in PLOS ONE

19 Jun 2014

A collaborative paper by Dr Sarah Culloty (Acting Head of School) and Dr Sharon Lynch (Research Fellow) with their Welsh partners at Bangor University has recently been published in PLOS ONE.

This study was part of the ERDF funded ‘Sustainable Fisheries in the Irish Sea (SUSFISH)’ project, which assessed the effects of climate change on shellfish productivity in the Irish Sea and determined adaptation or mitigation strategies for the industry.  

Results of this study provide the first confirmation that exposure to future acidification and warming conditions, via aquarium-based simulation, may have parallel implications for bivalve health leading to changes in parasite abundance and diversity, pathological conditions, and bacterial incidence.  This work represents a unique and vital contribution to current research efforts towards a collective understanding of expected near-future impacts of climate change to marine environments. 

The full paper Future Oceanic Warming and Acidification Alter Immune Response and Disease Status in a Commercial Shellfish Species, Mytilus edulis L.  can be found here.

 

School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences

An Scoil Eolaíochtaí Bitheolaíocha, Domhaneolaíocha agus Comhshaoil

Distillery Fields, North Mall, University College Cork, Ireland , T23 N73K.

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