Short-term exposure to concurrent biotic and abiotic stressors may impair farmed molluscs performance

Abstract

Global warming, through increasing temperatures, may facilitate the spread and proliferation of outbreak-forming species which may find favourable substrate conditions on artificial aquaculture structures. The presence of stinging organisms (cnidarian hydroids) in the facilities fouling community are a source of pollution that can cause critical problems when in-situ underwater cleaning processes are performed. Multiple stressor experiments were carried out to investigate the cumulative effect on farmed mussels' functional traits when exposed to realistic stressful conditions, including presence of harmful cnidarian cells and environmental conditions of increasing temperature and short-term hypoxia. Exposure to combined stressors significantly altered mussels' performance, causing metabolic depression and low filtering activity, potentially delaying, or inhibiting their recovery ability and ultimately jeopardizing organisms' fitness. Further research on the stressors properties and occurrence is needed to obtain more realistic responses from organisms to minimize climate change impacts and increase ecosystem and marine economic activities resilience to multiple stressors.