Article
Parasitology
Daniel Grabner, Annemie Doliwa, Lidia Sworobowicz, Anna Wysocka, Alexander Weigand, Michal Grabowski, Tomasz Mamos, Bernd Sures
Summary: This study conducted a molecular survey on microsporidian diversity in Asellus aquaticus from various sites in Europe. The results showed that microsporidians were abundant and diverse in A. aquaticus, but did not exhibit obvious patterns related to host genetic lineages or geography.
Review
Ecology
Elvira Lafuente, Moritz D. Luerig, Moritz Roevekamp, Blake Matthews, Claudia Buser, Christoph Vorburger, Katja Raesaenen
Summary: Organism-environment interactions are central to the emergence of biological diversity and the response of ecosystems to environmental change, involving processes at different hierarchical levels that require integrative approaches and suitable model systems. Studying Asellus aquaticus can provide insights into the influence of host-microbiome interactions on organismal and ecosystem function, the relevance of biotic interactions in ecosystem processes, and how ecological conditions and evolutionary forces facilitate phenotypic diversification.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Lizet R. Rodas, Serban M. Sarbu, Raluca Bancila, Devon Price, Ziga Fiser, Meredith Protas
Summary: Research found that the orange eye phenotype of Asellus aquaticus is also present in surface populations from Slovenia and Romania, as well as in a cave population from Romania. This suggests that the orange eye phenotype may have originated from genetic variation in the surface populations or through hybridization of different surface lineages, rather than from de novo mutations.
EVOLUTION & DEVELOPMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Aijuan Liao, Hanna Hartikainen, Claudia C. C. Buser
Summary: The gut microbiome of the freshwater isopod Asellus aquaticus plays a key role in lignocellulose degradation. Microbiomes in individuals from different habitats show distinct compositions, indicating a link between host-associated microbiomes and environmental microbes. The hindgut is enriched in microbes related to lignocellulose degradation, while the caeca is associated with taxa implicated in endosymbiotic/parasitic roles.
ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Zoology
Hajriz Berisha, Gergely Horvath, Ziga Fiser, Gergely Balazs, Cene Fiser, Gabor Herczeg
Summary: Populations experiencing negligible predation pressure are expected to evolve higher behavioral activity. However, when sexes have different expected benefits from high activity, the adaptive shift is expected to be sex-specific. Here, we compared movement activity of one cave (lack of predation) and three adjacent surface (high and diverse predation) populations of Asellus aquaticus, a freshwater isopod known for its independent colonization of several caves across Europe. We predicted 1) higher activity in cave than in surface populations, with 2) the difference being more pronounced in males as they are known for active mate searching behavior, while females are not. Activity was assessed both in the presence and absence of light. Our results supported both predictions: movement activity was higher in the cave than in the surface populations, particularly in males. Relaxed predation pressure in the cave-adapted population is most likely the main selective factor behind increased behavioral activity, but we also showed that the extent of increase is sex-specific.
Article
Biology
Matthew Sasaki, Charles Woods, Hans G. Dam
Summary: Parasitism has strong effects on community dynamics, but infection or infestation by parasites does not reduce thermal limits. The life history of the host and parasite may interact to determine how parasite infestation affects environmental sensitivity.
JOURNAL OF THERMAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Jia V. Li, Hutan Ashrafian, Magali Sarafian, Daniel Homola, Laura Rushton, Grace Barker, Paula Momo Cabrera, Matthew R. Lewis, Ara Darzi, Edward Lin, Nana Adwoa Gletsu-Miller, Stephen L. Atkin, Thozhukat Sathyapalan, Nigel J. Gooderham, Jeremy K. Nicholson, Julian R. Marchesi, Thanos Athanasiou, Elaine Holmes
Summary: Bariatric surgery, especially Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), has a significant impact on the metabolism and gut microbiota of patients, leading to changes in metabolites and bacterial composition that are associated with successful weight loss and metabolic improvements. Further research is needed to understand the functional clinical outcomes of these metabolic changes.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Haeli J. Lomheim, Lizet Reyes Rodas, Lubna Mulla, Layla Freeborn, Dennis A. Sun, Sheri A. Sanders, E. Meredith Protas
Summary: This study aimed to use transcriptomic methods to investigate the genes and pathways responsible for phenotypic differences between different populations of the freshwater isopod crustacean Asellus aquaticus. Transcriptomes of the surface population and the cave population were generated using Illumina short-read assemblies and PacBio Iso-seq long-read sequences. The study found that genes involved in phototransduction and ommochrome synthesis were under-expressed in the cave samples. Genes with cave-biased and surface-biased expression were identified through allele-specific expression analysis of F-1 hybrids. RNAseq of F-2 hybrids further identified multiple genes located in genomic regions responsible for eye and pigmentation phenotypes. These transcriptomic resources will guide the prioritization of candidates for functional analysis in the future.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Anika Neu, Michael Beaulieu, Klaus Fischer
Summary: Plastic behavioural adjustments are powerful mechanisms for animals to respond to environmental changes, such as modifying resource use in challenging conditions. This study investigated how female Bicyclus anynana butterflies could enhance reproductive performance by adjusting host plant use in response to different temperature regimes. Results showed that reproductive performance decreased under hot conditions, particularly when butterflies only had access to low-quality plants. However, despite this, individuals did not increase selectivity towards higher-quality plants in response to the temperature changes.
Article
Parasitology
D. P. Benesh
JOURNAL OF HELMINTHOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Noemie Erin, Daniel P. Benesh, Tina Henrich, Irene E. Samonte, Per J. Jakobsen, Martin Kalbe
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Biology
Daniel P. Benesh
Review
Parasitology
James C. Chubb, Daniel Benesh, Geoff A. Parker
TRENDS IN PARASITOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Daniel P. Benesh, Geoff A. Parker, James C. Chubb, Kevin D. Lafferty
Summary: The study confirmed that parasitic worms with longer life cycles infect a greater diversity of host species, with middle life stages showing the highest level of generalism. Generalism comes with costs, and it is determined by both ecological opportunity and life-history trade-offs. There is no trade-off in generalism from one stage to the next, but parasites spend less time growing and developing in stages where they infect more taxonomically diverse hosts.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Otto Seppala, Curtis M. Lively, Jukka Jokela
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2020)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Otto Seppaelae, Jean-Claude Walser, Teo Cereghetti, Katri Seppaelae, Tiina Salo, Coen M. Adema
Summary: This study used RNA sequencing to characterize the transcriptome profiles of snails, identifying immune defense factors and showing high among-individual variation in response to immune stimuli and environmental conditions. These findings suggest the importance of including factors with high individual variation in future ecoimmunological studies to understand differences in parasite resistance among natural snail populations.
Review
Biology
Otto Seppala, Cansu Cetin, Teo Cereghetti, Philine G. D. Feulner, Coen M. Adema
Summary: Understanding the evolutionary ecology of immune activity in animals is crucial, but there is still limited understanding of the selection pressures and evolutionary potential of immune defence traits. Integrating ecological immunology and genomics can enhance evolutionary ecological research on immunity and provide research opportunities for molluscan gastropods.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biology
Spencer Froelick, Laura Gramolini, Daniel P. Benesh
Summary: Recovery rates of parasitic worms increase with life cycle progression, with larger larvae having higher recovery rates. Recovery declines in larger hosts but less than it increases with worm size. Higher doses are used in systems with lower recovery rates, indicating that high doses are chosen when fewer worms are expected to establish infection.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Daniel P. Benesh, Geoff Parker, James C. Chubb
Summary: Parasitic worms with longer life cycles tend to infect smaller initial hosts for transmission and slightly larger final hosts for increased fecundity. The complex life cycles are a result of the higher growth and reproduction rates in larger endothermic hosts, which are typically only accessible through small intermediate hosts.
Article
Biology
Jessica Ann Phillips, Juan S. Vargas Soto, Samraat Pawar, Janet Koprivnikar, Daniel P. Benesh, Peter K. Molnar
Summary: Helminth parasites are widespread in ecosystems, but predicting their response to climate change is challenging. This study compiled a large dataset on the temperature sensitivity of helminths and used metabolic theory to estimate the activation energy for their developmental rates. The findings suggest that different helminth taxa may vary in their sensitivity to rising temperatures.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Otto Seppaelae, Elizabeth Yohannes, Tiina Salo
Summary: The maintenance and use of the immune system is energetically costly and dependent on the nutritional state of the host. The condition dependence of immune function in freshwater snails was examined, revealing that the type and level of resources consumed influenced their immune activity. Additionally, the snails' energy reserves were found to be negatively correlated with immune activity.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Daniel P. Benesh, James C. Chubb, Geoff A. Parker
Summary: A study found that parasitic worms with complex life cycles tend to infect larger definitive hosts if they have larger intermediate hosts. The growth and development of the worms vary depending on the size of the intermediate hosts and the endothermic definitive hosts they infect. The findings suggest that parasitic worms adaptively divide growth and development between the multiple hosts in their complex life cycles.
Article
Ecology
Laura Langeloh, Jukka Jokela, Katri Seppaelae, Otto Seppaelae
Summary: Immune defence is crucial for organismal fitness. Theoretical models predict stabilizing selection on quantitative immune traits, but empirical studies observe positive directional selection. This study investigates how selection on immune function varies depending on immune challenge, immune traits and populations in freshwater snails. The results show that immune challenge and specific immune traits determine the selection on snails' immune function. Furthermore, there is low differentiation among populations but high genetic variation within populations of immune traits.
Article
Ecology
Daniel P. Benesh
Summary: Research found that the tapeworm Schistocephalus solidus and its relatives have a longer developmental time in their first intermediate hosts than expected. After four generations of selection, faster parasite development evolved, allowing earlier infectivity to the next host. However, low heritability for infectivity and the release of deleterious genetic variation led to fitness losses.