Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus.

This study examined the relationship between urbanization and parasite community structure in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus. We measured landscape and physicochemical factors associated with urbanization at 6 sites from 4 collection periods. Concurrently, we quantified the metazoan paras...

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Main Authors: James M Alfieri, Tavis K Anderson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225896
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author James M Alfieri
Tavis K Anderson
author_facet James M Alfieri
Tavis K Anderson
author_sort James M Alfieri
collection DOAJ
description This study examined the relationship between urbanization and parasite community structure in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus. We measured landscape and physicochemical factors associated with urbanization at 6 sites from 4 collection periods. Concurrently, we quantified the metazoan parasite community in F. heteroclitus collected at those sites, with 105 fish studied per site during the 4 collection periods. Parasite community composition differed among sites. Host size was the most important variable for direct life-cycle parasite assemblages and indirect life-cycle parasites at the individual fish level, while landscape and physicochemical factors determined the structure of indirect life-cycle parasite assemblages at the population scale. Variation in the prevalence and intensity of infection of two indirect life-cycle parasites, Lasiocotus minutus and Glossocercus caribaensis, were the primary parasites that drove differences across sites. Variation in the presence/absence of these indirect life-cycle parasite species was associated with sediment Ni concentrations, patch density, and marsh size. Our data support the hypothesis that urbanization, acting at both landscape and physicochemical scales, can have a significant impact on parasite community structure. This, however, varied by parasite life history: there was little effect of urbanization on the prevalence and intensity of direct life-cycle parasites, but significant variation was detected for indirect life-cycle parasites. This study demonstrates how anthropogenically driven landscape change influences fine-scale population dynamics of parasites.
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spelling doaj.art-35794f4d2a464cf7b02fd924b91fb85a2022-12-21T19:16:02ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-011412e022589610.1371/journal.pone.0225896Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus.James M AlfieriTavis K AndersonThis study examined the relationship between urbanization and parasite community structure in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus. We measured landscape and physicochemical factors associated with urbanization at 6 sites from 4 collection periods. Concurrently, we quantified the metazoan parasite community in F. heteroclitus collected at those sites, with 105 fish studied per site during the 4 collection periods. Parasite community composition differed among sites. Host size was the most important variable for direct life-cycle parasite assemblages and indirect life-cycle parasites at the individual fish level, while landscape and physicochemical factors determined the structure of indirect life-cycle parasite assemblages at the population scale. Variation in the prevalence and intensity of infection of two indirect life-cycle parasites, Lasiocotus minutus and Glossocercus caribaensis, were the primary parasites that drove differences across sites. Variation in the presence/absence of these indirect life-cycle parasite species was associated with sediment Ni concentrations, patch density, and marsh size. Our data support the hypothesis that urbanization, acting at both landscape and physicochemical scales, can have a significant impact on parasite community structure. This, however, varied by parasite life history: there was little effect of urbanization on the prevalence and intensity of direct life-cycle parasites, but significant variation was detected for indirect life-cycle parasites. This study demonstrates how anthropogenically driven landscape change influences fine-scale population dynamics of parasites.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225896
spellingShingle James M Alfieri
Tavis K Anderson
Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus.
PLoS ONE
title Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus.
title_full Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus.
title_fullStr Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus.
title_full_unstemmed Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus.
title_short Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus.
title_sort life cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish fundulus heteroclitus
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225896
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