Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T06:26:11.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parasite assemblages of crucian carp (Carassius carassius) – is depauperate composition explained by lack of parasite exchange, extreme environmental conditions or host unsuitability?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2005

A. KARVONEN ,
A. M. BAGGE  and
E. T. VALTONEN
A. KARVONEN
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland
A. M. BAGGE
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland
E. T. VALTONEN
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent studies on parasite communities have considered the factors which contribute to variability in parasite infections among populations of one host species. This paper examined parasite assemblages of crucian carp (Carassius carassius) in a natural set-up of two distinctive environments inhabited by the same host species and differing in respect to composition of other fish species: ponds, where extreme conditions prevent other fish species from occurring and lakes, where crucian carp coexist with other fish species. Our aim was to evaluate the significance of parasite exchange, environmental conditions and host suitability for the depauperate parasite assemblages observed in pond crucian carp. As predicted, crucian carp had more diverse parasite species composition in lakes, which supports the hypotheses of increased opportunities for parasite exchange with other fish species and better environmental conditions for the parasites. However, for instance, diplostomids were found only from few fish individuals in very low numbers. Experimental exposure trials with the eye fluke Diplostomum spathaceum in the laboratory indicated that crucian carp were totally resistant to infection, which is exceptional and suggests that the low number of these parasites in crucian carp was due to physiological unsuitability of the host. To obtain a better understanding on the mechanisms underlying the formation of parasite assemblages in these fish, further studies on the relationships between the unique physiology of crucian carp and infection success by other parasite species are needed.

Keywords

species richnessparasite exchangephysiologyMonogeneacommunityCarassius carassiusDiplostomum spathaceum
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 131 , Issue 2 , August 2005 , pp. 273 - 278
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

ARNEBERG, P. ( 2002). Host population density and body mass as determinants of species richness in parasite communities: comparative analyses of directly transmitted nematodes of mammals. Ecography 25, 88–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ARNEBERG, P., SKORPING, A., GRENFELL, B. T. & READ, A. F. ( 1998). Host densities as determinants of abundance in parasite communities. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B 265, 1283–1289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BAGGE, A., POULIN, R. & VALTONEN, E. T. ( 2004). Fish population size, and not density, as the determining factor of parasite infection: a case study. Parasitology 128, 305–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BUSH, A. O., LAFFERTY, K. D., LOTZ, J. M. & SHOSTAK, A. W. ( 1997). Parasitology meets ecology on its own terms: Margolis et al. revisited. Journal of Parasitology 83, 575–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHAPPELL, L. H., HARDIE, L. J. & SECOMBES, C. J. ( 1994). Diplostomiasis: the disease and host-parasite interactions. In Parasitic Diseases of Fish (ed. Pike, A. W. & Lewis, J. W.), pp. 59–86. Samara Publishing Limited, Dyfed.
HARTVIGSEN, R. & HALVORSEN, O. ( 1994). Spatial patterns in the abundance and distribution of parasites of freshwater fish. Parasitology Today 10, 28–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOLOPAINEN, I. J., HYVÄRINEN, H. & PIIRONEN, J. ( 1986). Anaerobic wintering of crucian carp (Carassius carassius L.) – II. Metabolic products. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 83A, 239–242.Google Scholar
HOLOPAINEN, I. J., TONN, W. M. & PASZKOWSKI, C. A. ( 1997). Tales of two fish: the dichotomous biology of crucian carp (Carassius carassius (L.)) in northern Europe. Annales Zoologici Fennici 34, 1–22.Google Scholar
HUDSON, P. J., RIZZOLI, A., GRENFELL, B. T., HEESTERBEEK, H. & DOBSON, A. P. ( 2002). The Ecology of Wildlife Diseases. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
KARVONEN, A. & VALTONEN, E. T. ( 2004). Helminth assemblages of whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) in interconnected lakes: similarity as a function of species specific parasites and geographical separation. Journal of Parasitology 90, 471–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KARVONEN, A., SEPPÄLÄ, O. & VALTONEN, E. T. ( 2004 a). Eye fluke-induced cataract formation in fish: quantitative analysis using an opthalmological microscope. Parasitology 129, 473–478.Google Scholar
KARVONEN, A., HUDSON, P. J., SEPPÄLÄ, O. & VALTONEN, E. T. ( 2004 b). Transmission dynamics of a trematode parasite: exposure, acquired resistance and parasite aggregation. Parasitology Research 92, 183–188.Google Scholar
KARVONEN, A., PAUKKU, S., VALTONEN, E. T. & HUDSON, P. J. ( 2003). Transmission, infectivity and survival of Diplostomum spathaceum cercariae. Parasitology 127, 217–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KARVONEN, A., PAUKKU, S., SEPPÄLÄ, O. & VALTONEN, E. T. ( 2005). Resistance against eye flukes: naïve versus previously infected fish. Parasitology Research 95, 55–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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
LEONG, T. S. & HOLMES, J. C. ( 1981). Communities of metazoan parasites in open water fishes of Cold Lake, Canada. Journal of Fish Biology 18, 693–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MARCOGLIESE, D. J. & CONE, D. K. ( 1991). Importance of lake characteristics in structuring parasite communities of salmonids from insular Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Zoology 69, 2962–2967.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MORAND, S. & POULIN, R. ( 1998). Density, body mass and parasite species richness of terrestrial mammals. Evolutionary Ecology 12, 717–727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
POULIN, R. & MORAND, S. ( 1999). Geographical distances and the similarity among parasite communities of conspecific host populations. Parasitology 119, 369–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TONN, W. M., MAGNUSON, J. J., RASK, M. & TOIVONEN, J. ( 1990). Intercontinental comparison of small-lake fish assemblages: the balance between local and regional processes. American Naturalist 136, 345–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VALTONEN, E. T. & GIBSON, D. I. ( 1997). Aspects of the biology of diplostomid metacercarial (Digenea) populations occurring in fishes in different localities in northern Finland. Annales Zoologici Fennici 34, 47–59.Google Scholar
VALTONEN, E. T., HOLMES, J. C. & 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 Science 54, 572–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VALTONEN, E. T., HOLMES, J. C., ARONEN, J. & RAUTALAHTI, I. ( 2003). Parasite communities as indicators of recovery from pollution: parasites of roach (Rutilus rutilus) and perch (Perca fluviatilis) in Central Finland. Parasitology 126 (Suppl.), S43–S52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VALTONEN, E. T., PULKKINEN, K., POULIN, R. & JULKUNEN, M. ( 2001). The structure of parasite component communities in brackish water fishes of the northeastern Baltic Sea. Parasitology 122, 471–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar