engleski

Crayfish plague pathogen Aphanomyces astaci: from non-destructive monitoring to ecology and sustainable control methods

Crayfish plague is responsible for decimating populations of native crayfish species in Europe and elsewhere, making Aphanomyces astaci one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world. I will present the results of our research on A. astaci in recent years, including advances in monitoring approaches, new insights into the biology/ecology of the pathogen, and the development of environmentally friendly control strategies. We have shown that A. astaci can be detected in the microbial biofilm collected from the cuticle of individual live crayfish. Thus, we contribute to the growing trend of non-destructive methods for monitoring pathogens in freshwaters. The method has yet to be compared to the direct pathogen detection in water, but it provides results consistent with conventional detection of A. astaci in cuticle samples. For the past five years we have been using the novel method to monitor A. astaci in natural crayfish populations in Croatia. We also investigated the relationship between native crayfish hosts (Austropotamobius torrentium and Pontastacus leptodactylus) and A. astaci group B at different water temperatures. Preliminary data from the infection trials showed lower A. astaci-induced mortality of native crayfish at elevated water temperature (22 vs. 18°C), suggesting that the temperature increase had a greater negative impact on A. astaci than on the crayfish. These results may help predict the spread of crayfish plague in future climate change scenarios. Finally, we are actively developing environmentally friendly methods to control A. astaci as an alternative to the toxic chemicals currently used in astaciculture. We have shown that the application of bioactive plant products such as propolis and essential oils from Mediterranean wild plants can inhibit mycelium and zoospores of A. astaci, while commensal bacterial isolates from the cuticle of crayfish, mainly pseudomonads, can inhibit mycelial growth.

crayfish plague, control

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