The epiphytic communities of various ecological types of aquatic vegetation of five pastoral ponds

Messyasz, Beata; Kuczyńska‐Kippen, Natalia; Nagengast, B.

doi:10.2478/s11756-009-0006-x

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…plant tissues. Hence, by grazing on periphyton, the snails might serve as Ceratophyllum's "cleaning symbiont", allowing more light to reach the macrophyte that can increase its growth, lifespan, and potential dominance in aquatic habitats [54][55][56]. This, in turn, presumably further increases snail habitat, snail population growth, and potentially, the risk of schistosomiasis for people [18,53].…”

Section: Effects Of Aquatic Vegetation and Predators On Snailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aquatic macrophytes and macroinvertebrate predators affect densities of snail hosts and local production of schistosome cercariae that cause human schistosomiasis

et al. 2020

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Background Schistosomiasis is responsible for the second highest burden of disease among neglected tropical diseases globally, with over 90 percent of cases occurring in African regions where drugs to treat the disease are only sporadically available. Additionally, human re-infection after treatment can be a problem where there are high numbers of infected snails in the environment. Recent experiments indicate that aquatic factors, including plants, nutrients, or predators, can influence snail abundance and parasite production within infected snails, both components of human risk. This study investigated how snail host abundance and release of cercariae (the free swimming stage infective to humans) varies at water access sites in an endemic region in Senegal, a setting where human schistosomiasis prevalence is among the highest globally. Methods/Principal findings We collected snail intermediate hosts at 15 random points stratified by three habitat types at 36 water access sites, and counted cercarial production by each snail after transfer to the laboratory on the same day. We found that aquatic vegetation was positively associated with per-capita cercarial release by snails, probably because macrophytes harbor periphyton resources that snails feed upon, and well-fed snails tend to produce more parasites. In contrast, the abundance of aquatic macroinvertebrate snail predators was negatively associated with per-capita cercarial release by snails, probably because of several potential sublethal effects on snails or snail infection, despite a positive association between snail predators and total snail numbers at a site, possibly due to shared habitat usage or prey tracking by the predators. Thus, complex bottom-up and top-down ecological effects in this region plausibly influence the snail shedding rate and thus, total local density of schistosome cercariae. Conclusions/Significance Our study suggests that aquatic macrophytes and snail predators can influence per-capita cercarial production and total abundance of snails. Thus, snail control efforts might benefit by targeting specific snail habitats where parasite production is greatest. In conclusion, a better understanding of top-down and bottom-up ecological factors that regulate densities of cercarial release by snails, rather than solely snail densities or snail infection prevalence, might facilitate improved schistosomiasis control.

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Section: Effects Of Aquatic Vegetation and Predators On Snailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aquatic macrophytes and macroinvertebrate predators affect densities of snail hosts and local production of schistosome cercariae that cause human schistosomiasis

et al. 2020

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“…Once removed, epiphytes were placed in zip-lock plastic bags and stored on ice for later measurement of biomass dry weight (mg). Although the sampled epiphyte community includes, not only algae, but bacteria, protozoa, meiofauna, algae is generally the largest proportion of this community (Hutchinson 1975, Messasz et al, 2009. Macrophyte samples for each quadrat were also placed in zip-lock bags and stored on ice for later measurement of surface area (m 2 ) and dry weight (g).…”

Section: Vegetation Types and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of aquatic plant architecture on epiphyte biomass on a tropical river floodplain

et al. 2016

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Tropical floodplains are highly productive because of seasonal replenishment of water and nutrients, which substantially boost primary productivity. This study examined how the architecture of aquatic macrophytes affect the light and water quality and consequently the attachment and biomass of epiphytes on a floodplain in northern Australia. Results show that macrophyte structural complexity is not only important for water column light penetration but also for the development of epiphytes on macrophytes. Emergent grasses with simple vertical structure and high plant densities, limit light penetration and consequently the development and biomass of epiphytic algae. In contrast, submerged macrophytes growing just below the water surface, allow greater light penetration. The complex architecture of submerged macrophytes also provides a large surface area for the development of a dense covering of epiphytic algae. Other plant structural forms (e.g., plants with floating leaves) have a simple structure, variable light penetration and low epiphytic algae biomass. The emergent grass Psuedoraphis spinescens (R.Br.) Vickery also had low light penetration but the horizontal alignment of stems across the water surface allow greater exposure to sunlight of the stems and the consequent development of epiphytic algae. We conclude that (1) the complex structure of submerged plants effectively creates a "false bottom" in deeper waters so that they function similarly to the floodplain's littoral zone, and (2) that their extremely large surface area for attachment allows greater production of epiphytic algae than would occur on the sediment surface.

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“…A possible explanation is that the substrate can affect the interactions between these microorganisms. Microalgal assemblages within a sampling site tend to be more similar than assemblages from different sites, although a single sampling site can generate variable microalgal assemblages on different macrophytes (Lowe and LaLiberte, 2007;Messyasz et al, 2009). The periphytic assemblages showed little similarity among the macrophytes investigated, even those occurring at the same sampling sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The morphological complexity of macrophytes has also been shown to influence the primary productivity of microalgae in a habitat (Lalonde and Downing, 1991;Cardinale et al, 2002;Avigliano et al, 2014). Different types of macrophytes may be used as substrate for different taxonomic compositions of microalgae (Messyasz et al, 2009). For example, certain macrophytes can inhibit the growth of periphytic microalgae by attracting herbivores that clean their surface (Jones et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of macrophyte life forms in driving periphytic microalgal assemblages in a Brazilian reservoir

2015

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The epiphytic communities of various ecological types of aquatic vegetation of five pastoral ponds

Cited by 23 publications

References 20 publications

Aquatic macrophytes and macroinvertebrate predators affect densities of snail hosts and local production of schistosome cercariae that cause human schistosomiasis

Aquatic macrophytes and macroinvertebrate predators affect densities of snail hosts and local production of schistosome cercariae that cause human schistosomiasis

Influence of aquatic plant architecture on epiphyte biomass on a tropical river floodplain

Role of macrophyte life forms in driving periphytic microalgal assemblages in a Brazilian reservoir

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