Patterns parasitism in howler monkeys across their distribution

KOWALEWSKI, M MARTIN; MARTINEZ-MOTA, RODOLFO; GILLESPIE, THOMAS R

Recife

Congreso; II Congresso Latino Americano XV Congresso Brasileiro de Primatologia; 2013

Sociedad Brasileira de Primatologia

Infectious diseases caused by pathogens are now recognized as one of the most important threats for primate conservation. The fact that howler monkeys (Alouatta spp.) are widely distributed from Southern Mexico to Northern Argentina, inhabit a diverse array of habitats, and are considered ?pioneers", particularly adapted to exploit marginal habitats, provides an opportunity to explore general trends of parasitism and evaluate the dynamics of infectious diseases in this Genus. We take a meta-analysis approach to examine the effect of ecological and environmental variables on parasitic infection using data from eight howler monkey species (Alouatta palliate, A. pigra, A. macconnelli, A. sara, A. seniculus, A. belzebul, A. guariba, and A. caraya), at more than 35 sites throughout their distribution. We found that different factors including precipitation, latitude, altitude, and human proximity may influence parasite infection according to parasite type: nematodes, trematodes, cestodes, amoebae, and specifically on Trypanoxiuris sp., Giardia sp. and Plasmodium sp. due to their presence across study sites. We also found that parasites infecting howler monkeys followed a right-skewed distribution suggesting that only few individuals harbor infections. This highlights the importance of collecting large sample sizes when developing these studies. We suggest that future studies should focus to obtain fine-grained estimations of ecological and microclimate change to provide better insights into the proximate factors that promote parasitism.