The Combined Effect of Isolation and Fasciola hepatica Infection on the Life History Traits of Fossaria cubensis

Abstract

Life history traits of Fossaria cubensis were compared between isolated and paired snails after infection with three miracidia of Fasciola hepatica. Four experimental groups were tested: isolated–unexposed, paired–unexposed, isolated–infected, and paired–infected. A repeated-measures ANOVA showed statistically significant interactions among isolation, infection, and age effects for shell size, number of egg masses per snail, number of eggs per snail, and number of viable eggs per snail. Isolated–unexposed snails exhibited the higher values of these variables and those of survival and finite and intrinsic rates of natural increase. Infection stimulated shell growth during the prepatent period, but differences were present only in paired snails since isolation causes a similar effect. Reproduction, in terms of the number of egg masses per snail and the number of eggs per mass per snail, decreases in the presence of parasitic infection, whereas isolation stimulates it. These effects were observed from early stages of infection.