The digenean parasite, Plagiorchis elegans can establish infections in the incompatible snail, Biomphalaria glabrata , a vector of human schistosomiasis. Although embryonic development is arrested at the sporocyst stage, infection with a single parasite egg reduced reproductive success of this incompatible host to 64%. Heavier doses reduced this to 45%. Biomphalaria glabrata quickly acquired large numbers of parasites by ad libitum browsing on egg-contaminated substrates. Age of the host at exposure affected subsequent reproductive success and survival. Snails exposed as young (3mm), produced 54% fewer eggs, and suffered relatively high mortality. Adults (9mm) were affected only marginally. Plagiorchis elegans shares its ability to establish truncated infections in incompatible hosts with at least one other plagiorchiid. Haematoloechus medioplexus castrated the snail Stagnicola elodes, but not B. glabrata. Findings are discussed in the context of using incompatible digenean parasites as agents in the biological control of snails and snail-borne diseases, and ecological consequences of these infections.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.80350 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Platero, Idalia Ada |
| Contributors | Rau, M. E. (advisor), Lewis, D. J. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Natural Resource Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002150226, proquestno: AAIMQ98719, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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