Temporal variation in prevalence and abundance of metacercariae in the pulmonate snail Lymnaea stagnalis in Chany Lake, West Siberia, Russia: long-term patterns and environmental covariates

Infrapopulations of trematode metacercariae were monitored in the snail Lymnaea stagnalis over 17 yr (1982-1999) at Chany Lake, Novosibirskaya Oblast', Russia. Eighteen trematode species were recorded. Patterns of occurrence varied from 4 species (Echinoparyphium aconiatum, Echinoparyphium recurvatum, Moliniella anceps, and Cotylurus cornutus) that persisted at relatively high prevalence (> 60% of samples) across sites, seasons, and years, to species that were very rare and sporadic in occurrence. The stability of the 4 common species was probably because of their occurrence either in a wide range of definitive hosts or in a host adapted to the extreme abiotic changes that occurred from year to year in these wetlands. The prevalence and mean abundance of C. cornutus were negatively correlated with water level in the wetlands; its prevalence was also correlated with water temperature. The mean abundance of M. anceps was positively correlated with water level. The most probable explanation for the cyclic dynamics of infections of the common species is change in population sizes and densities of definitive and intermediate hosts, which mediated cyclic alterations in water levels.