School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, VGV5+95, Ireland.
Aquaculture and Fisheries Development Centre, University College Cork, Cork, VGV5+95, Ireland.
Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 12;11(1):22159. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01610-x.
Shellfish, including the key species the common cockle Cerastoderma edule, living and feeding in waters contaminated by infectious agents can accumulate them within their tissues. It is unknown if microbial pathogens and microparasites can subsequently be transmitted via concomitant predation to their consumers, including shorebirds. The objective of this study was to assess if pathogens associated with C. edule could be detected seasonally in the faeces of shorebirds that feed on C. edule and in the physical environment (sediment) in which C. edule reside, along the Irish and Celtic Seas. Two potentially pathogenic global groups, Vibrio and Haplosporidia, were detected in C. edule. Although Haplosporidia were not detected in the bird faeces nor in the sediment, identical strains of Vibrio splendidus were detected in C. edule and bird faecal samples at sites where the oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus and other waders were observed to be feeding on cockles. Vibrio spp. prevalence was seasonal and increased in C. edule and bird faecal samples during the warmer months, possibly due to higher seawater temperatures that promote the replication of this bacteria. The sediment samples showed an overall higher prevalence of Vibrio spp. than the bird faecal and C. edule samples, and its detection remained consistently high through the sites and throughout the seasons, which further supports the role of the sediment as a Vibrio reservoir. Our findings shed light on the fact that not all pathogen groups are transmitted from prey to predator via feeding but bacteria such as V. splendidus can be. As most of the wading birds observed in this study are migratory, the results also indicate the potential for this bacterium to be dispersed over greater geographic distances, which will have consequences for areas where it may be introduced.
贝类，包括关键物种普通贻贝 Cerastoderma edule，生活和摄食在受感染剂污染的水域中，可以在其组织内积累这些物质。目前尚不清楚微生物病原体和微寄生虫是否可以随后通过伴随的捕食作用传递给包括滨鸟在内的消费者。本研究的目的是评估与 C. edule 相关的病原体是否可以在以 C. edule 为食的滨鸟的粪便中和 C. edule 所在的物理环境（沉积物）中，沿爱尔兰和凯尔特海的季节中检测到。在 C. edule 中检测到了两个具有潜在致病性的全球群体，弧菌和 Haplosporidia。虽然在鸟类粪便和沉积物中均未检测到 Haplosporidia，但在观察到蛎鹬 Haematopus ostralegus 和其他涉禽以贻贝为食的地点，在 C. edule 和鸟类粪便样本中检测到了相同的灿烂弧菌菌株。弧菌的流行率具有季节性，在 C. edule 和鸟类粪便样本中在温暖的月份增加，这可能是由于较高的海水温度促进了这种细菌的复制。与鸟类粪便和 C. edule 样本相比，沉积物样本总体上显示出更高的 Vibrio spp. 患病率，并且在整个地点和整个季节的检测率一直很高，这进一步支持了沉积物作为 Vibrio 储库的作用。我们的发现表明，并非所有病原体群体都通过摄食从猎物传递给捕食者，但像灿烂弧菌这样的细菌可以传递。由于在本研究中观察到的大多数涉禽都是迁徙的，因此结果还表明，这种细菌有潜力在更大的地理距离内传播，这将对其可能引入的地区产生影响。
