PROJECT HIGHLIGHT
This project examined how dietary lipids affect abalone reproduction and developed sustainable feeding strategies to help both commercial red abalone farms and endangered white abalone recovery programs adapt to changing environmental conditions.
PROJECT SUMMARY
Understanding basic abalone physiology and biology is increasingly necessary as changing environmental conditions impact aquaculture operations. High temperatures experienced on red abalone farms cause failed reproduction attempts, and as marine heat waves become more common, this threat continues to grow. For endangered white abalone, the largest barrier to restoration remains reliable reproduction through aquaculture. Compelling evidence suggests that lipids, or "fats," that mother abalone supply their eggs with may be key to producing healthy offspring, especially when facing environmental stressors.
To address these challenges, the research team examined reproductive and digestive physiology in commercially important red abalone and endangered white abalone being bred for recovery efforts. Their primary goals were to determine the impact of maternal diet on reproductive success in red abalone, use diet manipulation as a mitigation tool for high temperature impacts on digestive and reproductive physiology and develop methods of measuring reproductive hormones in aquaculture facility water to understand natural hormone cycles and predict reproductive success.
The project successfully processed extensive sample collections and conducted comprehensive enzyme assays and advanced microbiome analyses to understand how diet manipulation and temperature affect abalone gut microbiota. These findings provide critical insights for developing new tools to increase resilience in aquaculture operations.