Detection of a Well-Established Parasite within Invasive Brook Stickleback (Culaea inconstans) Population at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
Faculty Mentor
Krisztian Magori
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
5-7-2024 12:50 PM
End Date
5-7-2024 1:10 PM
Location
PAT 326
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Biology
Abstract
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge is a variety of habitats important for the resting, nesting and foraging of migratory birds near Cheney, WA. It is naturally fishless, but we have seen a population of invasive fish, called the Brook stickleback come to inhabit it. We are looking at these fish to investigate an established parasite, called Contraceacum multipapillatum (nematode) found within. We will collect fish from 3 previously studied lakes (Middle Pine, Black Horse, and Kepple) and 3 new lakes (Beaver, 30 Acre and Winslow). Previous research discovered that the lakes further south had a higher concentration of infected fish. We will determine infection rates and test our hypothesis that more parasitic nematodes will be found in the southernmost lakes compared to the northern lakes by capturing fish using a minnow trap and cutting them open to see if they have been infected with the parasite. Once we have extracted the nematodes from the fish, we will run PCR to determine the exact genotype of nematodes found within and confirm that it is indeed Contraceacum multipapillatum.
Recommended Citation
Cardenas, Johnny; Dawson, Dalton; Rosales, Flavio; Smith, Jessica; and Zetchov, Vladis, "Detection of a Well-Established Parasite within Invasive Brook Stickleback (Culaea inconstans) Population at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge" (2024). 2024 Symposium. 10.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2024/op_2024/o3_2024/10
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Detection of a Well-Established Parasite within Invasive Brook Stickleback (Culaea inconstans) Population at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
PAT 326
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge is a variety of habitats important for the resting, nesting and foraging of migratory birds near Cheney, WA. It is naturally fishless, but we have seen a population of invasive fish, called the Brook stickleback come to inhabit it. We are looking at these fish to investigate an established parasite, called Contraceacum multipapillatum (nematode) found within. We will collect fish from 3 previously studied lakes (Middle Pine, Black Horse, and Kepple) and 3 new lakes (Beaver, 30 Acre and Winslow). Previous research discovered that the lakes further south had a higher concentration of infected fish. We will determine infection rates and test our hypothesis that more parasitic nematodes will be found in the southernmost lakes compared to the northern lakes by capturing fish using a minnow trap and cutting them open to see if they have been infected with the parasite. Once we have extracted the nematodes from the fish, we will run PCR to determine the exact genotype of nematodes found within and confirm that it is indeed Contraceacum multipapillatum.
