scholarly journals Does moving up a food chain increase aggregation in parasites?

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (118) ◽  
pp. 20160102 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. G. Lester ◽  
R. McVinish
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic Model ◽  
Trophic Level ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Feeding Behaviour ◽  
Parasite Species ◽  
Fish Parasites ◽  
Data Points ◽  
Parasite Aggregation ◽  
High Parasite ◽  
Chain Increase

General laws in ecological parasitology are scarce. Here, we evaluate data on numbers of fish parasites published by over 200 authors to determine whether acquiring parasites via prey is associated with an increase in parasite aggregation. Parasite species were grouped taxonomically to produce 20 or more data points per group as far as possible. Most parasites that remained at one trophic level were less aggregated than those that had passed up a food chain. We use a stochastic model to show that high parasite aggregation in predators can be solely the result of the accumulation of parasites in their prey. The model is further developed to show that a change in the predators feeding behaviour with age may further increase parasite aggregation.

scholarly journals Asymptotic Behavior Analysis for a Three-Species Food Chain Stochastic Model with Regime Switching

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Junmei Liu ◽  
Yonggang Ma
Keyword(s):  
Asymptotic Behavior ◽  
Lyapunov Function ◽  
Stochastic Model ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Behavior Analysis ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Regime Switching ◽  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Stationary Distributions ◽  
Theoretical Results

This paper discusses the asymptotic behavior of a class of three-species stochastic model with regime switching. Using the Lyapunov function, we first obtain sufficient conditions for extinction and average time persistence. Then, we prove sufficient conditions for the existence of stationary distributions of populations, and they are ergodic. Numerical simulations are carried out to support our theoretical results.

TOXICITY AND BIOACCUMULATION OF SELENIUM TO A THREE–TROPHIC LEVEL FOOD CHAIN

1996 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Dobbs ◽  
Donald S. Cherry ◽  
John Cairns Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Trophic Level ◽  
Food Chain

scholarly journals A food chain ecoepidemic model: Infection at the bottom trophic level

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 233-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra De Rossi ◽  
Francesco Lisa ◽  
Luca Rubini ◽  
Alberto Zappavigna ◽  
Ezio Venturino
Keyword(s):  
Trophic Level ◽  
Food Chain

Feeding behaviour of the kelp clingfish Rimicola muscarum residing on the kelp Macrocystis integrifolia

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 711-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Roland
Keyword(s):  
Food Chain ◽  
Feeding Behaviour ◽  
Black Rockfish ◽  
Harpacticoid Copepods ◽  
Macrocystis Integrifolia ◽  
Sebastes Melanops

The feeding behaviour of the kelp clingfish Rimicola muscarum Meek and Pierson residing on the blades of the kelp Macrocystis integrifolia Bory was described. The fish seized small invertebrates, mainly harpacticoid copepods, which were closely associated with the kelp blades. A four-step food chain involving R. muscarum was qualitatively determined. Diatoms epiphytic on the kelp blades were grazed by harpacticoid copepods. These and other small invertebrates were captured by the clingfish, which in turn was eaten by the black rockfish, Sebastes melanops, and the shiner perch, Cymatogaster aggregata.

Stable carbon isotopic analysis of amino acids in a simplified food chain consisting of the green alga Chlorella spp., the calanoid copepod Calanus sinicus, and the Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus)

2018 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai-zhen Liu ◽  
Lin Luo ◽  
De-ling Cai
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Green Alga ◽  
Trophic Level ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Calanoid Copepod ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Japanese Anchovy ◽  
Calanus Sinicus ◽  
Engraulis Japonicus ◽  
Green Alga Chlorella

Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus Temminck and Schlegel, 1846) is a keystone species in the food web of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea ecosystem. To study nutrient flow at intermediate and lower trophic levels, a controlled feeding experiment was carried out on a simplified food chain of the green alga Chlorella Beijerinck, 1890 – the calanoid copepod Calanus sinicus Brodsky, 1962 – E. japonicus. For the whole organism, bulk δ13C was found to be enriched with escalating trophic level, although the intertrophic gap in δ13C was slightly lower than the commonly reported 1.5‰ per increase in level. Furthermore, 15 amino acids (AAs) were detected in the studied organisms. Among them, the δ13C values of 12 AAs were determined and were found to exhibit diverse patterns of variation. The δ13C levels of essential AAs changed very little and were highly correlated across trophic levels, indicating that they underwent little trophic fractionation and were mainly ingested by the consumers from the proteins in their food. In contrast, the δ13C values of nonessential AAs differed greatly across trophic levels, indicating that the nonessential AAs in consumers were synthesized de novo from food proteins. The fractionation pattern of nonessential AAs may depend on the carbon pool and the AA composition of the organism at the lower trophic level.

Explaining parasite aggregation: more than one parasite species at a time

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Morrill ◽  
Felipe Dargent ◽  
Mark R. Forbes
Keyword(s):  
Parasite Species ◽  
Parasite Aggregation

Food Chain Structure in Ontario Lakes Determines PCB Levels in Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and Other Pelagic Fish

1990 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 2030-2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Rasmussen ◽  
D. J. Rowan ◽  
D. R. S. Lean ◽  
J. H. Carey
Keyword(s):  
Trophic Level ◽  
Lipid Content ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Organic Contaminants ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Chain Structure ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Species Introductions ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
Glacial Relict

The trophic structure of pelagic communities in lakes of glaciated regions is highly variable due to restricted dispersal of glacial relict taxa and recent species introductions. Much of the enormous between-lake variability in PCB levels in lake trout flesh (15–10 000 ng/g) from the St. Lawrence system results from differences in the length of pelagic food chains. Ontario Ministry of the Environment data (1978–81) on PCB concentrations in lake trout flesh indicate that PCB concentrations increased with the length of the food chain and tissue lipid content, and decreased with distance north of urban-industrial centres. Each trophic level contributed about a 3.5-fold biomagnification factor to the PCB concentrations in the trout, and the lipid content of the trout flesh increased by a factor of 1.5 for each additional trophic level. An empirical model capable of predicting PCB levels in pelagic salmonids and forage fish (smelt and coregonids) indicated that biomagnification of small atmospheric inputs of persistent lipophilic contaminants can explain the frequent occurrence of high levels of contaminants in some biota from remote areas, and that species introductions that lengthen food chains will lead to significant increases in levels of atmospherically dispersed persistent organic contaminants in top predators.

scholarly journals An annotated list of fish parasites (Copepoda, Monogenea, Digenea, Cestoda and Nematoda) collected from Emperors and Emperor Bream (Lethrinidae) in New Caledonia further highlights parasite biodiversity estimates on coral reef fish

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2691 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEAN-LOU JUSTINE ◽  
IAN BEVERIDGE ◽  
GEOFFREY A. BOXSHALL ◽  
ROD A. BRAY ◽  
FRANTIŠEK MORAVEC ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Reef Fish ◽  
Fish Species ◽  
Coral Reef Fish ◽  
Parasite Species ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Fish Parasites ◽  
Parasite Biodiversity ◽  
Host Parasite

Parasites were collected from 17 species of emperors and emperor bream (Lethrinidae) in the waters off New Caledonia, South Pacific. Host-parasite and parasite-hosts lists are provided, with a total of 188 host-parasite combinations (11 per fish species), including 81 identifications at the species level. A total of 52 parasites were identified at the species level, and 40 new host records were found. Results are presented for larval isopods, copepods (16 species), monogeneans (24), digeneans (27), cestodes (11) and nematodes (10). When results were restricted to the four best-sampled fish species for which more than 30 specimens were examined, the number of host-parasite combinations was 22.25 per fish species, and the number of parasite taxa identified at the species level was 9.5 per fish species. From these data, the total number of metazoan parasite species predicted from all lethrinid species of New Caledonia, based on a classification of fish sizes using length in three categories, is 340, i.e. 13 per fish species. A biogeographical comparison with Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef (Queensland, Australia) was possible only for a single fish species, Lethrinus miniatus: in a total of 65 host-parasite combinations, only five taxa identified at the species level (three monogeneans and two digeneans) were shared at both localities. Parasite biodiversity in lethrinids was of similar magnitude to that in groupers (Serranidae Epinephelinae) in the same area, and this study confirms a previous prediction of 10 parasite species per coral reef fish species. Although this study required significant sampling and identification, we estimate that only 13% of the parasites of lethrinids are known in New Caledonia.

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