Effects of Parasitism on the Reproduction of Common Snook
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EFFECTS OF PARASITISM ON THE REPRODUCTION OF COMMON SNOOK by Joy M. Young A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL May 2015 Copyright 2014 by Joy M. Young ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my major advisor Dr. Colin Hughes; he continually and enthusiastically conveyed a spirit of excitement and genuine curiosity for research and the pursuit of knowledge. I could not have imagined a better, more supportive advisor and mentor for my Ph.D. study. I would like to thank my committee members Dr. John Baldwin, Dr. Joseph Caruso, Dr. Stephen Kajiura, Dr. Erik Noonburg, and Ronald Taylor; whose work demonstrated the best in their respected fields and for providing guidance and insight in how to integrate their scientific disciplines. This research would not have been possible without an immense amount of administrative, financial, and technical support. The administrative staff at Florida Atlantic University Department of Biological Sciences and Graduate College, especially Michelle Cavallo, has been an invaluable resource and support system for the past five years. Several funding sources provided financial support of this work including Florida Atlantic University Department of Biological Sciences, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), the American Fisheries Society, International Women’s Fishing Association, and the Manasquan River Marlin and Tuna Club. I would also like to thank Cynthia Faulk at the University of Texas at Austin for her assistance with the egg fatty acid portion of this project. I am grateful to Dr. Robin Overstreet and Jean Jovonovich Alvillar from the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and Micah Bakenhaster from the Fish Health Section of FWRI for their guidance and assistance with parasite identification. iv My deepest gratitude to FWRI and my colleagues that became my family; they saw the potential of my project and played a critical role in accomplishing field collections. Thank you Jim; as a supervisor your tolerance of my responsibilities outside the office and helping ground scientific theory in reality was instrumental to my project. As a friend, your lightheartedness and contagious laughter helped me remember that this is ‘just science’ and to keep life priorities, not just academic ones. Thank you Beau and Anderson for bringing fish to the boat, being so willing to help in any aspect of the project, and keeping my feet on the ground. I am overwhelmed by your generosity of spirit, time and interest. Parasites! Parasites! Parasites! I will forever be grateful to my family members and friends who have been constant sources of inspiration during the preparation, execution, and completion of this project. Bonnie, you inspire me to take on the world with class and grace. As my oldest friend, your unconditional love tempered with keeping me truthful to myself has made me a stronger woman, and person. For us, this is just one more memory in a lifetime to come. A special thank you to you (and Sean) for bringing Bella into my life. I marvel at her fierce strength and creative soul and I am excited to watch her move mountains. Eternal thanks to April, Jen, Katie, Kim, and Lindsay; to find one true friend is fortunate, to find a group of strong, intelligent, compassionate, and funny women to call my friends is a very rare and special treasure. Our friendships are much beyond good times; you all are my safety net, my motivation, my therapists, and most importantly, my dearest friends. Special thanks to Kim and Lindsay for staying late to cut stomachs, sharing my enthusiasm for finding parasites, and impromptu editing. You are the best! v I am a proud product of my parents; nothing that I have or will accomplish is possible without you. I am incredibly lucky to have parents that always championed my dreams and supported my decisions, even if you didn’t agree with some of them. Thank you for teaching me the commitment, perseverance, and attention to detail that has served me well in the sciences. Thank you for giving me the self-confidence to pick myself up after I fail and the wisdom to not take myself too seriously. Thank you Grey, Leam, and Sophie; as the next generation you motivate me to become a better person. Grey, observing and being a part of your budding interest in science reminds me of why I love what I do, and why I chose this path. Thank you all for being a part of my journey. vi ABSTRACT Author: Joy M. Young Title: Effects of Parasitism on the Reproduction of Common Snook Institution: Florida Atlantic University Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Colin Hughes Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Year: 2014 The effect of parasitism on the individual, and on a population, is one of the least understood and poorly studied areas of fish ecology. Parasites compete for maternal energetic reserves required for the production of viable eggs and offspring; thus parasites can directly influence population dynamics by lowering the number of offspring that survive to produce. The goal of this work was to explore the effect of parasitism on the reproductive potential of fish. Traditional measures of somatic energy reserves and body condition were examined along with newer measures of fatty acids present in eggs to approximate reproductive potential. Eighty female common snook, Centropomus undecimalis, were collected during spawning season (mid April to mid October) from four spawning aggregations along the southeastern coast of Florida and examined for a suite of biological, reproductive, and parasite infection measures. General linear models were used to model somatic indices, body condition, fatty acid composition and the ratios of fatty acids in eggs as a function of parasite infection parameters, host age, capture location, capture month and year. All fish were included in the somatic indices and body vii condition analysis while a subset of 40 fish were used in the analysis on fatty acid composition and the ratios of fatty acids in eggs. Ninety five percent of the study population was infected with 8 genera of live parasites from 4 phyla including Acanthocephala, Arthropoda, Platyhelminthes, and Nematoda. Dead parasites were present in 55% of the population. Parasites had significant positive and negative effects on host body condition, liver size, percentage and weight of palmitic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and the ratios of n-3 to n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to EPA, and arachidonic acid (ARA) to EPA. Parasitism may lead to an increase in liver size and certain fatty acids due to increased feeding and a concomitant exposure to infection with parasites. Body condition and liver size decreased as the number of dead parasites increased, suggesting that the successful initiation of immune defenses is a costly process. Larval nematodes had the most prevalent effect on host reproductive potential, decreasing the weight and percent composition of EPA and therefore increasing the ratios of DHA to EPA and ARA to EPA. Eicosapentaenoic acid is crucial for larval development and modulation of the immune response; thus depletion in EPA suggests a negative effect on the survival of larvae. Overall, fish showed evidence of depleted energetic reserves and specific fatty acids as a response to infection with levels of parasitism found in the wild, which may decrease reproductive success. Future studies designed to further our understanding of parasitism on reproductive potential in fishes should pair captive testing with wild populations of fish and possibly focus on the mechanisms for energy depletion by parasites. viii DEDICATION “What lies before us and lies behind us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” -Henry Stanley Haskins Dedicated to my parents for nurturing and magnifying what is within me. I would not have been able to reach this day without you. EFFECTS OF PARASITISM ON THE REPRODUCTION OF COMMON SNOOK LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. xi LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER 1 : THE INFLUENCE OF PARASITISM ON BODY CONDITION OF SPAWNING COMMON SNOOK ON THE SOUTHEAST COAST OF FLORIDA ....... 1 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 2 METHODS ................................................................................................................... 5 Parasite community description ............................................................................. 7 Data analysis .......................................................................................................... 7 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................... 8 Parasite community description ............................................................................. 9 Model selection ..................................................................................................... 11 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER 2 : ALTERED