Limited parasite acquisition by non-native Lepomis gibbosus (Actinopterygii: Centrarchidae) at two ponds in the Upper Rhine basin, Germany

Abstract

Metazoan parasite communities of Lepomis gibbosus (Centrarchidae), one of the most successfully introduced fish species in Europe, were studied at two isolated ponds (Knielingen, Tropfen) along the Upper Rhine in Germany. Nine parasite taxa were observed, including North American species co-introduced to Europe (ancyrocephalid monogeneans, diplostomid trematodes), circumpolar species infecting L. gibbosus in both their native and non-native ranges (bothriocephalid cestodes) and locally acquired parasitic nematodes. Both parasite communities consisted predominantly of North American species. Acquisition of local parasites was not observed at Tropfen, where the fish community comprised just two species, with L. gibbosus dominant. Low prevalence and abundance of acquired parasites was found at Knielingen, which supported a diverse fish community. At Tropfen, a high abundance of the North American parasite Posthodiplostomum centrarchi probably contributed to the lower condition index, hepatomegaly and splenomegaly observed. Due to low local parasite competency, L. gibbosus appears to have no significant impact on parasite dynamics in affected habitats.

New record of metacercariae of the North American Posthodiplostomum centrarchi (Digenea, Diplostomidae) in pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) in Hungary

“…The strict host specificity of the P. minimum subspecies was supported by Locke et al (2010a,b), Lane et al (2015), Stoyanov et al (2017a) and Boone et al (2018). Accordingly, Stoyanov et al (2017a) elevated P. minimum centrarchi to species rank as P. centrarchi, and this novel name has become general since then (Kvach et al, 2018a;Ondra ckov a et al, 2019).…”

“…In Hungary, the native species P. cuticola and P. brevicaudatum were documented by Jacz o (1941) and Moln ar (1968), while Sz ekely and Moln ar (1996) reported only P. cuticola. Recently, the presence of P. centrarchi has been reported from several European countries: Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Ukraine, and Germany (Stoyanov et al, 2017a;Kvach et al, 2017Kvach et al, , 2018aOndra ckov a et al, 2019).…”

Host-parasite relationships in invasive species: macroecological framework

“…Within the context of parasites from invasive hosts, three main phenomena are usually considered: enemy release, parasite spillback and spillover (Kelly et al, 2009;Peeler et al, 2011;Lymbery et al, 2014;Chalkowski, Lepczyk and Zohdy, 2018). While testing the ERH implies predominantly a comparative analysis of multispecies parasite data from different geographic areas or host species (Bij de Vaate et al, 2002;Ovcharenko et al, 2009;Sarabeev, 2015a;Kvach et al, 2019;Ondračková et al, 2019), studies on parasite spillback and spillover largely consider single parasite species (Koops and Hartmann, 1989;Mo, 1994;Alderman, 1996;Tompkins et al, 2000;Daszak, Cunningham and Hyatt, 2003;Rauque, Viozzi and Semenas, 2003;Gozlan et al, 2005;Peeler et al, 2011;Sarabeev, 2015b). Moreover, the analysis of parasite communities of invasive hosts has been frequently limited to species richness, as it is the easiest metric to evaluate broad patterns (Torchin and Mitchell, 2004;Torchin and Lafferty, 2009).…”

Population genetic structure, parasite infection and somatic condition of pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus (Actinopterygii: Centrarchidae) in the Oder river basin

“…While release from natural enemies, including parasites and pathogens (Keane & Crowley, 2002), is generally reported during the initial stages of a species' introduction, non‐native species often go on to acquire local parasites, although their numbers are usually still lower than those found in native species (Gendron et al ., 2012; Ondračková et al ., 2015). Accordingly, pumpkinseed in Europe has been infected by a range of local parasites with low host specificity (Masson et al ., 2015; Ondračková et al ., 2021), but with generally lower abundances compared to their natural North American parasite species (Ondračková, Kvach, et al ., 2019).…”