Filtration and respiration responses of mussels () to trematode parasite infections () and transient heat exposure.

The mussel , a host to various trematode species, experiences performance decrements due to these infections. Yet, the impact magnitude and potential interactions with environmental stressors remain largely unexplored. This study scrutinizes the effect of infections on mussel filtration and respiration.

Thermal optima of cercarial emergence in trematodes from a marine high-temperature ecosystem, the Persian Gulf.

Global warming may alter the dynamics of infectious diseases by affecting important steps in the transmission of pathogens and parasites. In trematode parasites, the emergence of cercarial stages from their hosts is temperature-dependent, being highest around a thermal optimum. If environmental temperatures exceed this optimum as a consequence of global warming, this may affect cercarial transmission.

Marine heatwaves and upwelling shape stress responses in a keystone predator.

Climate change increases the frequency and intensifies the magnitude and duration of extreme events in the sea, particularly so in coastal habitats. However, the interplay of multiple extremes and the consequences for species and ecosystems remain unknown. We experimentally tested the impacts of summer heatwaves of differing intensities and durations, and a subsequent upwelling event on a temperate keystone predator, the starfish We recorded mussel consumption throughout the experiment and assessed activity and growth at strategically chosen time points.

Heat sensitivity of first host and cercariae may restrict parasite transmission in a warming sea.

To predict global warming impacts on parasitism, we should describe the thermal tolerance of all players in host-parasite systems. Complex life-cycle parasites such as trematodes are of particular interest since they can drive complex ecological changes. This study evaluates the net response to temperature of the infective larval stage of Himasthla elongata, a parasite inhabiting the southwestern Baltic Sea.