Life-cycle mediated effects of urbanization on parasite communities in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus

PLoS One. 2019 Dec 2;14(12):e0225896. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225896. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between urbanization and parasite community structure in the estuarine fish, Fundulus heteroclitus. We measured landscape and physicochemical factors associated with urbanization at 6 sites from 4 collection periods. Concurrently, we quantified the metazoan parasite community in F. heteroclitus collected at those sites, with 105 fish studied per site during the 4 collection periods. Parasite community composition differed among sites. Host size was the most important variable for direct life-cycle parasite assemblages and indirect life-cycle parasites at the individual fish level, while landscape and physicochemical factors determined the structure of indirect life-cycle parasite assemblages at the population scale. Variation in the prevalence and intensity of infection of two indirect life-cycle parasites, Lasiocotus minutus and Glossocercus caribaensis, were the primary parasites that drove differences across sites. Variation in the presence/absence of these indirect life-cycle parasite species was associated with sediment Ni concentrations, patch density, and marsh size. Our data support the hypothesis that urbanization, acting at both landscape and physicochemical scales, can have a significant impact on parasite community structure. This, however, varied by parasite life history: there was little effect of urbanization on the prevalence and intensity of direct life-cycle parasites, but significant variation was detected for indirect life-cycle parasites. This study demonstrates how anthropogenically driven landscape change influences fine-scale population dynamics of parasites.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biodiversity
  • Environment
  • Fish Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Fish Diseases / parasitology*
  • Fundulidae / parasitology*
  • Host-Parasite Interactions*
  • Life Cycle Stages*
  • Parasites / physiology*
  • Population Dynamics
  • Prevalence
  • Urbanization

Associated data

  • figshare/.6084/m9.figshare.10084700.v1

Grants and funding

JMA received funding from the Institute of Coastal Plain Science (Georgia Southern University) to complete this work. TKA was supported by the Office of Research Services and Sponsored Programs at Georgia Southern University (GSU) and by an appointment to the USDA-ARS Research Participation Program administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and USDA under contract number DE-AC05-06OR23100. The open access publishing fees for this article have been covered by the Texas A&M University Open Access to Knowledge Fund (OAKFund), supported by the University Libraries and the Office of the Vice President for Research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.