Identifying environmental factors associated with tetrodotoxin contamination in bivalve mollusks using eXplainable AI

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Schoppema, M. C., van der Velden, B. H. M., Hürriyetoğlu, A., Klijnstra, M. D., Faassen, E. J., Gerssen, A., van der Fels-Klerx, H. J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Schoppema, M. C.
van der Velden, B. H. M.
Hürriyetoğlu, A.
Klijnstra, M. D.
Faassen, E. J.
Gerssen, A.
van der Fels-Klerx, H. J.
author_facet Schoppema, M. C.
van der Velden, B. H. M.
Hürriyetoğlu, A.
Klijnstra, M. D.
Faassen, E. J.
Gerssen, A.
van der Fels-Klerx, H. J.
contents Since 2012, tetrodotoxin (TTX) has been found in seafoods such as bivalve mollusks in temperate European waters. TTX contamination leads to food safety risks and economic losses, making early prediction of TTX contamination vital to the food industry and competent authorities. Recent studies have pointed to shallow habitats and water temperature as main drivers to TTX contamination in bivalve mollusks. However, the temporal relationships between abiotic factors, biotic factors, and TTX contamination remain unexplored. We have developed an explainable, deep learning-based model to predict TTX contamination in the Dutch Zeeland estuary. Inputs for the model were meteorological and hydrological features; output was the presence or absence of TTX contamination. Results showed that the time of sunrise, time of sunset, global radiation, water temperature, and chloride concentration contributed most to TTX contamination. Thus, the effective number of sun hours, represented by day length and global radiation, was an important driver for tetrodotoxin contamination in bivalve mollusks. To conclude, our explainable deep learning model identified the aforementioned environmental factors (number of sun hours, global radiation, water temperature, and water chloride concentration) to be associated with tetrodotoxin contamination in bivalve mollusks; making our approach a valuable tool to mitigate marine toxin risks for food industry and competent authorities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_20395
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Identifying environmental factors associated with tetrodotoxin contamination in bivalve mollusks using eXplainable AI
Schoppema, M. C.
van der Velden, B. H. M.
Hürriyetoğlu, A.
Klijnstra, M. D.
Faassen, E. J.
Gerssen, A.
van der Fels-Klerx, H. J.
Machine Learning
Since 2012, tetrodotoxin (TTX) has been found in seafoods such as bivalve mollusks in temperate European waters. TTX contamination leads to food safety risks and economic losses, making early prediction of TTX contamination vital to the food industry and competent authorities. Recent studies have pointed to shallow habitats and water temperature as main drivers to TTX contamination in bivalve mollusks. However, the temporal relationships between abiotic factors, biotic factors, and TTX contamination remain unexplored. We have developed an explainable, deep learning-based model to predict TTX contamination in the Dutch Zeeland estuary. Inputs for the model were meteorological and hydrological features; output was the presence or absence of TTX contamination. Results showed that the time of sunrise, time of sunset, global radiation, water temperature, and chloride concentration contributed most to TTX contamination. Thus, the effective number of sun hours, represented by day length and global radiation, was an important driver for tetrodotoxin contamination in bivalve mollusks. To conclude, our explainable deep learning model identified the aforementioned environmental factors (number of sun hours, global radiation, water temperature, and water chloride concentration) to be associated with tetrodotoxin contamination in bivalve mollusks; making our approach a valuable tool to mitigate marine toxin risks for food industry and competent authorities.
title Identifying environmental factors associated with tetrodotoxin contamination in bivalve mollusks using eXplainable AI
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.20395