Title:

Parasite Party: Investigating Ecological Drivers of Trematode Parasite Prevalence Across the Isles of Shoals

Parasites are extremely important but understudied organisms. Obligate parasites rely on intermediate and final hosts to complete their life cycles. These host-parasite interactions play an important role in ecological processes and serve as indicators of ecosystem health. Trematodes, a type of helminth parasite, require vertebrate and invertebrate hosts to complete their life cycle. Around the Isles of Shoals archipelago, those hosts include periwinkle snails, mummichog fish, and gull and cormorant species. Human presence can affect the populations of these hosts, thereby altering the prevalence of parasites in the ecosystem. To investigate the relationships among parasites, hosts, and the influence of humans on the ecology of these islands, trematode infection prevalence in periwinkle and mummichog intermediate hosts was determined, bird populations were quantified, and information on human influence was collected. The results indicate that on islands with a lower human influence and a higher proportion of gulls and cormorants, trematode prevalence increases in both first and second intermediate hosts. Therefore, the results suggest that trematode prevalence can serve as an indicator of human influence on the parasite ecology and ecosystem health of the Isles of Shoals.

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