Estimating isotope fractionation between cercariae and host snail with the use of isotope measurement designed for very small organisms

Most studies have reported negative carbon and nitrogen isotope fractionations between hosts and parasites, but isotope values have not yet been determined for many parasite species, such as trematodes, due to their relatively small body sizes. We investigated the carbon and nitrogen isotope values of freshwater snails and trematode parasites by using a method for organisms with very small body sizes. We found negative isotope fractionation values between host snails and trematode parasites, similar to published values for other parasite groups with larger body sizes, which suggest that the mechanisms for determining isotope fractionations between hosts and parasites provide similar results.