Molecular Evolution of Invasive Species and their Ecological Impacts on Global Fisheries and Aquaculture Systems

2025

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DOI 10.28978/nesciences.1811167
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

The increasing rate of international trading and global warming has supported the fatality of introducing non-native species in large numbers, which is a major threat to aquatic biodiversity and world food security. In this paper, consider the molecular evolution of the invasive species and the implications that it has had on the global fisheries and aquaculture systems. Recent discoveries in genomics, such as epigenetic plasticity, hybridization, and adaptive evolution at high rates, are combined to describe how the invasive population of a species can break the founder effect and initial genetic bottleneck to conquer new environments. Nature is found to be unstable through molecular shifts in invasive taxa that cause much ecological disturbance, including genetic pollution of wild stocks by introgression and introduction of new pathogens that annihilate commercial aquaculture. It also elaborates on the effect of the Trojan horse, where the genomic strength of invaders enables them to act as unrelenting vectors of diseases in warming oceans. The shortcomings of conventional ecological modeling are shown through analysis of case studies, including the Lessepsian migration and the invasion of Atlantic lionfish, which are in favor of merging the environmental surveillance systems of environmental DNA (eDNA) and genomic biosecurity. As a possible way to reduce the invasive effects, the potential and ethical aspects of biotechnological interventions, including CRISPR-based gene drives, are considered. Conclusion: It is determined that to have a sustainable management of the global blue economy, knowledge of the molecular basis of invasiveness is a prerequisite. To protect the sustainability of fisheries and the socio-economic well-being of coastal societies all over the globe, the integration of genomic insights into international policy is needed.