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Host feeding ecology and trophic position significantly influence isotopic discrimination between a generalist ectoparasite and its hosts: implications for parasite-host trophic studies

Metadata Updated: November 26, 2025

Despite being one of the most prevalent forms of consumerism in ecological communities, parasitism has largely been excluded from food-web models. Stable isotope analysis of consumers and their diets has been widely used in the study of food-webs for decades. However, the amount of information regarding parasite stable isotope ecology is limited, restricting the ability of ecologists to use stable isotope analysis to study parasites in food-webs. This study took advantage of distinct differences in the feeding ecology and trophic position of different species of fish known to host the same common micropredatory gnathiid isopod, to study the effects of host stable isotope ecology on that of the associated micropredator. Blood engorged juvenile gnathiids were in most cases indistinguishable from their hosts’ blood, but significant isotope discrimination was observed for adults. Adult males were generally lower in δ13C and δ15N than host blood whereas host specific isotopic discrimination for females varied among the different host species.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-5aa15343e4b0b1c392e86246
Data Last Modified 2022-07-07T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id ee1677c7-4d7c-48a6-8d42-bbe9a4d3f20b
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 0c76e5a6adea4b1811a1564bf6c523ea4ac866968aa6d056bbfab36b18157f31
Source Schema Version 1.1

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