Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-thh2z Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-15T12:32:22.312Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trematode infection correlates with shell shape and defence morphology in a freshwater snail

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2005

E. P. LEVRI ,
J. DILLARD  and
T. MARTIN
E. P. LEVRI
Affiliation:
Division of Math and Sciences, 3000 Ivyside Park, Penn State – Altoona, Altoona, PA 16601, USA
J. DILLARD
Affiliation:
Division of Math and Sciences, 3000 Ivyside Park, Penn State – Altoona, Altoona, PA 16601, USA
T. MARTIN
Affiliation:
Division of Math and Sciences, 3000 Ivyside Park, Penn State – Altoona, Altoona, PA 16601, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Parasitism often influences the phenotype of individuals. Many of the resulting changes are due to changes in resource allocation that come with infection. Here we examine the effect of a trematode parasite on the shape and defence morphology of a New Zealand freshwater snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum. The trematode Microphallus sp. asexually produces hundreds of metacercarial cysts in the snail. The length, width and 2-dimensional area of each snail were measured. Snails were also assessed for their degree of spininess. Snails were dissected to determine gender, brooding condition and parasitism. Snails infected with Microphallus sp. were found to be significantly less spiny than uninfected snails. Microphallus-infected snails were also found to have a significantly greater width to length ratio at larger sizes than their uninfected counterparts. These trends could be explained in at least 3 ways. (1) Infection causes the snails to not produce spines and to become wider. (2) Spiny and narrower snails are more likely to die when they become infected. (3) Spiny and narrower snails are more resistant to infection. The changes in phenotype observed are unlikely to be adaptive for either the host or parasite and probably represent physiological by-products of the host-parasite relationship.

Keywords

Potamopyrgus antipodarumMicrophallustrematodeshell morphologyspines
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 130 , Issue 6 , June 2005 , pp. 699 - 708
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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

APPLETON, R. D. & PALMER, A. R. ( 1988). Water-borne stimuli released by predatory crabs and damaged prey induce more predator-resistant shells in a marine gastropod. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 85, 4387–4391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BALLABENI, P. ( 1995). Parasite-induced gigantism in a snail: a host adaptation? Functional Ecology 9, 887–893.Google Scholar
BRUSCA, R. C. & BRUSCA, G. J. ( 2003). Invertebrates, 2nd Edn. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.
CREWS, A. E. & YOSHING, T. P. ( 1989). Schistosoma mansoni – effect of infection on reproduction and gonadal growth in Biomphalaria glabrata. Experimental Parasitology 68, 302–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FERNANDEZ, J. & ESCH, G. W. ( 1991). Effect of parasitism on the growth rate of the pulmonate snail Helisoma anceps. Journal of Parasitology 77, 937–944.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JOKELA, J. & LIVELY, C. M. ( 1995 a). Spatial variation for infection by digenetic trematodes in a population of freshwater snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). Oecologia 103, 509–517.Google Scholar
JOKELA, J. & LIVELY, C. M. ( 1995 b). Parasites, sex, and early reproduction in a mixed population of freshwater snails. Evolution 49, 1268–1271.Google Scholar
KRIST, A. C. ( 1998). The effects of parasites and predators on the life-history and morphology of freshwater snails. Ph.D. Dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
KRIST, A. C. ( 2000). Effect of the digenean parasite Proterometra macrostoma on host morphology in the freshwater snail Elimia livescens. Journal of Parasitology 86, 262–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KRIST, A. C. ( 2002). Crayfish induce a defensive shell shape in a freshwater snail. Invertebrate Biology 121, 235–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KRIST, A. C. & LIVELY, C. M. ( 1998). Experimental exposure of juvenile snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) to infection by trematode larvae (Microphallus sp.): infectivity, fecundity compensation and growth. Oecologia 116, 575–582.Google Scholar
LEVRI, E. P. ( 1998 a). The influence of non-host predators on parasite-induced behavioural changes in a freshwater snail. Oikos 81, 531–537.Google Scholar
LEVRI, E. P. ( 1998 b). Perceived predation risk, parasitism and the foraging behaviour of a freshwater snail. Canadian Journal of Zoology 76, 1878–1884.Google Scholar
LEVRI, E. P. ( 1999). Parasite-induced changes in host behaviour of a freshwater snail: manipulation or byproduct of parasitism. Behavioural Ecology 10, 234–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LEVRI, E. P. & FISHER, L. ( 2000). The effect of a trematode (Microphallus sp.) on the response of the freshwater snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum to light and gravity. Behaviour 137, 1141–1151.Google Scholar
LEVRI, E. P. & LIVELY, C. M. ( 1996). The effects of size, reproductive condition, and parasitism on the foraging behaviour in a freshwater snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum. Animal Behaviour 51, 891–901.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LIVELY, C. M. ( 1987). Evidence from a New Zealand snail for the maintenance of sex by parasitism. Nature, London 328, 519–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LIVELY, C. M. & DYBDAHL, M. F. ( 2000). Parasite adaptation to locally common host genotypes. Nature, London 405, 679–681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCARTHY, H. O., FITZPATRICK, S. M. & IRWIN, S. W. B. ( 2004). Parasite alteration of host shape: a quantitative approach to gigantism helps elucidate evolutionary advantages. Parasitology 128, 7–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MINCHELLA, K. J. ( 1985). Host life-history variation in response to parasitism. Parasitology 90, 205–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MOORE, J. ( 2002). Parasitism and the Behaviour of Animals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
MOURITSEN, K. N. & JENSEN, K. T. ( 1994). The enigma of gigantism: effect of larval trematodes on growth, fecundity, egestion and locomotion in Hydrobia ulvae (Pennant) (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 181, 53–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
POULIN, R. & THOMAS, F. ( 1999). Phenotypic variability induced by parasites: extent and evolutionary implications. Parasitology Today 15, 28–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROTHSCHILD, A. & ROTHSCHILD, M. ( 1939). Some observations on the growth of Peringia ulvae (Pennant) ( 1777) in the laboratory. Novitates Zoologicae 41, 240–247.Google Scholar
SOUSA, W. P. ( 1983). Host life-history and the effect of parasitic castration on growth: a field study of Cerithidea californica Haldeman (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia) and its trematode parasites. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 73, 273–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
THOMPSON, S. N. ( 1990). Physiological alterations during parasitism and their effects on host behaviour. In Parasitism and Host Behaviour (ed. Barnard, C. J. & Behnke, J. M.), pp. 193–233. Taylor and Francis, London.
VERMEIJ, G. J. ( 1993). A Natural History of Shells. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
WINTERBOURN, M. ( 1970). The New Zealand species of Potamopyrgus (Gastropoda: Hydrobidae). Malacologia 10, 283–321.Google Scholar
WINTERBOURN, M. ( 1974). Larval Trematoda parasitizing the New Zealand species of Potamopyrgus (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae). Mauri Ora 2, 17–30.Google Scholar
ZUK, M. ( 1992). The role of parasites in sexual selection: current evidence and future directions. Advances in the Study of Behaviour 21, 39–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar