Parasite species co-occurrence patterns on Peromyscus: Joint species distribution modelling.

Albrecht I Schulte-Hostedde,Jeff Bowman,Jasmine S.M Veitch

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.04.011

Abstract

Hosts are often infested by multiple parasite species, but it is often unclear whether patterns of parasite co-occurrence are driven by parasite habitat requirements or parasite species interactions. Using data on infestation patterns of ectoparasitic arthropods (fleas, trombiculid mites, cuterebrid botflies) from deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), we analyzed species associations using joint species distribution modelling. We also experimentally removed a flea (Orchopeas leucopus) from a subset of deer mice to examine the effect on other common ectoparasite species. We found that the mite (Neotrombicula microti) and botfly (Cuterebra sp.) had a negative relationship that is likely a true biotic species interaction. The flea had a negative association with the mite and a positive association with the botfly species, both of which appeared to be influenced by host traits or parasite life-history traits. Furthermore, experimental removal of the flea did not have a significant effect on ectoparasite prevalence of another species. Overall, these findings suggest that complex parasite species associations can be present among multiple parasite taxa, and that aggregation is not always the rule for ectoparasite communities of small mammals.

Highlights

Ecological communities include a complex network of biotic interactions such as predation, parasitism, competition, mutualism and facilitation (Fontaine et al, 2011)
Hosts are often infested by numerous ectoparasite species and insight might be gained by assessing relationships of multiple parasite species simultaneously (Dargent et al, 2017)
We examined patterns of co-occurrence in ectoparasitic arthropods of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) to determine whether ectoparasite species co-occur more or less often than expected by chance, and whether any observed nonrandom associations were positive or negative

Summary

Introduction

Ecological communities include a complex network of biotic interactions such as predation, parasitism, competition, mutualism and facilitation (Fontaine et al, 2011). It is important to note community dynamics at a smaller scale. Hosts can be considered ecosystems that are discretely bound and that have defined resource availabilities (host size and abundance) (Rynkiewicz et al, 2015). Hosts are often infested by numerous ectoparasite species and insight might be gained by assessing relationships of multiple parasite species simultaneously (Dargent et al, 2017). Different parasite species can interact either directly (through competition for resources) or indirectly (through modulation of a host's immune system) while on the host (Rynkiewicz et al, 2015)

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