Abstract
Anthropogenic activities are promoting the proliferation of aquatic primary producers in freshwater habitats, including cyanobacteria. Among various problems stemming from eutrophication, cyanobacterial blooms can be toxic due to the production of secondary compounds, including microcystins such as microcystin-LR (MC-LR); however, it is unknown whether cyanotoxins can affect the susceptibility of aquatic vertebrates such as fish and larval amphibians to parasites or pathogens even though infectious diseases can significantly affect natural populations. Here, we examined how exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of MC-LRs affected the resistance of larval amphibians (northern leopard frog, Rana pipiens) to infection by a helminth parasite (the trematode Echinostoma sp.), and whether this was manifested by reductions in host anti-parasite behavior. Exposure to a relatively high (82 μg L−1) concentration of MC-LR caused over 70% mortality, and tadpoles that survived exposure to the low MC-LR (11 μg L−1) treatment had significantly higher infection intensities than those in the control; however, anti-parasite behavior was not affected by treatment. Our results indicate that MC-LR can have both direct and indirect negative effects on larval amphibians by increasing their mortality and susceptibility to parasitism, which may have implications for other aquatic vertebrates in eutrophic habitats dominated by cyanobacteria as well.
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This work was supported by a NSERC Discovery grant to J.K. (RGPIN-2015-05566).
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The study complies with the legal requirements of Canada. All animal use was performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care, and with institutional approval by the local animal care committee (AUP 625-2015). This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.
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Milotic, M., Milotic, D. & Koprivnikar, J. Exposure to a cyanobacterial toxin increases larval amphibian susceptibility to parasitism. Parasitol Res 117, 513–520 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5727-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5727-0