Climate Change Influences on Marine Infectious Diseases: Implications for Management and Society

Infectious diseases are common in marine environments, but the effects of a changing climate on marine pathogens are not well understood. Here we review current knowledge about how the climate drives host-pathogen interactions and infectious disease outbreaks. Climate-related impacts on marine diseases are being documented in corals, shellfish, finfish, and humans; these impacts are less clearly linked for other organisms. Oceans and people are inextricably linked, and marine diseases can both directly and indirectly affect human health, livelihoods, and well-being. We recommend an adaptive management approach to better increase the resilience of ocean systems vulnerable to marine diseases in a changing…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: OCE-1215977, OCE-1216220, 0812913, 0813147, OCE-0813147, 1216220
• UD
  U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• UD
  U.S. Department of Commerce
• UO
  University of Washington
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• NO
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

  Award: NA17OP2919
• CO
  College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University
• SO
  School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
• SA
  Science and Technology Directorate
• DR
  David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future , Cornell University
• FI
  Fogarty International Center
• CS
  California Sea Grant, University of California, San Diego