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Infection patterns of trematodes across size classes of an invasive snail species using field and laboratory studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2018

Rebecca Z. Bachtel ,
Matthew Rittenhouse ,
Gregory J. Sandland  and
Jennifer A. H. Koop Open the ORCID record for Jennifer A. H. Koop [Opens in a new window]
Rebecca Z. Bachtel
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA
Matthew Rittenhouse
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA
Gregory J. Sandland
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA
Jennifer A. H. Koop*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Jennifer A. H. Koop, E-mail: jkoop@umassd.edu
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Abstract

In the Upper Mississippi River Region, invasive faucet snails (Bithynia tentaculata) and their trematode parasites have been implicated in more than 182 000 waterfowl deaths since 1996. Estimating transmission potential depends on accurate assessments of susceptible host population size. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying snail–host susceptibility in this system. Prior field studies suggest that very small, likely young, faucet snails are less suitable secondary intermediate hosts. Here, we test whether the patterns observed in the field are because small snails (1) are refractory to infection by cercariae, (2) die from infection and are removed from sampled populations, and/or (3) are not preferred by cercariae. Our own field collections were consistent with the observation that smaller faucet snails exhibit lower metacercarial infection prevalence and abundance than larger snails. However, laboratory-based experiments show that smaller snails were actually more susceptible to infection than larger snails. Moreover, the smallest snail size class had significantly higher mortality than larger snails following infection, which may explain their reduced infection levels observed in the field. Our study demonstrates the importance of pairing field and laboratory studies to better understand mechanisms underlying patterns of infection.

Keywords

Bithynia tentaculatafaucet snailintensityparasiteprevalenceSphaeridiotremasusceptibility
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 146 , Issue 4 , April 2019 , pp. 438 - 444
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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