El Niño drives a widespread ulcerative skin disease outbreak in Galapagos marine fishes


Abstract:

Climate change increases local climatic variation and unpbkp_redictability, which can alter ecological interactions and trigger wildlife disease outbreaks. Here we describe an unprecedented multi-species outbreak of wild fish disease driven by a climate perturbation. The 2015–16 El Niño generated a +2.5 °C sea surface temperature anomaly in the Galapagos Islands lasting six months. This coincided with a novel ulcerative skin disease affecting 18 teleost species from 13 different families. Disease signs included scale loss and hemorrhagic ulcerated patches of skin, fin deterioration, lethargy, and erratic behavior. A bacterial culture isolated from skin lesions of two of the affected fish species was identified by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene as a Rahnella spp. Disease prevalence rates were linearly correlated with density in three fish species. In January 2016, disease prevalence reached 51.1% in the ring-tailed damselfish Stegastes beebei (n = 570) and 18.7% in the king angelfish Holacanthus passer (n = 318), corresponding to 78% and 86% decreases in their populations relative to a 4.5-year baseline, respectively. We hypothesize that this outbreak was precipitated by the persistent warm temperatures and lack of planktonic productivity that characterize extreme El Niño events, which are pbkp_redicted to increase in frequency with global warming.

Año de publicación:

2018

Keywords:

    Fuente:

    scopusscopus

    Tipo de documento:

    Article

    Estado:

    Acceso abierto

    Áreas de conocimiento:

    • Ecología
    • Ecología
    • Infección

    Áreas temáticas:

    • Microorganismos, hongos y algas
    • Vertebrados de sangre fría
    • Mammalia