Effects of water velocity on snails and cercariae

Jewsbury, J. M.

doi:10.1016/0169-4758(85)90009-2

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, such sampling methods may be unsuitable for the majority of cercarial species. Cercariae are fragile animals, unable to tolerate extreme turbulence (Jewsbury, 1985), and they will often break-up under heavy handling with a particular weak spot being the body-tail junction. Consequently, standard zooplankton netting may result in samples that are unrecognizable.…”

Section: Cercariae Within the Zooplankton Community: Practical Considmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cercariae (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda) as neglected components of zooplankton communities in freshwater habitats

Morley

2012

Hydrobiologia

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Zooplanktonic animals live in the open water of freshwater habitats, whilst trematodes are ubiquitous parasitic worms of aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates. A defining characteristic of trematode life cycles is the cercariae, a mainly planktonic freeliving larval stage that emerges into the aquatic environment from infected molluscan hosts. Cercariae are lecithotrophic (non-feeding) larvae analogous of meroplankton. Although millions of planktonic cercariae enter freshwater habitats on a daily basis and are capable of forming into dense clouds, they are a largely neglected component of the zooplankton community, rarely mentioned in faunal studies. Nevertheless, there is increasing evidence to suggest that cercariae have important secondary roles in aquatic food webs and energy transfer. This article reacquaints freshwater biologists with cercariae, highlighting the key characteristics of their biology and population dynamics, their role in food webs, public health and veterinary importance, and the risk of increased population densities under the influence of climate change. The reasons for their neglect in freshwater biology is evaluated and considered to be associated with zooplankton sampling methodologies being unsuitable for collecting cercariae and the paucity of identification keys in the limnological literature.

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Section: Cercariae Within the Zooplankton Community: Practical Considmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cercariae (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda) as neglected components of zooplankton communities in freshwater habitats

Morley

2012

Hydrobiologia

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“…They are highly susceptible to environmental stressors, including desiccation, turbulence in the water column, water temperature, aquatic chemistry and light. 2,[35][36][37][38][39] Water temperature and flow are key determinants of cercarial viability and thus C k (t) is dependent on the infected snail population as modified by these environmental factors:…”

Section: Modelling Cercariae-environment Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Environmentally-Mediated Infectious Diseases of Humans: Transmission Dynamics of Schistosomiasis in China

Remais

2010

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology

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M acroparasites of humans are sensitive to a variety of environmental variables, including temperature, rainfall and hydrology, yet current comprehension of these relationships is limited. Given the incomplete mechanistic understanding of environment-disease interactions, mathematical models that describe them have seldom included the effects of time-varying environmental processes on transmission dynamics and where they have been included, simple generic, periodic functions are usually used. Few examples exist where seasonal forcing functions describe the actual processes underlying the environmental drivers of disease dynamics. Transmission of human schistosomes, which involves multiple environmental stages, offers a model for applying our understanding of the environmental determinants of the viability, longevity, infectivity and mobility of these stages to controlling disease in diverse environments.Here, a mathematical model of schistosomiasis transmission is presented which incorporates the effects of environmental variables on transmission. Model dynamics are explored and several key extensions to the model are proposed.Modelling Parasite Transmission and Control, edited by Edwin Michael and Robert C. Spear.

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“…However, slow-swimming schistosomes in flowing water environments achieve peak infections at mean velocities of 30−40 cm s −1 with slower velocities reducing the likelihood of contact with a target host and higher velocities, often accompanied by extreme turbulence, dispersing or damaging cercariae resulting in only chance encounters with hosts and few successful infections (Upatham, 1973(Upatham, , 1974bJewsbury, 1985). These studies suggest certain flow rates facilitate infections in terrestrial mammals, possibly associated with the behaviour of target hosts and their interactions with other elements of these habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cercarial swimming performance and its potential role as a key variable of trematode transmission

Morley

2020

Parasitology

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Trematode transmission in aquatic habitats from molluscan intermediate host to vertebrate or invertebrate target host is typically undertaken by a free-living stage known as cercariae. Active locomotion by cercariae is a key aspect of the transmission process with the swimming speed potentially contributing to infection success. Individual cercarial species swim at different speeds but the significance of this to infection potential has not been determined. This study, using data from the scientific literature, investigates the role of swimming speed in relation to cercarial morphology, host-searching strategies and target host species. Larger cercariae swim faster than smaller ones with tail length being the principal factor controlling locomotion rates. Different cercarial morphotypes swim at different speeds, in particular, furcocercariae, with the exception of the schistosomes, being faster swimmers than mono-tailed cercariae. Host-searching behaviour has a significant influence on swimming speeds with ‘active-searching’ strategies swimming slower than those adopting ‘active-waiting’ or ‘prey mimcry’ strategies. Vertebrate-infecting cercariae swim faster than those infecting invertebrates with species targeting fish demonstrating the highest locomotion rates and those targeting arthropods the slowest speeds. The adaptions of individual cercarial swimming speeds to biological variables and their interactions with the physical processes of aquatic habitats are discussed.

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Effects of water velocity on snails and cercariae

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

Cercariae (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda) as neglected components of zooplankton communities in freshwater habitats

Cercariae (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda) as neglected components of zooplankton communities in freshwater habitats

Modelling Environmentally-Mediated Infectious Diseases of Humans: Transmission Dynamics of Schistosomiasis in China

Cercarial swimming performance and its potential role as a key variable of trematode transmission

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