| Summary: | A population of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) infected with the cestode parasite S. solidus was studied to determine the effects of the parasite on stickleback reproductive. success, mortality rates, and swimming ability. The S. solidus infection increased stickleback mortality rates in 'natural' mortality, and in stressed mortality (low oxygen, high temperature) experiments. Infections of S. solidus at intensities of 30% of the stickleback body weight or greater, clearly affect the sticklebacks ability to swim. How infections at this or lesser levels effect predation on parasitized sticklebacks was not established. The effects of S. solidus on stickleback reproductive success were found to be minimal in this study, chiefly because the stickleback breeding season is essentially complete before the S. solidus infection becomes severe. === Science, Faculty of === Zoology, Department of === Graduate
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