Aquaculture and the eco-evolutionary dynamics of marine disease
Kelly, M.W.; Miller, L. (2026). Aquaculture and the eco-evolutionary dynamics of marine disease, in: Byers, J.E. et al. The ecology and evolution of marine parasites and disease. Ecology and evolution of infectious diseases series, : pp. 321-329. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/9780197790847.003.0018
In: Byers, J.E.; Blakeslee, A.M.H.; Wares, J.P. (Ed.) (2026). The ecology and evolution of marine parasites and disease. Ecology and evolution of infectious diseases series. Oxford University Press: New York. ISBN 9780197790809. 376 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/9780197790847.001.0001, more
In: Ecology and evolution of infectious diseases series. Oxford University Press: New York. , more
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| Keywords |
Aquaculture
Transmission
Virulence
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| Author keywords |
reciprocal adaptation, co-evolution |
| Abstract |
As aquaculture plays an increasingly dominant role in global fisheries production, it will become a more important driver of eco-evolutionary dynamics between farmed species and their wild pathogens and parasites. These dynamics will in turn have important impacts both on the productivity of aquaculture and on the health of surrounding populations of wild marine animals; understanding these impacts is important both to the future productivity of aquaculture efforts and to minimizing the impacts of aquaculture on wild ecosystems. Aquaculture settings differ from wild communities in a variety of ways that are expected to influence the evolution of hosts and pathogens. Farmed species are typically held in monocultures with lower genetic diversity than wild populations of the same species. The low genetic diversity and repeated replacement of hosts by farmers halt the adaptation of hosts to pathogens, while pathogens may continue to evolve. Farmed species are also held at much higher densities than in the wild, potentially relaxing selection on transmission rates in the pathogen. Moreover, farmed species are often translocated over long distances, potentially disrupting locally co-adapted relationships between hosts and pathogens. Finally, farmers often manage disease using pesticides, antibiotics, or culling, relaxing selection on host tolerance and resistance. In this chapter, the authors consider how selection on parasite and host traits may be altered by aquaculture practices and conclude with two case studies from some particularly well-studied and economically important aquaculture systems: eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and farmed salmonids. |
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