Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Parasites pitched against nature: Pitch Lake water protects guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from microbial and gyrodactylid infections

Schelkle, Bettina, Mohammed, Ryan S., Coogan, Michael Peter, McMullan, Mark, Gillingham, Emma ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0080-8590, Van Oosterhout, Cock and Cable, Joanne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8510-7055 2012. Parasites pitched against nature: Pitch Lake water protects guppies (Poecilia reticulata) from microbial and gyrodactylid infections. Parasitology 139 (13) , pp. 1772-1779. 10.1017/S0031182012001059

[thumbnail of Schelkle 2012.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Published Version
Download (524kB) | Preview

Abstract

The enemy release hypothesis proposes that in parasite depleted habitats, populations will experience relaxed selection and become more susceptible (or less tolerant) to pathogenic infections. Here, we focus on a population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) that are found in an extreme environment (the Pitch Lake, Trinidad) and examine whether this habitat represents a refuge from parasites. We investigated the efficacy of pitch in preventing microbial infections in Pitch Lake guppies, by exposing them to dechlorinated water, and reducing gyrodactylid infections on non-Pitch Lake guppies by transferring them to Pitch Lake water. We show that (i) natural prevalence of ectoparasites in the Pitch Lake is low compared to reference populations, (ii) Pitch Lake guppies transferred into aquarium water develop microbial infections, and (iii) experimentally infected guppies are cured of their gyrodactylid infections both by natural Pitch Lake water and by dechlorinated water containing solid pitch. These results indicate a role for Pitch Lake water in the defence of guppies from their parasites and suggest that Pitch Lake guppies might have undergone enemy release in this extreme environment. The Pitch Lake provides an ideal ecosystem for studies on immune gene evolution in the absence of parasites and long-term evolutionary implications of hydrocarbon pollution for vertebrates.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Biosciences
Chemistry
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history
Uncontrolled Keywords: antihelminthic ; asphalt ; Pitch Lake ; Gyrodactylus ; Poecilia reticulata ; enemy release
Additional Information: Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0031-1820/ (accessed 24/02/2014).
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISSN: 0031-1820
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 30 March 2016
Last Modified: 12 Jun 2023 17:50
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/41769

Citation Data

Cited 6 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics