Scientist

Faculty of Biology
Aquatic Ecology
Universitätsstrasse 5
D-45141 Essen
Germany

Room S05T03B23
Phone: +49.201.18.34695
Fax: +49.201.18.32179
ronja.finke@uni-due.de

PhD thesis: Parasite-induced behavioural changes in fish

Parasite-induced changes in host behaviour are a well-established topic in parasitology. However, the underlying mechanisms are often not  understood. Parasites can alter their host’s behaviour in ways that increase the likelihood of transmission to the next host – frequently by making an intermediate host more susceptible to predation by the final host. One example of this is the digenean trematode Diplostomum phoxini, which infects the Eurasian minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) as its second intermediate host and induces it to swim more actively near the surface of the water. This behaviour increases the chances of predation by the goosander (Mergus merganser).

This doctoral project aims to investigate how these behavioural changes are induced, with a particular focus on the parasite’s location within the fish brain. Histological analyses of brain tissue will be used to determine the exact distribution and abundance of parasite stages. In addition, video tracking combined with the software DeepLabCut will be used to compare the swimming behaviour of infected and uninfected fish. In collaboration with Prof. Dr. Onur Güntürkün, Biopsychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, the project combines parasitological and neuropsychological approaches to gain new insight into the mechanisms underlying parasite-induced behavioural changes.