Abstract
Infectious diseases are economically detrimental to aquaculture, and with continued expansion and intensification of aquaculture, the importance of managing infectious diseases will likely increase in the future. Here, we use evolution of virulence theory, along with examples, to identify aquaculture practices that might lead to the evolution of increased pathogen virulence. We identify eight practices common in aquaculture that theory predicts may favor evolution toward higher pathogen virulence. Four are related to intensive aquaculture operations, and four others are related specifically to infectious disease control. Our intention is to make aquaculture managers aware of these risks, such that with increased vigilance, they might be able to detect and prevent the emergence and spread of increasingly troublesome pathogen strains in the future.
Highlights
The emergence of highly virulent pathogens has devastated many food production industries, including examples such as Irish potato culture in the mid-1800s and Taiwanese prawn culture in the 1980s (Bourke 1964; Lin 1989; Strange and Scott 2005)
We have identified several aquaculture practices that might drive evolution of virulence and alter future disease risk
We focused our discussion on pathogen virulence, it is worth mentioning that many other pathogen traits in addition to virulence can evolve in aquaculture settings
Summary
The emergence of highly virulent pathogens has devastated many food production industries, including examples such as Irish potato culture in the mid-1800s and Taiwanese prawn culture in the 1980s (Bourke 1964; Lin 1989; Strange and Scott 2005). Theory predicts that evolution of pathogens in disease resistant hosts can lead to the evolution of increased virulence (Fenner and Ratcliffe 1965; Fenner 1983; Gandon and Michalakis 2000; Ebert and Bull 2003) for the same reasons as listed above for vaccines This pattern has been observed in plants (Thrall and Burdon 2003), rabbits (Fenner and Fantini 1999), and house finches (Hawley et al 2013). Since fish often develop increased disease resistance as they age and grow (Tatner 1997; Zapata et al 2006), resistance to disease will be greater, and so these practices might influence virulence in much the same way as described above for vaccination or breeding for resistance This consideration suggests that reducing vertical transmission may favor evolution of higher virulence
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