Data presented in the paper "Consumer and host body size effects on the removal of trematode cercariae by ambient communities"

Research objective:
Parasite transmission can be altered via the removal of parasites by the ambient communities in which parasite–host interactions take place. However, the mechanisms driving parasite removal remain poorly understood. Using marine trematode cercariae as a model system, we investigated the effects of consumer and host body size on parasite removal rates. In laboratory experiments, the cercarial removal rates of five size categories of consumers (shrimps, crabs, oysters) or hosts (cockles) were determined. In addition, a sixth treatment without consumers or hosts served as a control to account for potential losses of cercariae due other factors and to test for the presence of an overall removal effect (control vs. size treatments).For more detail see publication.

研究目标：寄生虫-宿主相互作用发生的环境群落可通过清除寄生虫改变其传播能力，但目前驱动寄生虫清除的机制仍未得到充分解析。本研究以海洋吸虫尾蚴（marine trematode cercariae）为模式系统，探究了消费者与宿主体型对寄生虫清除速率的影响。在实验室实验中，我们测定了五类体型分级的消费者（虾类、蟹类、牡蛎）或宿主（鸟尾蛤）的尾蚴清除速率。此外，设置无消费者或宿主的第六组作为对照组，以抵消其他因素导致的尾蚴潜在损失，并检验整体清除效应的存在（对照组vs.体型处理组）。更多细节请参阅相关发表文献。