Cargando…

Infection by Parorchis acanthus (Trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, Littoraria irrorata

Parasites are well-known to alter the behavior of their hosts, but there is still a paucity of knowledge about how parasites modify the behavior of many ecologically influential host species. I studied the keystone grazer, the salt marsh periwinkle (Littoraria irrorata), to determine the influence o...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Morton, Joseph P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5877444/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29607259
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4544
_version_ 1783310699371429888
author Morton, Joseph P.
author_facet Morton, Joseph P.
author_sort Morton, Joseph P.
collection PubMed
description Parasites are well-known to alter the behavior of their hosts, but there is still a paucity of knowledge about how parasites modify the behavior of many ecologically influential host species. I studied the keystone grazer, the salt marsh periwinkle (Littoraria irrorata), to determine the influence of infection by the digenetic trematode, Parorchis acanthus, on its grazing behavior. Comparative laboratory grazing studies of wild-collected and experimentally infected snails revealed that Parorchis decreased grazing on live Spartina by more than 80%. Because of the large ecological influence of Littoraria in southern U.S. marshes, parasite modification of snail grazing may have ramifications for marsh ecosystem stability if parasite prevalence is sufficiently high.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5877444
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher PeerJ Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-58774442018-03-30 Infection by Parorchis acanthus (Trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, Littoraria irrorata Morton, Joseph P. PeerJ Animal Behavior Parasites are well-known to alter the behavior of their hosts, but there is still a paucity of knowledge about how parasites modify the behavior of many ecologically influential host species. I studied the keystone grazer, the salt marsh periwinkle (Littoraria irrorata), to determine the influence of infection by the digenetic trematode, Parorchis acanthus, on its grazing behavior. Comparative laboratory grazing studies of wild-collected and experimentally infected snails revealed that Parorchis decreased grazing on live Spartina by more than 80%. Because of the large ecological influence of Littoraria in southern U.S. marshes, parasite modification of snail grazing may have ramifications for marsh ecosystem stability if parasite prevalence is sufficiently high. PeerJ Inc. 2018-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC5877444/ /pubmed/29607259 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4544 Text en ©2018 Morton http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Animal Behavior
Morton, Joseph P.
Infection by Parorchis acanthus (Trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, Littoraria irrorata
title Infection by Parorchis acanthus (Trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, Littoraria irrorata
title_full Infection by Parorchis acanthus (Trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, Littoraria irrorata
title_fullStr Infection by Parorchis acanthus (Trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, Littoraria irrorata
title_full_unstemmed Infection by Parorchis acanthus (Trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, Littoraria irrorata
title_short Infection by Parorchis acanthus (Trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, Littoraria irrorata
title_sort infection by parorchis acanthus (trematoda) decreases grazing by the keystone gastropod, littoraria irrorata
topic Animal Behavior
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5877444/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29607259
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4544
work_keys_str_mv AT mortonjosephp infectionbyparorchisacanthustrematodadecreasesgrazingbythekeystonegastropodlittorariairrorata