Climate impacts on landlocked sea lamprey: Implications for host‐parasite interactions and invasive species management

Abstract

Abstract. Altered thermal regimes under climate change may influence host-parasite interactions and invasive species, both potentially impacting valuable ecosystem services. There is considerable interest in how parasite life cycle rates, growth, and impacts on hosts will change under altered environmental temperatures. Likewise, transformed thermal regimes may reduce natural resistance and barriers preventing establishment of invasive species or alter the range and impacts of established exotic species. The Laurentian Great Lakes are some of the most invaded ecosystems and have been profoundly shaped by exotic species. Invasion by the parasitic sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) contributed to major declines in many Great Lakes fish populations. In Lake Superior, substantial progress has been made towards controlling invasive sea lamprey and rehabilitating native fish populations. Surface water temperatures in Lake Superior have been increasing rapidly since 1980 presenting a new challenge for management. Here we test how thermal changes in Lake Superior have impacted the feeding and growth of the parasitic sea lamprey. Sea lamprey have increased in size corresponding with longer durations of thermal habitat (i.e., longer growing seasons) for their preferred hosts. To compare regional differences in sea lamprey feeding and growth rates, we used a bioenergetics model with temperature estimates from a lake-wide hydrodynamic model hindcast from 1979-2006. Spatial differences in patterns of warming across the lake result in regionally different predictions for increases in sea lamprey feeding rates and size. These predictions were matched by data from adult sea lamprey spawning in streams draining into these different thermal regions. Larger sea lampreys will be more fecund and have increased feeding rates, thus increasing mortality among host fishes. Resource management should consider these climate driven regional impacts when allocating resources to sea lamprey control efforts. Under new and evolving thermal regimes, successful management systems may need to be restructured for changing phenology, growth, and shifts in host-parasite systems towards greater impacts on host populations.

Population ecology of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) as an invasive species in the Laurentian Great Lakes and an imperiled species in Europe

“…Forecasts of increased fecundity and sea lamprey induced mortality are expected to negatively impact native fish species, particularly siscowet lake trout in Lake Superior (Cline et al 2013). Global climate change is expected to increase negative effects of sea lamprey-induced mortality on host fish populations in Lake Superior, one of the most rapidly warming lakes on Earth (Kitchell et al 2014). As Lake Superior continues to warm, sea lamprey growth is predicted to increase, thereby producing larger sea lampreys, greater blood consumption by sea lampreys, and increased lethality of sea lamprey attacks on hosts (Cline et al 2014;Kitchell et al 2014).…”

“…Global climate change is expected to increase negative effects of sea lamprey-induced mortality on host fish populations in Lake Superior, one of the most rapidly warming lakes on Earth (Kitchell et al 2014). As Lake Superior continues to warm, sea lamprey growth is predicted to increase, thereby producing larger sea lampreys, greater blood consumption by sea lampreys, and increased lethality of sea lamprey attacks on hosts (Cline et al 2014;Kitchell et al 2014). Further, climate change may cause longer feeding seasons, increased growth, and larger sea lampreys (Cline et al 2013), with increased fecundity, particularly in Lake Superior (Moody et al 2011), which may lead to increased sea lamprey abundance.…”

Chemical Characterization of Lipophilic Constituents in the Skin of Migratory Adult Sea Lamprey from the Great Lakes Region

“…For example global climate change is predicted to alter the energetics of host-parasite interactions in favor of the parasite [15]. A recent bioenergetics model suggests the sea lamprey, when subject to warming regimes, will increase feeding rate, ultimately growing larger and more fecund, resulting in increased mortality among host fishes [16]. It is reasonable to anticipate the additional growth, and lipid storage, will also result in a greater migratory ability in the species, leading to greater recruitment to the larval stage.…”

Sea lampreys elicit strong transcriptomic responses in the lake trout liver during parasitism

“…As an adult, the sea lamprey is a parasite that attaches to fish with a rasping mouthpart and feeds off the tissues and body fluids of its host [ 4 ]. Significant efforts have been made to control lamprey in the Great Lakes and, while populations have been reduced, lamprey parasitism still remains an issue that could be exacerbated by global climatic changes affecting the Great Lakes [ 5 ]. The sea lamprey can parasitize a number of large bodied fish species, however, in the Great Lakes the effects on lake trout have been the most dramatic and have had the most significant consequences.…”