Effects of climate change-driven temperature increase on brown algae-parasite interactions

 

Student/in: Stefanie Kirschner, BSc
Termin: 21.03.2025, 14:00 Uhr
Ort: Seminarraum Biologie (Foyer)

1. Prüfer/in: Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Sigrid Neuhauser ​​​
2. Prüfer/in: Priv. Doz. Mag. Dr. Martin Kirchmair
Vorsitzende/r: Mag. Dr. Priv.-Doz Andreas Wagner

 

Interessierte Kolleginnen und Kollegen sind herzlich willkommen!

 

Abstract

The effects of climate change are becoming obvious in a wide variety of ecosystems. One example is the increasing overall temperatures of the water in the world oceans. In this work, two perspective scenarios of temperature increase in the world ocean were used to test the response of a pathosystem involving the brown alga Macrocystis pyrifera and two oomycetes Anisolpidium ectocarpii and Eurychasma dicksonii (strains Eury05 and Eury96) and one phytomyxid (Maullinia ectocarpii) infecting it. We used complementary molecular (qPCR) and microscopy (bright field and fluorescent microscopy) methods to assess the influence of temperature on the growth and infection phenotype of the pathosystem at 10 °C, 15 °C and 20 °C. The preliminary results show that different parasites have different temperature optima, in particular the infection potential of E. dicksonii and M. ectocarpii decreases with rising temperatures and disappear at 20 °C, whilst A. ectocarpii seem to be favoured at higher temperatures. According to these observations, the effects of changing temperatures are likely to be mediated in a species-specific way in the interactions between parasites and hosts, potentially affecting the coastal habitat.