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Long-term variation in trematode (Trematoda, Digenea) component communities associated with intertidal gastropods is linked to abundance of final hosts

  • WHITE SEA ECOSYSTEMS
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Abstract

Trematodes are abundant parasites essential for maintaining stability of marine intertidal ecosystems. Despite the great ecological significance of trematodes, long-term dynamics of their communities remains practically unstudied. This study, based on 12-year-long seasonal monitoring of infection of Littorina and Hydrobia snails with 16 trematode species in the White Sea, aimed to reveal factors determining long-term variation in infection of intertidal snails by trematode parthenitae and larvae. Using the state-of-the-art method of singular spectrum analysis, we revealed trends in this variation and assessed their significance. Interestingly, these trends were not associated with oceanic and climatic parameters but were mostly determined by changes in abundance of the trematode final hosts. Moreover, the prevalence trends turned out to be connected with both large-scale events and local factors at the scale of the intertidal site. The main factors determining the long-term dynamics of the trematode component communities in the study area were the decreasing abundance of birds due to growing anthropogenic disturbance and the increasing abundance of the three-spined stickleback. The analysis of long-term trends of trematode prevalence in intertidal snails may be a sensitive indicator of the abundance dynamics of final hosts in the coastal areas of temperate and northern seas.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the foundations that have supported this research over the years: INTAS (the International Association for the Promotion of Co-operation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union), RFBR (the Russian Foundation for Basic Research) and St. Petersburg State University (Grant Number 1.37.80.2011). We thank Natalia Lentsman for her help with English translation of the MS. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their well-considered comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.

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  1. The Laboratory of Parasitic Worms, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Ivan A. Levakin

  2. The White Sea Biological Station, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Kirill E. Nikolaev & Kirill V. Galaktionov

  3. Department of Invertebrate Zoology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Ivan A. Levakin, Kirill E. Nikolaev & Kirill V. Galaktionov

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  1. Ivan A. Levakin
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Correspondence to Kirill V. Galaktionov.

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Guest editor: A. A. Sukhotin / Long-term research on marine ecosystems in the White Sea, Russia

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Levakin, I.A., Nikolaev, K.E. & Galaktionov, K.V. Long-term variation in trematode (Trematoda, Digenea) component communities associated with intertidal gastropods is linked to abundance of final hosts. Hydrobiologia 706, 103–118 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1267-x

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