A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Quality attracts parasites: host condition-dependent chemo-orientation of trematode larvae (2015)


Seppälä, O., & Leicht, K. (2015). Quality attracts parasites: host condition-dependent chemo-orientation of trematode larvae. Functional Ecology, 29(6), 791-795. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12392


JYU-tekijät tai -toimittajat


Julkaisun tiedot

Julkaisun kaikki tekijät tai toimittajat: Seppälä, Otto; Leicht, Katja

Lehti tai sarja: Functional Ecology

ISSN: 0269-8463

eISSN: 1365-2435

Julkaisuvuosi: 2015

Volyymi: 29

Lehden numero: 6

Artikkelin sivunumerot: 791–795

Kustantaja: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.; British Ecological Society

Julkaisumaa: Britannia

Julkaisun kieli: englanti

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12392

Linkki tutkimusaineistoon: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kn1bn

Julkaisun avoin saatavuus: Ei avoin

Julkaisukanavan avoin saatavuus: 


Tiivistelmä

Environmental factors impairing physiological condition of organisms are assumed to predispose them to parasite infections. This is because host immune function is typically condition‐dependent. However, poor physiological condition has been reported to reduce host susceptibility to parasites in various systems.
We examined whether such an effect can be due to altered exposure of hosts to active parasite transmission stages by investigating chemo‐orientation of free‐swimming cercariae larvae of a parasite Echinoparyphium aconiatum towards its snail host Lymnaea stagnalis.
We used both long‐term and short‐term feeding treatments to manipulate the body condition and physiological traits related to food processing in experimental (i.e. target) snails and measured the preference of cercariae towards snail‐conditioned water (SCW) over clean water.
We found that chemo‐orientation of cercariae depended on the nutritional status of target snails. High physiological condition (long‐term feeding) attracted parasites, but cercariae did not show preference towards SCW from individuals in poor physiological condition (long‐term starvation). Food processing (short‐term feeding treatments) did not affect chemo‐orientation.
Our results suggest that host condition‐dependent chemo‐orientation of parasite larvae is a likely mechanism explaining the reduced susceptibility of snails to infection due to food limitation in our study system. In general, the use of condition‐dependent host cues can be highly beneficial for parasites as it increases their transmission to high‐quality hosts. Furthermore, evolving counter adaptations to such a transmission strategy can be very difficult for hosts.


YSO-asiasanat: piippolimakotilo

Vapaat asiasanat: Echinoparyphium aconiatum; Cercaria; Chemical detection; Host finding; Host-parasite interactions


Liittyvät organisaatiot


OKM-raportointi: Kyllä

Raportointivuosi: 2015

JUFO-taso: 2


Viimeisin päivitys 2023-13-12 klo 20:35