A Preliminary Study of the Effect of Stress on Snails and Their Larval Trematode Parasites

Abstract

Most of the mammals and birds of Jackson Hole harbor trematode parasites. The usual intermediate host in the life cycle of these flukes is a snail. My work during the past few years has dealt with stress on vertebrate hosts and its effect on their parasites. During the summer of 1971 I turned my attention to the invertebrate hosts of termatodes in a preliminary effort to determine if stress on these snails would be reflected in a change in the numbers of their larval fluke parasites. The work was done in the southern end of Grand Teton National Park. Project Number 103.