No abstract

A mass mortality event is devastating the populations of the endemic bivalve Pinna nobilis in the Mediterranean Sea from early autumn 2016. A newly described Haplosporidian endoparasite (Haplosporidium pinnae) is the most probable cause of this ecological catastrophe placing one of the largest bivalves of the world on the brink of extinction. As a pivotal step towards Pinna nobilis conservation, this contribution combines scientists and citizens’ data to address the fast- and vast-dispersion and prevalence outbreaks of the pathogen. Therefore, the potential role of currents on parasite expansion was addressed by means of drift simulations of virtual particles in a high-resolution regional currents model. A generalized additive model was implemented to test if environmental factors could modulate the infection of Pinna nobilis populations. The results strongly suggest that the parasite has probably dispersed regionally by surface currents, and that the disease expression seems to be closely related to temperatures above 13.5 °C and to a salinity range between 36.5–39.7 psu. The most likely spread of the disease along the Mediterranean basin associated with scattered survival spots and very few survivors (potentially resistant individuals), point to a challenging scenario for conservation of the emblematic Pinna nobilis, which will require fast and strategic management measures and should make use of the essential role citizen science projects can play.

Anthropogenic drivers and global warming are altering the occurrence of infectious marine diseases, some of which produce mass mortalities with considerable ecosystemic and economic costs. The Mediterranean Sea is considered a laboratory to examine global processes, and the fan mussel Pinna nobilis a sentinel species within it. Since September 2016, fan mussels suffer a die-off, very likely provoked by the protozoan Haplosporidium pinnae. Population dynamic surveys, rescue programmes, larvae collector installation and protection of infected adults from predators, have increased knowledge about the factors conditioning the spread of the die-off; previous model simulations indicate that water temperature and salinity seem to be related to the manifestation of the disease, which at the end are strongly influenced by climate change and anthropogenic actions. The absence of natural recruitment implies that fan mussel populations are not recovering, but the survival of populations living in paralic environments provides an opportunity to study the disease and its conditioning factors. The present situation is proposed as an example of what is to come in the global context of climate change and poses several questions: are we the witnesses of the potential extinction of a sentinel species? Can we avoid the potential extinction of this species by applying active measures, and which measures will be more effective? How many other more overlooked species might experience a massive and unnoticed die-off before it is too late to implement any preservation action? For the extinction of community structure species will provoke unpredicted ecological cascade effects with global implications.

Post-MME Recruitment Pinna nobilis were recorded in a few sites where the resident population had been decimated. This hints to the importance of unaffected populations as larval exporting sources and the role of oceanographic currents in larval transport in the area, representing a beacon of hope in the current extremely worrying scenario for this emblematic species.