Study
Prospects for controlling animal parasitic nematodes by predacious micro fungi
Larsen, Michael
Parasitology, 2000
Reviews trials in which spores of trapping fungi were fed to grazing livestock, passed through the gut, and germinated in dung, where the free-living stages of parasitic nematodes develop before returning to pasture.
- Studied in
- Duddingtonia flagrans, Nematoda
- Sample size
- review of field and controlled feeding trials in livestock
Fungal spores surviving gut passage and germinating in dung substantially reduced the numbers of infective nematode larvae migrating onto surrounding pasture in multiple trials, with effects varying by dose, fungal strain and conditions.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Trapping fungi are a realistic biological control for livestock parasites, particularly where drug resistance limits the alternatives.
How NatureHQ reads it
The practical end of the subject, and a good check on whether the biology is understood well enough to be used. Anthelmintic resistance is a real and growing problem in grazing livestock, and a fungus that hunts in dung addresses the same worms by an entirely different route.
- A review of trials rather than a single controlled experiment, with effect sizes varying widely between them.
- Establishment and persistence of an introduced fungus in a pasture ecosystem is not fully characterised.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: University press journalsPublished in a university press journal.
doi.org/10.1017/s0031182099005739
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.