Defining the links between climate change, marine disease and food securityNew Project

Project Member(s): Seymour, J., Scanes, E.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Projects)
Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Projects)

Start year: 2024

Summary: This project will deliver critical new knowledge on the causes of marine pathogen outbreaks that threaten Australia’s $1.6 billion aquaculture industry. Several members of the same genus of bacteria have been implicated in recent mass mortality events in aquaculture species, as well as human illness in consumers of seafood, yet the triggers for unprecedented outbreaks of these pathogens are unknown. By coupling a suite of sophisticated molecular biological tools and physiological measurements, this research will resolve the role of environmental disturbances including marine heat waves, floods and plastic pollution in stimulating marine pathogen outbreaks, thereby informing efforts to safeguard Australia’s food security and food safety.

FOR Codes: Microbial ecology, Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology), Aquaculture oysters, Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in coastal and estuarine environments

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.