Parker-Athill Ellisa Carla, Muldro Liam C, Malinias Aiza J, McMahon Taegan A
Department of Biology, Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut, United States.
PeerJ. 2025 Aug 7;13:e19815. doi: 10.7717/peerj.19815. eCollection 2025.
, or , is a waterborne, pathogenic chytrid fungus implicated in the decline and extinction of hundreds of amphibian species worldwide. can infect multiple taxa, causing disease in susceptible species associated with epidermal degradation, lethargy, weight loss, gill damage, and disruption of osmoregulation and cardiac dysfunction, ultimately leading to mortality in many instances. produces water soluble chemicals ( metabolites) that, while implicated in infection and -related pathology, have also been shown to have prophylactic effects for amphibians. This study examined the impact of metabolite exposure on critical non-target freshwater invertebrates to better understand how metabolites might impact non-target species if used as a prophylaxis in the field. We examined the effects of metabolites on the freshwater species, , or ghost shrimp, focusing specifically on the effects on behavior, cardiac function, and mortality. Shrimp were randomly split into two treatment groups and on day 4, they were dosed with 1 ml of either an artificial spring water (ASW) control or metabolite treatment. We found that ghost shrimp exposed to metabolites experienced decreased heart rate, reduced threat response behaviors, and reduced mortality, when compared to those exposed to an ASW control. Our findings suggest that exposure to the metabolites may actually provide some benefits to ghost shrimp as it decreased mortality compared to controls. While more research is needed to understand if there are indirect impacts of the metabolites associated with the behavioral and cardiac changes, this research highlights that exposure to metabolites does not appear to be detrimental to these critical, keystone freshwater invertebrates. This is particularly important given that metabolites may be used prophylactically in the field, which may lead to non-target organism exposure.
蛙壶菌，又称壶菌，是一种通过水传播的致病性壶菌真菌，与全球数百种两栖动物物种的数量减少和灭绝有关。蛙壶菌可感染多个分类群，在易感物种中引发疾病，症状包括表皮退化、嗜睡、体重减轻、鳃损伤、渗透压调节紊乱和心脏功能障碍，在许多情况下最终导致死亡。蛙壶菌会产生水溶性化学物质（代谢产物），这些物质虽然与感染及与蛙壶菌相关的病理过程有关，但也已证明对两栖动物有预防作用。本研究考察了蛙壶菌代谢产物暴露对关键的非目标淡水无脊椎动物的影响，以便更好地了解如果在野外将蛙壶菌代谢产物用作预防手段，它们可能如何影响非目标物种。我们研究了蛙壶菌代谢产物对淡水物种——俗称幽灵虾的影响，特别关注对其行为、心脏功能和死亡率的影响。将虾随机分为两个处理组，在第4天，给它们分别注射1毫升人工泉水（ASW）对照液或蛙壶菌代谢产物处理液。我们发现，与暴露于人工泉水对照液的幽灵虾相比，暴露于蛙壶菌代谢产物的幽灵虾心率降低、威胁反应行为减少且死亡率降低。我们的研究结果表明，与对照组相比，暴露于蛙壶菌代谢产物实际上可能给幽灵虾带来一些益处，因为死亡率降低了。虽然还需要更多研究来了解与行为和心脏变化相关的代谢产物是否存在间接影响，但这项研究突出表明，暴露于蛙壶菌代谢产物似乎对这些关键的基石淡水无脊椎动物无害。鉴于蛙壶菌代谢产物可能在野外用作预防手段，这可能导致非目标生物接触，这一点尤其重要。
