Question: What made you choose worms apart from any other parasites?

Anouk Gouvras answered on 15 Jun 2012:

Hi emilydenney, sorry for taking so long to answer your question. Good question by the way.

I think my interest in worms started before I got into parasitology (the study of parasites). I did my first degree in Zoology (the study of animals) and I as we started learning about the different ecosystems (a unit defined as a living community of different animals, plants, microbes etc together with its environment) and what lives in them, the worm was a common feature of all.

The ecosystem that really fascinated me (before parasitology) was the deep sea hydrothermal vents (these vents are cracks in the ocean floor where hot water loaded with minerals and chemicals come gushing out). These ecosystems occur deep down at the bottom of the oceans and were hidden from us for a very long time until in the 1970s they were discovered by scientists who were doing a normal routine study of the Pacific ocean floor, not expecting to find any life because back then it was assumed that all ecosystems depended on the energy that came from the sun (on the process of photosynthesis that plants do and that all animals depend on), and at 2400m (about 8000 feet) below the sea surface, there was no sunlights available. So when these scientists discovered this area teaming with bizarre forms of life all centered around these hydrothermal vents they were shocked, and the consequence to science was huge. Because these ecosystems deep down in the ocean used another form of energy – not that of sunlight at all, but of chemical energy. See although deep-sea creatures were known to exist so far they all depended on scraps of food coming down from the surface, of from eating other fish etc, so indirectly they all depended on ecosystems fuelled by photosynthesis and sunlight. Here scientists found the first ecosystem that did not depend on sunlight but that was maintained by the earth itself. These deep sea hydrothermal vent communities where built on a process now called ‘Chemosynthesis’ the process of using chemical energy to make organic material. This was done by bacteria, they used the chemicals (mainly sulphur) coming from the hydrothermal vents (that are poisonous to most animals) to feed and grow, then small animals like copepods and amphipods eat these bacteria, then bigger animals perhaps snails and small fish come and feed etc.
And guess what one of the most successful animal is in these deep sea hydrothermal vents. Worms! More specific tube worms. They had an ingenious way of adapting to this ecosystem. These worms actually engulfed these special bacteria inside their bodies and formed a special relationship with them in which the worm would provide the bacteria with protection and the bacteria use chemosynthesis to produce food for the worm. This is called a symbiotic relationship, a relationship that benefits both organisms. It is almost the opposite of parasitism, which is a relationship where one organism benefits but the other does not, in fact the other gets damaged.

Anyway if you want to read more about these worms and hydrothermal vents here’s a link: http://www.botos.com/marine/vents01.html#

I then started learning about parasitism, a different way of life. And again the worm is very prominent in here. I found it interesting how the worm form has adapted to so many different niches and all ecosystems on the planet. There are in fact 3 major worm phyla (a phylum is something scientists use to organize the different forms of life on our planet), the annelids, the nematodes and the platyhelminthes. The worms found in hydrothermal vents fall in the annelid phylum (as do earth worms). Parasitic worms fall in the nemotode and platyhelminth phyla. In fact nematodes are thought to be the most abundant animals on the planet.

Schistosomes (the worm I research) are in the platyheminth phylum. I will put up a photo of them on my profile.

I guess after that ramble, I’m not sure why I choose worms rather than other parasites. I find other parasites very interesting too. But worms are special 🙂