Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T14:32:26.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tenure of individual larval trematode infections in an estuarine gastropod

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2003

Lawrence A. Curtis
Lawrence A. Curtis*
Affiliation:
University Parallel Program, Department of Biological Sciences, and Graduate College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
*
*Correspondence address: Cape Henlopen Laboratory, College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware, Lewes, Delaware 19958, USA, E-mail: lcurtis@udel.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ilyanassa obsoleta (Mollusca: Gastropoda) is an abundant inhabitant of salt marshes and tidal flats on the east coast of North America. Populations of this snail may be heavily infected by larval trematodes. Three species were observed in this work, Himasthla quissetensis, Lepocreadium setiferoides, and Zoogonus rubellus. Mostly as single-species infections, all occupy snail tissues as parthenitae that produce cercariae, which are released from the snail to infect the next host. By periodically testing snails for cercarial emission, single-species infections are here shown to persist over six summers and double-species infections are also noted to be long-lived. Among the 32 snails followed, 25 released the same (or no) cercariae throughout observation periods averaging three years. The other seven indicated infection changes, but only two of these are judged to reflect actual changes. The probability that a snail changed infection status in this study is thus 2.1% y−1. Ilyanassa obsoleta individuals, and apparently their trematode infections, can persist for decades. Because species colonize and get evicted infrequently, sets of trematode species infecting I. obsoleta individuals (infracommunities) are concluded to be isolationist in character.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 83 , Issue 5 , October 2003 , pp. 1047 - 1051
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bush, A.O., Fernandez, J.C., Esch, G.W. & Seed, J.R., 2001. Parasitism: the diversity and ecology ofanimalparasites. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bush, A.O., Lafferty, K.D., Lotz, J.M. & Shostak, A.W., 1997. Parasitology meets ecology on its own terms: Margolis et al. revisited. Journal of Parasitology, 83, 575–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, L.A., 1995. Growth, trematode parasitism, and longevity of a long-lived marine gastropod (Ilyanassa obsoleta). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 75, 913–925.Google Scholar
Curtis, L.A., 1996. The probability of a marine gastropod being infected by a trematode. Journal of Parasitology, 82, 830–833.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, L.A., 1997. Ilyanassa obsoleta as a host for trematodes in Delaware estuaries. Journal of Parasitology, 83, 793–803.Google ScholarPubMed
Curtis, L.A., 2002. Ecology of larval trematodes in three marine gastropods. Parasitology, 124, S43-S56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, L.A. & Hubbard, K.M., 1990. Trematode infections in a gastropod host misrepresented by observing shed cercariae. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 143, 131–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, L.A. & Hubbard, K.M., 1993. Species relationships in a marine gastropod—trematode ecological system. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 184, 25–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, L.A. & Hurd, L.E., 1983. Age, sex, and parasites: spatial heterogeneity in a sandflat population of Ilyanassa obsoleta. Ecology, 64, 819–828.Google Scholar
Curtis, L.A., Kinley, J.L. & Tanner, N.L., 2000. Longevity of oversized individuals: growth, parasitism, and history in an estuarine snail population. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 80, 811–820.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, L.A. & Tanner, N.L., 1999. Trematode accumulation by the estuarine gastropod Ilyanassa obsoleta. Journal of Parasitology, 85, 419–425.Google Scholar
Dronen, N.O., 1978. Host—parasite population dynamics of Haematoloechus coloradensis Cort, 1915 (Digenea: Plagiorchidae). American Midland Naturalist, 99, 330–349.Google Scholar
Esch, G.W., Curtis, L.A. & Barger, M.A., 2001. A perspective on the ecology of trematode communities in snails. Parasitology, 123, S57-S75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorbushin, A.M., 1997. Field evidence of trematode-induced gigantism in Hydrobia spp. (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 77, 785–800.Google Scholar
Hendrickson, M.A. & Curtis, L.A., 2002. Infrapopulation sizes of co-occurring trematodes in the snail Ilyanassa obsoleta. Journal of Parasitology, 88, 884–889.Google Scholar
Holmes, J.C., 1987. The structure of helminth communities. International Journalfor Parasitology, 17, 203–208.Google Scholar
Kuris, A.M., 1990. Guild structure of larval trematodes in molluscan hosts: prevalence, dominance and significance of competition. In Parasite communities: patterns and processes (ed. G.W. Esch et al.), pp. 69–100. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Lauckner, G., 1987. Ecological effects of larval trematode infestation on littoral marine invertebrate populations. International Journal for Parasitology, 17, 391–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim, H.K. & Heyneman, D., 1972. Intramolluscan intertrematode antagonism: a review of factors influencing the host—parasite system and its possible role in biological control. Advances in Parasitology, 10, 191–268.Google Scholar
Mouritsen, K.M. & Poulin, R., 2002. Parasitism, community structure and biodiversity in intertidal systems. Parasitology, 124, S101-S117.Google Scholar
Rohde, K., 1993. Ecology of marine parasites, 2nd edn. Wallingford: CAB International.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothschild, M., 1942. A seven year old infection of Cryptocotyle lingua (Creplin) in the winkle Littorina littorea (L.). Journal of Parasitology, 28, 350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sousa, W.P., 1983. Host life history and the effect of parasitic castration on growth: a field study of Cerithidea californica Haldeman (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia) and its trematode parasites. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 73, 273–296.Google Scholar
Sousa, W.P., 1990. Spatial scale and the processes structuring a guild of larval trematodes. In Parasite communities: patterns and processes (ed. G.W. Esch et al.), pp. 41–67. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Sousa, W.P., 1991. Can models of soft-sediment community structure be complete without parasites? American Zoologist, 31, 821–830.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sousa, W.P., 1993. Interspecific antagonism and species coexistence in a diverse guild of larval trematode parasites. Ecological Monographs, 63, 103–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, F., Crivella, A., Cezilly F., Renaud, F. & De Meeus,T., 1997. Parasitism and ecology of wetlands: a review. Estuaries, 20, 646–654.Google Scholar
Vernberg, W.B., Vernberg, F.J. & Beckerdite, F.W. Jr, 1969. Larval trematodes: double infections in common mud-flat snail. Science, New York, 164, 1287–1288.Google Scholar
Williams, G.A. & Brailsford, T.J., 1998. Temporal variation in parasite loading in relation to life history patterns of Littorina obtusata and L. fabalis. Hydrobiologia, 378, 115–127.Google Scholar