Cookie Policy

This site uses cookies. When browsing the site, you are consenting its use. Learn more

I understood

HOOK, LINE AND INFECTION: THE WEEDS OF AQUACULTURE

13 Sep 2019 - Jo Cable, Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom | September 13, 2019 – 15h30 | CIBIO-InBIO’s Auditorium, Campus de Vairão
HOOK, LINE AND INFECTION: THE WEEDS OF AQUACULTURE

CASUAL SEMINAR IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION

 

There is an ever-increasing demand for fish products yet infectious disease remains a key limiting factor for aquaculture – restricting productivity, posing significant animal welfare issues and sometimes even being directly responsible for the closure of fisheries. Working closely with stakeholders who are presented with the most pressing disease issues, we investigate fundamental aspects of host-parasite interactions while also trying to find practical solutions to reduce disease burden. This is illustrated here through a range of inter-disciplinary studies focusing on a microparasite that causes very severe and obvious fish pathology and a macroparasite, which is physically very apparent on the host but with less obvious pathology. Simple, cost effective and environmentally-friendly control measures are the panacea, but unfortunately ‘one size does not fit all’ and management must rely on an in-depth knowledge of parasite biology.

 

Professor Jo Cable originally trained as a freshwater and marine ecologist, but now with (too) many years’ experience of parasitology she has focused on aquatic health particularly fish diseases addressing fundamental questions about parasite transmission and invasion biology. Her group assesses: at the individual level, drug efficacy and host immune responses; at the group level, host genetics and behaviour, and environmental factors (temperature, flow conditions) affecting transmission; and at the population level how different wild and farmed stocks vary in their response to parasitism. This involves close collaborations with stakeholders and in Cardiff ENGIN and others schools linked to the Cardiff Water Research Institute, where she leads their Water and Health Research theme, but also the Natural History Museum, London, the European Scientific Counsel Companion Animal Parasites (ESCCAP), the British Society of Parasitology, and British Ecological Society Parasites and Pathogens Group.

 

 

[Host: Raquel Xavier - Marine Ecology, Diversity and Change]

 

 

 

Image credits: Chris Williams

 

Share this: