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Climate influence on Vibrio and associated human diseases during the past half-century in the coastal North Atlantic

Abstract: Long-term ecological and paleontological data analyses indicate climate change is having an impact on marine eukaryotic communities. However, little is known about effects of global warming on marine prokaryotes, which are, by far, the largest living biomass in world oceans. Here, we report, for the first time to our knowledge, that a warming trend in sea surface temperature is strongly associated with spread of vibrios, an important group of marine prokaryotes, and emergence of human diseases caused by these pathogens. Our results are based on formalin-preserved plankton samples collected in the past half-century from the temperate North Atlantic.

Authors: L Vezzulli C Grande PC Reid P Helaouet M Edwards MG Hofle I Brettar RR Colwell C Pruzzo

Publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America