Industrial Innovation Fellowship in Shellfish Aquaculture

NERC Industrial Innovation Fellowship

Flexing your mussels: futureproofing shellfish aquaculture in the face of global climate change

Dr Robert Ellis's project will elucidate the adaptive capacity of marine mussels across their global range when exposed to changing environmental conditions. Mussel aquaculture is worth $1.5billion globally, and is the primary aquaculture sector in Europe by weight. Consisting of three closely related species, which readily cross-breed (hybridise), marine mussels also offer a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of hybridisation on climate change tolerance.

This fellowship will employ novel genetic technology to develop an innovative globally relevant tool (SNP array). Using multidisciplinary experimental approach, combining genetic techniques with traditional measures of mussel performance and physiology, measuring these responses in multiple populations from across the global geographic range, will address the overarching question "does hybridisation confer an advantage to multi-stressor exposures in a commercially important bivalve species?" A key existing knowledge gap that when addressed will enable the improved management of both natural and farmed mussel populations worldwide.