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EFFECTS OF SNAIL SIZE AND AGE ON THE PREVALENCE AND INTENSITY OF AVIAN SCHISTOSOME INFECTION: RELATING LABORATORY TO FIELD STUDIES

EFFECTS OF SNAIL SIZE AND AGE ON THE PREVALENCE AND INTENSITY OF AVIAN SCHISTOSOME INFECTION:... Both the prevalence and intensity of patent infection by avian schistosomes (Trichobilharzia ocellata) increase with increasing size of lymnaeid snails (Stagnicola elrodi) collected in Flathead Lake, Montana. Because the size and age of a snail are positively correlated, snails of different sizes may have experienced differential duration of exposure to and development of infection. Another possibility is that infection itself induces snail gigantism. Each of these possibilities could lead to increased prevalence and intensity of infection among the oldest–largest snails. To decouple size variation from many correlated effects of age and to test for parasite-induced gigantism, laboratory experiments standardized snail size–age-at-infection, exposure history, inoculating dose, and duration of infection. The positive relationship between size and prevalence was eliminated in the laboratory, but the relationship between size and infection intensity remained. Laboratory results thus suggest that infection intensity is related to snail size per se, whereas prevalence in the field is related to snail size only through the correlation between size and age. In addition, under these experimental conditions, infected snails were no larger than uninfected snails, so the patterns observed in the field might not be attributable to gigantism. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Journal of Parasitology Allen Press

EFFECTS OF SNAIL SIZE AND AGE ON THE PREVALENCE AND INTENSITY OF AVIAN SCHISTOSOME INFECTION: RELATING LABORATORY TO FIELD STUDIES

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The Journal of Parasitology , Volume 89 (3): 6 – Jun 27, 2003

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References (45)

Publisher
Allen Press
Copyright
American Society of Parasitologists
Subject
FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY
ISSN
0022-3395
eISSN
1937-2345
DOI
10.1645/0022-3395(2003)089[0458:EOSSAA]2.0.CO;2
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Both the prevalence and intensity of patent infection by avian schistosomes (Trichobilharzia ocellata) increase with increasing size of lymnaeid snails (Stagnicola elrodi) collected in Flathead Lake, Montana. Because the size and age of a snail are positively correlated, snails of different sizes may have experienced differential duration of exposure to and development of infection. Another possibility is that infection itself induces snail gigantism. Each of these possibilities could lead to increased prevalence and intensity of infection among the oldest–largest snails. To decouple size variation from many correlated effects of age and to test for parasite-induced gigantism, laboratory experiments standardized snail size–age-at-infection, exposure history, inoculating dose, and duration of infection. The positive relationship between size and prevalence was eliminated in the laboratory, but the relationship between size and infection intensity remained. Laboratory results thus suggest that infection intensity is related to snail size per se, whereas prevalence in the field is related to snail size only through the correlation between size and age. In addition, under these experimental conditions, infected snails were no larger than uninfected snails, so the patterns observed in the field might not be attributable to gigantism.

Journal

The Journal of ParasitologyAllen Press

Published: Jun 27, 2003

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