Anthropogenic influences on the infestation of intertidal gastropods by seabird trematode larvae on the southern Barents Sea coast

Abstract

In this study we examined how the variation in the distribution of six species of seabird trematodes was influenced by human activities along the subarctic Barents Sea coast of northern Norway. This was done by comparing the prevalence of the parasites in two species of intermediate host (Littorinasaxatilis and Littorina obtusata) on seashores near fishing industry complexes, fish farms and at control sites. In L. saxatilis there were higher prevalences at sites influenced by human activities for three out of five trematode species (Microphallus piriformes,  M. similis, Cryptocotyle lingua) which have gulls (Larus spp.) as their predominant final hosts, while in L. obtusata, only  M. similis was more common at sites with human activity. For  M. pygmaeus, a trematode which has the common eider (Somateria mollissima) as its most predominant final host, the prevalence in L.␣saxatilis tended to be higher at sites with fishing industry, but differences were not significant. No such tendency was found in L. obtusata for this trematode. The overall prevalence in L. obtusata was lower than in L.␣saxatilis. This indicates that the vulnerability to trematode infection differs between the two snail species depending on the variation in the distribution patterns in the intertidal zone. Gulls tend to concentrate in areas near fishing industry and fish farms to feed on fish offal, which leads to an increase in the transmission between hosts, and to a higher level of parasite infection, locally.