An international team of scientists determined that: Bacterial group causing disease and mass death of sponges in the MediterraneanThey warn that there is an epidemic caused by warming water, causing a chain reaction of disruption of marine ecosystems.
like corals, Sea sponges are considered “habitat engineers” and their presence and physiological activities contribute to the creation of habitats for many more species; Therefore, if this habitat is degraded, many organisms may die due to cascading impact or leave these areas in search of places with better environmental quality.
Researchers from Spain and Turkey concluded: A group of bacteria called “vibrio” is behind the disease and mass death in sponges.Living as free-swimming or symbiotic pathogens in fish, crustaceans, and corals, they publish the results of their study today in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
The presence of these bacteria has already been linked to bleaching of tropical and subtropical corals worldwide. Scientists have detected its presence in numerous diseased crustacean species They suspect that the same pathogens may have caused the mass die-offs of stony corals in the shallow waters of the northern Aegean Sea.
Many benefits of sponges
Researcher Ezgi Dinçtürk from İzmir Katip Çelebi University warned about the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems and explained the following: Healthy sponges improve light penetration and water quality, absorb and release inorganic nutrients, and provide shelter for a wide variety of organisms.In other words, these diseases and epidemics have very negative consequences for the seas.
Manuel Maldonado, a scientist from the Sponge Ecobiology and Biotechnology group at the Blanes Center for Advanced Studies (CEAB-CSIC), observed: These bacteria (vibrio) are “relatives” of the bacteria that cause cholera in humans and can also cause epidemics with high mortality rates. Sponges and corals are called “habitat engineers.”
In his statement to Efe, Maldonado stated that the quality of water is higher in places where sponges are abundant, light-dependent organisms such as Posidonia and corals proliferate, which causes mass deaths of these animals, which are the oldest animals. World – triggers A range of side effects that are “difficult to predict and measure.”
The CEAB researcher reminded that epidemic deaths in sponges have been detected for more than 100 years and that some epidemics have devastated the traditional bath sponge breeding farm industry in Greece or the Caribbean, emphasizing that this death rate has accelerated and increased in recent years. It’s about heat waves and ocean warming.
“Although these great deaths were seen in different seas of the world, The Mediterranean appears to be a particularly prone area to them; “Probably because it is a relatively closed sea and one of the most studied seas in the world, epidemic-related deaths were detected earlier and its effects began to be explained in more detail.”
Manuel Maldonado explained that the main purpose of this research is not to describe the mortality rates of sponges in the Mediterranean, but to identify the bacteria (vibrio) involved in the disease, multiplying and increasing their capacity to harm other organisms. heating.
The researcher observed that sponges were the first animals on the planet and that their genomes therefore contain important information for understanding the subsequent diversification of animals and the evolution of their organ systems, including humans, highlighting their biotechnological importance. their perspectives and interests in fields such as biomaterials or chemicals.