Metazoan parasites of the Barbus fishes from a hybrid zone
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Recent introduction of widely distributed Barbus barbus from the Durance River into the habitats of the native and endangered Barbus meridionalis of the Argens River resulted into the hybridization between these two species. Generally accepted scenarios (i.e. lower parasite prevalence and species richness in newly established populations compared to the source populations or higher parasite abundance in the native hosts than the newly arrivals) can be modified due to the hybridization since hybrids represent the “bridges” for the parasite infection. In 2011-2014, Barbus individuals sampled from the Durance and Argens Rivers were examined for the presence of metazoan parasites. Overall, significantly lower prevalence and species richness of metazoan parasites were revealed in B. barbus on the Argens River compared to the Durance River. Moreover, metazoan parasite abundance found in local B. meridionalis was significantly lower in contrast to the introduced B. barbus individuals within the Argens River. In hybrids, intermediate values of abundance and trend towards lower species richness of metazoan parasites compared to the both parental species was revealed. However, different scenarios of hybrid susceptibility to metazoan parasites in contrast to the parental species on different localities were detected which might result from the different host-parasite interactions. Therefore, diversity of MHC IIB genes as a result of co-evolutionary processes between hosts and their parasite has been analysed in B. meridionalis and B. barbus hybrid zones. |
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