Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen characterize trophic relationships in predator–prey relationships, with clear differences between consumer and diet (discrimination factor Δ13C and Δ15N). However, parasite–host isotopic relationships remain unclear, with Δ13C and Δ15N remaining incompletely characterized, especially for helminths. In this study, we used stable isotopes to determine discrimination factors for 13 parasite–host pairings of helminths in coral reef fish. Differences in Δ15N values grouped according to parasite groups and habitat within the host with positive Δ15N values observed for trematodes and nematodes from the digestive tract and variable Δ15N values observed for cestodes and nematodes from the general cavity. Furthermore, Δ13C values showed more complex patterns with no effect of parasite group or habitat within host. Anegative relationship was observed between Δ15N and host δ 15N values among different host-parasite pairings as well as within 7 out of the 13 pairings, indicating that host metabolic processing affects host-parasite discrimination values. In contrast, no relationships were observed for Δ13C values. Our results indicate thatparasite group, habitat within host, and host stable isotope value drive Δ15N of helminths in coral reef fish while their effect on Δ 13C is more idiosyncratic. These results call for use of taxon- or species-specific and scaled framework for bulk stable isotopes in the trophic ecology of parasites.
","AbstractOtherLang":null,"BibLvlCode":"AS","StandardTitle":"Isotopic discrimination in helminths infecting coral reef fishes depends on parasite group, habitat within host, and host stable isotope value","OrigTitleLangCode":"en","OrigTitleLangCodeExtended":"eng","OrigTitleLangID":15,"DateLastModified":{"date":"2026-04-18 01:32:21.537230","timezone_type":1,"timezone":"+02:00"},"UserAccessRight":null,"UserAccID":null,"AuthorKeywords":null,"OtherDescriptors":null,"Notes":null,"AnaPub":2021,"MonPub":null,"DateUpdate":"2021-03-03","DateCreate":"2021-03-03","SecASFANote":null,"ConfID":null,"PeerRev":1,"VlizCoreFlag":1,"WoScode":"WOS:000626620700079","VABBcode":null,"OpenAcc":1,"DOI":"10.1038/s41598-021-84255-0"},"refs":null,"anarec":{"AnaID":334343,"PubliDate":2021,"Pagination":"4638","XtraPublOfAnaID":null,"ISBN":null,"Volume":"11","Issue":null,"BRefMon":null,"BRefMonRR":null,"BRefXtra":null,"BRefXtraRR":null,"SerBRefID":208093,"SerRR":"Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group). Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 2045-2322; e-ISSN 2045-2322","StandardTitleSer":"Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group)","ISSN":"2045-2322","AbbrevSer":"NPG Scientific Reports","StandardTitleMon":null,"StartPage":4638,"Pages":null,"ToPubliDate":null,"BRefBibLvlCode":"S","SerNotes":null},"monrec":null,"serrec":null,"relations":null,"relationsRev":null,"addrec":null,"othpubs":null,"ownerships":null,"authors":[{"AutName":"Riekenberg","Firstname":"Philip","Initials":"P.M.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":330899,"AutID":420611,"OrderNr":1,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":"0000-0002-6275-5762","PersID":39261,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Briand","Firstname":"Marine","Initials":"M.J.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":330899,"AutID":438395,"OrderNr":2,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":null},{"AutName":"Moleana","Firstname":"Thibaud","Initials":"T.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":330899,"AutID":408947,"OrderNr":3,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":null},{"AutName":"Sasal","Firstname":"Pierre","Initials":"P.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":330899,"AutID":57454,"OrderNr":4,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":null},{"AutName":"van der Meer","Firstname":"Marcel","Initials":"M.T.J.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":330899,"AutID":237370,"OrderNr":5,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"MMB","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry","ORCID":"0000-0001-6454-1752","PersID":29853,"InsID":13655},{"AutName":"Thieltges","Firstname":"David","Initials":"D.W.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":330899,"AutID":214505,"OrderNr":6,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":"COS","InsFSN":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee; Coastal Sciences","ORCID":null,"PersID":8401,"InsID":13656},{"AutName":"Letourneur","Firstname":"Yves","Initials":"Y.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":330899,"AutID":233432,"OrderNr":7,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":null}],"mapdetails":null,"datasets":null,"monographs":null,"monparts":null,"serparts":null,"BEntOpen":330899,"BEntPrivate":null,"availability":[{"BInstID":358946,"LibID":2779,"BRefID":334343,"EmbargoDate":null,"FullEmbargoDate":null,"PhysMedID":16,"hasOCRd":1,"ShelfLocCode":"358946","RFID":null,"PaidValue":null,"Medium":"Server","Description":null,"Acronym":null,"Library":"NIOZ","DutchTerm":null,"URL":null,"ClassifID":260,"Classification":"NIOZ Open Repository","ReqLink":null,"ClassifTypID":1,"URLLocation":"https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/","SubDir":1,"InternalReq":null,"LoggedInReq":null,"Disclaimer":"Disclaimer_NIOZ","DutchDisclaimer":null,"FileFormat":".pdf","FileDescr":"pdf","InsPub":1,"InsID":397,"FileFormID":6,"LendableFlag":null,"PublicFlag":1,"orderLib":"NIOZ","Notes":null,"AccConID":null,"AccessConstraint":null,"LicURL":null}],"litstyles":null,"thespers":null,"arch2discl":805,"SERpubls":[{"PublName":"Nature Publishing Group","City":"London"}],"MONpubls":null,"pictures":[],"thestermsPath":null,"thestermsASFA":null,"taxtermsASFA":null,"geotermsASFA":null,"collections":null,"conf":null,"proj":null,"Physdatasets":null,"spcols":{"805":{"SpName":"Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee","SpColID":805,"ParSpColID":null,"TopParID":null,"ShortName":"NIOZ","URLLocation":"https://www.vliz.be/imis/nioz/imis.php?refid=","LibID":2779,"OpenRepoFlag":1,"SpTypID":1,"TopParIDNotWebsite":null,"SpColPath":"NIOZ"}},"doi":null,"publs":null,"serparttypes":null,"monauthors":null,"MParts":null,"SParts":null,"hLibs":null,"langs":[{"BEntID":330899,"AbstractFlag":0,"LangID":15,"LangCode":"en","Lang":"English","DutchTerm":"Engels","LangCodeExtended":"eng"},{"BEntID":330899,"AbstractFlag":1,"LangID":15,"LangCode":"en","Lang":"English","DutchTerm":"Engels","LangCodeExtended":"eng"}],"urls":[{"URL":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84255-0","externalID":"10.1038/s41598-021-84255-0","URLTypeCode":"DOI","URLID":91360,"URLTypID":13,"URLType":"DOI","URLPrefix":"http://dx.doi.org/"}],"thesterms":null,"taxterms":null,"geoterms":null,"othterms":null,"asfacodes":null,"asfa2codes":null,"thestermsFRIS":null,"taxtermsFRIS":null,"geotermsFRIS":null,"othtermsFRIS":null,"resmessage":"","complete":1,"sessions":{"newSesName":"Leonne.van.der.Weegen@nioz.nl","newSesDate":{"date":"2021-03-03 09:01:21.670000","timezone_type":3,"timezone":"Europe/Brussels"},"updSesName":"Leonne.van.der.Weegen@nioz.nl","updSesDate":{"date":"2021-03-03 09:01:21.670000","timezone_type":3,"timezone":"Europe/Brussels"}}}