Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T13:04:26.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parasite and host biomass and reproductive output in barnacle populations in the rocky intertidal zone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2018

Caitlin R. Fong Open the ORCID record for Caitlin R. Fong [Opens in a new window] ,
Armand M. Kuris  and
Ryan F. Hechinger
Caitlin R. Fong*
Affiliation:
Santa Barbara – Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, Santa Barbara, University of California, California 93106, USA
Armand M. Kuris
Affiliation:
Santa Barbara – Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, Santa Barbara, University of California, California 93106, USA
Ryan F. Hechinger
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography – Marine Biology Research Division, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Caitlin R. Fong, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The rocky intertidal zone has a long history of ecological study with barnacles frequently serving as a model system to explore foundational theories. Parasites are often ignored in community ecology studies, and this particularly holds for true for the rocky intertidal zone. We explore the role of the isopod parasite, Hemioniscus balani, on its host, the acorn barnacle, Chthamalus fissus. We use the currencies of biomass and reproduction measured at the individual level, then applied to the population level, to evaluate the importance of this parasite to barnacle populations. We found H. balani can comprise substantial biomass in ‘apparent’ barnacle populations, sometimes even equaling barnacle biomass. Additionally, parasite reproduction sometimes matched barnacle reproduction. Thus, parasites divert substantial energy flow from the barnacle population and to near-shore communities in the form of parasite larvae. Parasites appeared to decrease barnacle reproduction per area. Potentially, this parasite may control barnacle populations, depending on the extent to which heavily infected barnacle populations contribute to barnacle populations at larger scales. These findings regarding the importance of a particular parasite for host population dynamics in this well studied ecosystem call for the integration of disease dynamics into community ecological studies of the rocky intertidal zone.

Keywords

BarnaclesbiomassChthamalus fissusHemioniscus balaniparasitesparasitic castratorreproductionrocky intertidal zone.
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 146 , Issue 3 , March 2019 , pp. 407 - 412
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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

Blower, SM and Roughgarden, J (1987) Population dynamics and parasitic castration: a mathematical model. The American Naturalist 129, 730–754.Google Scholar
Blower, SM and Roughgarden, J (1988) Parasitic castration: host species preferences, size-selectivity and spatial heterogeneity. Oecologia 75, 512–515.Google Scholar
Borer, ET, Seabloom, EW and Tilman, D (2012) Plant diversity controls arthropod biomass and temporal stability. Ecology Letters 15, 1457–1464.Google Scholar
Caullery, M and Mesnil, F (1901) Recherches sur l'Hemioniscus balani Buchholz, épicaride parasite de balanes. Bulletin se France Belgique 34, 316–361.Google Scholar
Connell, JH (1961 a) The influence of interspecific competition and other factors on the distribution of the barnacle Chthamalus stellatus. Ecology 42, 710–723.Google Scholar
Connell, JH (1961 b) Effects of competition, predation by Thais lapillus, and other factors on natural populations of the barnacle Balanus balanoides. Ecological Monographs 31, 61–104.Google Scholar
Crisp, DJ (1960) Factors influencing growth-rate in Balanus balanoides. The Journal of Animal Ecology 1, 95–116.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R (1982) The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dayton, PK (1971) Competition, disturbance, and community organization: the provision and subsequent utilization of space in a rocky intertidal community. Ecological Monographs 41, 351–389.Google Scholar
Fong, CR and Fong, P (2018) Nutrient fluctuations in marine systems: press versus pulse nutrient subsidies affect producer competition and diversity in estuaries and coral reefs. Estuaries and Coasts 41, 421–429.Google Scholar
Fong, CR and Kuris, AM (2017) Predation on transmission stages reduces parasitism: sea anemones consume transmission stages of a barnacle parasite. Parasitology 144, 917–922.Google Scholar
Fong, CR, Moron, NA and Kuris, AM (2017) Two's a crowd? Crowding effect in a parasitic castrator drives differences in reproductive resource allocation in single vs double infections. Parasitology 144, 662–668.Google Scholar
Fong, CR, Kuris, AM and Hechinger, RF Hermaphrodites and parasites: size-specific female reproduction drives infection by an ephemeral parasitic castrator. In review at Oecologia.Google Scholar
Gaines, S and Roughgarden, J (1985) Larval settlement rate: a leading determinant of structure in an ecological community of the marine intertidal zone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 82, 3707–3711.Google Scholar
Goudeau, M (1970) Nouvelle description d'Hemioniscus balani Buchholz, isopode épicaride, au stade de mâle cryptoniscien. Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale 111, 411–448.Google Scholar
Goudeau, M (1976) Secretion of embryonic envelopes and embryonic molting cycles in Hemioniscus balani Buchholz, Isopoda Epicaridea. Journal of Morphology 148, 427–451.Google Scholar
Harley, CD and Lopez, JP (2003) The natural history, thermal physiology, and ecological impacts of intertidal mesopredators, Oedoparena spp. (Diptera: Dryomyzidae). Invertebrate Biology 122, 61–73.Google Scholar
Hines, AH Jr (1976) Comparative reproductive ecology of three species of intertidal barnacles. California Sea Grant College Program.Google Scholar
Hines, AH (1978) Reproduction in three species of intertidal barnacles from central California. The Biological Bulletin 154, 262–281.Google Scholar
Kaplan, AT, Rebhal, S, Lafferty, KD and Kuris, AM (2009). Small estuarine fishes feed on large trematode cercariae: lab and field investigations. Journal of Parasitology 95, 477–480.Google Scholar
Kuris, AM (1974) Trophic interactions: similarity of parasitic castrators to parasitoids. The Quarterly Review of Biology 49, 129–148.Google Scholar
Kuris, AM, Hechinger, RF, Shaw, JC, Whitney, KL, Aguirre-Macedo, L, Boch, CA, Dobson, AP, Dunham, EJ, Fredensborg, BL, Huspeni, TC and Lorda, J (2008) Ecosystem energetic implications of parasite and free-living biomass in three estuaries. Nature 454, 515–518.Google Scholar
Lafferty, KD and Kuris, AM (2009) Parasitic castration: the evolution and ecology of body snatchers. Trends in Parasitology 25, 564–572.Google Scholar
Lafferty, KD, Harvell, CD, Conrad, JM, Friedman, CS, Kent, ML, Kuris, AM, Powell, EN, Rondeau, D and Saksida, SM (2015) Infectious diseases affect marine fisheries and aquaculture economics. Annual Review of Marine Science 7, 471–496.Google Scholar
Lagrue, C and Poulin, R (2016) The scaling of parasite biomass with host biomass in lake ecosystems: are parasites limited by host resources?. Ecography 39, 507–514.Google Scholar
Lehrter, JC and Cebrian, J (2010) Uncertainty propagation in an ecosystem nutrient budget. Ecological Applications 20, 508–524.Google Scholar
Leslie, HM, Breck, EN, Chan, F, Lubchenco, J and Menge, BA (2005) Barnacle reproductive hotspots linked to nearshore ocean conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102, 10534–10539.Google Scholar
Lindeman, RL (1942) The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology. Ecology 23, 399–417.Google Scholar
Loreau, M, Roy, J and Tilman, D (2005) Linking ecosystem and parasite ecology. Parasitism and Ecosystems 1, 13–22.Google Scholar
Menge, BA (1976) Organization of the New England rocky intertidal community: role of predation, competition, and environmental heterogeneity. Ecological Monographs 46, 355–393.Google Scholar
Menge, BA (2000) Top-down and bottom-up community regulation in marine rocky intertidal habitats. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 250, 257–289.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, DB, Asner, GP, Martin, RE, Silva Espejo, JE, Huasco, WH, Farfán Amézquita, FF, Carranza-Jimenez, L, Galiano Cabrera, DF, Baca, LD, Sinca, F and Quispe, H (2014) Herbivory makes major contributions to ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling in tropical forests. Ecology Letters 17, 324–332.Google Scholar
Newman, WA and Abbott, DP (1980) Cirripedia: the barnacles. In Morris, RH, Abbott, DP, Haderlie, EC (eds) Intertidal Invertebrates of California. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, pp. 504–535.Google Scholar
O'Brien, J and Van Wyk, PM (1985) Effects of crustacean parasitic castrators (epicaridean isopods and rhizocephalan barnacles) on growth of crustacean hosts. Crustacean 3, 191–218.Google Scholar
Odum, WE (1971) Pathways of energy flow in a south Florida estuary. Sea Grant Technical Bulletin No. 7. University of Miami, Sea Grant Program (Living Resources), Miami, Florida.Google Scholar
Odum, HT and Odum, EP (1955) Trophic structure and productivity of a windward coral reef community on Eniwetok Atoll. Ecological Monographs 25, 291–320.Google Scholar
Orlofske, SA, Jadin, RC, Preston, DL and Johnson, PT (2012) Parasite transmission in complex communities: predators and alternative hosts alter pathogenic infections in amphibians. Ecology 93, 1247–1253.Google Scholar
Paine, RT (1966) Food web complexity and species diversity. The American Naturalist 100, 65–75.Google Scholar
Perez, CH (1923) Sur la spécificité du parasitism des Hemioniscus. Bulletin de la Societé Zoologique de France 48, 375–376.Google Scholar
Power, ME (1992) Top-down and bottom-up forces in food webs: do plants have primacy. Ecology 73, 733–746.Google Scholar
Preston, DL, Orlofske, SA, Lambden, JP and Johnson, PT (2013) Biomass and productivity of trematode parasites in pond ecosystems. Journal of Animal Ecology 82, 509–517.Google Scholar
Ricketts, EF, Calvin, J, Hedgpeth, JW and Phillips, DW (1985) Between Pacific Tides. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Sousa, WP (1979) Disturbance in marine intertidal boulder fields: the nonequilibrium maintenance of species diversity. Ecology 60, 1225–1239.Google Scholar
Taylor, JR (1982) An introduction to Error Analysis. Mill Valley, CA: University Science Books.Google Scholar
Tilman, D (1996) Biodiversity: population versus ecosystem stability. Ecology 77, 350–363.Google Scholar
Wilmers, CC, Estes, JA, Edwards, M, Laidre, KL and Konar, B (2012) Do trophic cascades affect the storage and flux of atmospheric carbon? An analysis of sea otters and kelp forests. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10, 409–415.Google Scholar
Wilson, SD and Tilman, D (1991) Interactive effects of fertilization and disturbance on community structure and resource availability in an old-field plant community. Oecologia 88, 61–71.Google Scholar
Yang, LH, Bastow, JL, Spence, KO and Wright, AN (2008) What can we learn from resource pulses. Ecology 89, 621–634.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Fong et al. supplementary material

Fong et al. supplementary material 1

Download Fong et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 123.1 KB