parasites

A detailed Summary of parasites

Parasite. The word conjures up thoughts of infections and infestations. These nasty critters not only infect humans, but they also infect countless other species. Parasitic protists are the type of organisms that this paper will delve into; more specifically, the phylum Microspora and the hosts that its species infects (Baker, 1982). Many parasitic protists can infect numerous different species of other organisms, but there are some who can only survive and reproduce while they are in one specific species. This concept of a parasitic protist only being able to thrive in a single species or a few select species is referred to as host specificity.

Studying host specificity can lead to gaining invaluable information regarding not only the parasitic species, but also the host species that the parasite infects. By learning as much as we can about parasite-host relationships, we may be able to some day manipulate or control the destructive parasite species such as that of microsporids affecting economic aspects including the Nosema bombycis causing pebrine in the Bombyx mori (silkworm caterpillars) and the Nosema apis causing nosema disease in the Apis mellifera (honey bees). These two species (B. mori & A. mellifera) alone pr

The third study also examined the effects of microsporidia on L. dispar, but the study was done in Bulgaria, the L. dispar's native region of the globe. The Endoreticulatus sp., Nosema sp. and Vairimorpha sp. were the microsporidia found to infect the L. dispar. These three species of microsporidia are known to be endemic in three separate and respective populations of the L. dispar. The conductors of the experiment went out to four sites in western Bulgaria and collected larval specimens of the L. dispar. Cross sections of the larva were examined for presence microsporidia, and the microsporidia were then classified to their respective family

This study found that the L. dispar species were susceptible to nine of the twelve species of microsporidium that they were fed, and only one of the nine species which was infected actually passed the microsporidian spores on to uninfected L. dispar. Several of the microsporidia produced different infections in the L. dispar species than that which occurs in the microsporidia's natural host. In general, the infections of the L. dispar were less severe than the infections of the microsporidia in their natural host (Stirnadel, H.A.

oduce millions of dollars in revenue, but it is not just revenue that one should be concerned with when considering these parasitic microsporidia; we need to be concerned by the delicate balance that the microsporidia and their hosts within our ecosystem are a vital part of. According to Stirnadel and Ebert (1997; as sighted by Canter & Lund, 1951, Green, 1974, Mirscle, 1977, Brambilla, 1983, Brunni!

The second study deals with the effects of microsporidium on Lymantria dispar, an unnatural host for these particular microsporidium species. L.F. Solter's and J.V. Maddox's objective in this experiment was to investigate the parasite

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Approximate Word count = 1229
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science