Oregon Sea Grant

Fisheries and Seafood

Modeling Myxozoan Disease in Pacific Salmon: How Will Climate Change Affect Parasite Distribution and Salmon Survival?

Jerri Bartholomew
Department of Microbiology
Oregon State University
220 Nash Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331-3804
Phone: 541-737-1856
Fax: 541-737-0496
Email
On the Web:
Dr. Bartholomew's site

Concerns about the effects of climate change on the fitness of salmon in the Pacific Northwest have been clearly voiced. There is much discussion about monitoring and predicting climate change effects on salmon populations in this region, with consideration to water temperature, flow, sedimentation and snowpack.

However, the implications of climate change on diseases have had little attention, despite the role that pathogens play in regulating fish populations. In studies where disease has been considered, it is acknowledged that higher temperatures may play a critical role in increasing disease transmission and development. For salmon, temperatures above the threshold of approximately 17-18 C could result in increased loss associated with disease and parasites.

Dr. Bartholomew’s previously funded Oregon Sea Grant research on the Klamath River and Ceratomyxa shasta provides a unique opportunity to address the challenges of predicting the effects of climate change on disease. This project is one of the first studies attempting to assess how disease and climate change might interact in wild salmon populations. The research will have broad application to the field of fish health and will directly contribute to the development of a predictive disease model to inform fishery managers in the Klamath River as well as other systems where these pathogens exist.

Learn more:

• Modeling Myxozoan Disease in Pacific Salmon: Establishing Watershed Models for Predicting Effects of Climate Change (2012-2014 project)
• Understanding the Role of Parasites in Salmon Mortality (printable .pdf | plain text)
• Jerri Bartholomew fuses art and science (Oregon's Agricultural Progress, Winter 2011)