0000000000667187
AUTHOR
Roy Siddall
Parasites as Indicators of Water Quality and the Potential Use of Helminth Transmission in Marine Pollution Studies
Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on parasites as indicators of water quality and the potential use of helminth transmission in marine pollution studies. There are good reasons for focusing on parasitic organisms in general and helminth parasites in particular, in the search for highly sensitive indicators. First, there are more parasitic than free-living species. Second, helminth parasites have complex life cycles and the different developmental stages have widely differing requirements, therefore, each stage must be assessed separately for sensitivity to environmental change, thereby widening the choice of potential indicators. Many biotic and abiotic factors affect the numbers and d…
Dactylogyrus (Monogenea) infections on the gills of roach (Rutilus rutilus L.) experimentally exposed to pulp and paper mill effluent
Experimental exposure to bleached kraft pulp and paper mill effluent (BKME) at a concentration of 10% significantly reduced the abundance and mean number of species of Dactylogyrus on the gills of naturally infected roach, Rutilus rutilus, over a 3 week period. Seven Dactylogyrus species were recorded which differed widely in their susceptibility to the effluent. The experiment coincided with a natural spring peak in dactylogyrid infections on roach. BMKE exposure did not prevent parasite reproduction but post-larval abundance was significantly higher on control than effluent-exposed hosts. There was no evidence of a BKME-induced shift in microhabitat distribution of dactylogyrids. Elevated…
Bioelectronic monitoring of parasite-induced stress in brown trout and roach
A non-contact bioelectronic monitoring system was used to record changes in heart rate, ventilation rate and swimming activity in brown trout Salmo trutta and roach Rutilus rutilus, following exposure to two species of cercariae of digenean trematodes: Diplostomum pseudospathaceum which is a common parasite in the lens of fishes and xiphidiocercariae of Plagiorchis elegans, a parasite of anatid birds, both of which have the snail Lymnaea stagnalis as their first intermediate host. Swimming activity increased significantly in roach exposed to Diplostomum cercariae at densities as low as 3.8l−1 and remained elevated for 24–36 h post exposure. Brown trout showed no response when exposed to low…