Searching for common patterns in parasite ecology: species and host contributions to beta-diversity in helminths of South African ungulates and fleas of South American rodents

IVAN G. HORAK; JOOP BOOMKER; GRABOVSKY, V. I.; KHOKHLOVA, I. S.; KERSTIN JUNKER; SANCHEZ, JULIANA P.; LOPEZ BERRIZBEITIA, M. F.; KRASBOV, B. R.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2024

0020-7519

We searched for general rules in parasite ecology by investigating species and hostcontributions to the beta-diversity of infracommunities (=assemblages of parasitesharboured by a host individual) in helminths of three species of South Africanungulates and fleas of 11 species of South American rodents, assuming that acomparison of patterns in distinctly different parasites and hosts would allow us tojudge the generality of these patterns. We used data on parasite species compositionand their numbers and asked whether (i) parasite traits (life cycle, transmission mode,and host specificity in helminths; possession of sclerotized combs, microhabitatpreference, and host specificity in fleas) or their population structure (mean abundanceand/or prevalence) and (ii) host characteristics (sex and age) affect parasite and hostspecies contributions to parasite beta-diversity (SCBD and HCBD, respectively). Wefound that parasite species’ morpho- and ecological traits were mostly not associatedwith their SCBD (except helminths in one of the three host species and fleas in three ofthe 11 host species). In contrast, parasite SCBD, in both ungulates and rodents,significantly increased with either their mean abundance or prevalence or both. Theeffect of host characteristics on HCBD was detected in two ungulates and two rodentsonly. In general, parasite infracommunities’ beta-diversity appeared to be driven byvariation in parasite species rather than the uniqueness of the assemblages harbouredby individual hosts. We conclude that some ecological patterns in parasitecommunities appear to be universal and do not differ between different parasite-hostassociations in different geographic regions, whereas other patterns appear to becontingent and may depend on parasite and host identities.