Egg production in adult trematodes: adaptation or constraint?

Abstract

Parasite life-history traits should reflect past environmental and host-related selective pressures acting to produce strategies that maximize transmission success. The evolution of adult body size and egg production in 804 species of trematode parasites was investigated using independent contrasts derived from a phylogeny of trematodes. Contrasts in trematode body size were positively correlated with contrasts in egg size, and almost significantly correlated with contrasts in numbers of uterine eggs. After controlling for body size, no relationship existed between egg size and egg numbers, suggesting that there is no trade-off between the two components of egg production. Average host body mass and latitude of the sampling site did not correlate with either trematode body size or egg size. Contrasts between trematode taxa exploiting ectotherm hosts and their sister taxa exploiting endotherms showed no consistent difference in either body size or egg size. The effect of other variables on trematode life-histories, such as the nature of the habitat in which eggs are released, the site of attachment within the host's body, or the number of hosts involved in the life-cycle, could not be evaluated statistically. The similarity in life-history traits among members of given clades suggests that phylogenetic constraints may have acted to limit or mask any adaptive changes expected from changes in host-related or environmental conditions.