Communities of gastrointestinal helminths of fish in historically connected habitats: habitat fragmentation effect in a carnivorous catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco from seven lakes in flood plain of the Yangtze River, China

Abstract

Background: Habitat fragmentation may result in the reduction of diversity of parasite communities by affecting population size and dispersal pattern of species. In the flood plain of the Yangtze River in China, many lakes, which were once connected with the river, have become isolated since the 1950s from the river by the construction of dams and sluices, with many larger lakes subdivided into smaller ones by road embankments. These artificial barriers have inevitably obstructed the migration of fish between the river and lakes and also among lakes. In this study, the gastrointestinal helminth communities were investigated in a carnivorous fish, the yellowhead catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, from two connected and five isolated lakes in the flood plain in order to detect the effect of lake fragmentation on the parasite communities.

Bioinvasion: a paradigm shift from marine to inland ecosystems

“…In light of marine connectivity of Oceans and water bodies in India with Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via Tethys Ocean, that was well illustrated (Strahler and Strahler 1989), and was further substantiated in context of parasitic helminths (Reed et al 2012), the likelihood of similarity of fauna at genera level between African and Indian subcontinents cannot be ruled out. It was established in a recent study in the flood plain of the Yangtze River, China (Li et al 2009) that the historical connectivity of habitats could well be attributed the reason for similarity in the helminth communities, as observed in the infections by genus Polyonchobothrium in the old world catfish, Clarias in the aquatic bodies of Egypt and Sudan (Freze 1969), as have been reported in the freshwater fish in India . Therefore, the claim that 'Polyonchobothrium is only found in Africa' (Scholz, T., 2013, pers.…”

The effects of roadways on lakes and ponds: a systematic review and assessment of knowledge gaps

“…While fragmentation can cause reductions in abundance and diversity of species, this is not always the case. Li et al (2009) found that fragmentation of lakes on the Yangtze River floodplain by the construction of road embankments, dams, and sluices did not lead to the reduction of helminth parasite communities in yellowhead catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco). Construction of a road that isolated Lake Morenito in 1960 induced changed to lake limnology that resulted in associated changes in the chironomid community (Williams et al 2016).…”

Distribution of Procamallanus laevionchus in relation to environmental variables in three tropical African rivers: The role of the host and ecosystem

“…that serve as an intermediate host to P. laevionchus (Li 1935). The hydrological stability of lentic ecosystems probably also facilitates the parasite-host contact (Buchmann & Lindenstrøm 2002;Nwani et al 2008;Li et al 2009). An increase in the population of parasites' intermediate hosts has been reported to elevate parasitism (Marcogliese 2005).…”

“…Parasites show individual, population and communitylevel alterations in response to environmental perturbation (Lafferty 1997;Marcogliese 2005;Blanar et al 2009) and clearly show both temporal and spatial sensitivity to pollutants and other water quality parameters (Landsberg et al 1998). Several studies that examined the response of parasites to different environmental changes show that parasites are sensitive to domestic and industrial sewage, eutrophication, metal pollution, acidification, pesticides, thermal stress, urban development, pulp mill effluents and hydrological changes (Sures et al 1999;Marcogliese 2003Marcogliese , 2004Overstreet 2007;Li et al 2009;Madanire-Moyo & Barson 2010). Poulin (1992), Lafferty (1997) and Vidal-Martinez et al (2009) extensively reviewed the response of parasites to environmental changes and based on the survey of published literature, Lafferty (1997) and Blanar et al (2009) predicted that ciliates and nematodes are sensitive indicators of eutrophication and thermal effluents, while digeneans and acanthocephalans are sensitive to heavy metals.…”