Host ecology moderates the specialization of Neotropical bat-fly interaction networks

SALDAÑA-VÁZQUEZ, ROMEO A.; DURÁN, ADRIÁN A.; VELOZ-MALDONADO, ORSSON S.; SANDOVAL-RUIZ, CÉSAR A.; RAMÍREZ-MARTÍNEZ, MARÍA MAGDALENA

PARASITOLOGY RESEARCH

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2019

0932-0113

The transmission of diseases through parasites is a key mechanism in the regulation of plant and animal populations in ecosystems.Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the relative effect of the variables that can shape the specificity of host-parasiteinteractions. Previous studies have found that specialization of antagonistic interactions between fly ectoparasites and bats changes according to forest type, host richness, and roosting ecology of bats. In this study, we tested these hypotheses usingdata from 48 bat communities. In general, our results support previous findings that bat-fly interactions are specialized, resultingin lower niche overlap among bat flies species. In addition, we found that the specificity of bat-fly interactions is lower in tropical mountain forests and is positively related with the richness of bat host species of each study site. Finally, there was a higher batflies niche overlap in smaller bat-fly interaction networks recorded in bat roosts in caves. We conclude that the roosting ecologyof bats could be a key factor to understand the mechanisms related to the horizontal transmission of ectoparasitic flies among bats.