Bivalves are important resources to coastal communities with high relevance in Portugal, where they are traditionally exploited by fishing associations. In the environment, bivalves are considered keystone species due to their role as ecosystem engineers, agents of carbon sequestration, food supply for higher trophic levels, among other ecosystem services. However, bivalves have been suffering from periodic mass mortalities leading to natural stocks decline. The frequency and intensity of such episodes increased in the last decades mainly due to emergent diseases. The emergence of new diseases or the intensification of outbreaks is likely to become more severe in a climate change scenario, due to environmental decay combined with the expansion of aquaculture, which involves the accidental introduction of pathogens. These diseases threat the equilibrium of the food-web resulting in significant economic and ecological losses. Despite the importance of bivalves harvesting and production in the Ria de Aveiro (Portuguese coastal lagoon), there is a considerable lack of basic information on their major threats. This lack of knowledge makes difficult the implementation of effective management plans, compromising the sustainable exploitation of these living resources in the medium-term. This project arises in this urgency to recognize emergent diseases, to identify disease hotspots and predict outbreaks affecting economically important bivalve stocks. Thus, besides pathogens identification, environmental DNA methods will be applied to evaluate risk in advance a disease outbreak in an integrated and changeable ecological context. Outcomes of this project will help to optimize bivalve stock management by upskilling stakeholders to mitigate the impact of identified diseases. Beyond an ecological and socio-cultural importance, DETECT_LINE will have a significant economic impact on the shellfish trade, a sector that in 2019 totalled €0.8 billion (EUMOFA data).
