Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T21:07:59.363Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can the nematode Capillaria hepatica regulate abundance in wild house mice? Results of enclosure experiments in southeastern Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

S. C. Barker ,
G. R. Singleton  and
D. M. Spratt
S. C. Barker
Affiliation:
Division of Wildlife and Ecology, CSIRO, P.O. Box 84, Lyneham, A.C.T. 2062, Australia
G. R. Singleton
Affiliation:
Division of Wildlife and Ecology, CSIRO, P.O. Box 84, Lyneham, A.C.T. 2062, Australia
D. M. Spratt
Affiliation:
Division of Wildlife and Ecology, CSIRO, P.O. Box 84, Lyneham, A.C.T. 2062, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The hypothesis that a liver-inhabiting nematode, Capillaria hepatica, can regulate abundance of the house mouse (Mus domesticus) was tested in enclosures, in southeastern Australia. Changes in mouse abundance, and the relationship between mortality and host abundance were compared in three treatment and three control populations. Any effect of C. hepatica on mouse abundance was masked by an unknown regulating factor(s). This factor(s) caused density-dependent mortality in the control and treatment populations and, together with strong seasonal trends in parasite transmission, confounded our test of the ability of C. hepatica to regulate the abundance of house mice. The seasonal trends in transmission have important implications for the potential of this parasite as a biological control agent and for models of the interaction of C. hepatica and mouse populations. Transmission of C. hepatica apparently occurred throughout the 18 month study, further supporting its potential as a biological agent in the control of mouse plagues in this region.

Keywords

Nematodaregulationdensity-dependenceCapillariaMusenclosures
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 103 , Issue 3 , December 1991 , pp. 439 - 449
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, R. M. (1980). Depression of host population abundance by direct life cycle macroparasites. Journal of Theoretical Biology 82, 283–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bomford, M. (1987). Food and reproduction of wild house mice. III. Experiments on the breeding performance of caged house mice fed rice-based diets. Australian Wildlife Research 14, 207–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bomford, M. & Redhead, T. (1987). A field experiment to examine the effects of food quality and population density on reproduction of wild house mice. Oikos 48, 304–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronson, F. H. (1979). The reproductive ecology of the house mouse. Quarterly Review of Biology 54, 265–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannon, R. M. & Roe, R. T. (1982). Livestock Disease Surveys; a Field Manual for Veterinarians. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
Caughley, G. (1977). Analysis of Vertebrate Populations. London: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Childs, J. E., Glass, G. E. & Korch, G. W. (1988). The comparative epizootiology of Capillaria hepatica (Nematoda) in urban rodents from different habitats of Baltimore, Maryland. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66, 2769–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowcroft, P. & Rowe, F. P. (1963). Social organisation and territorial behaviour in the wild house mouse (Mus musculus L.). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (Biology) 140, 517–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, R. S. & Wright, K. A. (1960). Factors concerned with epizootiology of Capillaria hepatica (Bancroft, 1893) (Nematoda) in a population of Peromyscus maniculatus in Algonquin Park, Canada. Journal of Parasitology 46, 373–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herman, T. B. (1981). Capillaria hepatica (Nematoda) in insular populations of the deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus: cannibalism or competition for carcasses? Canadian Journal of Zoology 59, 776–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hestbeck, J. B. (1987). Multiple regulation state in populations of small mammals: a state-transition model. American Naturalist 129, 520–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krebs, C. J. (1989). Ecological Methodology. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Luttermoser, G. W. (1938). Factors influencing the development and viability of the eggs of Capillaria hepatica. American Journal of Hygiene 27, 275–89.Google Scholar
Margolis, L., Holmes, J. C., Esch, A. M., Kuris, A. M. & Schad, G. A. (1982). The use of ecological terms in parasitology (report to an ad hoc committee of the American Society of Parasitologists). Journal of Parasitology 68, 131–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mccallum, H. I. & Singleton, G. R. (1989). Models to assess the potential of Capillaria hepatica to control population outbreaks of house mice. Parasitology 98, 425–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, E. C. (1989). The demography of an island and mainland population of house mice in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. Ph.D. thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Newell, J. W. (1961). Soils of the Mallee Research Station. Walpeup, Victoria. Technical Bulletin Number 13 (Department of Agriculture, Victoria).Google Scholar
Pryor, S. & Bronson, F. H. (1981). Relative and combined effects of low temperature, poor diet, and short daylength on the productivity of wild house mice. Biology of Reproduction 25, 734–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raybourne, R. & Solomon, G. B. (1984). Granulomatous hypersensitivity and antibody production in response to antigens of Capillaria hepatica eggs. International Journal for Parasitology 14, 371–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Redhead, T. D. (1988). Prevention of plagues of house mice in rural Australia. In Rodent Pest Management (ed. Prakash, I.), pp. 191–205. Boca Raton: CRC Inc.Google Scholar
Redhead, T. D. & Singleton, G. R. (1988). The PICA strategy for the prevention of losses caused by plagues of Mus domesticus in rural Australia. OEPP/EPPO Bulletin 18, 237–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sage, R. D. (1981). Wild mice. In The Mouse in Biomedical Research, Vol. 4 (ed. Foster, H. L., Small, J. D. & Fox, J. G.), pp. 39–90. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Scott, M. E. (1987). Regulation of mouse colony abundance by Heligmosomoides polygyrus. Parasitology 95, 111–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, M. E. (1990). An experimental and theoretical study of the dynamics of a mouse–nematode (Heligmosomoides polygyrus) interaction. Parasitology 101, 75–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, M. E. & Dobson, A. (1989). The role of parasites in regulating host abundance. Parasitology Today 5, 176–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sinclair, A. R. E. (1989). Population regulation in animals. In Ecological Concepts (ed. Cherrett, J. M.), pp. 197–241. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Sinclair, A. R. E., Olsen, P. D. & Redhead, T. D. (1991). Can predators regulate small mammal populations? Evidence from house mouse outbreaks in Australia. Oikos 59, 382–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, G. R. (1983). The social and genetic structure of a natural colony of house mice, Mus musculus, at Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. Australian Journal of Zoology 31, 155–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, G. R. (1985). Population dynamics of Mus musculus and its parasites in mallee wheatlands in Victoria during and after a drought. Australian Wildlife Research 12, 437–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, G. R. (1987). A comparison of the effectiveness of pitfall and Longworth live-trapping techniques in population studies of house mice. Acta Theriologica 32, 245–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, G. R. (1989). Population dynamics of an outbreak of house mice (Mus domesticus) in the mallee wheatlands of Australia – hypothesis of plague formation. Journal of Zoology 219, 495–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, G. R. & Mccallum, H. I. (1990). The potential of Capillaria hepatica to control mouse plagues. Parasitology Today 6, 190–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singleton, G. R. & Redhead, T. D. (1989). House mouse plagues. In Mediterranean Landscapes in Australia: Mallee Ecosystems and their Management (ed. Noble, J. C. & Bradstock, R. A.), pp. 418–442. East Melbourne: CSIRO Publications.Google Scholar
Singleton, G. R. & Redhead, T. D. (1990). Structure and biology of house mouse populations that plague irregularly; an evolutionary perspective. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 41, 285–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, G. R. & Spratt, D. M. (1986). The effects of Capillaria hepatica (Nematoda) on the natality and survival to weaning in BALB/c mice. Australian Journal of Zoology 34, 677–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, G. R., Spratt, D. M., Barker, S. C. & Hodgson, P. F. (1991). The geographic and host distribution of Capillaria hepatica (Bancroft) (Nematoda) in Australia. International Journal for Parasitology (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spratt, D. M. (1990). The role of helminths in biological control of mammals. International Journal for Parasitology 20, 543–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spratt, D. M. & Singleton, G. R. (1986). Studies of the life cycle, infectivity and clinical effects of Capillaria hepatica (Bancroft) (Nematoda) in mice, Mus musculus. Australian Journal of Zoology 34, 663–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spratt, D. M. & Singleton, G. R. (1987). Experimental embryonation and survival of eggs of Capillaria hepatica (Nematoda) under mouse burrow conditions in cereal-growing soils. Australian Journal of Zoology 35, 337–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stickel, L. F. (1979). Population ecology of house mice in unstable habitats. Journal of Animal Ecology 48, 871–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stueck, K. L. & Barrett, G. W. (1978). Effects of resource partitioning on the population dynamics and energy utilization strategies of feral house mice (Mus musculus) populations under experimental field conditions. Ecology 59, 539–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wescott, R. B. (1982). Helminths. In The Mouse in Biological Research, Vol. 2 (ed. Foster, H. L., Small, J. D. & Fox, J. G.), pp. 373–384. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wright, K. A. (1961). Observations on the life cycle of Capillaria hepatica (Bancroft, 1893) with a description of the adult. Canadian Journal of Zoology 38, 167–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar