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Do fish get wasted? Assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish
Many ecosystems are influenced simultaneously by multiple stressors. One important environmental stressor is aquatic pollution via wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. WWTP effluents may contribute to eutrophication or contain anthropogenic contaminants that directly and/or indirectly influe...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
PeerJ Inc.
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6238765/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30479904 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5956 |
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author | Bailey, Christyn Rubin, Aurélie Strepparava, Nicole Segner, Helmut Rubin, Jean-François Wahli, Thomas |
author_facet | Bailey, Christyn Rubin, Aurélie Strepparava, Nicole Segner, Helmut Rubin, Jean-François Wahli, Thomas |
author_sort | Bailey, Christyn |
collection | PubMed |
description | Many ecosystems are influenced simultaneously by multiple stressors. One important environmental stressor is aquatic pollution via wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. WWTP effluents may contribute to eutrophication or contain anthropogenic contaminants that directly and/or indirectly influence aquatic wildlife. Both eutrophication and exposure to anthropogenic contaminants may affect the dynamics of fish-parasite systems. With this in mind, we studied the impact of WWTP effluents on infection of brown trout by the parasite Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, the causative agent of proliferative kidney disease (PKD). PKD is associated with the long-term decline of wild brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations in Switzerland. We investigated PKD infection of brown trout at two adjacent sites (≈400 m apart) of a Swiss river. The sites are similar in terms of ecology except that one site receives WWTP effluents. We evaluated the hypothesis that fish inhabiting the effluent site will show greater susceptibility to PKD in terms of prevalence and disease outcome. We assessed susceptibility by (i) infection prevalence, (ii) parasite intensity, (iii) host health in terms of pathology, and (iv) estimated apparent survival rate. At different time points during the study, significant differences between sites concerning all measured parameters were found, thus providing evidence of the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of fish in our study system. However, from these findings we cannot determine if the effluent has a direct influence on the fish host via altering its ability to manage the parasite, or indirectly on the parasite or the invertebrate host via increasing bryozoa (the invertebrate host) reproduction. On a final note, the WWTP adhered to all national guidelines and the effluent only resulted in a minor water quality reduction assessed via standardized methods in this study. Thus, we provide evidence that even a subtle decrease in water quality, resulting in small-scale pollution can have consequences for wildlife. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6238765 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-62387652018-11-26 Do fish get wasted? Assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish Bailey, Christyn Rubin, Aurélie Strepparava, Nicole Segner, Helmut Rubin, Jean-François Wahli, Thomas PeerJ Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science Many ecosystems are influenced simultaneously by multiple stressors. One important environmental stressor is aquatic pollution via wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. WWTP effluents may contribute to eutrophication or contain anthropogenic contaminants that directly and/or indirectly influence aquatic wildlife. Both eutrophication and exposure to anthropogenic contaminants may affect the dynamics of fish-parasite systems. With this in mind, we studied the impact of WWTP effluents on infection of brown trout by the parasite Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, the causative agent of proliferative kidney disease (PKD). PKD is associated with the long-term decline of wild brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations in Switzerland. We investigated PKD infection of brown trout at two adjacent sites (≈400 m apart) of a Swiss river. The sites are similar in terms of ecology except that one site receives WWTP effluents. We evaluated the hypothesis that fish inhabiting the effluent site will show greater susceptibility to PKD in terms of prevalence and disease outcome. We assessed susceptibility by (i) infection prevalence, (ii) parasite intensity, (iii) host health in terms of pathology, and (iv) estimated apparent survival rate. At different time points during the study, significant differences between sites concerning all measured parameters were found, thus providing evidence of the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of fish in our study system. However, from these findings we cannot determine if the effluent has a direct influence on the fish host via altering its ability to manage the parasite, or indirectly on the parasite or the invertebrate host via increasing bryozoa (the invertebrate host) reproduction. On a final note, the WWTP adhered to all national guidelines and the effluent only resulted in a minor water quality reduction assessed via standardized methods in this study. Thus, we provide evidence that even a subtle decrease in water quality, resulting in small-scale pollution can have consequences for wildlife. PeerJ Inc. 2018-11-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6238765/ /pubmed/30479904 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5956 Text en © 2018 Bailey et al. 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 | Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science Bailey, Christyn Rubin, Aurélie Strepparava, Nicole Segner, Helmut Rubin, Jean-François Wahli, Thomas Do fish get wasted? Assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish |
title | Do fish get wasted? Assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish |
title_full | Do fish get wasted? Assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish |
title_fullStr | Do fish get wasted? Assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish |
title_full_unstemmed | Do fish get wasted? Assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish |
title_short | Do fish get wasted? Assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish |
title_sort | do fish get wasted? assessing the influence of effluents on parasitic infection of wild fish |
topic | Aquaculture, Fisheries and Fish Science |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6238765/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30479904 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5956 |
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