Lice on antarctic seals: population dynamics of Echinophthiriid lice are influenced by their host behavior

FLORENCIA SOTO; JAVIER NEGRETE; MARÍA SOLEDAD LEONARDI

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

Congreso; 13TH INTERNATIONAL MAMMALOGICAL CONGRESS; 2023

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAMMALOGISTS

The Antarctic Peninsula is considered one of the polar areas most affected by global warming and human activities that negatively affect pinnipeds. Seal lice have developed morphological, behavioral, and ecological adaptations to cope with the amphibious lifestyle of their hosts in a coevolutionary process. Lice population dynamics are determined by seals behavior. Environmental changes that reduce the size and thickness of the ice floes or sea ice extent will have direct effects on both Antarctic pinnipeds and lice populations. Here we study the parasitic ecology of three species of lice on Antarctic seals. During five austral summers, we sampled 158 seals in the pack ice of the Danco Coast, Antarctic Peninsula. We aim to analyze the effects of host sex, age class, and year of sampling on the prevalence and mean abundance of Antarctophthirus lobodontis on Lobodon carcinophaga, A. carlinii on Leptonychotes wedelli, and A. ogmorhini on Hydrurga leptonyx. Host age class is the variable that affected the prevalence and mean abundance levels of lice in three seals species. Regarding the reproductive strategies of lice, A. lobodontis lay viable eggs that could survive immersion and continue to develop until completing their cycle and A. carlinii transmit mainly adult lice, which should complete a generation in a short time. These differences would be related to their host life history, mainly with diving behavior and haul-out patterns.