IBS   24490
INSTITUTO DE BIOLOGIA SUBTROPICAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Helminth community from Azara's grass mouse (Akodon azarae) in three habitats with different land use in farming systems of Argentina
Autor/es:
NOTARNICOLA J.; MIÑO, MARIELA H.; HODARA, KARINA; ROJAS, E.J.
Revista:
JOURNAL OF HELMINTHOLOGY
Editorial:
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
Referencias:
Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2018 p. 1 - 18
ISSN:
0022-149X
Resumen:
In Pampa region of Argentina, farming activities have been performed since the beginning of the twentieth century, but in the 1990s, land use patterns rapidly changed towards intensive agriculture and poultry breeding. This study compares the helminth community of Akodon azarae (Rodentia) among three habitats with different land use in Pampean agroecosystems: poultry farms, mono-cultivated fields and abandoned fields (not used for 35 years), under the prediction that there will be greater helminth richness and diversity in mice from abandoned fields compared to those from the other habitats. Nevertheless, the highest abundance of A. azarae occurred on poultry farms, the habitat most disturbed by human activities, while cultivated fields showed the lowest. Helminth richness and diversity were significantly higher on poultry farms than in the other habitats due to the presence of Trichuris laevitestis, Protospirura numidica criceticola, and cysts of Taenia taeniaeformis. We suggest that the helminth fauna of A. azarae can survive on poultry farms despite disturbance from farming activities, because rodents can move and get shelter within farm perimeter fences, where dense and high vegetation grows. This farm area could offer good conditions for geohelminth development, while chicken sheds could attract insects that are intermediate hosts of helminths with indirect life-cycle. On the contrary, agrochemicals applied in cultivated fields would negatively influence helminth diversity and composition by decreasing host populations (arthropods and rodents), affecting free larval stages of geohelminths.