Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T13:23:22.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parasite infracommunity diversity in eels: a reflection of local component community diversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2003

J. NORTON ,
J. W. LEWIS  and
D. ROLLINSON
J. NORTON
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Division of Biology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX Wolfson Wellcome Biomedical Laboratories, Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
J. W. LEWIS
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Division of Biology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX
D. ROLLINSON
Affiliation:
Wolfson Wellcome Biomedical Laboratories, Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The intestinal macroparasite communities of freshwater eels (Anguilla anguilla) captured in the south of England from Windsor (River Thames) during August 2001, and Leckford (River Test) during late June/July 2000, are reported for the first time. Parasite component communities were among the most species rich and diverse recorded from European eels. A total of 13 intestinal macroparasite species were encountered during the study, 8 from each eel host population with 3 being common to both. Acanthocephalans, nematodes and cestodes were recovered from each host population. Eels from Windsor additionally harboured Nicolla gallica (Digenea), which was also the most prevalent and abundant macroparasite species in these hosts. Each component community followed a log normal rank abundance distribution and demonstrated reduced species dominance and increased species equitability compared with previous studies. As such, the study component communities were suitable for testing the hypothesis of low infracommunity diversity in European eel hosts. Specifically, this hypothesis predicts that the intestinal macroparasite infracommunities of European eels are species-poor, displaying low density and diversity with high dominance, irrespective of component community diversity, and that this may be more pronounced in UK host populations. This hypothesis was not upheld; study findings demonstrate that higher infracommunity diversity in eel hosts is possible, and suggest that infracommunity diversity in individual eel hosts may be a simple, stochastic reflection of component community diversity.

Keywords

eelAnguilla anguillamacroparasitecomponent communityinfracommunitydiversity
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 127 , Issue 5 , November 2003 , pp. 475 - 482
Copyright
2003 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

BROWN, A. F., CHUBB, J. C. & VELTCAMP, C. J. ( 1986). A key to the species of Acanthocephala parasitic in British freshwater fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 28, 327–334.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
BYKHOVSKAYA-PAVLOVSKAYA, I. E., GUSEV, A. V., DUBININA, M. N., IZYUMOVA, N. A., SMIRNOVA, T. S., SOKOLOVSKAYA, I. L., SHTEIN, G. A., SHUL'MAN, S. S. & EPSHTEIN, V. M. ( 1962). Keys to Parasites of Freshwater Fish of the U.S.S.R. Zoological Institute, Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.
CHUBB, J. C., POOL, D. W. & VELTCAMP, C. J. ( 1987). A key to the species of cestodes (tapeworms) parasitic in British and Irish freshwater fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 31, 517–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CONNEELY, J. J. & McCARTHY, T. K. (1986). Ecological factors influencing the composition of the parasite fauna of the European eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.), in Ireland. Journal of Fish Biology 28, 207–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DI CAVE, D., BERILLI, F., LIBERATO, DE. C., ORECCHIA, P. & KENNEDY, C. R. (2001). Helminth communities in eels from Adriatic coastal lagoons in Italy. Journal of Helminthology 75, 7–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DOLLFUS, R. PH. ( 1958). Sur un distome de la famille des Coitocaecidae pourvu d'un receptaculum seminis. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 88, 370–376.Google Scholar
FISCHTHAL, J. H. & KUNTZ, R. E. ( 1963). Trematode parasites of fishes from Egypt. Part 5. Annotated record of some previously described forms. Journal of Parasitology 49, 91–98.Google Scholar
HOFFMAN, G. L. ( 1999). Parasites of North American Freshwater Fishes. Cornell University Press, New York.
ISAF (1974). International Symposium on the Ageing of Fish. The proceedings of an International Symposium held at the University of Reading (ed. Bagenal, T. B.). Unwin Bros., Old Voking, UK.
KENNEDY, C. R. ( 1974). A checklist of British and Irish freshwater fish parasites with notes on their distribution. Journal of Fish Biology 6, 613–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R. ( 1990). Helminth communities in freshwater fish: structured communities or stochastic assemblages? In Parasite Communities: Patterns and Processes (ed. Esch, G. W., Bush, A. O. & Aho, J. M.). Chapman and Hall, London.
KENNEDY, C. R. ( 1993). The dynamics of intestinal helminth communities in eels Anguilla anguilla in a small stream: long-term changes in richness and structure. Parasitology 107, 71–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R. ( 1997). Long term and seasonal changes in composition and richness of intestinal helminth communities in eels (Anguilla anguilla) of an isolated English river. Folia Parasitologica 44, 267–273.Google Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R., BERRILLI, F., DI CAVE, D., DE LIBERATO, C. & ORECCHIA, P. ( 1998). Composition and diversity of helminth communities in eels Anguilla anguilla in the River Tiber: long term changes and comparison with insular Europe. Journal of Helminthology 72, 301–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R., DI CAVE, D., BERRILLI, F. & ORECCHIA, P. ( 1997). Composition and structure of helminth communities in eels Anguilla anguilla from Italian coastal lagoons. Journal of Helminthology 71, 35–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R. & GUÉGAN, J.-F. ( 1996). The number of niches in intestinal helminth communities of Anguilla anguilla: are there enough spaces for parasites? Parasitology 113, 293–302.Google Scholar
MAGURRAN, A. ( 1988). Ecological Diversity and Its Measurement. Croom Helm, London.CrossRef
MORAVEC, F. ( 1985). Occurrence of endoparasitic helminths in eels (Anguilla anguilla (L.)) from the Mácha lake fishpond system, Czechoslovavia. Folia Parasitologica 32, 113–125.Google Scholar
MORAVEC, F. ( 1994). Parasitic Nematodes of Freshwater Fishes of Europe. Academia, Praha.
RÓZSA, L., REICZIGEL, J. & MAJOROS, G. ( 2000). Quantifying parasites in samples of hosts. Journal of Parasitology 86, 228–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHABUSS, M., KONECNY, R., BELPAIRE, C. & SCHIEMER, F. ( 1997). Endoparasitic helminths of the European eel, Anguilla anguilla, from four disconnected meanders from the rivers Leie and Scheldt in western Flanders, Belgium. Folia Parasitologica 44, 12–18.Google Scholar
SURES, B., KNOPF, K., WURTZ, J. & HIRT, J. ( 1999). Richness and diversity of parasite communities in European eels Anguilla anguilla of the River Rhine, Germany, with special reference to helminth parasites. Parasitology 119, 323–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SURES, B. & STREIT, B. ( 2001). Eel parasite diversity and intermediate host abundance in the River Rhine, Germany. Parasitology 123, 185–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TESCH, F. W. ( 1977). The Eel. Chapman and Hall, London.CrossRef