The first records of sea star wasting disease in Crossaster papposus in Europe. [PDF]
Biol Lett, 2022 Sea star wasting disease (SSWD) refers to a suite of gross pathological signs observed in Asteroidea species. It presents to varying degrees as abnormal posture, epidermal ulceration, arm autotomy and eversion of viscera. We report observations of SSWD in the sunstar Crossaster papposus, the first observations of ...
Smith S, Hewson I, Collins P.
europepmc +5 more sources
Resistance of rocky intertidal communities to oceanic climate fluctuations. [PDF]
PLoS OneA powerful way to predict how ecological communities will respond to future climate change is to test how they have responded to the climate of the past.
Gravem SA +3 more
europepmc +2 more sources
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2019 Sea stars are ecologically important in rocky intertidal habitats where they can play an apex predator role, completely restructuring communities. The recent sea star die-off throughout the eastern Pacific, known as Sea Star Wasting Disease, has prompted
Pister, Benjamin +8 more
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Star Power: Early life stages of an endangered sea star are robust to current and near-future warming. [PDF]
PLoS OneThe sunflower star, Pycnopodia helianthoides, was a top benthic predator throughout its former range from Alaska to northern Mexico, until its populations were devastated starting in 2013 by a disease known as seastar wasting.
Hodin J +9 more
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Sea star wasting syndrome reaches the high Antarctic: Two recent outbreaks in McMurdo Sound. [PDF]
PLoS One, 2023 Abstract Sea star wasting syndrome (SSWS) can cause widespread mortality in starfish populations as well as long-lasting changes to benthic community structure and dynamics. SSWS symptoms have been documented in numerous species and locations around the world, but to date there is only one record of SSWS from the ...
Moran AL, McLachlan RH, Thurber AR.
europepmc +3 more sources
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2014 In June of last year, researchers got the first report that sea stars in Washington’s Olympic National Park were succumbing to a new disease outbreak. By August, stars were falling off the rocks—dead by the thousands—at Vancouver Island. “That’s the point at which we started getting samples and alerting people,” says Drew Harvell, a marine ...
Schrope M.
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Reciprocal abundance shifts of the intertidal sea stars, Evasterias troschelii and Pisaster ochraceus, following sea star wasting disease. [PDF]
Proc Biol Sci, 2019 Disease emergence occurs within the context of ecological communities, and disease driven declines in host populations can lead to complex direct and indirect ecological effects. Varying effects of a single disease among multiple susceptible hosts could benefit relatively resistant species.
Kay SWC, Gehman AM, Harley CDG.
europepmc +4 more sources
Impact of the extinct megaherbivore Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) on kelp forest resilience
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2022 Giant kelp forests off the west coast of North America are maintained primarily by sea otter (Enhydra lutris) and sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) predation of sea urchins.
Peter D. Roopnarine +4 more
doaj +1 more source
Decimation by sea star wasting disease and rapid genetic change in a keystone species, Pisaster ochraceus. [PDF]
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2018 Significance Opportunities to study microevolution in wild populations are rare and challenging. Annual monitoring allowed us to capture both the prelude to and aftermath of one of the largest marine mass mortality events on record in a keystone marine species.
Schiebelhut LM, Puritz JB, Dawson MN.
europepmc +6 more sources
RNA expression and disease tolerance are associated with a “keystone mutation” in the ochre sea star Pisaster ochraceus [PDF]
PeerJ, 2017 An overdominant mutation in an intron of the elongation factor 1-α (EF1A) gene in the sea star Pisaster ochraceus has shown itself to mediate tolerance to “sea star wasting disease”, a pandemic that has significantly reduced sea star populations on the ...
V. Katelyn Chandler, John P. Wares
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