Increased abundance of snails and trematode parasites of Fundulus heteroclitus (L.) in restored New Jersey wetlands

Abstract

The Hackensack Meadowlands District is a large heavily degraded, brackish marsh system in the urbanized northeastern region of New Jersey, USA. Six study sites were used, three of which were restored (Mill Creek, Skeetkill Creek and Vince Lombardi), and three others were unrestored (Richard DeKorte Park, Cedar Creek and Kingsland Creek). Highly significant differences were found with respect to snail abundance and gill parasite abundance. In the three restored sites, significantly more Littoridinops tenuipes were found, and Fundulus heteroclitus had significantly more digenean trematode metacercariae gill infections than at unrestored sites. As habitat quality improves following restoration, the number of suitable digenean trematode parasite hosts multiplies as substrate for benthic invertebrates (first intermediate host) increases and usage by other species, such as Fundulus spp. (second intermediate host), is encouraged, which then attracts more wading birds (definitive host). Though the restoration process enhances trophic complexity, including primary consumers (gastropods), secondary consumers (fish) and tertiary consumers (wading birds), and ultimately parasite diversity, restoration also helps facilitate parasite life cycles.

Prevalence of Eucoleus garfiai in Wild Boars Hunted at Different Altitudes in the Campania and Latium Regions (Italy)

“…Altitude has frequently been used as a parameter for studying biodiversity richness and it was previously reported that earthworms' communities adapt well to different gradients of altitude, increasing in number and variety of population, probably due to lower anthropogenic influence and higher soil quality [48][49][50][51]. The presence of higher densities of intermediate hosts has already been linked to abundance of parasite communities [52]; therefore, we suggest that the higher prevalence of this parasite at higher altitudes could probably be connected to a higher presence of earthworms (Lumbricus spp. and Allolobophora spp.…”

Parasite burden in decapod crustaceans from the central coast of Chile: is there any association with the relationship with definitive host abundances?

“…Los crustáceos decápodos pueden acumular parásitos a medida que crecen, es decir a mayor LCT, ya que tanto las metacercarias como las larvas de nemátodos no pueden salir del crustáceo hospedador ni continuar un desarrollo más avanzado y necesariamente requieren de otra especie de hospedador para completar su ciclo de vida. La alta abundancia de parásitos en LC, especialmente de metacercarias, no estuvo relacionada con la abundancia de hospedadores definitivos, por lo tanto podría estar relacionada con la composición de especies de los hospedadores intermediarios primarios, como por ejemplo gasterópodos (Hechinger & Lafferty, 2005;Hansen & Poulin, 2006;Santiago-Bass & Weis, 2008;Levakin et al, 2013). Es posible que en LC exista mayor diversidad de gasterópodos y que a su vez estén más parasitados con digeneos, de este modo habría larvas cercarias parasitando constantemente a los crustáceos.…”

Environmental parasitology: stressor effects on aquatic parasites

“…For heteroxenous parasites, the most sensitive host will be the limiting factor for the extinction risk [14]. There is evidence that parasite diversity and overall prevalence decline with increasing stressor intensity (e.g., [2,8,15] and that an increase in parasite richness and overall prevalence occurs with the recovery from stressors [16][17][18]. Due to their complex interaction with stressors or environmental conditions in general, parasites reflect the state and complexity of ecosystems and can therefore eventually be used as bioindicators to assess environmental conditions [19].…”