Comparison of a current eelgrass disease to the wasting disease in the 1930s

Abstract A comparison is made of the wasting disease that struck the whole Atlantic population of Zostera marina L. in the 1930s and a current outbreak of a rather similar disease in Z. marina beds along the north-eastern coasts of the U.S.A. Although the disease phenomena on the plants appear to be very similar, disease-related declines of Z. marina are at present still very local. In Europe, diseased plants have been found, but no declines have been observed. The wasting disease in the 1930s was not investigated before the epidemic reached a devastating stage. Present observations may indicate that a new widespread die-off may be developing. In order to facilitate the study of the current epidemic, a scenario of disease and related decline, with several variants, has been elaborated, based on the existing knowledge of the epidemic of the 1930s, but also clearly showing the gaps in this knowledge.

[1]  C. Hartog.  “Wasting disease” and other dynamic phenomena in Zostera beds , 1987 .

[2]  M. Glémarec.  Les fluctuations temporelles des peuplements benthiques liées aux fluctuations climatiques , 1979 .

[3]  David Porter,et al.  EELGRASS WASTING DISEASE: CAUSE AND RECURRENCE OF A MARINE EPIDEMIC. , 1987, The Biological bulletin.

[4]  D. Sugden,et al.  Loch Lomond Readvance in the eastern Cairngorms , 1975, Nature.

[5]  Charles E. Renn,et al.  THE WASTING DISEASE OF ZOSTERA MARINA I. A PHYTOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE DISEASED PLANT , 1936 .

[6]  T. G. Tutin.  THE AUTECOLOGY OF ZOSTERA MARINA IN RELATION TO ITS WASTING DISEASE , 1938 .

[7]  D. P. Wilson.  The Decline of Zostera Marina L. at Salcombe and its Effects on the Shore , 1949, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[8]  A. Mccomb,et al.  The loss of seagrasses in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia. I. The time course and magnitude of seagrass decline in relation to industrial development , 1984 .

[9]  CHARLES E. RENN,et al.  Wasting Disease of Zostera in American Waters , 1934, Nature.

[10]  L. Infeld,et al.  Foundations of the New Field Theory , 1933, Nature.

[11]  A. Cotton.  Disappearance of Zostera marina , 1933, Nature.

[12]  C. E. Renn.  The Eel‐Grass Situation along the Middle Atlantic Coast , 1937 .

[13]  John H. Andrews,et al.  THE PATHOLOGY OF MARINE ALGAE , 1976 .

[14]  C. Hartog,et al.  Changes in the seagrass populations of the Dutch Waddenzee , 1975 .

[15]  N. E. Stevens.  ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND THE WASTING DISEASE OF EEL-GRASS. , 1936, Science.

[16]  R. M. Bond.  Ecology of a Swamp in the American Tropics , 1933, Nature.

[17]  David Cushing,et al.  Climate and fisheries , 1982 .

[18]  H. E. Petersen.  Wasting Disease of Eelgrass (Zostera marina) , 1933, Nature.

[19]  F. Short,et al.  Recurrence of the eelgrass wasting disease at the border of New Hampshire and Maine, USA , 1986 .

[20]  E. Young.  STUDIES ON LABYRINTHULA. THE ETIOLOGIC AGENT OF THE WASTING DISEASE OF EEL‐GRASS , 1943 .

[21]  C. Addy,et al.  Status of Eelgrass in Massachusetts during 1943 , 1944 .

[22]  F. K. Sparrow,et al.  Fungi in oceans and estuaries , 1961 .

[23]  L. Pennycuick,et al.  Recent cyclic changes in climate and in abundance of marine life , 1975, Nature.

[24]  K. Moore,et al.  Chesapeake Bay: An Unprecedented Decline in Submerged Aquatic Vegetation , 1983, Science.

[25]  E. Young.  LABYRINTHULA ON PACIFIC COAST EEL-GRASS , 1938 .

[26]  M. Milne,et al.  The Eelgrass Catastrophe , 1951 .

[27]  J. Pérês,et al.  Causes de la raréfaction et de la disparition des herbiers de Posidonia oceanica sur les côtes françaises de la Méditerranée , 1975 .