Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-lvwk9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-06T17:21:15.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Asymmetric reproductive output by the monogenean Pseudodiplorchis americanus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

K. Tocque  and
R. C. Tinsley
K. Tocque
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London University, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
R. C. Tinsley
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London University, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Pseudodiplorchis americanus accumulates its entire reproductive output in utero during hibernation of its host, Scaphiopus couchii. Infective larvae are released only during the toads' brief entry into water for breeding. In one host population studied prior to transmission, in S.E. Arizona, adult worms contained 0–326 infective stages; 19% of 178 worms produced 51% of the total larvae. Reproductive output was positively correlated with body length which was considered to reflect worm age; first-, second- and third-year worms produced means of 5, 43 and 96 larvae, respectively. Within second- and third-year cohorts, there was a density-dependent reduction in offspring numbers. Under controlled laboratory conditions, the mean rate of offspring accumulation during the first 6 months of development was significantly reduced only in burdens in excess of those found naturally (36–68 worms). In older parasites, a density-dependent reduction in the mean accumulation rate occurred in burdens of 20–32 worms, where 88% of parasites produced offspring at less than half the maximum rate. The asymmetry in individual reproductive output increased with competition and there were significant reductions in the median rates of offspring accumulation at smaller burdens (17–25 and 5–14 worms, in experimental and natural infections, respectively) than evident from decreases in the mean. Thus, individual variation is a more sensitive measure of competition than is the mean.

Keywords

Pseudodiplorchis americanusMonogeneaage-specific reproductive outputdensity dependence
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 102 , Issue 2 , April 1991 , pp. 213 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Begon, M. (1984.) Density and individual fitness: Asymmetric competition. In Evolutionary Biology (ed. Shorrocks, B.), pp. 175–94. Symposium of the British Ecological Society. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Combes, C.(1972). Ecologie des Polystomatidae (Monogenea): Facteurs influençant le volume et le rhythme de la ponte. International Journal for Parasitology 2, 233–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, A. P. (1986). Inequalities in the individual reproductive success of parasites. Parasitology 92, 675–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallien, L. (1935). Recherches expérimentales sur la dimorphisme évolutif et la biologie de Polystoma integerrimum Frohl. Travaux du Station de Zoologie, Wimereux 12, 1–18.Google Scholar
Jackson, H. C. & Tinsley, R. C.(1988 a). Environmental influences on egg production by the monogenean Protopolystoma xenopodis. Parasitology 97, 115–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, H. C. & Tinsley, R. C. (1988 b). The capacity for viable egg production by the monogenean Protopolystoma xenopodis in single and multiple infections. International Journal for Parasitology 18, 585–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1986). The eggs of monogeneans. Advances in Parasitology 25, 175–273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClanahan, L. Jr (1967). Adaptations of the spadefoot toad, Scaphiopus couchii, to desert environments. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 20, 73–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szalai, A. J. & Dick, T. A. (1989). Differences in mass and fecundity during the egg-producing period for Raphidascaris acus (Nematoda: Anisakidae). Parasitology 98, 489–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinsley, R. C. (1983). Ovoviviparity in platyhelminth life-cycles. Parasitology 86, 161–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tinsley, R. C. (1989). The effects of host sex on transmission success. Parasitology Today 5, 192–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tinsley, R. C. & Earle, C. (1983). Invasion of vertebrate lungs by the polystomatid monogeneans Pseudodiplorchis americanus and Neodiplorchis scaphiopodis. Parasitology 86, 501–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinsley, R. C. & Jackson, H. C. (1986). Intestinal migration in the life-cycle of Pseudodiplorchis americanus (Monogenea). Parasitology 93, 451–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinsley, R. C. & Jackson, H. C. (1988). Pulsed transmission of Pseudodiplorchis americanus (Monogenea) between desert hosts (Scaphiopus couchii). Parasitology 97, 437–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tocque, K. (1990). The reproductive strategy of a monogenean parasite in a desert environment. Ph.D. thesis, London University.Google Scholar