A 26-year time series of mortality and growth of the Pacific oyster C. gigas recorded along French coasts.

We used a compiled data set from a monitoring network of oyster production coordinated by IFREMER (the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea). This network monitors the growth and mortality of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas along French coasts since 1993. The archive, although publicly available, has been challenging to use due to changes in protocols and little information on metadata. Here, we describe data collection for almost 30 years, cleaning and processing. For 13 locations, we modeled growth and mortality of spat (less than one-year-old individuals) and half-grown oysters (between one and two-year-old individuals) as a function of time to cope with changes in data acquisition frequency, and produced standardized annual growth and cumulative mortality indicators to improve data usability. This improved database is expected to be used by ecologists interested in the evolution of life-cycle indicators of a marine species under the influence of climate change. It can also be valuable for epidemiologists because mortality data traces the emergence and spread of a massive epizootic.

Changes in benthic macrofauna in oyster parks during an OsHV-1 µVar oyster spat mortality outbreak.

In intertidal areas, oyster farming creates a crosshatching pattern between oyster tables and aisles. Tables provide a refuge from the current and solar irradiance and the oysters facilitate the accumulation of OM, thereby structuring the spatial organization of the associated macrozoobenthic community at mesoscale. The aim of this study was to describe the quality of the oyster table environment at small scale and the response of the macrozoobenthic community to OsHV-1 µvar oyster mortality. The species assemblage was dominated by Golfingia vulgaris, Tubificoides benedii, Capitella capitata and Scoloplos armiger. The table habitat appeared to be in a bad ecological state throughout the 2-month survey (May and June 2017), whereas in the aisle, eutrophication occurred lately and was clearly related to be due to the massive stranding of dead seaweed at the end of the survey (in early July). So, this disturbance of the species assemblage seemed to occur in two phases: 1) after oyster spat mortality and 2) after seaweed stranding resulted in a bad ecological status, as revealed by macrofaunal indicators. Large quantities of OsHV-1 DNA were also found in some species, including small crabs and amphipods, one week after the mortality crisis, but there is no apparent virus reservoir found in the benthic species.

Latitudinal drivers of oyster mortality: deciphering host, pathogen and environmental risk factors.

Diseases pose an ongoing threat to aquaculture, fisheries and conservation of marine species, and determination of risk factors of disease is crucial for management. Our objective was to decipher the effects of host, pathogen and environmental factors on disease-induced mortality of Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) across a latitudinal gradient. We deployed young and adult oysters at 13 sites in France and we monitored survival, pathogens and environmental parameters. The young oysters came from either the wild collection or the hatchery while the adults were from the wild only. We then used Cox regression models to investigate the effect of latitude, site, environmental factors and origin on mortality risk and to extrapolate this mortality risk to the distribution limits of the species in Europe. We found that seawater temperature, food level, sea level atmospheric pressure, rainfall and wind speed were associated with mortality risk. Their effect on hatchery oysters was generally higher than on wild animals, probably reflecting that hatchery oysters were free of Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) whereas those from the wild were asymptomatic carriers. The risk factors involved in young and adult oyster mortalities were different, reflecting distinct diseases. Mortality risk increases from 0 to 90% with decreasing latitude for young hatchery oysters, but not for young wild oysters or adults. Mortality risk was higher in wild oysters than in hatchery ones at latitude > 47.6°N while this was the opposite at lower latitude. Therefore, latitudinal gradient alters disease-induced mortality risk but interacts with the initial health status of the host and the pathogen involved. Practically, we suggest that mortality can be mitigated by using hatchery oysters in north and wild collected oysters in the south.

Effect of oral exposure to the acaricide pirimicarb, a new varroacide candidate, on Apis mellifera feeding rate.

BACKGROUND: The ectoparasitic honey bee mite Varroa destructor is a main cause of the gradual decline in honey bees Apis mellifera. Beekeepers currently utilize a wide range of different synthetic acaricides, organic acids and essential oils to keep mite populations under control. Previous work has indicated that pirimicarb may be a new varroacide candidate. The aim of this study was to observe chronic effects on feeding activity in worker honey bees after oral exposure to 1.05 mm pirimicarb. The long-term effects of 24 h exposure to pirimicarb were also tested. RESULTS: After three successive trials, no mortality could be detected at the tested concentration, although oral exposure to pirimicarb had a significant effect on honey bees feeding behavior. Pirimicarb added to a sucrose solution led to a rapid decrease in food intake. These tendencies may be reversed when the pesticide is removed. However, recovery seemed to be trial dependent. CONCLUSION: This study highlights seasonal variation in honey bee susceptibility, which should be considered in toxicology studies. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Rearing practices identified as risk factors for ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) infection in Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas spat.

Early detection of Pacific oyster spat infected with ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) could prevent introduction of OsHV-1-infected individuals into farming areas or onshore rearing facilities, thus reducing the risk of infection of naïve oysters in such production systems. Experiments were conducted on several hundred oyster spat provided by producers in order to examine whether early rearing practices could be considered as potential risk factors for (1) OsHV-1 infection as detected by molecular methods and (2) spat mortality experimentally induced through thermal challenge. Spat groups collected on oyster beds and hatchery spat reared in growout areas during summer exhibited higher viral DNA contamination and mortalities during the trial than spat kept in onshore rearing facilities. Quantification of viral DNA before and during the trial showed that infection prevalence and intensity changed over time and revealed latent infection initially unsuspected in 3 of 10 groups. Thermal challenge induced a clear increase in the probability of detecting infected individuals, particularly for groups exhibiting significant prevalence of OsHV-1-contaminated spat prior to the challenge. The use of detection methods are discussed in relation to early rearing practices and disease control strategies.

Contrasted survival under field or controlled conditions displays associations between mRNA levels of candidate genes and response to OsHV-1 infection in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas.

Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas suffers from chronic or sporadic mortality outbreaks worldwide, resulting from infectious diseases and/or physiological disorders triggered by environmental factors. Since 2008, ostreid herpesvirus OsHV-1 µVar has been identified as the main agent responsible for mass mortality of juvenile oysters in Europe. Previous studies of genome-wide expression profiling have provided candidate genes that potentially contribute to genetically-based resistance to summer mortality. To assess their value in determining resistance to the juvenile mass mortality that has occurred in France since 2008, we analyzed the expression of 17 candidate genes in an experimental infection by OsHV-1 µVar, and in an in vivo field experiment. Individual quantification of mRNA levels of 10 out of the 17 targeted genes revealed significant variation, of which 7 genes were showed differences between conditions that created significant differences in mortality, and 6 depended on the number of OsHV-1 genome copies individually quantified in mantle tissue. Complex SOD metalloenzymes known to be part of the antioxidant defense strategies may at least partly determine susceptibility or resistance to OsHV-1-associated mortality. Furthermore, inhibitor 2 of NF-κB, termed CgIκB2, exhibited highly significant variation of mRNA levels depending on OsHV-1 load in both experiments, suggesting its implication in the antiviral immune response of C. gigas. Our results suggest that CgIκB2 expression would make a good starting point for further functional research and that it could be used in marker-assisted selection.