Thinking "outside the box": The effect of nontarget snails in the aquatic community on mollusc-borne diseases.

Autor: Stanicka A; Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toruń, Poland. Electronic address: anna.marszewska@umk.pl., Cichy A; Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toruń, Poland., Bulantová J; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 44 Prague, Czechia., Labecka AM; Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland., Ćmiel AM; Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. A. Mickiewicza 33, 31-120 Kraków, Poland., Templin J; Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toruń, Poland., Horák P; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 44 Prague, Czechia., Żbikowska E; Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toruń, Poland.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2022 Nov 01; Vol. 845, pp. 157264. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jul 09.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157264
Abstrakt: There is a great need to understand the impact of complex communities on the free-living parasite stages that are part of them. This task becomes more complex as nonnative species emerge, changing existing relationships and shaping new interactions in the community. A relevant question would be: Can the coexistence of nontarget snails with the target hosts contribute to trematodasis control? We used field and experimental approaches to investigate nonnative competitor-induced parasite dilution. During a three-year field study, we investigated digenean infection in Lymnaea stagnalis from eight Polish lakes inhabited or uninhabited by Potamopyrgus antipodarum. Additionally, we verified the presence of digenean infections in the populations of P. antipodarum. Moreover, we conducted an experimental infection of L. stagnalis with miracidia of Trichobilharzia szidati under increasing densities of P. antipodarum and aimed to infect P. antipodarum with them separately. The prevalence of avian schistosomes in lymnaeid snails was significantly higher in uninhabited lakes than in lakes inhabited by P. antipodarum. Our study indicates that waters with a higher density of invaders have a lower prevalence of avian schistosomes in lymnaeid hosts. The results of experimental studies confirmed that the presence of high densities of P. antipodarum reduces the probability of target host infection. Both field and experimental studies rule out the role of P. antipodarum as a source of avian schistosome cercariae. Here, a nonnative species was tested as a diluter, which in practice may be harmful to the local environment. This work is not a call for the introduction of nonnative species; it is intended to be a stimulus for researchers to continue searching for natural enemies of parasites because, as our results show, they exist. Finding natural enemies to the most dangerous species of human and animal parasites that will pose no threat to the local environment could be groundbreaking.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests.
(Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE