No time to relax: Age-dependent infectivity of cercariae in marine coastal ecosystems.

Age dynamics of the ability of cercariae of two digenean species, (Himasthlidae) and (Renicolidae), to infect the second intermediate host (SIH), mussels (), was investigated experimentally. This is the first study of this kind made on cercariae transmitted in the intertidal of the northern seas. The larvae of all tested ages (from 0.

A month for the mission: using a sentinel approach to determine the transmission window of digenean cercariae in the subarctic White Sea.

In the digenean life cycle the cercaria ensures an important transmission stage, from the first intermediate host to the second or the definitive host. In regions with pronounced seasonality, this process occurs within a certain interval, the transmission window. In high latitudes, the size of transmission window has previously been determined only by comparing data on seasonal dynamics of infection level in various categories of hosts or extrapolating the results of laboratory experiments on cercarial biology to natural conditions.