Frontiers in Marine Science, 2023 Sea star wasting (SSW) disease, a massive and ongoing epidemic with unknown cause(s), has led to the rapid death and decimation of sea star populations with cascading ecological consequences.
Andrew R. McCracken +11 more
doaj +3 more sources
Evidence That Microorganisms at the Animal-Water Interface Drive Sea Star Wasting Disease
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2021 Sea star wasting (SSW) disease describes a condition affecting asteroids that resulted in significant Northeastern Pacific population decline following a mass mortality event in 2013. The etiology of SSW is unresolved.
Citlalli A. Aquino +10 more
doaj +3 more sources
Sea Star Wasting Disease in Asterias forbesi along the Atlantic Coast of North America.
PLoS ONE, 2017 As keystone species, sea stars serve to maintain biodiversity and species distribution through trophic level interactions in marine ecosystems. Recently, Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSWD) has caused widespread mass mortality in several sea star species ...
Caitlin Bucci +6 more
doaj +3 more sources
PLoS ONE, 2016 An extensive 2013 mass mortality event along the West Coast of North America due to Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSWD) has affected at least 20 species of sea stars. Among environmental factors potentially contributing to the timing of the current outbreak,
Arielle W Kohl +2 more
doaj +2 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
Up in Arms: Immune and Nervous System Response to Sea Star Wasting Disease. [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2015 Echinoderms, positioned taxonomically at the base of deuterostomes, provide an important system for the study of the evolution of the immune system.
Lauren E Fuess +13 more
doaj +1 more source
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
doaj +2 more sources
What doesn’t kill them makes them stronger: an association between elongation factor 1-α overdominance in the sea star Pisaster ochraceus and “sea star wasting disease” [PDF]
PeerJ, 2016 In recent years, a massive mortality event has killed millions of sea stars, of many different species, along the Pacific coast of North America. This disease event, known as ‘sea star wasting disease’ (SSWD), is linked to viral infection.
John P. Wares, Lauren M. Schiebelhut
doaj +2 more sources
Metatranscriptomic Analysis of Pycnopodia helianthoides (Asteroidea) Affected by Sea Star Wasting Disease. [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2015 Sea star wasting disease (SSWD) describes a suite of symptoms reported in asteroids of the North American Pacific Coast. We performed a metatranscriptomic survey of asymptomatic and symptomatic sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) body wall tissues ...
Brent M Gudenkauf, Ian Hewson
doaj +1 more source
Two decades of change in sea star abundance at a subtidal site in Puget Sound, Washington.
PLoS ONE, 2023 Long-term datasets can reveal otherwise undetectable ecological trends, illuminating the historical context of contemporary ecosystem states. We used two decades (1997-2019) of scientific trawling data from a subtidal, benthic site in Puget Sound ...
Helen R Casendino +4 more
doaj +1 more source