Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T20:19:21.152Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Regulation of mouse colony abundance by Heligmosomoides polygyrus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Marilyn E. Scott
Marilyn E. Scott
Affiliation:
Institute of Parasitology, Macdonald College of McGill University, 21 111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne de Bellevue, Quebec H9X ICO, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Despite the ubiquitous presence of parasites, parasitism has not been considered among the list of regulatory factors in animal populations until recently. A detailed long-term study on the impact of the direct life-cycle nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus on a breeding population of laboratory mice provides a clear example of the ability of helminths to regulate host abundance. In the absence of the parasite, the mouse population equilibrated at a density of 320 mice/m2 as a result of density-dependent effects on recruitment. When the parasite was added and transmission was maintained at high levels, infected mouse populations equilibrated at densities of < 18 mice/m2. Reduced rates of parasite transmission and elimination of the parasite from the system both resulted in an increase in mouse density. These results have implications for both ecology and parasitology as they demonstrate a potentially important but often ignored component of host populations that may well influence host abundance and community structure.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 95 , Issue 1 , August 1987 , pp. 111 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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

Anderson, R. M. & Crombie, J. A. (1984). Experimental studies of age-prevalence curves for Schistosoma mansoni infections in populations of Biomphalaria glabrata. Parasitology 89, 79–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of hostr-parasite population interactions. I. Regulatory processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 219–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. (1979). Population biology of infectious diseases: Part I. Nature, London 280, 361–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Behnke, J. M., Hannah, J. & Pritchard, D. I. (1983). Nematospiroides dubius in the mouse: evidence that adult worms depress the expression of homologous immunity. Parasite Immunology 5, 397–408.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Behnke, J. M. & Parish, H. A. (1981). Transfer of immunity to Nematospiroides dubius: cooperation between lymphoid cells and antibodies in mediating worm expulsion. Parasite Immunology 3, 249–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Behnke, J. M. & Robinson, M. (1985). Genetic control of immunity to Nematospiroides dubius: a 9-day anthelmintic abbreviated immunizing regime which separates weak and strong responder strains of mice. Parasite Immunology 7, 235–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bryant, V. (1973). The life cycle of Nematospiroides dubius Baylis, 1926 (Nematoda: Heligmosomidae). Journal of Helminthology 3, 263–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, C. (1982). Passive transfer of immunity with serum in mice infected with Nematospiroides dubius; influence of quality and quantity of immune serum. International Journal for Parasitology 12, 207–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dobson, C. & Cayzer, C. J. R. (1982). Immunosuppressive activity in serum from mice infected with Nematospiroides dubius following passive serum transfer. International Journal for Parasitology 12, 561–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elton, C., Ford, E. B., Baker, J. R. & Gardner, A. D. (1931). The health and parasites of a wild mouse population. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 657–721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenner, F. (1948). The epizootic behaviour of mouse pox (infectious ectromelia of mice). II. The course of events in long-continued epidemics. Journal of Hygiene 46, 383–93.Google Scholar
Forrester, D. J. (1971). Heligmosomoides polygyrus ( = Nematospiroides dubius) from wild rodents of Northern California: natural infections, host specificity, and strain characteristics. Journal of Parasitology 57, 498–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwood, M., Bradford-Hill, A., Topley, W. W. C. & Wilson, J. (1936). Experimental epidemiology. Medical Research Council Special Report, No. 209, 204 pp.Google Scholar
Holmes, J. C. (1982). Impact of infectious disease agents on the population growth and geographical distribution of animals. In Population Biology of Infectious Disease Agents (ed. Anderson, R. M. and May, R. M.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Jacobson, R. H., Brooks, B. O. & Cypess, R. H. (1982). Immunity of Nematospiroides dubius: parasite stages responsible for and subject to resistance in high responder (LAF1/J) mice. Journal of Parasitology 68, 1053–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keymer, A. E. (1981). Population dynamics of Hymenolepis diminuta in the intermediate host. Journal of Animal Ecology 50, 941–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keymer, A. (1985). Experimental epidemiology: Nematospiroides dubius and the laboratory mouse. In Ecology and Genetics of Host-Parasite Interactions (ed. Rollinson, D. and Anderson, R. M.), Linnean Society Symposium Series No. 11, pp. 55–75.Google Scholar
Kisielewska, K. & Zubczewska, Z. (1973). Intestinal helminths as indexes of reproduction dynamics in the host population - common vole. Acta Theriologica 18, 237–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, B. R. & Lenski, R. E. (1985). Bacteria and phage: a model system for the study of the ecology and co-evolution of hosts and parasites. In Ecology and Genetics of Host-Parasite Interactions (ed. Rollinson, D. and Anderson, R. M.), Linnean Society Symposium Series No. 11, pp. 227–242.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. W. & Hargreaves, M. (1978). Ecological studies on intestinal nematodes from a wild mouse population. Parasitology 77, v. Liu, S. K. (1965). Pathology of Nematospiroides dubius. I. Primary infections in C3H and Webster mice. Experimental Parasitology 17, 123–35.Google Scholar
Liu, S. K., Cypess, R. H. & van Zandt, P. (1974). Gastritis caused by multiple Nematospiroides dubius infections. Journal of Parasitology 60, 790–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mackintosh, J. H. (1981) Behaviour of the house mouse. Symposium of the Zoological Society of London 47, 337–65.Google Scholar
May, R. M. & Anderson, R. M. (1978). Regulation and stability of host-parasite population interactions. II. Destabilizing processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 249–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, R. M. & Anderson, R. M. (1979). Population biology of infectious diseases: Part II. Nature, London 280, 455–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCallum, H. I. (1985). Population effects of parasite survival of host death: experimental studies of the interaction of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis and its fish host. Parasitology 90, 529–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, G. F. & Cruise, K. M. (1984). Immunization with Nematospiroides dubius adult worms plus pertussigen has different consequences in mice of various genotypes. Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Sciences 62, 523–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitchell, G. F. & Prowse, S. J. (1979). Three consequences of infection with Nematospiroides dubius in three inbred strains of mice. Journal of Parasitology 65, 820–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Park, T. (1948). Experimental studies of interspecies competition. 1. Competition between populations of the flour beetles, Tribolium confusum Duval and Tribolium castaneum Herbst. Ecological Monographs 18, 267–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redhead, T. D., Enright, N. & Newsome, A. E. (1985). Causes and predictions of outbreaks of Mus musculus in irrigated and non-irrigated cereal farms. Acta Zoologica Fennica 173, 123–7.Google Scholar
Scott, M. E. & Anderson, R. M. (1984). The population dynamics of Gyrodactylus bullatarudis (Monogenea) on guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Parasitology 89, 159–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, M. E. & Lewis, J. W. (1987). Population dynamics of helminths in wild and laboratory rodents. Mammal Review 17 (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spurlock, G. M. (1943). Observations on host-parasite relations between laboratory mice and Nematospiroides dubius. Journal of Parasitology 29, 303–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stiven, A. E. (1964). Experimental studies on the epidemiology of the host-parasite system, Hydra and Hydramoeba hydroxena (Entz). II. The components of a simple epidemic. Ecological Monographs 34, 119–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanguay, G. V. & Scott, M. E. (1987). A technique for recovering Heligmosomoides polygyrus adults following anthelmintic treatment with pyrantel. Journal of Parasitology (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walkowa, W. (1981). Structure, dynamics and productivity of mouse populations: a review of studies conducted at the Institute of Ecology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Symposium of Zoological Sciences in London 47, 427–37.Google Scholar