Dr. Frida Feijen

I am interested in host-parasite interactions. More specifically, I focus on the trematode parasite Atriophallophorus winterbourni and its host, the freshwater snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum. Although P. antipodarum is an invasive species that has colonised freshwater habit on several continents, I study the snail and its parasite in their native range in New Zealand. The study system is of great interest since natural populations of the snail in New Zealand often consist of a mixture of clonally reproducing females and sexually reproducing males and females.