Growth and ontogeny of the tapeworm Schistocephalus solidus in its copepod first host affects performance in its stickleback second intermediate host.

ABSTRACT:

Background

For parasites with complex life cycles, size at transmission can impact performance in the next host, thereby coupling parasite phenotypes in the two consecutive hosts. However, a handful of studies with parasites, and numerous studies with free-living, complex-life-cycle animals, have found that larval size correlates poorly with fitness under particular conditions, implying that other traits, such as physiological or ontogenetic variation, may predict fitness more reliably. Using the tapeworm Schistocephalus solidus, we evaluated how parasite size, age, and ontogeny in the copepod first host interact to determine performance in the stickleback second host.

Methods

We raised infected copepods under two feeding treatments (to manipulate parasite growth), and then

SUBMITTER: Benesh DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3403952 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature