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Parasites pitched against nature: Pitch Lake water protects guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from microbial and gyrodactylid infections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2012

BETTINA SCHELKLE ,
RYAN S. MOHAMMED ,
MICHAEL P. COOGAN ,
MARK McMULLAN ,
EMMA L. GILLINGHAM ,
COCK VAN OOSTERHOUT  and
JOANNE CABLE
BETTINA SCHELKLE
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
RYAN S. MOHAMMED
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies
MICHAEL P. COOGAN
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
MARK McMULLAN
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
EMMA L. GILLINGHAM
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
COCK VAN OOSTERHOUT
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
JOANNE CABLE*
Affiliation:
School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
*
*Corresponding author: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK. Tel: + + 44 (0) 20 298 76022. Fax: +44 (0)29 208 74116. E-mail: cablej@cardiff.ac.uk
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Summary

The enemy release hypothesis proposes that in parasite depleted habitats, populations will experience relaxed selection and become more susceptible (or less tolerant) to pathogenic infections. Here, we focus on a population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) that are found in an extreme environment (the Pitch Lake, Trinidad) and examine whether this habitat represents a refuge from parasites. We investigated the efficacy of pitch in preventing microbial infections in Pitch Lake guppies, by exposing them to dechlorinated water, and reducing gyrodactylid infections on non-Pitch Lake guppies by transferring them to Pitch Lake water. We show that (i) natural prevalence of ectoparasites in the Pitch Lake is low compared to reference populations, (ii) Pitch Lake guppies transferred into aquarium water develop microbial infections, and (iii) experimentally infected guppies are cured of their gyrodactylid infections both by natural Pitch Lake water and by dechlorinated water containing solid pitch. These results indicate a role for Pitch Lake water in the defence of guppies from their parasites and suggest that Pitch Lake guppies might have undergone enemy release in this extreme environment. The Pitch Lake provides an ideal ecosystem for studies on immune gene evolution in the absence of parasites and long-term evolutionary implications of hydrocarbon pollution for vertebrates.

Keywords

antihelminthicasphaltPitch LakeGyrodactylusPoecilia reticulataenemy release
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 139 , Issue 13 , November 2012 , pp. 1772 - 1779
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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