Meeting Abstract

P3.40  Monday, Jan. 6 15:30  The effect of parasites on predator-prey interactions MCCARTY-GLENN, M.C.; Stony Brook University mica.mccarty-glenn@gmail.com

Parasites often modify aspects of their host’s ecology, but how this affects the intra- and interspecific interactions of the host is often unknown. Many intertidal snails that are infected with flatworm parasites display altered behavior and move to the top of rocks or move higher up the shoreline. This may be beneficial to the parasite if this behavior makes the snails easy prey for predators that are secondary parasite hosts. This experiment tests how the chemical cues from two common intertidal predators influences the movement of parasitized snails. Ilyanassa obsoleta was collected from four different sites across Long Island, New York. These snails were then placed in a sloped tank in the laboratory to determine whether the snails would move up- or downshore, followed by dissection to determine whether or not they had parasites. There were three different treatments used to determine whether the presence of predator chemical cues affected snail behavior. The snails were either exposed to seawater without predator cues (control), water with green crab (Carcinus maenas) chemical cues, or water with seastar (Asterias forbesi) chemical cues. Preliminary results show that having parasites did not correlate with movements in the experimental setting; although, my field collection data suggests that snails collected higher on the shoreline were more likely to be parasitized.