The MASTS Aquatic Stressors Forum is delighted to host an Open Forum Session with Dr Puja Kumari (SAMS, UHI) and Dr Beric M. Gilbert (University of the West of Scotland).
- Dr Kumari will present "Can seaweeds memorize stress?" Seaweeds experience different abiotic and biotic perturbances in the marine environment. They acquire various unique stress adaptation or acclimation mechanism for survival, which is often species-specific and stress stimuli-dependent responses. It is intriguing to understand how they acquire and maintain such tolerance mechanism. Can they memorize their experiences to better acclimate to the changing environment, or their acclimation responses are limited by diurnal or seasonal clocks. Our understanding of stress memory concept is vague in seaweeds. Here, I am presenting some of my work on stress memory concept in red filamentous seaweed of gnus ‘Bangia’ and discuss whether stress memory can be leveraged to generate stress-resilient strains.
- Dr Gilbert will present "Beyond the host: Integrating ectoparasites into multi-stressor ecotoxicological assessments". Aquatic ecosystems are subjected to anthropogenic pollutants. Conventional monitoring techniques often lack the sensitivity required to detect changes before severe consequences occur. This creates a critical need for innovative, rapid and highly sensitive detection methods to safeguard aquatic ecosystem health. Organisms have been effectively incorporated and utilised in biomonitoring approaches to provide information about the types and levels of toxicants entering environments, as well as the duration of exposure. Of the various taxa utilised, parasites have attracting increased attention in this regard due to their species-, toxicant-, and environment-specific responses to different pollutants. Contrary to their typically negative connotation in human and animal health contexts, parasites exhibit complex ecological interactions that can be leveraged as sensitive bioindicators. Ectoparasites, which infect the outer surfaces of their hosts have further benefits given that in some cases they can be removed from the host without the need of euthanising the host. Additionally, to this, their sensitivity to environmental change, host and macroenvironment, position them as valuable bioindicators. However, the complexity of multi-stressor and species-specific dynamics necessitates novel approaches to their use as bioindicators.