寄生虫多样性的模式是由它们的环境和生态环境决定的,为了更好地理解它们与宿主和相应的生物学的相互作用,理解这些上下文相关的模式是至关重要的。为了实现这一点,我们用的是类囊体等足类动物,一组重要的鱼类寄生虫,检验关于寄生虫多样性和流行模式的长期假设:半封闭水体是否允许寄生虫等足类动物的低多样性和高患病率。具体来说,我们比较了奇利卡泻湖(奥里萨邦,印度),半封闭的水体,和毗邻的奥里萨邦海岸(印度)。我们的发现表明,半封闭的Chilika泻湖的寄生等足类动物的多样性比奥里萨邦海岸的毗邻公海要低得多。此外,Chilika泻湖的寄生虫等足动物感染水平明显较高,等足动物的组合比奥里萨邦沿海沿海水域的组合少。我们的结果支持封闭水体之间的假设关联,寄生虫多样性,和宿主的患病率,并有助于增强对不同海洋环境中寄生等足动物生态学的理解。
Patterns in parasite diversity are shaped by their environmental and ecological settings, and to better understand their interactions with hosts and the corresponding biology, it is crucial to understand these context-dependent patterns. To achieve this, we use cymothoid isopods, an important group of fish parasites, to test a long-standing hypothesis about parasite diversity and prevalence pattern: whether semi-enclosed water bodies allow low diversity and high prevalence of parasitic isopods. Specifically, we compare these patterns between Chilika lagoon (Odisha, India), a semi-enclosed water body, and the adjoining Odisha coast (India). Our finding reveals that the semi-enclosed Chilika lagoon has a considerably lower diversity of parasitic isopods than its adjoining open sea along the Odisha coast. Additionally, the parasitic isopod infection levels in Chilika lagoon are noticeably higher, and isopod assemblage is less even than those in coastal waters along the Odisha coast. Our results support the hypothesised association between enclosed water bodies, parasite diversity, and host prevalence and contribute to an enhanced comprehension of the ecology of parasitic isopods in distinct marine environments.