Seagrass Wasting Disease and the Causative Agent, Labyrinthula zosterae: Detection, Quantification, and Potential Mitigation ...

• Main Author: Bergman, Chelsea Noel
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository 2023
• Subjects: Eelgrass; Oysters; qPCR; Survey; Pacific; Crassostrea gigas; Pacific oyster
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.13016/m2gror-2mib; https://mdsoar.org/handle/11603/28932

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is an ecologically important seagrass providing numerous ecosystem services to coastal habitats globally. Z. marina is currently experiencing universal decline due to multiple factors, including degrading environmental conditions and disease. One disease commonly found in Z. marina beds is seagrass wasting disease (SWD) caused by the opportunistic pathogen Labyrinthula zosterae. SWD has previously caused mass die-offs of seagrass beds. Seagrass beds are well-surveyed in the Chesapeake Bay but SWD presence and prevalence remains unknown in the region. In this present study, seagrass beds were sampled in the Chesapeake Bay for SWD presence, lesion severity, and infection intensity. SWD and L. zosterae were present at four sites with one site having significantly higher disease severity and infection intensity. An undertested disease mitigation strategy is the use of farmed and naturally occurring oysters in wild populations, near eelgrass beds. The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, ...