Abstract：

Abalone is considered high-value seafood with a continuously rising global market demand. However, many environmental factors threaten the successful production of the species. Salinity is one of the critical environmental factors affecting many marine invertebrates and determining their survival, growth, distribution, behavior, and many other physiological parameters. In the long-term, unfavorable salinities will result in reduced survivorship and growth rate. Meanwhile, abalone, like many other molluscs, is able to adapt to short-term stress. Adaptation strategies include modulation of hemolymph immune parameters, modulation of cardiac activities, and regulation of molecular pathways and candidate genes. Understanding the mechanisms of environmental stress adaptation is of great importance to the aquaculture industry, as this would help in the future breeding of more stress-resilient species.

Bio:

Dr. Grace Afumwaa Boamah's main research interest is aquaculture (shellfish) breeding technologies and developing new species for aquaculture. Her research methods involve investigating the tolerance capacity of aquaculture species to abiotic and biotic stresses, analyzing the impact of environmental stressors on the meat quality of aquaculture species, exploring the mechanisms of environmental stress tolerance in aquaculture species, and identifying markers for breeding stress-resilient aquaculture species. She is a visiting scholar at the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science (MEL).