Table 2. Expected transmission success of oocysts of Monocystis perplexa.

Calculation of transmission success of the gregarine parasite Monocystis perplexa required to maintain total parasite numbers from focus year to the next season. All values are in 10⁶ cells, oocysts or sporozoites. Given are total number of parasite cells in all collected earthworms during focus year, total number of oocysts (the stage entering the soil to overwinter until eaten by hosts the next season), the number of sporozoites within those oocysts (eight produced per oocyst), and the percent of the sporozoites that must produce viable infective cells in the earthworms. Results are provided for three sites.

	Audubon Center (AU)	Horticultural Center (HF)	Centennial Woods (CW)
Total parasite cells	17.4	12.6	6.0
Total oocysts produced	659.3	358.2	2.2
Total sporozoites produced	5,274	2,866	17.6
Minimal transmission	>0.33%	>0.44%	>34.3%