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Parasite-mediated microhabitat segregation between congeneric hosts.

ABSTRACT: Parasite-mediated competition can shape community structure and host distribution. If two species compete for resources, parasites may indirectly change the outcome of competition. We tested the role of a trematode parasite in mediating microhabitat use by congeneric isopods Austridotea annectens and Austridotea lacustris Although both isopods share resources, they rarely co-occur in the same discrete microhabitats. We set up mesocosms with and without competition and/or parasites to examine the role of parasites in host distribution and habitat segregation. Austridotea annectens showed a clear preference for one microhabitat type regardless of competition or parasitic infection. By contrast, A. lacustris showed little habitat selection in the absence of competition, but favoured sandy habitats in the presence of uninfected A. annectens and rocky habitats when competing with infected A. annectens Our results suggest that parasites in one species affect the distribution of another species, and mediate competition between these species. We demonstrated the impacts of a parasite on the microhabitat use of its host's competitor. This also represents an example of a super-extended phenotype, where a parasite affects the phenotype of a non-host.

SUBMITTER: Friesen OC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5830662 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Parasite-mediated microhabitat segregation between congeneric hosts.

Friesen Olwyn C OC Poulin Robert R Lagrue Clément C

Biology letters 20180201 2

Parasite-mediated competition can shape community structure and host distribution. If two species compete for resources, parasites may indirectly change the outcome of competition. We tested the role of a trematode parasite in mediating microhabitat use by congeneric isopods <i>Austridotea annectens</i> and <i>Austridotea lacustris</i> Although both isopods share resources, they rarely co-occur in the same discrete microhabitats. We set up mesocosms with and without competition and/or parasites ...[more]

PMID: 29438050

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Project description:Little is known of the diversity of the monogenean parasites infesting deep-sea groupers, and there is even less information available about their geographic distributions within the ranges of their hosts. To improve our understanding of these host-parasite relationships we conducted parasitological evaluations of the deep-water Haifa grouper Hyporthodus haifensis from the southern Mediterranean off Tunisia and Libya. We collected more than one species of diplectanid monogeneans from this host, but among these only one dominant species was abundant. This proved to be morphologically very similar to Pseudorhabdosynochus sulamericanus Santos, Buchmann & Gibson, 2000, a species originally described from the congeneric host H. niveatus off Brazil and also recorded from H. niveatus and H. nigritus off Florida. Here, we conducted a morphological comparison between newly collected specimens and those previously deposited in museum collections by other authors. Further, we used COI barcoding to ascertain the specific identity of the three host species to better elucidate the circumstances that might explain the unexpectedly broad distribution of P. sulamericanus. We assigned our specimens from H. haifensis to P. sulamericanus primarily on the basis of morphological characteristics of the sclerotized vagina. We also noted morphological characteristics of eastern and western Atlantic specimens that are not clearly described or not given in previous descriptions and so prepared a redescription of the species. We confirmed, by COI barcoding, that no sister-species relationships were evident among the three hosts of P. sulamericanus. Our observation that P. sulamericanus infects unrelated host species with putatively allopatric distributions was unexpected given the very limited dispersive capabilities and the high degree of host specificity common to members of Pseudorhabdosynochus. This transatlantic distribution raises questions with regard to phylogeography and assumptions about the allopatry of Atlantic grouper species from the Americas and Afro-Eurasia. Here, we propose some hypothetical explanations for our findings.

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Parasite-mediated microhabitat segregation between congeneric hosts.

Publications

Parasite-mediated microhabitat segregation between congeneric hosts.

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