Parasite communities of the Schlei Fjord (Baltic coast of northern Germany)

Kesting, Verena; Gollasch, Stephan; Zander, C. Dieter

doi:10.1007/bf02367162

Cited by 41 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Also, the primary host, the snail Littorina saxatilis, releases cercariae only seasonally (Strohbach, personal communication). Similar results have been obtained in the Schlei fjord (Kreft 1991;Kesting et al 1996).…”

Section: Combination Of Host and Parasite Life Cyclessupporting

confidence: 77%

“…This is also a general trend in intermediate hosts such as snails and crustaceans, which are infested in autumn and serve as a reservoir for the infestation of ®sh hosts in the spring (Uspenskaja 1963;MacKenzie and Gibson 1970;Lauckner 1994;Gollasch and Zander 1995;Kesting et al 1996). As early as autumn, young gobies may also bear latent stages of parasites such as metacercariae, acanthors, or plerocercoids, which still exist when the ®sh return in the spring from their deeper winter habitats (Koter 1962;Reimer 1970;Zander et al 1993Zander et al , 1994.…”

Section: Combination Of Host and Parasite Life Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Colonization and seasonality of goby (Gobiidae, Teleostei) parasites from the southwestern Baltic Sea

Zander¹,

Kesting²

1998

Parasitol Res

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A comparative parasitology study of gobiid fishes from two sites on the western Baltic Sea was done to get information on the quality of the respective environments. The parameters used were the infracommunity, the species numbers and abundance with respect to the size classes of the hosts, and the abundance with respect to the seasons. The hosts, Gobius niger, Gobiusculus flavescens, Pomatoschistus minutus, and P. pictus, were caught at Blank Eck (Kiel Bight) and Dahmeshöved (Lübeck Bight) during 1992 and 1993. The infracommunities of Dahmeshöved attained higher rates of prevalence of helminth parasites than did those of Blank Eck, as was valid in all host specimens harboring one or two parasite species. The group bearing three parasite species was present in Dahmeshöved but absent in Blank Eck. Parasite species numbers, which were similar in the two sites, increased from the smallest to the largest hosts but changed with growth. With one exception, this result is also valid for the abundance, which clearly differed between the hosts and between the sites. Whereas species numbers as well as abundance rates were low in spring, they increased in summer. The results reveal that the composition of infracommunities depends on the local parasite fauna and on the strength of general host defense mechanisms, whereas that of the component community is dependent on the susceptibility of hosts to single parasite species and on the density of intermediate parasite stages. This is also the reason for the stronger infestation of hosts from Dahmeshöved as opposed to those from Blank Eck, where the degree of eutrophication is lower and, therefore, fewer herbivorous intermediate hosts can exist.

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Section: Combination Of Host and Parasite Life Cyclessupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Combination Of Host and Parasite Life Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonization and seasonality of goby (Gobiidae, Teleostei) parasites from the southwestern Baltic Sea

Zander¹,

Kesting²

1998

Parasitol Res

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“…Dense populations of intermediate hosts, as a consequence of eutrophication, can be another reason for attaining high abundances in the next host (Zander 2002). The populations of benthic intermediate hosts in several Baltic habitats are clearly of greater density than those of pelagic ones (Gollasch and Zander 1995;Kesting et al 1996;Strohbach 1999). This may be the reason why Gobiusculus flavescens attained no significant increase in parasite intensities in spring and summer.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Four-year monitoring of parasite communities in gobiid fishes of the south-western Baltic

Zander

2004

Parasitology Research

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The parasite infracommunity of five goby species (Pomatoschistus minutus, P. pictus, P.microps, Gobiusculus flavescens, Gobius niger) from the south-western Baltic was investigated during spring, summer and autumn of the years 1997-2000. The mean parasite species number in single hosts was high, ranging between 1.1 (P. minutus), 2.1 (P. pictus) to even 3.3 (P. microps). Gobius niger is the only host which lives longer than a year and is infested by almost identical parasites for longer times, i.e. the parasite species composition has greater homogeneity. Most intensity of infestation values peaked in summer and were lowest in autumn; only a few exceptions were found in spring or autumn. Only the Digenea Podocotyle atomon and Cryptocotyle concavum were abundant enough to show a clear seasonal fluctuation in Pomatoschistus minutus, P. pictus and Gobiusculus flavescens. Aphalloides timmi and Apatemon gracilis (Digenea) also attained high intensities in P. microps. These four parasite species and, additionally, Cryptocotyle lingua (Digenea), and Hysterothylacium sp. (Nematoda) can be strongly accumulated from either prey or free-swimming larvae and, thus, decisively influence the structure of the infracommunities. Due to selection by filter mechanisms, rare parasites settle rather by chance after competition with other species. The number of parasite species usually increased significantly with host growth. As many as four parasite species were found at the same time in the intestinal tract microhabitat of Gobius niger and P. minutus; at most three parasite species were present on the skin and fins or in the body cavity. The level of infection is due to the respective life history patterns and the kinds of prey, which harbour different parasites as intermediate hosts. Additionally, it depends on the time of appearance of goby offspring in the course of the year.

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“…To get optimal infection ratios, parasites have to harmonize their life stages with the presence of three and more hosts like several digeneans, which have short life spans (Cribb 2005). Adult P. atomon attain the highest intensity in gobiid fish in spring, whereas in summer larvae dominate in periwinkles, Littorina saxatilis (first host), and benthic crustacean (second host; Kesting et al 1996). Probably, they hibernate as metacercariae in gammarids, which are ingested by fish in the next spring when the intensity of feeding increases highly.…”

Section: Infracommunitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The parasite fauna of sticklebacks from Northern Germany is well-known from Möller-Buchner (1987), Kesting et al (1996), Kesting and Zander (2000), Zander et al (1999, and Kalbe et al (2002). These studies pursued different aspects like taxonomy, life cycles, influence of salinity and eutrophication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasite diversity of sticklebacks from the Baltic Sea

Zander

2006

Parasitol Res

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In the brackish Baltic Sea, the species richness and diversity of parasite communities of three- (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) were investigated. The studies regarded four localities at the Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg coasts, northern Germany, where salinities were between 10 and 18 per thousand. Species richness was relatively high, attaining 15 parasite species in G. aculeatus and 16 in P. pungitius, which are only surpassed by former investigations that lasted a year or more. An analysis of parasite species identity revealed clear differences in diverse localities referring to different supracommunities. The infracommunity comprised maximally of eight species in G. aculeatus and seven in P. pungitius, which corresponds to former investigations. The mean value of infracommunity with 5.3 parasites is the highest value ever found in small-sized fish. An infracommunity index revealed that the digenean Podocotyle atomon and Magnibursatus caudofilamentosa and the copepod Thersitina gasterostei were the most abundant parasites. The relationship of component community to mean infracommunity can judge about the threshold level, which allows parasite to settle successfully. An important factor to form parasite communities is the season of their appearance, which depends also on their reproduction and on the presence of intermediate hosts. In addition, the choice of prey (for passive infection) and quality of habitats (for active infection) influences the constitution of the parasite communities. The diversity values of parasites were low in all hosts, which is due to the brackish milieu and by different levels of eutrophication, which both create extreme environments. These do not mirror in every case the biodiversity of the respective habitats. The parasite community was in a level of early heterotrophic succession where low diversity is combined with high population density, which is characteristic for extreme environments. Therefore, intraspecific competition dominates and niches are wide. Under this aspect and regard of the actually valid definition that niches are dynamic systems between organisms and environment, the theory of vacant niches of some authors can be rejected.

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Parasite communities of the Schlei Fjord (Baltic coast of northern Germany)

Cited by 41 publications

References 13 publications

Colonization and seasonality of goby (Gobiidae, Teleostei) parasites from the southwestern Baltic Sea

Colonization and seasonality of goby (Gobiidae, Teleostei) parasites from the southwestern Baltic Sea

Four-year monitoring of parasite communities in gobiid fishes of the south-western Baltic

Parasite diversity of sticklebacks from the Baltic Sea

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