The Early Worm Catches the Bird? Productivity and Patterns of Trichobilharzia szidati Cercarial Emission from Lymnaea stagnalis

0463314 - BC 2017 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Soldánová, Miroslava - Selbach, C. - Sures, B.
The Early Worm Catches the Bird? Productivity and Patterns of Trichobilharzia szidati Cercarial Emission from Lymnaea stagnalis.
PLoS ONE. Roč. 11, č. 2 (2016), č. článku e0149678. ISSN 1932-6203. E-ISSN 1932-6203
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-14198S
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : living endohelminth stages * Diplostomum spathaceum * Schistosoma mansoni
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 2.806, year: 2016

Digenean trematodes are common and abundant in aquatic habitats and their free-living larvae, the cercariae, have recently been recognized as important components of ecosystems in terms of comprising a significant proportion of biomass and in having a potentially strong influence on food web dynamics. One strategy to enhance their transmission success is to produce high numbers of cercariae which are available during the activity peak of the next host. In laboratory experiments with 13 Lymnaea stagnalis snails infected with Trichobilharzia szidati the average daily emergence rate per snail was determined as 2,621 cercariae, with a maximum of 29,560. During a snail's lifetime this summed up to a mass equivalent of or even exceeding the snail's own body mass. Extrapolated for the eutrophic pond where the snails were collected, annual T. szidati biomass may reach 4.65 tons, a value equivalent to a large Asian elephant. Emission peaks were observed after the onset of illumination, indicating emission synchronizing with the high morning activities of the definitive hosts, ducks. However, high cercarial emission is possible throughout the day under favorable lightning conditions. Therefore, although bird schistosomes, such as T. szidati constitute only a fraction of the diverse trematode communities in the studied aquatic ecosystem, their cercariae can still pose a considerable risk for humans of getting cercarial dermatitis (swimmer's itch) due to the high number of cercariae emitted from infected snails.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0262532