Multi‐Stressor Responses in Marine Bivalves: Integrating Climate Change, Pollutants, and Microbiome Shifts for Aquaculture Resilience

Abstract

Marine bivalves play pivotal ecological and economic roles but are increasingly challenged by multiple environmental stressors. Although there is extensive research on the effects of individual stressors, a comprehensive review is needed to synthesize current evidence and clarify how multiple interacting stressors collectively affect the physiology and resilience of marine bivalves. This review integrates evidence from 2010 to 2025, encompassing 178 peer‐reviewed studies emphasizing the combined and interactive impacts of climate change drivers (warming, hypoxia, salinity, and ocean acidification), pollutants (heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, endocrine‐disrupting chemicals, antibiotics, nanoparticles, microplastics), and microbiome shifts on future aquaculture resilience. Literature was systematically retrieved from Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Bibliometric mapping (VOSviewer 1.6.20) revealed a rapid growth in research after 2018, characterized by studies on Mytilus , Crassostrea , and Ruditapes . A systematic evaluation of recent evidence was conducted, combining data from physiological, molecular, and microbial studies, with particular attention to implications for aquaculture. The analysis reveals that stressors rarely act alone. Instead, their cumulative and interactive effects cause oxidative stress, disrupted energy allocation, destabilized host‐microbe relationships, lowered tolerance thresholds, and other eco‐physiological consequences. These results highlight the vulnerability of bivalve populations to rapid coastal urbanization, declining water quality, and sediment contamination. The review concludes that resilience can be enhanced through selective breeding for stress‐tolerant genotypes, integrated monitoring of pollutants and microbial indicators, and multi‐omics approaches to guide adaptive aquaculture management.

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