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Chytrid infection reduces thoracic beat and heart rate of Daphnia pulicaria

  • TRIBUTE TO STANLEY DODSON
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Abstract

Zooplankters are hosts to numerous endo- and ectoparasites, some of which have dramatic impacts on their hosts. Epizootics on zooplankton are probably more widespread in lake systems than it is currently known, and few studies have explored the direct and indirect importance of parasitism in aquatic food webs. In addition, our understanding of the sublethal effects of parasitic infections on host organisms and populations is limited. We used a novel electro-chemical based technique to measure in the outflow of the feeding current changes in the beat rate of the thoracic appendages in female Daphnia pulicaria. We observed simultaneously the heart rates and compared chytrid infected animals with uninfected gravid and non-gravid ones. We found in uninfected animals a thoracic beat rate of 3.81 ± 018 Hz and a heart rate of 4.67 ± 0.42 Hz. Gravid daphnids had a 14% lower thoracic beat rate (3.27 ± 0.30 Hz) than non-gravid females while the heart rate did not significantly differ (4.48 ± 0.28 Hz). In contrast, infected animals showed a 22% lower thoracic beat rate (2.96 ± 0.47 Hz) and a 36% lower heart rate (2.98 ± 0.5 Hz) when compared with uninfected non-gravid females. We discuss the ways Daphnia are affected by Polycaryum leave infections on the individual and population level.

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Acknowledgments

This manuscript was a work in progress and had been revised by SI Dodson prior to his untimely death. As such, we dedicate this manuscript to his memory, great work and everlasting inspiration. Stanley was a great friend, mentor and scientist. We also thank four anonymous reviewers and J. Barker, N. Keith, R. Sommer, C. Trincot for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Great Lakes WATER Institute, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, 53204, USA

    D. C. Peñalva-Arana & J. R. Strickler

  2. National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Ground Water and Ecosystems Restoration Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ada, OK, 74820, USA

    Kenneth Forshay

  3. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

    Pieter T. J. Johnson

  4. Zoology Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Stanley I. Dodson

  5. Biology Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    D. C. Peñalva-Arana

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  1. D. C. Peñalva-Arana
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  2. Kenneth Forshay
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  3. Pieter T. J. Johnson
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  4. J. R. Strickler
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  5. Stanley I. Dodson
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Correspondence to D. C. Peñalva-Arana.

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Guest editors: H. J. Dumont, J. E. Havel, R. Gulati & P. Spaak / A Passion for Plankton: a tribute to the life of Stanley Dodson

Stanley I. Dodson died on 23 August 2009.

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Peñalva-Arana, D.C., Forshay, K., Johnson, P.T.J. et al. Chytrid infection reduces thoracic beat and heart rate of Daphnia pulicaria . Hydrobiologia 668, 147–154 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0684-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0684-6

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