Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T04:23:19.703Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Possible evidence for mortality induced by the parasite Apatemon gracilis in a population of brook sticklebacks (Culaea inconstans)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

D. M. Gordon  and
M. E. Rau
D. M. Gordon
Affiliation:
Institute of Parasitology, McGill UniversityMacdonald College, Ste Anne de Bellevue, P.Q. Canada H9X 1C0
M. E. Rau
Affiliation:
Institute of Parasitology, McGill UniversityMacdonald College, Ste Anne de Bellevue, P.Q. Canada H9X 1C0
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Regular samples made on the 1978 cohort of brook sticklebacks (Culaea inconstans) from a swamp in Ile Perrot, Quebec, Canada were examined for Apatemon gracilis metacercariae. The prevalence of the parasite rapidly reached 100% in the fish population. The mean parasite burden increased from zero to a plateau of about 44 parasites/fish. Over-dispersion of the frequency distribution of parasites in the fish host, as measured by variance to mean ratios, increased to a peak and then decreased significantly while the mean parasite burden remained constant. The effects of parasite burden on the survival of the stickleback host are discussed, as well as the validity of the use of changes in over-dispersion for demonstrating parasite-induced mortality.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 84 , Issue 1 , February 1982 , pp. 41 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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

Anderson, R. M. (1974). Population dynamics of the cestode Caryophyllaeus laticeps (Pallas, 1781) in the bream (Abramis brama (L.)). Journal of Animal Ecology 43, 305–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crofton, H. D. (1971). A quantitative approach to parasitism. Parasitology 62, 179–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lester, R. J. G. (1977). An estimate of the mortality in a population of Perca flavescens owing to the trematode Diplostomum adamsi. Canadian Journal of Zoology 55, 288–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennycuick, L. (1971). Quantitative effects of three species of parasites on a population of three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus L. Journal of Zoology 165, 143–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rau, M. E. & Gordon, D. M. (1978). The frequency distribution of tetracotyles of Apatemon gracilis pellucidus (Yamaguti, 1933) in stickleback Culaea inconstans (Kirtland) population of homogeneous age and size structure. Journal of Fish Diseases 1, 259–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokal, R. R. & Rohlf, F. J. (1969). Biometry. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company.Google Scholar