<ol> <li>Free-living parasite life stages may contribute substantially to ecosystem biomass and thus represent a significant source of energy flow when consumed by non-host organisms. However, ambient temperature and the predator's own infection status may modulate consumption rates towards parasite prey.</li> <li>We investigated the combined effects of temperature and predator infection status ...

Host density, host body size and ambient temperature have all been positively associated with increases in parasite infection. However, the relative importance of these factors in shaping long-term parasite population dynamics in wild host populations is unknown due to the absence of long-term studies. Here, we examine long-term drivers of gill lice (Copepoda) infections in Arctic charr (Salmonidae) ...

<ol> <li>Two common <i>Dibothriocephalus</i> (formerly <i>Diphyllobothrium</i>) tapeworm species were significantly reduced by experimental culling of their fish host Arctic charr (<i>Salvelinus alpinus</i>) in a subarctic lake.</li><p> <p><li>Between 1984 and 1991, funnel traps were used to cull ~35 metric tons of Arctic charr, reducing charr density by ~80%. As charr densities decreased, ...

Ontogenetic dietary shifts are common in fish and often impact trophically transmitted parasite communities. How parasite species composition and relative abundances change among size classes, and at what rate these changes occur, is rarely examined. Hosts with a broad trophic niche are potentially exposed to a large variety of parasite species. The degree of ontogenetic changes in parasite species ...

We review three long‐term research programs performed over the last four decades on the ecology and management of oligotrophic lake systems with different fish communities at 69&deg; N in Norway. Through whole‐lake perturbation experiments, intensive culling of stunted fish removed 35 tons (1984–1991) of Arctic charr <i>Salvelinus alpinus</i> in Takvatn (15 km²) and 153 tons (1981–1983, ...

To identify trematode diversity and life-cycles in the sub-Arctic Lake Takvatn, Norway, we characterised 120 trematode isolates from mollusc first intermediate hosts, metacercariae from second intermediate host fishes and invertebrates, and adults from fish and invertebrate definitive hosts, using molecular techniques. Phylogenies based on nuclear and/or mtDNA revealed high species richness (24 ...

Changes in abiotic and biotic factors between seasons in subarctic lake systems are often profound, potentially affecting the community structure and population dynamics of parasites over the annual cycle. However, few winter studies exist and interactions between fish hosts and their parasites are typically confined to snapshot studies restricted to the summer season whereas host‐parasite dynamics ...

Tracking individual variation in the dynamics of parasite infections in wild populations is often complicated by lack of knowledge of the epidemiological history of hosts. Whereas the dynamics and development of Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg, 1957, on Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., are known from laboratory studies, knowledge about infection development on individual wild fishes is currently sparse. ...