|
Iranian Aquatic Animals under the Shadow of Climate Change: A Novel Perspective on Emerging and Re-emerging Disease Threats and Management Imperatives
|
Mohammad Jalil Zorriehzahra *   |
| Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute (IFSRI) , zorrieh@yahoo.com |
|
|
Abstract: (17 Views) |
Climate change stands as one of the most pressing environmental challenges of the 21st century, with profound and far-reaching impacts on natural ecosystems and particularly on aquatic ecosystems worldwide. Iran, due to its unique geographical position within the arid and semi-arid belt, is experiencing the consequences of this climatic phenomenon more intensely than the global average. Rising water temperature, altered precipitation patterns, intensified drought, increasing salinity, acidification, and declining dissolved oxygen are among the direct outcomes of climate change that severely threaten the health of aquatic organisms. These environmental alterations, in combination with structural amplifiers such as pollution and unsustainable human interventions, induce physiological stress, weaken host immune systems, and create favorable conditions for the proliferation and transmission of pathogens leading to the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases in both wild and cultured aquatic populations, globally and within Iran.
This study adopts an integrative and analytical review approach, synthesizing and re-evaluating reliable scientific sources to examine the mechanisms through which climate change affects aquatic health, and highlights the most significant viral, bacterial, and parasitic aquatic diseases associated with climate change, discussing their connectivity mechanisms. A fundamental critique of current studies lies in the absence of predictive frameworks, as most available data remain retrospective in nature. Without dynamic tools such as disease modeling, capable of simulating the cumulative and long-term impacts of climate change, national responses will remain largely reactive, short-term, and less effective. Ultimately, this study emphasizes climate-adaptive management and policy strategies, resilience-building pathways, and the promotion of biosecurity and biosafety as essential measures for mitigating disease risks in Iran’s aquaculture and aquatic systems.
|
|
| Keywords: Climate Change, Emerging Diseases, Re-emerging Diseases, Aquatic Health, Aquaculture, Biosecurity, Biosafety, Iran. |
|
|
|
Type of Study: Review |
Subject:
Marine Medicine
Received: 2026/01/28 | Accepted: 2026/06/24 | Published: 2026/09/20
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Send email to the article author |
|
|
|
| Add your comments about this article |
|
|
|
