Correlates of parasites and pseudoparasites in wolves (Canis lupus) across continents: A comparison among Yellowstone (USA), Abruzzo (IT) and Mercantour (FR) national parks.

Barbara Molnar,Gianluca Mastrantonio,Bruno Betschart,Paolo Ciucci

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2019.09.002

Abstract

Little is known about the impact of infectious diseases on large carnivores. We investigated factors structuring the helminth and protozoan infections of wolves (Canis lupus) by using coprological analyses. Faecal samples (n = 342) were analysed from 11 wolf packs belonging to three different geographical and ecological settings in Italy (Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise National Park, PNALM: 4 packs, 88 samples), in France (Mercantour National Park, PNM: 4 packs, 68 samples) and in the U.S.A. (Yellowstone National Park, YNP: 3 packs, 186 samples). Parasites were found in 29.4%–88.6% of the samples and parasite taxa ranged from four to ten in each study area. Taeniidae (Taenia/Echinococcus), Sarcocystis spp. and Toxascaris leonina were most common in faecal samples from YNP, whereas Capillaria spp., Taeniidae and Uncinaria stenocephala were predominant in PNALM. We used generalised linear mixed models to assess the relationship between parasite infection or the number of parasite taxa and selected ecological drivers across study areas. Significant effects illustrated the importance of the ecological factors such as occurrence of free-ranging dogs, diet composition and wolf density, as well as the ancestry of the wolf populations, in shaping parasite-wolf communities. Additional investigations are needed to elucidate the impact of parasitic infections on wolf populations, as well as the role of anthropogenic factors in facilitating parasitic diffusion to apex predators.

Highlights

Large carnivores are important to the stability of most ecosystems (Murray et al, 1999) leading to the protection of different endangered populations of wolves, bears and lynxes throughout Europe (Chapron et al, 2014)
In 342 analysed wolf scats (PNALM: N = 88; PNM: N = 68; Yellowstone National Park (YNP): N = 186), we identified 11 different parasite taxa, from four in PNM to ten in PNALM (Fig. 1; Supplementary data Table 2)
The proportion of positive samples did not differ (χ2 = 1.905, df = 1, p = 0.167) between the PNALM and YNP, that shared the highest values (88.6% and 81.7%, respectively), whereas the proportion in PNM (29.4%) was lower compared to the two other national parks (55.098 ≤χ2 ≤ 58.337 1 ≤ df ≤ 1, 0.000 ≤ p ≤ 0.000)

Summary

Introduction

Large carnivores are important to the stability of most ecosystems (Murray et al, 1999) leading to the protection of different endangered populations of wolves, bears and lynxes throughout Europe (Chapron et al, 2014). Beyond continental dissimilarities (Craig and Craig, 2005), these different ancestries might have shaped the parasite community in wolf populations (Roberts et al., 2002). Direct infections occur via contact with conspecifics, other sympatric hosts or contaminated material (e.g. faeces or vomitus). When parasites are shared by sympatric host species, entire communities might be affected (Holt and Dobson, 2007) and grey wolves (Canis lupus) living in sympatry with large, reservoir populations of dogs (Canis familiaris) are at a higher risk of infection (Murray et al, 1999; Randall et al, 2004; Cleaveland et al, 2007; Lesniak et al, 2017b). Smell is a crucial sense in wolves, and pack members regularly use urine and faeces to mark their territory. The investigation of the anogenital area of conspecifics is part of typical social interactions

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