Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-06T06:55:09.626Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The infrapopulation dynamics of trypanosomes in red-spotted newts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Beverly A. Mock  and
P. E. Gill
Beverly A. Mock
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
P. E. Gill
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma diemyctyli has a life-cycle that involves a vertebrate host, the red-spotted newt Notophthalmus viridescens, and an invertebrate host, the amphibian leech Batrachobdella picta. A study of the distribution and dynamics of this parasite in newts of known adult age and history of breeding in montane ponds in Virginia revealed a pattern of: (1) moderate prevalences of infection in post-metamorphic juvenile and adult stages, (2) rapid increases in numbers of trypanosomes in newts during their first year of maturity, (3) significant differences in the numbers of trypanosomes in male and female newts in mid-summer, (4) sustained high levels of infection in the first two years of newt adulthood, (5) significantly lower levels of infection in newts by the fourth and subsequent years of adulthood and (6) annual oscillations in the intensity of infection in older adult newts from spring and autumn lows to mid-summer peak levels. Newts with a history of skipping breeding seasons had higher levels of infection than those newts which returned to the pond for every breeding season. Newts brought to the laboratory and maintained under leech-free conditions failed to develop infection levels comparable to those in the field. The dynamics of infrapopulation sizes of trypanosomes in newts depend on multi plication rates of the trypanosomes, variable transmission rates from the invertebrate host and the development of resistance in older adult newts.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 88 , Issue 2 , April 1984 , pp. 267 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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

Barrow, J. H. (1953). The biology of Trypanosoma diemyctyli (Tobey). I. Trypanosoma diemyctyli in the leech, Batrachobdella picta (Verrill). Transactions of the American Micro-scopical Society 72, 197–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrow, J. H. (1954). The biology of Trypanosoma diemyctyli (Tobey). II. Cytology and morphology of Trypanosoma diemyctyli in the vertebrate host, Triturus v. viridescens. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 73, 242–57.Google Scholar
Barrow, J. H. (1958). The biology of Trypanosoma diemyctyli (Tobey). III. Factors influencing the cycle of Trypanosoma diemyctyli in the vertebrate host Triturus v. viridescens. Journal of Protozoology 5, 161–70.Google Scholar
Berven, K. A. (1982). The genetic basis of altitudinal variation in the wood frog Rana sylvatica. II. An experimental analysis of larval development. Oecologia 52, 360–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crofton, H. D. (1971). A quantitative approach to parasitism. Parasitology 62, 179–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esch, G. W., Gibbons, J. W. & Bourque, J. E. (1975). An analysis of the relationship between stress and parasitism. American Midland Naturalist 93, 339–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, D. E. (1978 a). The metapopulation ecology of the red-spotted newt, Notophthalmus viridescens (Rafinesque). Ecological Monographs 48, 145–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, D. E. (1978 b). Effective population size and interdemic migration rates in a metapopulation of the red-spotted newt, Notophthalmus viridescens (Rafinesque). Evolution 32, 839–49.Google Scholar
Gill, D. E. (1978 c). Occurrence of trypanosomiasis in the red eft stage of the red-spotted newt, Notophthalmus viridescens. Journal of Parasitology 64, 930–1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gill, D. E. (1979). Density dependence and homing behavior in adult red-spotted newts, Notophthalmus viridescens (Rafinesque). Ecology 60, 800–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, D. E. (1983). Interpreting breeding patterns from census data: a solution to the Husting dilemma. Ecology (in the Press).Google Scholar
Gill, D. E., Berven, K. A. & Mock, B. A. (1983). The environmental component of evolutionary biology. In Oregon State University Colloquium on Populaiion Biology: Retrospect and Prospect (ed. King, C. A. and Dawson, P.). New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Hegner, R. W. (1921). Measurements of Trypanosoma diemyctyli from different hosts and their relation to specific identification, heredity and environment. Journal of Parasitology 16, 56.Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. (1975). Ecological Animal Parasitology. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 163 p. (or pp. 67–69, for specific reference).Google Scholar
Mackiewicz, J. S. (1954). Observations on the incidence of Trypanosoma diemyctyli (Tobey, 1906) in the common newt, Diemyctylus v. viridescens (Raf.). M.Sc. thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
Nigrelli, R. F. (1929 a). Atypical erythrocytes and ethythroplastids in the blood of Triturus viridescens. Anatomical Records 43, 257–69.Google Scholar
Nigrelli, R. F. (1929 b). On the cytology and life-history of Trypanosoma diemyctyli and the polynuclear count of infected newts (Triturus viridescens). Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 68, 366–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennycuick, L. (1971). Seasonal variations in the parasite infections in a population of three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. Parasitology 63, 373–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randolph, S. E. (1975). Patterns of distribution of the tick Ixodes trianguliceps birula on its hosts. Journal of Animal Ecology 44, 451–74.Google Scholar
Seiverd, C. E. (1964). Hematology for Medical Technologists. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Lea & Febiger. 843 p. (or pp. 113–184, for specific reference).Google Scholar
Tobey, E. N. (1906). Trypanosomiasis of the newt. Journal of Medical Research 15, 147–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Wilbur, H. M. (1972). Competition, predation, and the structure of the Ambystoma—Rana sylvatica community. Ecology 53, 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar