Reduced growth, body condition and foot length of the bivalve Austrovenus stutchburyi in response to parasite infection》.pdf

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 474 (2016) 23 –28 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology journal homepage: www. /locate/jembe Reduced growth, body condition and foot length of the bivalve Austrovenus stutchburyi in response to parasite infection Sorrel A. OConnell-Milne a,b,⁎, Robert Poulin b, Candida Savage a,c, William Rayment a a Department of Marine Science, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand b Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand c Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Parasites often have direct impacts on their host physiology or function, which can in turn have indirect effects on Received 15 July 2015 interspecific interactions and ecosystem structure. The present study investigates the effect of trematode parasite Received in revised form 14 August 2015 infection on the ecologically and commercially important venerid clam Austrovenus stutchburyi. Although the in- Accepted 23 September 2015 direct impacts of clam infection on the broader benthic community, mediated by impaired burrowing of parasit- Available online xxxx ized clams, have been well documented before, the more direct impacts on the clam itself remain poorly studied. The consequence of parasite infection on clam growth rate, mortality,