Spatial distribution of the intertidal snail Ilyanassa obsoleta in relation to parasitism by two species of trematodes

We studied the spatial distributions of mud snails (Ilyanassa obsoleta) infected by two trematodes, Lepocreadium setiferoides and Gynaecotyla adunca, on a macrotidal mudflat in the Minas Basin, Bay of Fundy. Snails, as first intermediate hosts, were castrated by both parasites, and we found no evidence of sex differences in parasitism. Similar to previous work, prevalence of L. setiferoides in I. obsoleta increased exponentially with host size (and age). Unexpectedly, prevalence of G. adunca decreased over the largest size classes of snails, a result that may be due to several causes. Distributions of both parasites across the intertidal zone differed from previous accounts in that snails infected with L. setiferoides were found only in the middle of the intertidal zone, whereas prevalence of G. adunca increased exponentially moving seaward. Several species of polychaetes could be infected by L. setiferoides in the laboratory and may act as appropriate second intermediate hosts, whereas only the amphipod Corophium volutator served as a second intermediate host for G. adunca. Finally, the vertical distributions of I. obsoleta infected by either species of trematode overlap with distributions of apparent or known second intermediate hosts

Male amphipods increase their mating effort before behavioural manipulation by trematodes

Certain parasites appear to alter the behaviour of intermediate hosts, making them more susceptible to predation by final hosts (adaptive parasite manipulation). In some cases, however, hosts are expected to respond by increasing their reproductive effort when first parasitized (adaptive host response). We tested predictions of these two hypotheses for males of the amphipod Corophium volutator (Pallas). Consistent with adaptive parasite manipulation, males infected by the trematode Gynaecotyla adunca (Linton) were likely to crawl on the surface of a mud flat, but only when visual predation by the final host, semipalmated sandpipers, Calidris pusilla L., was likely (during the day), and after trematodes had developed to their infective stage. Males appeared to compensate for parasitism by being more likely to mate, and perhaps by increasing ejaculate size. However, parasitized males that mated when first infected were less likely to mate again once their parasites reached their infective stage, despite their increased crawling at that time, which is associated with mate searching. We did not find that trematodes reduced host survival, apart from expected increases in predation rate on amphipods; in fact, highly infected amphipods actually lived longer than lightly infected ones. Taken together, our results suggest that adaptive host responses can occur before parasite manipulation is realized