Water quality plays a major role in influencing the health of aquatic organisms and their interactions with parasites and disease. Pollutants that enter the aquatic environment, such as heavy metals, can potentially alter the relationships between hosts and their parasites and as a consequence influence the completion of parasites life cycles. Here, the influence of the heavy metal pollutant zinc on a life cycles stages of the cestode Schistocephalus solidus is investigated. In vitro culture of the parasite allowed the production of eggs, which were then incubated in a range of zinc concentrations (0.2 μg/L, 2 μg/L, 20 μg/L and 200 μg/L). The effect of zinc on S. solidus egg viability, on the survival of emerging free-living, motile infective stages (coracidia) and on the subsequent development or growth of the parasite in copepod hosts was then quantified. The development and hatching success of S. solidus eggs developed normally in elevated zinc concentrations up to 0.2 μg/L but above this egg viability dropped. The results suggest that changes in zinc in aquatic environments can have implications for the parasite life cycle stages, with potentially complex implications for life cycle dynamics.
Volume 11 | 06-Special Issue
Pages: 1915-1922