Authors: Janet Koprivnikar Robert Poulin
Publish Date: 2009/05/28
Volume: 105, Issue: 4, Pages: 957-
Abstract
With the prospect of largescale environmental changes there is an urgent need to obtain information regarding environmental influences acting on the emergence of cercariae in marine systems We investigated the response of trematodes of the intertidal snail Zeacumantus subcarinatus to altered temperature salinity and water level The emergence of one trematode species Maritrema novaezealandensis Microphallidae showed a weak trend to decrease with increased temperature whereas the emergence of a second species Philophthalmus sp Philophthalmidae increased at warmer temperatures Both species exhibited increased cercarial emergence at the lowest salinity used 30 PSU More M novaezealandensis cercariae emerged when snails were kept partially submerged In contrast emergence of Philophthalmus sp increased when snails were completely submerged These results may reflect different transmission strategies employed by the two trematode species Based on this model we propose that trematode parasitism in intertidal zones is likely to be impacted by various changes in the marine environment resulting from global warming
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