Review
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
The Crayfish Plague Pathogen Aphanomyces astaci in Ireland.
Version 1
: Received: 30 November 2023 / Approved: 1 December 2023 / Online: 1 December 2023 (05:31:53 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Brady, D.J.; Meade, R.; Reynolds, J.D.; Vilcinskas, A.; Theissinger, K. The Crayfish Plague Pathogen Aphanomyces astaci in Ireland. Microorganisms 2024, 12, 102. Brady, D.J.; Meade, R.; Reynolds, J.D.; Vilcinskas, A.; Theissinger, K. The Crayfish Plague Pathogen Aphanomyces astaci in Ireland. Microorganisms 2024, 12, 102.
Abstract
The crayfish plague is a devastating disease of European freshwater crayfish and is caused by the oomycete Aphanomyces astaci (Ap. astaci), which was introduced to Europe around 1860. All European species of freshwater crayfish are susceptible to the disease, including the white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes. The aquatic mould is primarily spread by North American crayfish species and can also disperse rapidly through contaminated wet gear moved between water bodies. This spread, coupled with competition from non-indigenous crayfish, has drastically reduced and fragmented native crayfish populations across Europe. Remarkably, the island of Ireland remained free from the crayfish plague pathogen for over 100 years, providing a refuge for A. pallipes. However, this changed in 1987 when a mass mortality event was linked to the pathogen marking the pathogen's introduction to the region. Fortunately, the plague did not establish and was not detected again in Ireland until 2015 when a molecular analysis linked a mass mortality event in the Erne catchment to Ap. astaci. Since then, the pathogen has appeared across the island. Between 2015 and 2023, Ap. astaci was detected in 18 Irish water catchments, revealing multiple genotypes. Intriguingly, the pathogen in Ireland exists without its natural host species. The uneven distribution of various genetic lineages strongly suggests human-mediated transport of zoospores via contaminated water equipment as a primary cause of spread. This review details the timeline of these events, Ap. astaci’s introductions into Ireland, its rapid spread, the genotypes documented, the issue of non-indigenous crayfish species in Ireland and management efforts.
Keywords
crayfish plague; Aphanomyces astaci; Austropotamobius pallipes; invasive species; Ireland
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Aquatic Science
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Comments (0)
We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.
Leave a public commentSend a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment