The project is part of a research program funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and dedicated to studying the effects of environmental pollutants on host-parasites interactions.
Some intestinal parasites, and especially acanthocephalans, have the remarkable ability to accumulate contaminants from their host. This could lead to an attenuation of ecotoxicological effects, as highlighted in freshwater fish. We thus expect that parasites are helpful for their host when pollutant sequestration provides higher benefits than the cost of infection. Environmental pollution can also affect host-parasite interactions, by inducing deleterious effects on parasites’ life history traits.
The aim of the project is to test whether environmental pollution may modulate the strength and directions of biotic interactions. More specifically, we will study the effects of pollutants (pesticides and drug residues) on European chubs Squalus cephalus and their acanthocephalan parasites. An experimental study will be conducted in mesocosms at the CEREEP-ECOTRON IleDeFrance service unit, and especially in the National Experimental Platform in Aquatic Ecology (PLANAQUA).