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The European eel—the swim bladder–nematode system provides a new view of the invasion paradox

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Abstract

It is widely assumed that the likelihood of invasion decreases with increased species richness in the recipient community. However, the invasion paradox supports a negative and a positive relationship between native biodiversity and the success of an invader. Here, we show that for a host–parasite system (Anguilla anguilla as host and Anguillicoloides crassus as parasitic invader), invasion increases with native micro- and macroparasitic species richness. In fact, about 30% of the A. crassus intensity in eels could be explained by the number of both micro- and macroparasite species. This pattern could be due to the fact that A. crassus exploits a niche (the swim bladder) that is unoccupied by native parasite species and by the Th1/Th2 trade-off between native microparasites and the invader. We conclude that the host–parasite system resistance to invasion may depend on both niche availability and the Th1/Th2 trade-off. As well, we encourage researchers to incorporate native parasite richness as a risk factor in epidemiological models of A. crassus.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundación Séneca, Coordination Centre for Research (grant 04538/GERM/06). The authors wish to thank E. Romero for his assistance with the eel sampling and D. Riquelme for his technical assistance with parasite processing. E. Serrano is supported by the Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral programme of the MICINN, Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, E-30100, Murcia, Spain

    Carlos Martínez-Carrasco, Rocio Ruiz de Ybáñez & Pilar Muñoz

  2. Servei d’Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Emmanuel Serrano

  3. Dirección General de Ganadería y Pesca, Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia, Murcia, Spain

    José Peñalver

  4. Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    José Antonio García

  5. Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain

    Alfonsa García-Ayala

  6. Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université de Montpellier 2, Montpellier, France

    Sergé Morand

Authors
  1. Carlos Martínez-Carrasco
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  2. Emmanuel Serrano
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  3. Rocio Ruiz de Ybáñez
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  4. José Peñalver
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  5. José Antonio García
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  6. Alfonsa García-Ayala
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  7. Sergé Morand
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  8. Pilar Muñoz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pilar Muñoz.

Additional information

Carlos Martínez-Carrasco and Emmanuel Serrano contributed equally to this work.

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Martínez-Carrasco, C., Serrano, E., de Ybáñez, R.R. et al. The European eel—the swim bladder–nematode system provides a new view of the invasion paradox. Parasitol Res 108, 1501–1506 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-2200-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-2200-8

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