Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-02T18:49:18.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Composition and diversity patterns in metazoan parasite communities and anthropogenic disturbance in stream ecosystems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2006

A. D. HERNANDEZ ,
J. F. BUNNELL  and
M. V. K. SUKHDEO
A. D. HERNANDEZ
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, and Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution, Rutgers – The State University, 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA
J. F. BUNNELL
Affiliation:
Pinelands Commission, P.O. Box 7, New Lisbon, New Jersey 08064, USA
M. V. K. SUKHDEO
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, and Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution, Rutgers – The State University, 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The composition and diversity of metazoan parasite communities in naturally depauperate ecosystems are rarely studied. This study describes the composition of helminth endoparasite communities infecting fish that are part of naturally acidic stream ecosystems in the coastal-plains region of the State of New Jersey (USA) known as the Pinelands, and compares the diversity of parasites between six streams that differ in anthropogenic disturbance. A total of 514 fish were examined representing 6 species native but restricted to the Pinelands region, 5 species native and widespread throughout the region and State, and 6 species introduced to the Pinelands and State. Fish (prevalence: 78%) were infected with 18 helminth endoparasite species. In most streams, prevalence of infection, mean abundance, and total number of individuals for the 5 most common parasites were higher in pirate perch, a native fish species. The diversity of helminth endoparasite communities measured as species richness and Shannon index was higher in degraded streams, and especially in native or introduced fish at these sites. Parasite diversity was positively correlated with anthropogenic disturbance, which was measured by water pH, water conductance, and the proportion of agricultural and developed land surrounding streams. Helminth community composition included parasites intimately tied to trophic interactions in food webs, and disturbance to these ecosystems results in changes to these communities. Understanding structure and function of animal communities from these naturally depauperate ecosystems is important before continued anthropogenic changes result in the extirpation or extinction of their unique fauna.

Keywords

black waterscoastal plainscommunity structuredegradationparasitismPinelandsNew Jersey
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 134 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 91 - 102
Copyright
© 2006 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

Adams, S. B., Warren Jr., M. L. and Haag, W. R. ( 2004). Spatial and temporal patterns in fish assemblages of upper coastal plain streams, Mississippi, USA. Hydrobiologia 528, 45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aho, J. M. and Bush, A. O. ( 1993). Community richness in parasites of some freshwater fishes from North America. In Species Diversity in Ecological Communities (ed. Ricklefs, R. E. and Schluter, D.), pp. 185–193. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Barber, I., Hoare, D. and Krause, J. ( 2000). Effects of parasites on fish behaviour: a review and evolutionary perspective. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 10, 131–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A. O., Lafferty, K. D., Lotz, J. M. and Shostak, A. W. ( 1997). Parasitology meets ecology on its own terms: Margolis et al. revisited. Journal of Parasitology 83, 575–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chubb, J. C. ( 1963). On the characterization of the parasite fauna of the fish of Lynn Tegid. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 141, 609–621.Google Scholar
Cooper, E. L. ( 1983). Fishes of Pennsylvania and the Northeastern United States. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, USA.
Daniel, W. W. ( 1990). Applied Nonparametric Statisitcs, 2nd Edn. Thompson Learning, Pacific Grove.
Esch, G. W. ( 1971). Impact of ecological succession on the parasite fauna in centrarchids from oligotrophic and eutrophic systems. American Midland Naturalist 86, 160–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esch, G. W., Kennedy, C. R., Bush, A. O. and Aho, J. M. ( 1988). Patterns in helminthcommunities in freshwater fish in Great Britain: alternative strategies for colonization. Parasitology 96, 519–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Font, W. F. and Tate, D. C. ( 1994). Helminth parasites of native Hawaiian freshwater fishes: An example of extreme ecological isolation. Journal of Parasitology 80, 682–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forman, R. T. T. ( 1998). Pine Barrens: Ecosystem and Landscape. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.
Graham, J. H. and Hastings, R. W. ( 1984). Distributional patterns of sunfishes on the New Jersey coastal plain. Environmental Biology of Fishes 10, 137–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenfield, D. I. and Bart Jr., H. L. ( 2005). Long-term fish community dynamics from a blackwater stream receiving kraft mill effluent between 1973 and 1988. Hydrobiologia 534, 81–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halvorsen, O. ( 1971). Studies of the helminth fauna of Norway XVIII: On the composition of the parasite fauna of coarse fish in the River Glomma, southeastern Norway. Norwegian Journal of Zoology 19, 181–192.Google Scholar
Hanek, G. and Fernando, C. H. ( 1978). Spatial distribution of gill parasites of Lepomis gibbosus (L.) and Ambloplites rupestris (Raf.). Canadian Journal of Zoology 56, 1235–1240.Google Scholar
Hartmann, J. and Numann, W. ( 1977). Percids of Lake Constance, a lake undergoing eutrophication. Journal of the Fisheries Board of Canada 34, 1670–1677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastings, R. W. ( 1984). The fishes of the Mullica River, a naturally acid water system of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Bulletin of the New Jersey Academy of Science 29, 9–23.Google Scholar
Hastings, R. W. ( 1998). Fish of the Pine Barrens. In Pine Barrens: Ecosystem and Landscape (ed. Forman, R. T. T.), pp. 489–504. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.
Hoffman, G. L. ( 1999). Parasites of North American Freshwater Fishes, 2nd Edn. Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
Kennedy, C. R. ( 1978). An analysis of the metazoan parasitocoenoses of brown trout Salmo trutta from British lakes. Journal of Fish Biology 13, 255–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. ( 1985). Interactions of fish and parasite populations: to perpetuate or pioneer? In Ecology and Genetics of Host-Parasite Interactions (ed. Esch, G., Bush, A. and Aho, J.), pp. 131–156. Chapman and Hall, London.
Khan, R. A. and Thulin, J. ( 1991). Influence of pollution on parasites of aquatic animals. Advances in Parasitology 30, 201–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lafferty, K. D. ( 1997). Environmental parasitology: what can parasites tell us about human impacts on the environment? Parasitology Today 13, 251–255.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, K., Williams, H. H., Williams, B., McVicar, A. H. and Siddall, R. ( 1995). Parasites as indicators of water quality and the potential use of helminth transmission in marine pollution studies. Advances in Parasitology 35, 86–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallin, M. A. ( 2000). Impacts of industrial-scale swine and poultry production on rivers and estuaries. American Scientist 88, 26–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallin, M. A., McIver, M. R., Ensign, S. H. and Cahoon, L. B. ( 2004). Photosynthetic and heterotrophic impacts of nutrient loading to blackwater streams. Ecological Applications 14, 823–838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcogliese, D. J. ( 2003). Food webs and biodiversity: are parasites the missing link? Journal of Parasitology 89 (Suppl.), S106–S113.Google Scholar
Marcogliese, D. J. and Cone, D. K. ( 1997). Parasite communities as indicators of ecosystem stress. Parassitologia 39, 227–232.Google Scholar
Marcogliese, D. J. and Price, J. ( 1997). The paradox of parasites. Global Biodiversity 7, 7–15.Google Scholar
Meffe, G. K. and Sheldon, A. L. ( 1990). Post-defaunation recovery of fish assemblages in southeastern blackwater streams. Ecology 71, 657–667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, J. L. ( 1992). Seasonal patterns of water quality in blackwater rivers of the coastal plain, southeastern United States. In Water Quality in North American River Systems (ed. Becker, C. D. and Neitzel, D. A.), pp. 250–275. Batelle, Columbus.
Mittelbach, G. G., Steiner, C. F., Scheiner, S. M., Gross, K. L., Reynolds, H. L., Waide, R. B., Willig, M. R., Dodson, S. I. and Gough, L. ( 2001). What is the observed relationship between species richness and productivity? Ecology 82, 2381–2396.Google Scholar
Möller, H. ( 1987). Pollution and parasitism in the aquatic environment. International Journal for Parasitology 17, 353–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, M. D. and Good, R. E. ( 1988). Stream chemistry in the New Jersey Pinelands: The influence of precipitation and watershed disturbance. Waters Resources Research 24, 1091–1100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moser, M. and Cowen, R. K. ( 1991). The effects of periodic eutrophication on parasitism and stock identification of Trematomus bernacchii (Pisces: Nototheniidae) in McMurdo Sound, Antartica. Journal of Parasitology 77, 551–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, J. S. ( 1984). Fishes of the World, 2nd Edn. J. Wiley, New York.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ( 2001) Ambient Biomonitoring Network, Watershed Management Areas 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 Atlantic Region: 1999–2000. Benthic Macroinvertebrate Data. NJDEP, Trenton.
Odum, E. P. ( 1959). Fundamentals of Ecology. WB Saunders Company, Philadelphia.
Patrick, R., Matson, B. and Anderson, L. ( 1998). Streams and lakes in the Pine Barrens. In Pine Barrens: Ecosystem and Landscape (ed. Forman, R. T. T.), pp. 169–193. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.
Poulin, R. ( 1992). Toxic pollution and parasitism in freshwater fish. Parasitology Today 8, 58–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulin, R. ( 1998). Evolutionary Ecology of Parasites: From Individuals to Communities. Champan and Hall, London.
Shannon, C. E. ( 1948). A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Technical Journal 27, 379–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheldon, A. L. and Meffe, G. K. ( 1994). Short-term recolonization by fishes of experimentally defaunated pools of a coastal plain stream. Copeia 1994, 828–837.Google Scholar
Smock, L. A. and Gilinsky, E. ( 1992). Coastal Plain blackwater streams. In Biodiversity of the Southeastern United States (ed. Hackey, C. T., Adams, S. M. and Martin, W. H.), pp. 272–311. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Thompson, J. N. ( 1982). Interaction and Coevolution. New York, John Wiley and Sons.CrossRef
Torchin, M. E., Lafferty, K. D., Dobson, A. P., McKenzie, V. J. and Kuris, A. M. ( 2003). Introduced species and their missing parasites. Nature, London 421, 628–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, A. M., Trexler, J. C., Jordan, F., Slack, S. J., Geddes, P., Chick, J. H. and Loftus, W. F. ( 1999). Targeting ecosystem features for conservation: standing crops in the Florida Everglades. Conservation Biology 13, 898–911.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valtonen, E. T., Holmes, J. C. and Koskivaara, M. ( 1997). Eutrophication, pollution, and fragmentation: effects on parasite communities in roach (Rutilus rutilus) and perch (Perca fluviatilis) in four lakes in central Finland. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 54, 572–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whal, M. H., McKellar, H. N. and Williams, T. M. ( 1997). Patterns of nutrient loading in forested and urbanized coastal streams. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 213, 111–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, H. H., MacKenzie, K. and McCarthy, A. M. ( 1992). Parasites as biological indicators of the population biology, migrations, diet, and phylogenetics of fish. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 2, 144–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wisniewski, W. L. ( 1958). Characterization of the parasitofauna of an eutrophic lake. Acta Parasitologica Polonica 6, 1–64.Google Scholar
Wooten, R. ( 1973). The metazoan fauna of fish from Hanningfield Reservoir in relation to features of the habitat and host populations. Journal of Zoology 171, 323–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zampella, R. A. ( 1994). Characterization of surface water quality along a watershed disturbance gradient. Water Resources Bulletin 30, 605–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zampella, R. A. and Bunnell, J. F. ( 1998). Use of reference-site fish assemblages to assess aquatic degradation in pinelands streams. Ecological Applications 8, 645–658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zampella, R. A. and Laidig, K. J. ( 1997). Effect of watershed disturbance on pinelands stream vegetation. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 124, 52–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zampella, R. A., Bunnell, J. F., Laidig, K. J. and Dow, C. L. ( 2001). The Mullica River Basin: A Report to the Pinelands Commission on the Status of the Landscape and Selected Aquatic and Wetland Resources. Long-term Environmental-Monitoring Program, Pinelands Commission, New Lisbon.