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Article: Asexual Reproduction in Pygospic elegans C1aparede (Annelida, Polychaeta) in Relation to Parasitism by Lepocreadium setiferides (Miller and Northup) (Platyhelminthes, Trematoda).
- Article from:
- The Biological Bulletin
- Article date:
- August 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Marine Biological Laboratory. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DEAN G. MCCURDY [*]
Abstract. Life-history theory predicts that parasitized hosts should alter their investment in reproduction in ways that maximize host reproductive success. I examined the timing of asexual reproduction (fragmentation and regeneration) in the polychaete annelid Pygospic elegans experimentally exposed to cercariae of the trematode Lepocreadium setiferoides. Consistent with adaptive host response, polychaetes that became infected by metacercariae of trematodes fragmented sooner than unexposed controls. Parasites were not directly associated with fission in that exposed polychaetes that did not become infected also fragmented earlier than ...