Aquaculture 2025

March 6 - 10, 2025

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Add To Calendar 09/03/2025 09:00:0009/03/2025 09:20:00America/ChicagoAquaculture 2025THE EFFECTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC NOISE ON BLUE MUSSELS Mytilus edulis RESPONSE TO Vibrio splendidus INFECTIONSalon DThe World Aquaculture Societyjohnc@was.orgfalseDD/MM/YYYYanrl65yqlzh3g1q0dme13067

THE EFFECTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC NOISE ON BLUE MUSSELS Mytilus edulis RESPONSE TO Vibrio splendidus INFECTION

Morgan L. Bailey, Ambre Chapuis, Matthew A Wale, Tim Regan*

The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies,

University of Edinburgh,

Midlothian, EH25 9RG, UK

tregan@ed.ac.uk

 



Blue mussels (Mytilus spp.) are a globally significant aquaculture species, cultivated across all continents except Antarctica. Both farmed and wild populations provide essential ecosystem services, including water filtration, nutrient cycling, and biogenic reef formation that enhances biodiversity and mitigates coastal erosion. However, mussels are increasingly threatened by stressors intensified by climate change, such as rising storm frequency, marine heatwaves, ocean acidification, irregular phytoplankton fluctuations, and emergent diseases. These challenges weaken mussel resilience and have been linked to mass mortality events in European populations over the past decade. Additionally, anthropogenic noise, known to harm various marine species and habitats, remains understudied in its effects on mussels. In this study, we investigated the influence of marine noise on infection outcome in Mytilus edulis. Mussels were exposed to simulated underwater ship noise for one week, followed by a bacterial challenge with GFP-expressing Vibrio splendidus. Although no significant transcriptomic response was observed to the noise alone, noise-exposed mussels exhibited higher levels of GFP+ V. splendidus and a suppressed transcriptional response to infection compared to controls. These findings suggest that noise exposure compromises the immune competence of mussels, impairing their ability to resist bacterial infection. This research highlights the potential impact of environmental stressors like noise on mussel health and resilience. Understanding such interactions could inform aquaculture management strategies, such as stress mitigation or site selection. However, further studies are required to explore the duration of noise-induced effects and whether mussels can develop tolerance to prolonged noise exposure.