A Long Temporal Study of Parasitism in Asexual-Sexual Populations of Carassius gibelio: Does the Parasite Infection Support Coevolutionary Red Queen Dynamics?

ABSTRACT: Carassius gibelio is an extraordinary cyprinid species exhibiting both sexual and asexual reproduction. We hypothesized that parasitism selection is one of the potential mechanisms contributing to the coexistence of the two reproductive forms of C. gibelio living in the same habitat. We performed a four-year study to investigate the dynamics of parasite infection in C. gibelio. According to the Red Queen prediction, the asexual form is a target of parasite adaptation due to its low genetic variability. Both sexual and gynogenetic forms of C. gibelio exhibited similar levels of prevalence, with monogeneans being the most frequently observed parasite group. We observed the temporal dynamics of parasite infection in the last year of investigation, when both forms w

SUBMITTER: Pakosta T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5866858 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature