Parasites on an intertidal Corophium-bed: factors determining the phenology of microphallid trematodes in the intermediate host populations of the mud-snail Hydrobia ulvae and the amphipod Corophium volutator

Abstract

The phenology of microphallid trematodes within their intermediate host populations has been studied on an intertidal mud flat. The parasites use the mud snail Hydrobia ulvae and the infaunal amphipod Corophium volutator as first and secondary intermediate host, respectively. Migratory shorebirds act as final hosts. Our results show a general trend of decline in the density of infected intermediate hosts during both spring and autumn, which could mainly be ascribed to shorebird predation. During summer the density of both infected snails and infected amphipods increased considerably, with a culmination in June within the snail population (1000 infected m⁻²) and in August within the amphipod population (40 000 infected m⁻²). This time lag in parasite occurrence could be related to (1) the development time of larval trematodes within the snails, (2) higher ambient temperatures in late summer increasing parasite transmission between snails and amphipods during this period, and (3) a general increase in the Corophium population during late summer. From samples collected between 1990 and 1995 it is shown that microphallid trematodes occasionally may give rise to mass mortality in the amphipod population. The prerequisites for such an event are a high parasite prevalence within the first intermediate host population and unusually high ambient temperatures, facilitating parasite transmission to the secondary intermediate host, C. volutator.