Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:11:26.529Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Lung-worms (Nematoda: Pseudaliidae) of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in Norwegian waters: patterns of colonization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

J. A. Balbuena
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Biology, University of Valencia, Dr Moliner 50, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain
P. E. Aspholm
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Section of Marine Zoology and Chemistry, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1064 Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway
K. I. Andersen
Affiliation:
Zoological Museum, University of Oslo, Sars gate 1, 0562 Oslo, Norway
A. Bjørge
Affiliation:
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, P.O. Box 1037 Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway

Summary

We studied the component community of lung-worms of the harbour porpoise, attempting to establish the relative importance of ecological and evolutionary factors on its development. The lungs of 64 porpoises by-caught in Norwegian waters were examined for helminths. Three pseudaliid species were detected. The porpoises appear to be readily colonized by lung-worms, the structure of the component community of calves being fairly similar to that of the remainder. Prenatal and/or transmammary infections might partly account for these early infections. However, host age was correlated with the number of lung-worm species, suggesting that the lung-worms may have heteroxenous cycles similar to other metastrongyloids. The lung-worm species tended to co-occur more often than expected by chance. This pattern is commonly observed in communities formed by phylogenetic relatives. Mean species richness of lung nematodes differed significantly among mammalian orders. However, species richness of marine species seemed very similar to those of most terrestrial species. This evidence suggests that phylogenetic factors seem more important than ecological ones in determining the number of lung-worm species in mammals.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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

REFERENCES

Anderson, R. C. (1971). Metastrongyloid lungworms. In Parasite Diseases of Wild Animals (ed. Davis, J. W. & Anderson, R. C.), pp. 81126. Ames: Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. C. (1978). Keys to genera of the superfamily Metastrongyloidea. C. I. H. Keys to the Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates No. 5. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. C. (1982). Host—parasite relations and evolution of the Metastrongyloidea (Nematoda). Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Série Zoologie 123, 129–33.Google Scholar
Anderson, R. C. (1984). The origins of zooparasitic nematodes. Canadian Journal of Zoology 62, 317–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R. C. (1992). Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates – Their Development and Transmission. Wallingford: C.A.B. International.Google Scholar
Arnold, P. W. & Gaskin, D. E. (1975). Lungworms (Metastrongyloidea: Pseudaliidae) of harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena (L. 1758). Canadian Journal of Zoology 53, 713–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Balbuena, J. A. & Raga, J. A. (1993). Intestinal helminth communities of the long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) off the Faroe Islands. Parasitology 106, 327–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks, D. R. (1980). Allopatric speciation and non- interactive parasite community structure. Systematic Zoology 30, 192203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A. O., Aho, J. M. & Kennedy, C. R. (1990). Ecological versus phylogenetic determinants of helminth parasite community richness. Evolutionary Ecology 4, 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, A. O. & Holmes, J. C. (1986). Intestinal helminths of lesser scaup ducks: an interactive community. Canadian Journal of Zoology 64, 142–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conover, W. J. (1980). Practical Nonparametric Statistics, 2nd edn.New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Dailey, M. D. & Stroud, R. (1978). Parasites and associated pathology observed in cetaceans stranded along the Oregon coast. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 14, 503–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dailey, M., Walsh, M., Odell, D. & Campbell, T. (1991). Evidence of prenatal infection in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) with the lungworm Halocercus lagenorhynchi (Nematoda: Pseudaliidae). Journal of Wildlife Diseases 27, 164–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delyamure, S. L. (1955) Helminth Fauna of Marine Mammals (Ecology and Phylogeny). Moscow: Akademiya Nauk SSSR (in Russian, translated by Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, 1968).Google Scholar
Díez-Baños, P., Díez-Baños, N., Morrondo-Pelayo, M. P. & Cordero Del Campillo, M. (1990). Bronchopulmonary helminths of chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra parva) captured in north-west Spain: assessment from first-stage larvae in faeces and lungs. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée 65, 74–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Esch, G. W., Shostak, A. W., Marcogliese, D. J. & Goater, T. M. (1990). Patterns and processes in helminth communities: and overview. In Parasite Communities: Patterns and Processes (ed. Esch, G. W., Bush, A. O. & Aho, J. M.), pp. 119. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Evans, P. G. H. (1987). The Natural History of Whales and Dolphins. London: Christopher Helm.Google Scholar
Ewing, M. S., Ewing, S. A., Keener, M. S. & Mulholland, R. J. (1982). Mutualism among parasitic nematodes: a population model. Ecological Modelling 15, 353–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, D. I. & Harris, E. A. (1979). The helminth parasites of cetaceans in the collections of the British Museum (Natural History). Investigations on Cetacea 10, 309–24.Google Scholar
Goater, T. M., Esch, G. W. & Bush, A. O. (1987). Helminth communities of sympatric salamanders: ecological concepts at infracommunity, component and compound community levels. American Midland Naturalist 118, 289300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halvorsen, O. (1976). Negative interactions amongst parasites. In Ecological Aspects of Parasitology (ed. Kennedy, C. R.), pp. 227–42. Amsterdam: North- Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Hayes, W. B. (1978). Some sampling properties of the Fager index for recurrent species groups. Ecology 59, 194–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, J. C. (1990). Competition, contacts, and other factors restricting niches of parasitic helminths. Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée 65, Suppl. 1, 6972.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, J. C. & Price, P. W. (1986). Communities of parasites. In Community Ecology: Pattern and Process (ed. Kikkawa, J. & Anderson, D. J. ), pp. 178213. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Klinowska, M. (1991). Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the World. The I. U. C. N. Red Data Book. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, U. K.: I. U. C. N.Google Scholar
Kvam, T., Skagen, I., Christensen, I. & Bjørge, A. (1989). Age determination of sea mammals. Part 1: Harbour porpoise. Norsk Institutt for Naturforsknings forskningsrapport 2, 112.Google Scholar
Lotz, J. M. & Font, W. F. (1991). The role of positive and negative interspecific associations in the organization of communities of intestinal helminths of bats. Parasitology 103, 127–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ludwig, J. A. & Reynolds, J. F. (1988). Statistical Ecology, A Primer of Methods and Computing. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Magurran, A. E. (1988). Ecological Diversity and Its Measurement. London: Croom Helm.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margolis, L., Esch, G. W., Holmes, J. C., Kuris, A. M. & Schad, G. A. (1982). The use of ecological terms in parasitology (report of an ad hoc committee of the American Society of Parasitologists). Journal of Parasitology 68, 131–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mettrick, D. F. & Podesta, R. B. (1974). Ecological and physiological aspects of helminth host interactions in the mammalian gastrointestinal canal. Advances in Parasitology 12, 183277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, G. C. (1981). Helminths and the transmammary route of infection. Parasitology 82, 335–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moore, J. & Simberloff, D. (1990). Gastrointestinal helminth communities of bobwhite quail. Ecology 71, 344–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, P. W. (1980). Evolutionary Biology of Parasites. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Raga, J. A. (1994). Parasitismus bei den Cetacea. In Handbuch der Säugetiere Europas, Meeressäuger Teil I: Wale und Delphine (ed. Duguy, R. & Robineau, D.). Wiesbaden: Aula-Verlag (in the Press).Google Scholar
Reyes, J. C. & van Waerebeek, K. (1990). Biology of Burmeister's porpoise in Peruvian waters: preliminary observations. Paper SC/42/SM4 presented to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission.Google Scholar
Rose, J. H. (1976). Lungs. In Ecological Aspects of Parasitology (ed. Kennedy, C. R. ), pp. 227–42. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Schluter, D. (1984). A variance test for detecting species associations, with some example applications. Ecology 65, 9981005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stock, T. M. & Holmes, J. C. (1988). Functional relationships and microhabitat distribution of enteric helminths of grebes (Podicipedidae): the evidence for interactive communities. Journal of Parasitology 74, 214–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stone, W. & Smith, F. W. (1973). Infection of mammalian hosts by milk-borne nematode larvae: a review. Experimental Parasitology 34, 306–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Uhazy, L. S. & Holmes, J. C. (1971). Helminths of the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in Western Canada. Canadian Journal of Zoology 49, 507–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waid, D. D. & Pence, D. B. (1988). Helminths of mountain lions (Felis concolor) from southwestern Texas, with a redescription of Cylicospirura subaequalis (Molin, 1860) Vevers, 1922. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66, 2110–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wesenberg-Lund, E. (1947). On three parasitic nematodes from Cetacea. Videskabelig Meddelser fra den Dansk naturhistoriske Forening 110, 1730.Google Scholar