Muzaffar Sabir Bin
Atlantic Cooperative Wildlife Ecology Research Network, Department of Biology, Memorial University, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada.
J Wildl Dis. 2009 Jul;45(3):672-83. doi: 10.7589/0090-3558-45.3.672.
Seabirds are prominent components of the North Atlantic marine environment, and their parasites offer an insight into seabird ecologic interactions. Parasites also provide vital information on historic biogeography of host associations and thus may reveal broad changes in the marine ecosystem. Helminths of Common Murres (Uria aalge) and Thick-billed Murres (Uria lomvia) in the northwest Atlantic marine environment were assessed to determine parasite community composition and changes in their parasite fauna since the 1960s. In total, 623 helminths, representing Digenea, Eucestoda, Nematoda, and Acanthocephala, were recorded from 100 Common and Thick-billed Murres collected from breeding colonies along the coasts of Labrador, Newfoundland, and Greenland. Parasite communities differed from those reported from the 1960s, and over 85% of the specimens were tapeworms (mostly in the genus Alcataenia). The high prevalence (26%) and mean intensity (14.6) of A. longicervica, a Pacific species recorded recently from Newfoundland, indicates that this tapeworm was established in the Atlantic by 2006. Significantly higher A. longicervica prevalence (>53%) and mean intensity (27.3) in the murres from Greenland and in wintering murres compared to murres from breeding colonies in Labrador and Newfoundland suggest a mechanism for the introduction of this species to the Atlantic. Periodic mixing of populations of Thysanoessa species, the euphausiid intermediate host of Alcataenia, occurs along the seas adjacent to the North Pacific and those along the Siberian Arctic. The mixing of infected Thysanoessa likely exposed North Atlantic and Arctic murres, which are geographically isolated from Pacific murres, to this tapeworm. The greater prevalence of A. longicervica in Thick-billed Murres was consistent with diet analyses, which revealed a greater proportion of euphausiids.
海鸟是北大西洋海洋环境的重要组成部分，其寄生虫能让我们深入了解海鸟的生态相互作用。寄生虫还提供了关于宿主关联历史生物地理学的重要信息，因此可能揭示海洋生态系统的广泛变化。对西北大西洋海洋环境中普通海鸦（厚嘴海鸦）和厚嘴海鸦的蠕虫进行了评估，以确定寄生虫群落组成及其自20世纪60年代以来寄生虫区系的变化。总共从拉布拉多、纽芬兰和格陵兰沿海繁殖地收集的100只普通海鸦和厚嘴海鸦中记录了623条蠕虫，分别属于复殖吸虫纲、绦虫纲、线虫纲和棘头虫纲。寄生虫群落与20世纪60年代报告的不同，超过85%的标本是绦虫（大多属于Alcataenia属）。最近在纽芬兰记录到的太平洋物种长颈Alcataenia的高感染率（26%）和平均感染强度（14.6）表明，到2006年这种绦虫已在大西洋定殖。与来自拉布拉多和纽芬兰繁殖地的海鸦相比，格陵兰海鸦和越冬海鸦中长颈Alcataenia的感染率（>53%）和平均感染强度（27.3）显著更高，这表明了该物种引入大西洋的一种机制。Alcataenia的磷虾中间宿主Thysanoessa物种的种群在北太平洋附近海域和西伯利亚北极海域周期性混合。受感染的Thysanoessa的混合可能使与太平洋海鸦地理隔离的北大西洋和北极海鸦接触到这种绦虫。厚嘴海鸦中长颈Alcataenia的较高感染率与饮食分析结果一致，饮食分析显示磷虾的比例更高。
