Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2023
Höfundar / Authors: Hildur Magnúsdóttir (1,2), Árni Kristmundsson (1), Snæbjörn Pálsson (2), Zophonías O. Jónsson (2) og Erla Björk Örnólfsdóttir (2)
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Tilraunastöð Háskóla Íslands í meinafræði að Keldum, 2. Líf- og umhverfisvísindadeild, Háskóli Íslands
Kynnir / Presenter: Hildur Magnúsdóttir
Parasite community composition and prevalence in the host is determined to a great extent by the population connectivity and life-history strategies of the host species. In the bay of Breiðafjörður, Buccinum undatum, serves as an ecologically important predator, prey and parasite host in this biodiverse area. The complexity of food webs in the bay, as well as the topography of the habitat, creates an intricate system of drivers of local adaptation and polymorphism in B. undatum, a species typified by variable life-history traits and morphology across the North Atlantic.
In the current study, B. undatum in Breiðafjörður was used as a model system for the relationship of digenean prevalence to buccinid host life-history traits, body condition and shell morphology, as well as environmental variables in the bay. The study was based on two datasets collected by 1) monthly sampling of whelk in 5 areas in a N-S transect of Breiðafjörður for a 1 ½ year in 2007-2008 with N ≈ 10,000 individuals; 2) a single sampling effort at 59 sites along the coastline of Breiðafjörður in 2007. Parasite prevalence was determined based on gross clinical signs.
Results from the study will be discussed in the context of how digeneans in B. undatum affect the host species and to what extent the fine-scaled population ecology of the gastropod host is reflected in the geographic prevalence of digenean infections in the area.