Parasitism, movement, and distribution of the snail Diloma subrostrata (Trochidae) in a soft-sediment intertidal zone

Abstract

Despite reports of their effects on host reproduction, growth, survival, and habitat use, the role of parasites in determining community structure is still poorly understood. Trematode infections in snails are a ubiquitous feature of intertidal systems worldwide. In this study, the influence of a trematode parasite on the movement and dispersal of the trochid snail Diloma subrostrata on a soft-sediment shore is examined using mark–recapture experiments. The natural densities and shell widths of the snail peak between the upper and lower portions of the intertidal zone; marked snails were released within this area. Parasitized snails tended to have larger shells than nonparasitized conspecifics, and larger snails tended to move a greater linear distance than smaller snails in the 24 h following their marking and release. After shell width was corrected for, parasitized snails were found to move a significantly shorter distance than nonparasitized snails. In addition, the mean direction chosen by parasitized snails was almost parallel to the water's edge, whereas that taken by nonparasitized snails was almost directly toward the upper portion of the intertidal zone. Although the mean directions taken by the two types of snails were statistically different, the considerable scatter in the distributions of directions taken by individual snails casts a doubt over the biological significance of the result. Without detailed knowledge of the parasite's full life cycle it is difficult to determine whether this small bias in the direction of dispersal is an adaptive manipulation of snail behaviour by the parasitic trematode. Nevertheless, these results show that the trematode limits the range of movement, and possibly the direction of movement, of parasitized D. subrostrata, and can therefore contribute to the spatial structuring of the snail population.