A community approach to the Neotropical ticks-hosts interactions

ESTRADA-PEÑA, AGUSTÍN; NAVA, SANTIAGO; TARRAGONA, EVELINA; DE LA FUENTE, JOSÉ; GUGLIELMONE, ALBERTO A.

Scientific Reports

Springer Nature

Año: 2020 vol. 10

The relationships between ticks and hosts are relevant to capture the ecological background driving theevolution of these parasites. We used a set of 4,764 records of ticks of the genera Amblyomma, Ixodes,and Haemaphysalis and their hosts in the Neotropics to approach the tick-host relationships usinga network-based construct. The network identified 9 clusters of interacting hosts and ticks partiallyconnected by 22 tick species that switch their host range according to their life cycle stage. Theselinks among clusters do not confer an extra resilience to the network following removal of hosts andsubsequent cascade extinctions of ticks: the robustness of the network slightly changed when theseinter-clusters links are considered. Phylogenetic clustering of ticks to hosts at cluster level was notsignificant (p > 0.15) but if examined individually 63 tick species/stages (59%) displayed such clustering,suggesting that their hosts have a related phylogenetic background. We interpreted these results underan ecological perspective in which ticks could track its environmental niche associating to vertebratesthat would maximize tick survival under the range of abiotic traits. We encourage these integratedanalyses to capture the patterns of circulation of tick-transmitted pathogens, a topic still unaddressedin the Neotropical region.