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1 February 2002 PARASITIC INFECTION AND DEVELOPMENTAL STABILITY: FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY IN GAMMARUS PULEX INFECTED WITH TWO ACANTHOCEPHALAN SPECIES
P. Alibert, L. Bollache, D. Corberant, V. Guesdon, F. Cézilly
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Abstract

Several studies have reported a negative association between developmental stability and parasitic infection. However, the host–parasite associations examined so far consist only of a limited number of parasite taxa, and developmental stability was appraised on definitive hosts. The present study examines the association between infection by 2 acanthocephalan parasites, Pomphorhynchus laevis and Polymorphus minutus, and the developmental stability of their common intermediate host Gammarus pulex. Developmental stability was estimated from the fluctuating asymmetry (FA) levels of 6 morphological traits. A positive association was found between FA and infection. Infected gammarids tended to be more asymmetrical than the noninfected ones for an index generated by combining FA scores from 2 characters out of the 6 studied, even though no significant relationships were found between FA levels and parasitic loads. The simultaneous presence of both acanthocephalan species in the same host seems to be associated with increased FA levels of gammarids, but this trend was not statistically significant. For the same characters, males exhibited higher levels of FA than females.

P. Alibert, L. Bollache, D. Corberant, V. Guesdon, and F. Cézilly "PARASITIC INFECTION AND DEVELOPMENTAL STABILITY: FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY IN GAMMARUS PULEX INFECTED WITH TWO ACANTHOCEPHALAN SPECIES," Journal of Parasitology 88(1), 47-54, (1 February 2002). https://doi.org/10.1645/0022-3395(2002)088[0047:PIADSF]2.0.CO;2
Received: 30 April 2001; Accepted: 1 August 2001; Published: 1 February 2002
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