Search results for "copepod"

Cooking infected copepods: On the survival of Guinea worm larvae

2020

On the non-malacostracan crustaceans (Crustacea: Branchiopoda, Copepoda, Ostracoda) from the inland waters of Fthiotida (Greece)

2019

In the frame of the activities of the LIFE11 NAT/GR/1014 ForOpenForests, some water bodies occurring in the "Ethnikos Drymos Oitis" (GR2440004) and "Oros Kallidromo" (GR2440006) (Sterea Ellada) were investigated with the aim of providing a first census of the composition and diversity of their crustacean fauna. Overall, the sampling of 15 water bodies (7 of them listed as "Mediterranean temporary ponds" sensu EU "Habitats Directive") led to the finding of 13 branchiopod, 11 copepod, and 7 ostracod taxa, including 4 species new for mainland Greece, i.e. the copepods Arctodiaptomus alpinus (Imhoff, 1885) and Diaptomus cf. serbicus, and the branchiopods Leptestheria dahalacensis (Rüppel, 1837)…

Increasing temperatures accentuate negative fitness consequences of a marine parasite

2020

AbstractInfectious diseases are key drivers of wildlife populations and agriculture production, but whether and how climate change will influence disease impacts remains controversial. One of the critical knowledge gaps that prevents resolution of this controversy is a lack of high-quality experimental data, especially in marine systems of significant ecological and economic consequence. Here, we performed a manipulative experiment in which we tested the temperature-dependent effects on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) of sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis)—a parasite that can depress the productivity of wild-salmon populations and the profits of the salmon-farming industry. We explored sea-lou…

Sicilian Temporary Ponds: An Overview of the Composition and Affinities of their Crustacean Biota

2009

Available data on Sicilian entomostracans allowed an initial characterization of the freshwater crustacean biota of the island and to formulate some hypotheses on its origin.The absence of supra-specific endemic taxa and the current regional distriburion of the investigated species suggest a late Pleistocene colonisation of the island by temperate taxa with a northern affinity, currently confined to the coolest areas of the island, followed by a Holocene arrival of thermophilous species coming from the Maghreb, which is still in progress. The importance of Sicily as a "crossroad" for the faunas of the circum-Mediterranean countries is thus confirmed.Unfortunately, and in spite of the EU dir…

The role of freshwater copepods in the environmental risk assessment of caffeine and propranolol mixtures in the surface water bodies of Spain

2019

In this study we aimed at assessing: (i) the environmental risk posed by mixtures of caffeine and propranolol to the freshwater ecosystems of Spain; (ii) the sensitivity of freshwater copepod species to the two compounds; (iii) if the toxicity of caffeine and propranolol to freshwater copepods contributes to the environmental risk posed by the two compounds in the freshwater bodies of Spain. The environmental risk was computed as the ratio of MECs (i.e. the measured environmental concentrations) to PNECs (i.e. the respective predicted no-effect concentrations). The effects of caffeine and propranolol on the freshwater cyclopoid Diacyclops crassicaudis crassicaudis were tested both individua…

Cryptic species within the freshwater copepod genus Hemidiaptomus (calanoida, diaptomidae).

2009

The copepod genus Hemidiaptomus is composed by about 17 large-bodied species inhabiting the freshwater temporary water bodies of the whole Palaearctic region. It currently comprises three subgenera, which are mostly parapatric and present only limited co-occurrence areas. There is no consensus on the taxonomical arrangement of the entire group, and to date no molecular studies have been carried out to test it. Accordingly, a thorough revision of the entire genus using a combined morphological and molecular approach is strongly advisable. We have thus decided to investigate the pattern of morphological and molecular diversity of three species of the genus Hemidiaptomus belonging to the three…

Parasites, pathogens, and other symbionts of copepods.

2021

There is a large diversity of eukaryotic symbionts of copepods, dominated by epizootic protists such as ciliates, and metazoan parasites. Eukaryotic endoparasites, copepod-associated bacteria, and viruses are less well known, partly due to technical limitations. However, new molecular techniques, combined with a range of other approaches, provide a complementary toolkit for understanding the complete symbiome of copepods and how the symbiome relates to their ecological roles, relationships with other biota, and responses to environmental change. In this review we provide the most complete overview of the copepod symbiome to date, including microeukaryotes, metazoan parasites, bacteria, and …

First record and morphological features of Hemidiaptomus (Occidodiaptomus) ingens (Gurney, 1909) (Copepoda Calanoida) in Italy

2004

During a survey, carried out to assess the consistency of microcrustacean fauna inhabiting temporary ponds in Sicily, Hemidiaptomus (Occidodiaptomus) ingens (Gurney, 1909), a large calanoid copepod up to now known only for North-African ponds, Camargue and Corse, was found in the north-western part of the island. Due to its central location in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily represents a transition zone where several chorological zones of the West Palearctic merge and converge. A brief summary of the existing literature regarding this taxon is given with some morphological considerations on the recently found population which represents the first record for Italy. In particular, the morpholog…

Predation as a factor mediating resource competition among rotifer sibling species

2004

The relevance of predation as a factor mediating the competitive interaction among ecologically very similar species is investigated by experimentally analyzing the effect of the copepod predator Diacyclops bicuspidatus odessanus on three sibling rotifer species belonging to the Brachionus plicatilis species complex. These rotifer species are similar in shape but show notable differences in body size. Predator and prey species co-occur in brackish waterbodies close to the Mediterranean coast of Spain. First, we characterized differential vulnerability of rotifers to predation. A consistent tendency of higher predation rates on smaller prey (i.e., smaller species and younger individuals) was…

Changes in epizoic crustacean infestations during cetacean die-offs: the mass mortality of Mediterranean striped dolphins Stenella coeruleoalba revis…

2006

In the summer and autumn of 1990, a cetacean morbillivirus caused a massive epizootic mortality of striped dolphins Stenella coeruleoalba in the western Mediterranean. Previous circum- stantial evidence suggested that the disease could also have increased host susceptibility to infesta- tions with epizoic crustaceans. In this study we provide strong evidence supporting this hypothesis. We examined striped dolphins stranded along the Mediterranean central coast of Spain from 1981 to 2004 (n = 136), and recorded data on prevalence, intensity of infestation, size and reproductive status of 2 sessile crustacean species specific to cetaceans, the phoront cirriped Xenobalanus globicipitis and the…