Establishment, survival and site selection of the cestode Eubothrium crassum in brown trout, Salmo trutta

Parasitology ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Kennedy

SUMMARYPopulation dynamics, site selection, growth and maturation of the cestode Eubothrium crassum in a natural population of Salmo trutta in a small lake were studied over a period of 1 year, the life-span of a cohort in fish. Infection of fish commenced in spring but peaked in July. Small, plerocerciform parasites initially located in the intestine, but then some moved into the pyloric caecae whilst others, the majority in heavy infections, were lost from the fish causing a fall in abundance from 460 to 10 over 2 months. This mortality was density dependent. Initially, parasites were distributed more evenly throughout the caecae but as time increased larger parasites were found preferentially in the anterior caecae before moving back into the intestine when gravid, preparatory to being lost in the following summer. Only a small proportion of the infrapopulation became gravid. Although the proportion of caecae occupied was initially density dependent, by the time of maturation several preferred anterior caecae remained unoccupied and mean intensity always exceeded unity. Neither growth nor maturation was affected by intraspecific competition. It was concluded that caecal availability did not set a limit or threshold of infrapopulation density, and in this respect E. crassum–S. trutta differed from some acanthocephalan-fish systems but was similar to others. Heavy infection followed by heavy mortality appeared to be typical of this parasite-host system in other localities, and of several other cestode-fish systems. The implications of this for population regulation are discussed.

Parasitology ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Gemmell ◽  
J. R. Lawson ◽  
M. G. Roberts ◽  
J. F. T. Griffin

SUMMARYA comparison has been made of the interactions between passively transferred and actively acquired immunity in regulating populations ofTaenia hydatigenaandT. ovis.When ewes were grazed prior to parturition under a high infection pressure, immunity was transferred to their offspring for up to 8 weeks. A qualititative difference between the species was the destruction of larvalT. ovisprior to their establishment (‘pre-encystment immunity’) and that ofT. hydatigenaafter they had become established (‘post-encystment immunity’) in the challenged lambs. The major difference in terms of population regulation between the two parasites was that infection occurred withT. hydatigenabut not withT. ovisin those lambs reared from birth for 16 weeks under high infection pressure. Passive, like active immunity, is a density-dependent constraint. It plays an important role in the population regulation ofT. ovis, but not ofT. hydatigena. This is discussed in terms of transmission in the natural environment, an hypothesis on humoral protection and the need to elucidate pathways of protection when immunization schedules are being evaluated for controlling the taeniid zoonoses.


1990 ◽  
Vol 330 (1257) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  

This paper is concerned with the dynamical effects of spatial heterogeneity in host-parasitoid interactions with discrete generations. We show that the dynamical effects of any pattern of distribution of searching parasitoids in such systems can be assessed within a common, simple framework. In particular, we describe an approximate general rule that the populations of hosts and parasitoids will be regulated if the coefficient of variation squared (CV 2 ) of the distribution of searching parasitoids is greater than one. This criterion is shown to apply both generally and in several specific cases. We further show that CV 2 may be partitioned into a density-dependent component (direct or inverse) caused by the response of parasitoids to host density per patch, and a density independent component. Population regulation can be enhanced as much by density independent as by density-dependent heterogeneity. Thus the dynamical effects of any pattern of distribution of searching parasitoids can be assessed within the same common framework. The paradoxical impact of density-independent heterogeneity on dynamics is especially interesting: the greater the density independence, and thus the more scattered the data of percent parasitism against local host density, the more stable the populations are likely to be. Although a detailed analysis of host-parasitoid interactions in continuous time has yet to be done, evidence does not support the suggestion of Murdoch & Oaten (1989) that non-random parasitism may have quite different effects on the dynamics of continuous-time interactions. There appears to be no fundamental difference in the role of heterogeneity in comparable discrete- or continuous-time interactions. A total of 65 data sets from field studies have been analysed, in which percentage parasitism in relation to local host density have been recorded. In each case, estimated values of have been obtained by using a maximum likelihood procedure. The method also allows us to partition the CV 2 into the density dependent and density-independent components mentioned above. In 18 out of the 65 cases, total heterogeneity was at levels sufficient (if typical of the interactions) to stabilize the interacting populations (i.e. CV 2 > 1). Interestingly, in 14 of these it is the host-density-independent heterogeneity that contributes most to the total heterogeneity. Although heterogeneity has often been regarded as a complicating factor in population dynamics that rapidly leads to analytical intractability, this clearly need not necessarily be so. The CV 2 > 1 rule explains the consequences of heterogeneity for population dynamics in terms of a simple description of the heterogeneity itself, and provides a rough rule for predicting the effects of different kinds of heterogeneity on population regulation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 140075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kuparinen ◽  
Jeffrey A. Hutchings

Negative density-dependent regulation of population dynamics promotes population growth at low abundance and is therefore vital for recovery following depletion. Inversely, any process that reduces the compensatory density-dependence of population growth can negatively affect recovery. Here, we show that increased adult mortality at low abundance can reverse compensatory population dynamics into its opposite—a demographic Allee effect. Northwest Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) stocks collapsed dramatically in the early 1990s and have since shown little sign of recovery. Many experienced dramatic increases in natural mortality, ostensibly attributable in some populations to increased predation by seals. Our findings show that increased natural mortality of a magnitude observed for overfished cod stocks has been more than sufficient to fundamentally alter the dynamics of density-dependent population regulation. The demographic Allee effect generated by these changes can slow down or even impede the recovery of depleted populations even in the absence of fishing.


2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (10) ◽  
pp. 1612-1627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Bret ◽  
Hervé Capra ◽  
Véronique Gouraud ◽  
Nicolas Lamouroux ◽  
Jérémy Piffady ◽  
...  

Successful management and protection of wild animal populations relies on good understanding of their life cycles. Because population dynamics depends on intricate interactions of biological and ecological processes at various scales, new approaches are needed that account for the variability of demographic processes and associated parameters in a hierarchy of spatial scales. A hierarchical Bayesian model for the resident brown trout (Salmo trutta) life cycle was built to assess the relative influence of local and general determinants of mortality. The model was fitted to an extensive data set collected in 40 river reaches, combining abundance and environmental data (hydraulics, water temperature). Density-dependent mortality of juveniles increased at low water temperatures and decreased with shelter availability. High water temperature increased density-dependent mortality in adults. The model could help to predict monthly juvenile and adult mortality under scenarios of global warming and changes in shelter availability due to habitat degradation or restoration.


1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (7) ◽  
pp. 1549-1554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick M. Muzzall

Trout (212 brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, and 231 brown trout, Salmo trutta, Salmonidae) were collected from the Au Sable River, Michigan, and examined for parasites between April 1982 and July 1984. One hundred seventy-six brook trout and 153 brown trout were infected with at least one of the following parasites: Crepidostomum cooperi, Neascus sp., Eubothrium sp., Proteocephalus sp., Truttaedacnitis sp., Cystidicoloides tenuissima, Rhabdochona canadensis, Spinitectus gracilis, Epistylis sp., Trichodina sp., and Salmincola edwardsii. Cystidicoloides tenuissima, the most common and abundant species, did not exhibit a pronounced seasonal pattern in prevalence; mean intensity, however, was highest in July 1982, 1983, and 1984 in both trout species. The intensity of C. tenuissima increased as trout became older and then decreased in brook and brown trout 3 and 4 years of age, respectively. Data on the seasonality of S. gracilis and C. cooperi infecting trout are also presented. The muscles of trout were negative for parasites. Over 500 mayfly nymphs (Ephemeroptera) representing at least seven species were examined for parasites. Cystidicoloides tenuissima infected Ephemera simulans. Crepidostomum sp., Rhabdochona sp., and S. gracilis occurred in Hexagenia limbata.


2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franck Cattanéo ◽  
Nicolas Lamouroux ◽  
Pascal Breil ◽  
Hervé Capra

Hydrological and biotic forces constrain brown trout (Salmo trutta) population dynamics, but tests of their role across numerous streams are uncommon. In 30 French stream reaches, using 5–8 samples (1 per year) each, we investigated whether the year-to-year seasonal hydrology influenced annual trout densities within reaches, and whether the relationships were shared by all reaches. We also searched for intraspecific interactions between and within cohorts. Trout data were age class (0+, 1+, and adults) densities. For each year, hydrology was described using 13 variables, each computed for a reproduction, emergence, and growth period related to the biological cycle of trout. We used analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) to test how trout densities at year n – 1 and hydrology at year n influenced trout densities at year n. High flows during emergence significantly reduced the 0+ densities, consistently across the 30 reaches. Then, 1+ and adult densities were linked, respectively, to 0+ and 1+ densities from the previous year. Analyses also revealed density-dependent survival mechanisms for the 0+ cohort, suggesting intracohort competition. Therefore, hydrology constrains trout dynamics only during the critical emergence period, after which intracohort interactions regulate the 0+ density. Such mechanisms, validated across 30 environmentally different reaches, seem to be fundamental to trout population dynamics.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1231-1242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Lobón-Cerviá

The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which, and the conditions under which, density operated on growth in stream-living brown trout (Salmo trutta). Observational data of 14 cohorts at four sites of Rio Chaballos (northwestern Spain) were examined. Consistent relationships between cohort-specific mass versus cohort-specific density and between year-to-year variations in brown trout mass at the end of five successive life stages versus mean densities corroborated one another and provided compelling evidence for the occurrence of density-dependent growth. However, density-dependent patterns varied in nature among sites to the extent that they were site-specific. A further comparison among 12 data sets revealed a smooth negative power trajectory between juvenile mass versus density. This plot suggested that detection of density-dependent growth might be facilitated in low density – high growth populations located at the steep wing relative to high density – slow growth populations. Current results emphasized the importance of density as a factor determining size-at-age and supported its operation as epiphenomena capable to obscure the effects of temperature on growth. The operation of density-dependent growth on numerical regulation of the population is further discussed.


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