The role of parasites can change depending on the food web community. Predators, for instance, can amplify or dilute parasite effects on their hosts. Likewise, exposure to parasites or predators at one life stage can have long-term consequences on individual performance and survival, which can influence population and disease dynamics. To understand how predators affect amphibian parasite infections across life stages, we manipulated exposure of northern leopard frog () tadpoles to three predators (crayfish [], bluegill [], or mosquitofish []) and to trematode parasites ( spp.) in mesocosms and followed juveniles in outdoor terrestrial enclosures through overwintering. Parasites and predators both had strong impacts on metamorphosis with bluegill and parasites individually reducing metamorph survival. However, when fish were present, the negative effects of parasites on survival was not apparent, likely because fish altered community composition via increased algal food resources. Bluegill also reduced snail abundance, which could explain reduced abundance of parasites in surviving metamorphs. Bluegill and parasite exposure increased mass at metamorphosis, which increased metamorph jumping, swimming, and feeding performance, suggesting that larger frogs would experience better terrestrial survival. Effects on size at metamorphosis persisted in the terrestrial environment but did not influence overwintering survival. Based on our results, we constructed stage-structured population models to evaluate the lethal and sublethal effects of bluegill and parasites on population dynamics. Our models suggested that positive effects of bluegill and parasites on body size may have greater effects on population growth than the direct effects of mortality. This study illustrates how predators can alter the outcome of parasitic infections and highlights the need for long-term experiments that investigate how changes in host-parasite systems alter population dynamics. We show that some predators reduce parasite effects and have indirect positive effects on surviving individuals potentially increasing host population persistence.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9512 | DOI Listing |
Biology (Basel)
January 2025
Fish Health Division, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
A new species of (Ceratomyxidae, Myxosporea) was found infecting the gall bladder of the Argentine croaker Berg 1895 (Sciaenidae, Perciformes) from the Argentine sea. Using an integrative taxonomic approach that combines morphological, bioecological, and molecular analyses, we provide evidence that clearly differentiates this species from known taxa and formally describe as a new species. This study is the first to apply landmark-based geometric morphometrics (GM) in myxozoan research, providing a detailed analysis of conspecific morphometric variation of ceratomyxid myxospores, examining their natural variation within and among different ceratomyxids infecting the gall bladder of .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParasite
January 2025
National Engineering Research Center of Marine Facilities Aquaculture, Marine Science and Technology College, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang 316022, PR China.
The aim of this study was to clarify the taxonomic identification of a hemoflagellate and assess the effect of trypanosome infection on Larimichthys crocea. Giemsa staining showed the presence of three morphotypes of trypomastigotes. The trypanosomes had the following morphological characteristics: a slender body with a long flagellum at the front; body size 12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Parasitol
January 2025
Departamento de Parasitologia Animal, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, RJ, 23897-000, Brazil.
Introduction: Copepods of the genus Colobomatus Hesse, 1873 are parasites associated with subcutaneous spaces of marine fish. To date, around 76 species of the genus have been described in marine ecosystems, but few species have been recorded in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Methods: One hundred and eight specimens of Co.
Mar Biotechnol (NY)
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Healthy Mariculture for the East China Sea, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Jimei University, Xiamen, China.
Large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) is facing various threats from bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases, especially scuticociliate. Scuticociliate is a facultative parasite causing high mortality in various marine fishes. In this study, an artificial scuticociliate infection model was successfully established for large yellow croaker.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Vet Res
January 2025
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, 12211, Egypt.
This study aimed to evaluate alternative in vivo treatment trials using natural products for ectoparasitic infestation on Nile tilapia; these two products were not previously used in the treatment of parasitic fish diseases. So, a total of 400 Oreochromis niloticus (O. niloticus) fish measured 10-15 cm in length; 350 from a fish farm in (Kafr Elsheikh and 50 from Nile River (Al Bahr Al Aazam), Egypt.
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