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Same host, same lagoon, different transmission pathways: effects of exogenous factors on larval emergence in two marine digenean parasites

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Abstract

Due to their shallow and confined nature, lagoons provide excellent conditions for the transmission of digenean trematode parasites that require two or more intermediate hosts for the completion of their complex life cycles. However, these unstable environments are characterised by an internal heterogeneity and a large variation of a range of abiotic variables. We conducted a series of experiments in a comparative framework to assess the effect of a number of exogenous factors known to exhibit marked fluctuations in the lagoonal environment, i.e. temperature, salinity, water level and photoperiod, on larval emergence of two sympatric parasites, Cainocreadium labracis and Macvicaria obovata, which share the snail intermediate host, Gibbula adansonii, and a sit-and-wait downstream host-finding strategy. Our results demonstrated contrasting patterns and rates of larval emergence indicating an overall differential response of the two species to the variation of the environmental factors. Cercariae of M. obovata exhibited increased emergence rates at elevated temperature (with a sharp increase at 15 °C), decreased salinity (35–25 practical salinity units (psu)) and low water levels, whereas larval emergence of C. labracis was unaffected by the experimental variation in temperature and water level and showed decreased rates at decreased salinity levels (35–25 psu). The differential impact of the variable environmental conditions indicates the complexity of the patterns of exogenous control modifying parasite transmission and abundance in the lagoonal environment. Most importantly, the contrasting rhythms of larval emergence indicate endogenous control associated with the different transmission pathways of the two opecoelid digeneans.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partially supported by CTM2006-07/MAR-FEDER Grant, Prometeo/2011/040 project of Generalitat Valenciana (JAR) and the Czech Science Foundation, grant P505/10/1562 (AK). The first author thanks Dr. Juan Antonio Balbuena for his advice during the study. AB is the recipient of a doctoral fellowship (Ministry of Education and Science, Spain; grant AP2009-2560) and a visiting studentship to the Institute of Parasitology (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Science Park, University of Valencia, PO Box 22 085, 46071, Valencia, Spain

    Ana Born-Torrijos & Juan Antonio Raga

  2. Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branišovská 31, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Astrid Sibylle Holzer & Aneta Kostadinova

  3. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Gagarin Street, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Aneta Kostadinova

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  1. Ana Born-Torrijos
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  2. Astrid Sibylle Holzer
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  3. Juan Antonio Raga
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  4. Aneta Kostadinova
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Correspondence to Ana Born-Torrijos.

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Born-Torrijos, A., Holzer, A.S., Raga, J.A. et al. Same host, same lagoon, different transmission pathways: effects of exogenous factors on larval emergence in two marine digenean parasites. Parasitol Res 113, 545–554 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3686-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3686-7

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