About:

 

David W Thieltges Scientist

Expertise

Marine Ecology - Ecological Parasitology - Biogeography and macroecology - Invasive species - Food web ecology - Experimental ecology

CV

Since 2010	Research scientist, NIOZ, The Netherlands
2007-10	Postdoc DFG fellowship, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
2006	Postdoc DAAD fellowship, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
2005	PhD Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany
2001	Diplom in Biology, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany
1996/97	Visiting student, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Research Interests

The sea is full of parasites and there is growing evidence that parasites can be an important ecological factor in marine ecosystems. We strive to understand the extent and importance of parasitism in coastal waters on various spatial and organizational scales. Using correlative and experimental approaches, we study the effects of parasites on host individuals, populations and communities. We are also interested in how parasites influence the topology and dynamics of marine food webs. Another line of research aims to understand the patterns and processes underlying infections of marine hosts. For example, temperature has been shown to be an important trigger for trematode parasites with important implications for climate change scenarios. And finally, we study large-scale patterns in parasitism using extensive databases and phylogenetic, biogeographical and macroecologial approaches in order to understand the forces that have shaped parasitism in the sea.

Projects

Effects of invasive species on native predator-prey and pathogen-host webs (PhD project Anouk Goedknegt, in collaboration with Kees Camphuysen & Pieternella Luttikhuizen, NIOZ, and Mathias Wegner & Christian Buschbaum, AWI Sylt, Germany) Biodiversity and disease risk in marine ecosystems (PhD project by Jennifer Welsh; in collaboration with Corina Brussaard, NIOZ) The role of parasites in marine coastal food webs (in collaboration with Ross Thompson, Monash University, Australia, Robert Poulin, Otago University, New Zealand, Dieter Zander, Hamburg University, Germany, Karsten Reise, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany, Kim Mouritsen, Aarhus University, Denmark, Hsuan-Wien Chen, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan) Macroecology and biogeography of marine parasites (in collaboration with K Thomas Jensen, University of Aarhus, Denmark, Xavier de Montaudouin, University of Bordeaux, France, Robert Poulin, Otago University, New Zealand, Dave Marcogliese, Environment Canada, Canada)

People in research group
Jennifer Welsh        (PhD student)	'Biodiversity and disease risk in marine ecosystems'; project in collaboration with Corina Brussaard (NIOZ)
Anouk Goedknegt              (PhD student)	'Effects of invasive species on native predator-prey and pathogen-host webs in the Waddensea'; bilateral research project in cooperation with partners at NIOZ (Texel, Netherlands) and AWI (Sylt, Germany)
Marin van Regteren(Master student)	'Effects of trematode infections on cockle hosts' ; University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Anne-Karin Schuster   (Master student)	'Risk assessment of the invasive copepod Mytilicola orientalis'; University of Landau, Germany
Jarco Havermans (Master student)	'Enemy release, pathogen spill-over and spill-back - invasive decapod crabs and their parasites in the Wadden Sea'; University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Reinier Nauta     (Master student)	'Patterns and processes in parasite infections of blue mussels Mytilus edulis' ;University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Mirjana Markovic (Internship)	'Biodiversity and disease risk in marine ecosystems'; supervised by Jennifer Welsh
David Shoesmith(Master student)	'Interactions of the invasive copepod Mytilicola orientalis with native  mussels (Mytilus edulis)'; University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Celine van Bijsterveldt           (BSc student)	'Transmission ecology of trematodes'; University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

Internships and BSc/MSc projects

Various research projects for MSc and BSc students as well as for short internships are available all year round. They range from field studies over field and lab experiments to literature-based meta-analytical approaches. Please contact us for more details.

Outreach

Anouk Goedknegt on the pitfalls of experimental wok (ZeeinZicht blog - in Dutch) David Thieltges on digging data in the library (ZeeinZicht blog - in Dutch)

Publications

In press

Poulin, R., Krasnov, B. R., Pilosof, S., Thieltges, D. W. (in press) Phylogeny determines the role of helminth parasites in intertidal food webs. Journal of Animal Ecology

Thieltges, D. W., Marcogliese, D. J. Blanar, C. A., Poulin, R. (in press) Trematode prevalence-occupancy relationships on regional and continental spatial scales in marine gastropod hosts. Marine Ecology Progress Series

Thieltges, D.W., Amundsen, P.-A., Hechinger, R.F., Johnson, P.T.J., Lafferty, K.D., Mouritsen, K.N., Preston, D.L., Reise, K., Zander, C.D., Poulin, R. (in press) Parasites as prey in aquatic food webs: implications for predator infection and parasite transmission. Oikos

Thieltges, D.W., Engelsma, M.; Wendling, C.; Wegner, M. (in press) Parasites in the Wadden Sea food web. Journal of Sea Research

Thompson, R.M., Poulin, R., Mouritsen, K.N., Thieltges, D.W. (in press) Resource tracking in marine parasites: going with the flow? Oikos

2013

Dunne, J.A., Lafferty, K.D., Dobson, A.P., Hechinger, R.F., Kuris, A.M., Martinez, N.D., McLaughlin, J.P., Mouritsen, K.N., Poulin, R., Reise, K., Stouffer, D.B., Thieltges, D.W., Williams, R.J., Zander, C.D. (2013) Parasites affect food web structure primarily through increased diversity and complexity. PLoS Biology 11: e1001579

Studer, A., Kremer, L., Nelles, J., Poulin, R., Thieltges, D. W. (2013) Biotic interference in parasite transmission: Can the feeding of anemones counteract an increased risk of parasitism in amphipods at higher temperature? Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 445: 116–119

2012

Koehler, A.V., Brown, B., Poulin, R., Thieltges, D.W., Fredensborg, B.L. (2012) Disentangling phylogenetic constraints from selective forces in the evolution of trematode transmission stages. Evolutionary Ecology 26:1497-1512

Poulin, R., Blanar, C.A., Thieltges, D.W., Marcogliese, D.J. (2012) Scaling up from epidemiology to biogeography: local infection patterns predict geographical distribution in fish parasites. Journal of Biogeography 39: 1157–1166

2011

Elsner, N.O., Jacobsen, S., Thieltges, D.W., Reise, K. (2011) Alien parasitic copepods in mussels and oysters of the Wadden Sea. Helgoland Marine Research 65: 299–307

Mouritsen, K.N., Poulin, R., McLaughlin, J.P., Thieltges, D.W. (2011) Food web including metazoan parasites for an intertidal ecosystem in New Zealand. Data Paper, Ecological Archives E092-173. Ecology 92: 2006

Poulin, R., Blanar, C.A., Thieltges, D.W., Marcogliese, D.J. (2011) The biogeography of parasitism in sticklebacks: distance, habitat differences and the similarity in parasite occurrence and abundance. Ecography 34: 540-551

Poulin, R., Krasnov, B.R., Mouillot, D., Thieltges, D.W.(2011) The comparative ecology and biogeography of parasites. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366: 2379–2390

Thieltges, D.W., Hof, C., Borregaard, M.K., Dehling, D. M., Brändle, M., Brandl, R., Poulin, R. (2011) Range size patterns in European freshwater trematodes. Ecography 34: 982-989

Thieltges, D.W., Hof, C., Dehling, D. M., Brändle, M., Brandl, R., Poulin, R. (2011) Host diversity and latitudinal gradients drive trematode diversity patterns in the European freshwater fauna. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20: 675–682

Thieltges, D.W., Reise, K., Mouritsen, K.N., McLaughlin, J.P., Poulin, R. (2011) Food web including metazoan parasites for a tidal basin in Germany and Denmark. Data paper, Ecological Archives E092- 172. Ecology 92: 2005

Zander, C.D., Josten, N., Detloff, K.C., Poulin, R., McLaughlin, J.P., Thieltges, D.W. (2011) Food web including metazoan parasites for a brackish shallow water ecosystem in Germany and Denmark. Data paper, Ecological Archives E092-174. Ecology 92: 2007

2010

Studer, A., Thieltges, D.W., Poulin, R. (2010) Parasites and global warming: the net effect of temperature on an intertidal host-parasite system. Marine Ecology Progress Series 415: 11–22

Johnson, P.T.J., Dobson, A., Lafferty, K.D., Marcogliese, D., Memmott, J., Orlofske, S.A., Poulin, R., Thieltges, D.W. (2010) When parasites become prey: Ecological and epidemiological significance of eating parasites. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25: 362-371

Johnson, P.T.J., Thieltges, D.W. (2010) Diversity, decoys and the dilution effect: how ecological communities affect disease risk. Journal of Experimental Biology 213: 961-970

Kelly, D.W., Thomas, H., Thieltges, D.W., Robert, R., Tompkins, D.M. (2010) Trematode infection causes malformations and population effects in a declining New Zealand fish. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 445–452

Thieltges, D.W., Dolch, T., Krakau, M., Poulin, R. (2010) Salinity gradient shapes distance decay of similarity among parasite communities in three marine fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 76: 1806–1814

2009

Montaudouin, X. de, Thieltges, D.W., Gam, M., Krakau, M., Pina, S., Bazairi, H., Dabouineau, L., Russell-Pinto, F., Jensen, K.T. (2009) Trematode species in the cockle Cerastoderma edule: identification key and distribution along the North-East Atlantic shoreline. Journal of the Marine Biological Association UK 89: 543–556

Thieltges, D.W., Ferguson, M.A.D., Jones, C.S., Krakau, M., Montaudouin, X. de, Noble, L.R., Reise, K., Poulin, R. (2009) Distance decay of similarity among parasite communities of three marine invertebrate hosts. Oecologia 160: 163–173

Thieltges, D.W., Ferguson, M.A.D., Jones, C.S., Noble, L.R., Poulin, R. (2009) Biogeographical patterns of marine larval trematode parasites in two intermediate snail hosts in Europe. Journal of Biogeography 36: 1493–1501

Thieltges, D.W., Fredensborg, B.L., Poulin, R. (2009) Geographical variation in metacercarial infection levels in marine invertebrate hosts – parasite species character versus local factors. Marine Biology 156: 983–990

Thieltges, D.W., Fredensborg, B.L., Studer, A., Poulin, R. (2009) Large-scale patterns in trematode richness and infection levels in marine crustacean hosts. Marine Ecology Progress Series 389: 139–147

Thieltges, D.W., Montaudouin, X. de, Fredensborg, B.L., Jensen, K.T., Koprivnikar, J., Poulin, R. (2009) Production of marine trematode cercariae - a potentially overlooked path of energy flow in benthic systems. Marine Ecology Progress Series 372: 147–155

2008

Thieltges, D.W., Reise, K., Jensen, K.T. (2008) Invaders interfere with native parasite-host interactions. Biological Invasions 11: 1421–1429

Thieltges, D.W., Saldanha, I., Leung, T.L.F, Poulin, R. (2008) Contribution of parasites to intra- and inter-site variation in shell morphology of a marine gastropod. Journal of the Marine Biological Association UK 89: 563–568

Lafferty, K.D., Allesina, S., Arim, M., Briggs, C.J., DeLeo, G., Dobson, A.P., Dunne, J.A., Johnson, P.T.J., Kuris, A.M., Marcogliese, D.J., Martinez, N.D., Memmott, J., Marquet, P.A., McLaughlin, J.P., Mordecai, E.A., Pascual, M., Poulin, R., Thieltges, D.W. (2008). Parasites in food webs: the ultimate missing links. Ecology Letters 11: 533–546

Thieltges, D.W., Donas-Botto Bordalo, M., Cabalero Hernández, A., Prinz, K., Jensen, K.T. (2008) Ambient fauna impairs parasite transmission in a marine parasite-host system. Parasitology 135: 1111–1116

Hopper, J.V., Poulin, R., Thieltges, D.W. (2008) Buffering role of the intertidal anemone Anthopleura aureoradiata in cercarial transmission from snails to crabs. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 367: 153–156

Thieltges, D.W. (2008) Effect of host size and exposure on metacercarial infection levels in the intertidal cockle Cerastoderma edule. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 88: 613–616

Thieltges, D.W., Jensen, K.T, Poulin, R. (2008) The role of biotic factors in the transmission of free-living endohelminth stages. Parasitology 135: 407–426

Thieltges, D.W., Hussel, B., Hermann, J., Jensen, K.T., Krakau, M., Taraschewski, H., Reise, K. (2008) Parasites in the northern Wadden Sea: a conservative ecosystem component over four decades. Helgoland Marine Research 62: 37–47

2007

Thieltges, D.W. (2007) Habitat and transmission – effect of tidal level and upstream host density on metacercarial load in an intertidal bivalve. Parasitology 134: 599–605

Thieltges, D.W., Buschbaum, C. (2007) Mechanism of an epibiont burden: slipper limpets Crepidula fornicata increases byssus thread production in blue mussels Mytilus edulis. Journal of Molluscan Studies 73: 75–77

Buschbaum, C., Buschbaum, G., Schrey, I., Thieltges, D.W. (2007) Shell boring polychaetes affect gastropod shell strength and crab predation. Marine Ecology Progress Series 329: 123–130

Thieltges, D.W., Buschbaum, C. (2007) Vicious circle in the intertidal: facilitation between barnacle epibionts, a shell boring polychaete and trematode parasites in the periwinkle Littorina littorea. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 340: 90–95

Thieltges, D.W., Reise, K. (2007) Spatial heterogeneity in parasite infections at different scales in an intertidal bivalve. Oecologia 150: 569–581

2006

Thieltges, D.W., Rick, J. (2006) Effect of temperature on emergence, survival and infectivity of cercariae of the marine trematode Renicola roscovita (Digenea: Renicolidae). Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 73: 63–68

Thieltges, D.W., Strasser, M., Reise, K. (2006) How bad are invaders in coastal waters? The case of the American slipper limpet Crepidula fornicata in Western Europe. Biological Invasions 8: 1673–1680

Krakau, M., Thieltges, D.W., Reise, K. (2006) Native parasites adopt introduced bivalves of the North Sea. Biological Invasions 8: 919–925

Nehls, G., Diederich, S., Thieltges, D.W., Strasser, M. (2006) Wadden Sea mussel beds invaded by oysters and slipper limpets – competition or climate control? Helgoland Marine Research 60: 135–143

Reise, K., Olenin, S., Thieltges, D.W. (2006) Editorial special volume Helgoland Marine Research. Helgoland Marine Research 60: 75–76

Reise, K., Olenin, S., Thieltges, D.W. (2006) Are aliens threatening European aquatic coastal ecosystems? Helgoland Marine Research 60: 77–83

Thieltges, D.W. (2006) Parasite induced summer mortality in common cockles Cerastoderma edule by the trematode Gymnophallus choledochus. Hydrobiologia 559: 455–461

Thieltges, D.W. (2006) Effect of metacercarial trematode infections (Renicola roscovita) on growth in intertidal blue mussels (Mytilus edulis). Marine Ecology Progress Series 319: 129–134

Thieltges, D.W., Hussel, B., Baekgaard, H. (2006) Endoparasites in common eider Somateria mollissima from birds killed by an oil spill in the northern Wadden Sea. Journal of Sea Research 55: 301–308

Thieltges, D.W., Krakau, M., Andresen, H., Fottner, S., Reise, K. (2006) Macroparasite community in molluscs of a tidal basin in the Wadden Sea. Helgoland Marine Research 60: 307–316

Thieltges, D.W., Reise, K. (2006) Metazoan parasites in intertidal cockles Cerastoderma edule from the northern Wadden Sea. Journal of Sea Research 56: 284–293

2005 and earlier

Buck, B.H., Thieltges, D.W., Walter, U., Nehls, G., Rosenthal, H. (2005) Inshore-offshore comparison of parasite infestation in Mytilus edulis: implications for open ocean aquaculture. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 21: 107-113

Thieltges, D.W. (2005) Impact of an invader: epizootic American slipper limpet Crepidula fornicata reduces survival and growth in European mussels. Marine Ecology Progress Series 286: 13-19

Thieltges, D.W. (2005) Benefit from an invader: American slipper limpet Crepidula fornicata reduces star fish predation on European mussels. Hydrobiologia 541: 241-244

Thieltges, D.W., Strasser, M., Beusekom, J.E.E. van, Reise, K. (2004) Too cold to prosper – winter mortality prevents population increase of the introduced American slipper limpet Crepidula fornicata in northern Europe. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 311: 375-391

Thieltges, D.W., Strasser, M., Reise, K. (2003) The American slipper-limpet Crepidula fornicata (L.) in the Northern Wadden Sea 70 years after its introduction. Helgoland Marine Research 57: 27-33

Book chapters

Goedknegt, A., Welsh, J., Thieltges, D.W. (2012) Parasites as prey. In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester. DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0023604

Thieltges, D.W., Poulin, R. (2008) Parasites and pathogens: avoidance. In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (ELS). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester. DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0003661

van der Velde, G., Rajagopal, S., Kuyper-Kollenaar, M., Bij de Vaate, A., Thieltges, D.W., MacIsaac, H.J. (2006) Biological invasions – concepts to understand and predict a global threat. In: Bobbink, R., Beltman, B., Verhoeven, J.T.A., Whigham, D.F. (eds.) Wetlands: functioning, biodiversity, conservation and restoration. Ecological Studies 191: 61-90, Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg

Other publications

Olenin, S., Reise, K., Thieltges, D.W.(2006) Aquatic invasive species and the functioning of European coastal ecosystems – a challenging research problem. MarBEF Newsletter Spring 2006: 6-7

Nehls, G., Diederich, S., Thieltges, D.W., Strasser, M. (2005) Perishing blue mussels and invading aliens – what are the reasons for ecological turnover in the Wadden Sea? Wadden Sea Newsletter 2005-1: 17-20

Strasser, M., Buschbaum, C., Reise, K., Thieltges, D.W. (eds.) (2005) Warum ist die Scholle platt? Sylt und das Meer – Fragen und Antworten rund um die Nordsee. Windstärke Sylt Verlag, List

Thieltges, D.W. (2005) Der Blick der Ökologie aufs Watt und was sie daraus macht - Bilder vom Watt in der Wissenschaft. In: Settekorn, W., Garl, D. (Hrsg.) Bilder vom Watt - Ansichten, Einsichten und Einsätze in Alltag, Wissenschaft und Medien. Hamburger Hefte zur Medienkultur 9: 73-97