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Longitudinal study of parasite-induced mortality of a long-lived host: the importance of exposure to non-parasitic stressors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2017

HILARY M.-H. CHIN ,
LIEN T. LUONG  and
ALLEN W. SHOSTAK
HILARY M.-H. CHIN
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
LIEN T. LUONG
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
ALLEN W. SHOSTAK*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
*
*Corresponding author: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada. E-mail: ashostak@ualberta.ca
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Summary

Hosts face mortality from parasitic and environmental stressors, but interactions of parasitism with other stressors are not well understood, particularly for long-lived hosts. We monitored survival of flour beetles (Tribolium confusum) in a longitudinal design incorporating cestode (Hymenolepis diminuta) infection, starvation and exposure to the pesticide diatomaceous earth (DE). We found that cestode cysticercoids exhibit increasing morphological damage and decreasing ability to excyst over time, but were never eliminated from the host. In the presence of even mild environmental stressors, host lifespan was reduced sufficiently that extensive degradation of cysticercoids was never realized. Median host lifespan was 200 days in the absence of stressors, and 3–197 days with parasitism, starvation and/or DE. Early survival of parasitized hosts was higher relative to controls in the presence of intermediate concentrations of DE, but reduced under all other conditions tested. Parasitism increased host mortality in the presence of other stressors at times when parasitism alone did not cause mortality, consistent with an interpretation of synergy. Environmental stressors modified the parasite numbers needed to reveal intensity-dependent host mortality, but only rarely masked intensity dependence. The longitudinal approach produced observations that would have been overlooked or misinterpreted if survival had only been monitored at a single time point.

Keywords

parasite-induced mortalityintensity dependencemultiple stressorsparasitismstarvationdiatomaceous earthHymenolepis diminutaTribolium confusumcysticercoid
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 144 , Issue 14 , December 2017 , pp. 1943 - 1955
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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