The impact of ocean acidification, increased seawater temperature and a bacterial challenge on the immune response and physiology of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. ...

• Main Author: Ellis, Robert Peter
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Plymouth 2013
• Subjects: Mytilus edulis; Immune defence; Physiological trade-off; Energy homeostasis; Ocean Acidification; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.24382/4625; https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/1250

Anthropogenic activities are fundamentally altering the chemistry of the world’s oceans. Many of these modifications could have a significant impact on the health of marine organisms. Yet, despite being proposed as one of the most significant threats that marine ecosystems face, to date very little is known about the impact of anthropogenic climate change, and ocean acidification in particular, on host defence. The aims of this thesis are to investigate the impact of environmental stressors on the invertebrate immune response, providing empirical data on how anthropogenically induced stressors will impact the invertebrate immune system and how this will impact organism condition and subsequent physiological trade-offs. Exposure to reduced seawater pH and increased temperature significantly reduced the immune response in the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. This reduction in immune response could indicate stress-induced immune dysfunction. However, the immune system protects an organism from infectious disease, ...