Moore Janice, Freehling Michael
Biology Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA.
Oecologia. 2002 Oct;133(2):261-266. doi: 10.1007/s00442-002-1030-5. Epub 2002 Oct 1.
Cockroaches parasitized by the temperature-sensitive acanthocephalan Moniliformis moniliformis exhibit a variety of behavioral alterations, so we asked if parasitized cockroaches defended themselves against the parasite with altered thermal choices. We tested the null hypothesis that cockroaches infected with M. moniliformis do not alter temperature choice in two ways: by direct observation and, indirectly, by observation of parasite development after a prolonged developmental period. When we compared acanthocephalan development in cockroaches that were allowed to use thermal gradients to acanthocephalan development in cockroaches held at constant temperatures, we found that in two cockroach species (Supella longipalpa and Blatta orientalis), acanthocephalan development was greatly retarded, a result that is consistent with the cockroaches spending time in cold temperatures. Parasitized animals exhibit behavioral alterations that can have profound effects on parasite transmission and host well-being; neither the beneficiaries of those alterations nor the alterations themselves are easily predictable.
被温度敏感的棘头虫念珠棘头虫寄生的蟑螂会表现出各种行为改变，所以我们想问，被寄生的蟑螂是否会通过改变热选择来抵御寄生虫。我们通过两种方式检验了零假设，即感染念珠棘头虫的蟑螂不会改变温度选择：直接观察以及间接观察经过长时间发育后的寄生虫发育情况。当我们将能够利用热梯度的蟑螂体内棘头虫的发育情况与处于恒定温度下的蟑螂体内棘头虫的发育情况进行比较时，我们发现，在两种蟑螂物种（长翅迅足长蝽和东方蜚蠊）中，棘头虫的发育大大延迟，这一结果与蟑螂在低温环境中停留时间较长相符。被寄生的动物会表现出行为改变，这些改变可能对寄生虫传播和宿主健康产生深远影响；这些改变的受益者以及改变本身都不容易预测。
