Search results for "parasite"

Spore-forming parasites infecting muscles of freshwater fishes : ecology and epidemiology

2017

Fish parasites may potentially harm fisheries and aquaculture. Infected fish are unusable, even though they would not pose a direct risk to human health. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the ecology and epidemiology of three previously unknown or poorly known spore-forming parasites infecting muscles of economically important fish species. The first novel microsporidian species, here described as Microsporidium luciopercae, was found from pike-perch (Sander lucioperca) and European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and formed opaque-looking patches in the muscles. The second novel microsporidian species, Myosporidium spraguei, was found from pike-perch and burbot (Lota lota) and occurred w…

A link between heritable parasite resistance and mate choice in dung beetles

2019

Parasites play a central role in the adaptiveness of sexual reproduction. Sexual selection theory suggests a role for parasite resistance in the context of mate choice, but the evidence is mixed. The parasite-mediated sexual selection (PMSS) hypothesis derives a number of predictions, among which that resistance to parasites is heritable, and that female choice favors parasite resistance genes in males. Here, we tested the PMSS hypothesis using the dung beetle Onthophagus taurus, a species that can be heavily parasitized by Macrocheles merdarius mites, which are known to affect adult survival. We investigated the heritability of resistance to M. merdarius, as well as whether female O. tauru…

Exploration of extracellular vesicles from

2018

ABSTRACT The prevalent porcine helminth, Ascaris suum, compromises pig health and reduces farm productivity worldwide. The closely related human parasite, A. lumbricoides, infects more than 800 million people representing a disease burden of 1.31 million disability-adjusted life years. The infections are often chronic in nature, and the parasites have a profound ability to modulate their hosts’ immune responses. This study provides the first in-depth characterisation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from different developmental stages and body parts of A. suum and proposes the role of these vesicles in the host–parasite interplay. The release of EVs from the third- (L3) and fourth-stage (L4)…

Host-related factors affectingisopod (Asellus aquaticus) susceptibility to and interaction with an acanthocephalan (Acanthocephalus lucii) parasite

2013

Dual action of phosphonate herbicides in plants affected by herbivore—Model study on black bean aphid Aphis fabae rearing on broad bean Vicia faba pl…

2008

Abstract The interactions between plants, herbicides and herbivore insects were studied as an aspect of possible side effect of the using of phosphonate herbicides. The experimental system was composed of phosphonate herbicides, broad bean Vicia faba (L.) plants and black bean aphid Aphis fabae (Scopoli). Two means of herbicide application, namely standard spraying and direct introduction of the herbicide into stem via glass capillary, were examined. The results obtained for N-2-piridylaminomethylene bisphosphonic acid and its derivatives show 10 times higher inhibition of the plant growth if glass capillary mode was used. When plants were infested by aphids 24 h after the use of herbicide,…

Implications of heat waves on immune defence, life history traits, and adaptive potential : a snail's perspective

2014

Studies on metazoan parasites of two marine fish species of interest for aquaculture: Seriola dumerili and Sparus aurata

2013

0.1. Introducción general La acuicultura ha experimentado un importante aumento durante los últimos 50 años, resultado del incremento global de población y la creciente demanda de proteínas de alta calidad. En los últimos 40 años, la proporción de reservas pesqueras moderadamente explotadas ha descendido progresivamente hasta estabilizarse en el 15% y en la actualidad, la mayoría de los stocks pesqueros están sobreexplotados y (FAO, 2010). Más de la mitad de los productos acuáticos provienen de granjas, siendo los peces de agua dulce los animales más cultivados seguidos por los moluscos, los crustáceos, los peces diádromos y los peces marinos (FAO, 2010). España es el país con mayor producc…

Sex and sexual ornamentation associated with survival of the cyprinid fish, Rutilus rutilus, under disease stress

2013

By conveying information of disease resistance, sexual signals may be used as cues for adaptive mate choice. Here we report observations on survival of laboratory-maintained, wild-collected, sexually mature, ready-to-spawn cyprinid fish, Rutilus rutilus (roach), under accidental epidemic attributed to Flavobacterium psychrophilum, diagnosed using species-specific PCR. The fish were maintained in a single tank. During the 27 days observation period, both the proportion of fish surviving the infection as well as the length-adjusted mean survival time of the fish that died was the highest among the high-ornamented males with large breeding tubercles, intermediary among the low-ornamented males…

Parasite avoidance behaviours in aquatic environments

2018

Parasites, including macroparasites, protists, fungi, bacteria and viruses, can impose a heavy burden upon host animals. However, hosts are not without defences. One aspect of host defence, behavioural avoidance, has been studied in the terrestrial realm for over 50 years, but was first reported from the aquatic environment approximately 20 years ago. Evidence has mounted on the importance of parasite avoidance behaviours and it is increasingly apparent that there are core similarities in the function and benefit of this defence mechanism between terrestrial and aquatic systems. However, there are also stark differences driven by the unique biotic and abiotic characteristics of terrestrial …

Genome size evolution in macroparasites.

2014

Reduction in genome size has been associated not only with a parasitic lifestyle in intracellular microparasites but also in some macroparasitic insects and nematodes. We collected the available data on genome size for flatworms, annelids, nematodes and arthropods, compared those with available data for the phylogenetically closest free-living taxa and found evidence of smaller genome sizes for parasites in six of nine comparisons. Our results suggest that despite great differences in evolutionary history and life cycles, parasitism as a lifestyle promotes convergent genome size reduction in macroparasites. We discuss factors that could be associated with small genome size in parasites whic…