Publications by authors named "Viktor Mikheev"

Temperature and intraspecific competition are important factors influencing the growth of all organisms, including parasites. The temperature increase is suggested to stimulate the development of parasites within poikilothermic hosts. However, at high parasite densities, this effect could be diminished, due to stronger intraspecific competition.

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Article Synopsis
  • Previous studies suggest that predator removal of parasite stages plays a key role in controlling parasite transmission in aquatic environments, but research on zooplankton eating macroparasite larvae is limited.
  • In experiments, several types of freshwater zooplankton, including cyclopoids and calanoids, were found to consume trematode cercariae, with cyclopoids showing the highest feeding rates and maintaining reproductive success on this diet.
  • The negative effects of cercariae on rotifers and cladocerans (high mortality rates and physical damage) highlight important interactions in freshwater ecosystems that may impact food webs and parasite transmission dynamics.
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Harmful infections by ectoparasites of the genus Argulus occur repeatedly in freshwater fish farming operations where the management has largely been ineffective. Preventative methods and regular monitoring are rarely applied, so that chemical interventions become necessary. According to the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, a sustainable management or control program for a parasite should be based on knowledge of the ecology of the parasite along with adoption of several prevention and control methods, the application of which is dependent upon the prevailing infection level.

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Feeding rate and behaviour of juvenile roach in a non-depleting patch consisting of Daphnia magna of two size classes (optimal and much smaller) were studied in 20-min experiments. The medium size group (standard length 26-28 mm), large (28-32 mm), and small (24-26 mm) fish differed significantly in the proportion of small prey eaten. During a short initial period of burst feeding (1-5 min) only large prey were selected by all fish.

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