scholarly journals Cockle as Second Intermediate Host of Trematode Parasites: Consequences for Sediment Bioturbation and Nutrient Fluxes across the Benthic Interface

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 749
Author(s):  
Anaïs Richard ◽  
Xavier de Montaudouin ◽  
Auriane Rubiello ◽  
Olivier Maire

Trematode parasites are distributed worldwide and can severely impact host populations. However, their influence on ecosystem functioning through the alteration of host engineering behaviours remains largely unexplored. This study focuses on a common host parasite system in marine coastal environments, i.e., the trematode Himasthla elongata, infecting the edible cockle Cerastoderma edule as second intermediate host. A laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate the indirect effects of metacercarial infection on sediment bioturbation and biogeochemical fluxes at the sediment water interface. Our results revealed that, despite high parasite intensity, the sediment reworking and bioirrigation rates, as well as nutrient fluxes, were not impacted. This finding was unexpected since previous studies showed that metacercarial infection impairs the physiological condition of cockles and induces a mechanical obstruction of their feet, thus altering their burrowing capacity. There are several explanations for such contrasting results. Firstly, the alteration of cockle behavior could arise over a longer time period following parasite infection. Secondly, the modulation of cockle bioturbation by parasites could be more pronounced in older specimens burying deeper. Thirdly, the intensity of the deleterious impacts of metacercariae could strongly vary across parasite species. Lastly, metacercarial infection alters cockle fitness through an interaction with other biotic and abiotic environmental stressors.

2011 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Żbikowska

AbstractThe mostly lab-based studies on snail-trematode interactions should be complemented by research on naturally invaded hosts. In this mini-review, three different ways of snail exploitation by Digenea larvae are presented. Morphological, physiological and behavioral changes caused by three parasites in the same naturally infected host – Lymnaea stagnalis – differ in species-dependent fashion. The impact of a snail-trematode interaction depends on parasite virulence (i.e. parasite induced lost of fitness of the host). The pathogenicity varies with the survival strategy of the invader. Sporocyst-born Plagiorchis elegans, which uses the same Lymnaea stagnalis individual as a first but also as a second intermediate host, does not disturb host processes as strongly as redia-born Echinoparyphium aconiatum. The third parasite species – Diplostomum pseudospathaceum, also sporocyst-born – is more virulent than P. elegans, but it can modify and relax host exploitation to overwinter in the snail. The data presented demonstrate that successful use of first intermediate host can be arranged in different ways.


Author(s):  
Miriam Rothschild

If the number of infections with (a) trematode parthenitae and cercariae using Littorina neritoides as first intermediate host only, and (b) encysted metacercariae using L. neritoides as second intermediate host only, are plotted against the size of the snails, two different curves result. The first shows a low rate of infection in the small size groups, but a steep upward slope rising to 91% in the large size groups. The second shows a curve increasing uniformly to 87% infection.Possible interpretations are discussed, and it is concluded that the difference is probably due to the fact that primary infections cause accelerated growth in the host.


Parasitology ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 50 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 551-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Nasir

1. The life cycle of Cotylurus brevis Dubois and Rausch, from the cercaria to the adult, has been investigated for the first time by using laboratory-bred primary, secondary and definitive hosts. The holometabolic metamorphosis with the formation of a tetracotyle stage in a second intermediate host has been described in detail.2. The cercaria of C. brevis obtained from Lymnaea stagnalis in Edgbaston Pool has been found to be identical with Cercaria helvetica XXXIV Dubois from Lake Neuchâtel. The total number of flame cells in the cercaria is twenty, as opposed to the fourteen in the cercaria of Cotylurus cornutus Rudolphi (= ‘Strigea tarda’ described by Mathias (1925), Harper (1929, 1931) and Wesenberg-Lund (1934)).3. In nature the second intermediate host of Cotylurus brevis is Lymnaea stagnalis. Under experimental conditions L. pereger and L. auricularia were also found to act as second intermediate hosts, but neither Planorbis corneus, P. carinatus nor various leeches could act as second intermediate hosts.4. The tetracotyle stage of Cotylurus brevis is morphologically indistinguishable from the corresponding stage of other species of Cotylurus.


Parasitology ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Keymer

SUMMARYAn experimental study of the effects of parasitism by H. diminuta on the intermediate host, Tribolium confusum, is described. No density- dependent constraints on parasite establishment within individual hosts are evident, although a reduction in cysticercoid size at high parasite burdens is demonstrated. The relationship between parasite burden, host mortality and host fecundity is investigated. Host mortality is linearly related to parasite burden, whereas the relationship between parasite burden and host fecundity is non-linear. There is no difference in viability between eggs from infected and uninfected females. The generative causes of these effects are not investigated experimentally, although it is postulated that survival is related to the degree of damage to the midgut wall caused by parasite penetration, and fecundity to the biomass of parasites harboured by the host. The significance of these effects is discussed in relation to the overall dynamics of the host-parasite association.


Parasitology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 147 (6) ◽  
pp. 643-658
Author(s):  
Luísa Magalhães ◽  
Guillemine Daffe ◽  
Rosa Freitas ◽  
Xavier de Montaudouin

AbstractThe most deleterious stage of a trematode life cycle occurs in the first intermediate host where the parasite penetrates as a miracidium and asexually multiplicates in sporocysts or rediae. When infection advances, other organs can be occupied with severe effects on host individual health and population dynamics. Existing studies focused on these host/parasite systems are still scarce due to the usual low prevalence in ecosystems. Using cockles (Cerastoderma spp.) and two trematode species (Monorchis parvus and Gymnophallus choledochus) infecting these bivalves as first and second intermediate host, the present work aimed to (1) summarize the most relevant literature and (2) provide new information regarding this host/parasite system, taking advantage of a 21-year monthly database from Banc d'Arguin (France). This long-term monitoring showed that different trematode species display varying host size range preference (6–38 and 31–36 mm for M. parvus and G. choledochus, respectively). The occurrence of coinfection was lower than expected, raising some questions related to parasite interspecific competition. This review improved our understanding of the processes shaping the prevalence and distribution of parasitism. This study highlighted that beyond constant trematode assemblage monitoring, there is a need to identify the main predictors of rediae/sporocysts infection, such as the definitive host dynamics and miracidium infection processes, for future better management of host severe disease and mortality episodes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Schwelm ◽  
O. Kudlai ◽  
N.J. Smit ◽  
C. Selbach ◽  
B. Sures

Abstract Bithynids snails are a widespread group of molluscs in European freshwater systems. However, not much information is available on trematode communities from molluscs of this family. Here, we investigate the trematode diversity of Bithynia tentaculata, based on molecular and morphological data. A total of 682 snails from the rivers Lippe and Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and 121 B. tentaculata from Curonian Lagoon, Lithuania were screened for infections with digeneans. In total, B. tentaculata showed a trematode prevalence of 12.9% and 14%, respectively. The phylogenetic analyses based on 55 novel sequences for 36 isolates demonstrated a high diversity of digeneans. Analyses of the molecular and morphological data revealed a species-rich trematode fauna, comprising 20 species, belonging to ten families. Interestingly, the larval trematode community of B. tentaculata shows little overlap with the well-studied trematode fauna of lymnaeids and planorbids, and some of the detected species (Echinochasmus beleocephalus and E. coaxatus) constitute first records for B. tentaculata in Central Europe. Our study revealed an abundant, diverse and distinct trematode fauna in B. tentaculata, which highlights the need for further research on this so far understudied host–parasite system. Therefore, we might currently be underestimating the ecological roles of several parasite communities of non-pulmonate snail host families in European fresh waters.


1991 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. de Bont ◽  
J. Vercruysse ◽  
D. van Aken ◽  
V. R. Southgate ◽  
D. Rollinson

ABSTRACTInfectivity and cercarial production of Indoplanorbis exustus related to variation of miracidial dose (1, 4, 10 or 20) with Schistosoma nasale and S. spindale from Sri Lanka were studied. The intermediate host-parasite relationships of the two schistosome species showed marked differences under the conditions of observation recorded in this study. Prepatent death rates (PDR) were on average higher for S. spindale (30%) than for S. nasale (10%). The size of the miracidial dose to which snails had been exposed had no effect on PDR. The infection rates (IR) were on average higher for S. nasale (41%) compared with S. spindale (27%). Highest IR occurred after exposure to 4 miracidia in S. nasale infections (79%) and after exposure to 10 miracidia in S. spindale infections (6O%). The highest daily average cercarial production per snail was recorded for S. nasale at a level of 4 miracidia (1311), and for S. spindale at a level of 10 miracidia (1615). At low level (1 or 4 miracidia) of exposure, I. exustus showed a better compatibility with S. nasale than with S. spindale. An opposite tendency was observed at higher levels (10 or 20 miracidia) of exposure. Unsuccessful infections of Lymnaea luteola with either S. nasale or S. spindale indicate that this species is not involved in transmission.


Parasitology ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 50 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 323-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. P. Pande ◽  
S. S. Ahluwalia ◽  
J. S. Srivastava

The last twenty-five years have witnessed an increasing output of significant work in this country on the trematode parasites of a number of wild birds, including aquatic species. These studies, which are mostly faunistic, and can be said to have commenced in 1926, when Bhalerao (1926) described from Burma (then a province of India) the flukes of the house crow, deal primarily with a large number of representative species of nearly twenty families of Digenea. Of these families, species assignable to the Clinostomidae Lühe, 1901, the Cyathocotylidae Poche, 1926, the Cyclocoelidae Kossack, 1911, the Diplostomidae Poirier, 1886, the Echinostomatidae Poche, 1926, the Notocotylidae Lühe, 1909, the Opisthorchiidae Braun, 1901, and the Strigeidae Railliet, 1919, were encountered in a survey conducted to assess the nature of helminthic infections in wild aquatic birds of the Mathura area.


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