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Selective predation, parasitism, and trophic cascades in a bluegill–Daphnia–parasite system

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Abstract

As disease incidence increases worldwide, there is increased interest in determining the factors controlling parasitism in natural populations. Recently, several studies have suggested a possible role of predation in reducing parasitism, but this idea has received little experimental attention. Here, I present the results of an experiment in which I manipulated predation rate in large field enclosures to test the effects of predation on parasitism using a bluegill predator–Daphnia host–yeast parasite system. Based on previous work showing high bluegill sunfish selectivity for infected over uninfected Daphnia, I anticipated that predators would reduce infection levels. Contrary to expectations, predation did not reduce infection prevalence. Instead, there were large epidemics in all treatments, followed by reductions of host density to very low levels. As Daphnia density decreased, phytoplankton abundance increased and water clarity decreased, suggesting a parasite-driven trophic cascade. Overall, these results suggest that selective predation does not always reduce infection prevalence, and that parasites have the potential to drastically reduce host densities even in the presence of selective predators.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Claes Becker, Carla Cáceres, Erica Garcia, Spencer Hall, Allison Higi, Jarad Mellard, Allison Morgan, Angela Roles, Joe Simonis, Lena Sivars-Becker, Pam Woodruff, and, especially, Darice Shumway and Alan Tessier for help in the field and lab. Angela Roles, Carla Cáceres, Jeff Conner, Tony Ives, Gary Mittelbach, and Alan Tessier all provided helpful feedback on experimental design and/or analysis. Comments from Spencer Hall, Jason Harmon, Tony Ives and two anonymous reviewers greatly improved this manuscript. This work was supported by NSF grant DEB-0508270 (to J.K. Conner and M.A. Duffy), Sigma Xi, and the PEO Sisterhood. I was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. This experiment complies with the current laws of the US. This is KBS contribution #1289.

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  1. W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI, 49060, USA

    Meghan A. Duffy

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Meghan A. Duffy

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  1. Meghan A. Duffy
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Correspondence to Meghan A. Duffy.

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Communicated by Craig Osenberg.

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Electronic Supplementary Material: ANOVA tables (DOC 43 kb)

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Duffy, M.A. Selective predation, parasitism, and trophic cascades in a bluegill–Daphnia–parasite system. Oecologia 153, 453–460 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0742-y

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