Abstract
BackgroundImportance of parasites in ecological and evolutionary interactions is being increasingly recognized. However, ecological data on parasites of important host species is still scanty. We analyze the patterns seen in the faecal parasites of tigers in the Tadoba National Park, India, and speculate on the factors and processes shaping the parasite community and the possible implications for tiger ecology.ResultsThe prevalence and intensities were high and the parasite community was dominated by indirect life cycle parasites. Across all genera of parasites variance scaled with the square of the mean and there was a significant positive correlation between prevalence and abundance. There was no significant association between different types of parasites.ConclusionsThe 70 samples analyzed formed 14 distinct clusters. If we assume each of the clusters to represent individual tigers that were sampled repeatedly and that resident tigers are more likely to be sampled repeatedly, the presumed transient tigers had significantly greater parasite loads than the presumed resident ones.
Highlights
Importance of parasites in ecological and evolutionary interactions is being increasingly recognized
We report here the patterns in the abundance and diversity of faecally dispersed helminth parasites of Tiger in the Tadoba National Park of central India and discuss the possible implications for tiger ecology
Host species that are free of predatory pressures appear to have higher parasite loads [16] and the high prevalence and abundance in tigers is not surprising
Summary
Importance of parasites in ecological and evolutionary interactions is being increasingly recognized. Ecological data on parasites of important host species is still scanty. The importance of parasites in the ecology of large mammals is being increasingly recognized but empirical studies on the ecology of parasites of large mammals are scanty. Parasites are likely to play a significant role in the ecology of tigers for twofold reasons. Watve and Sukumar [16] showed that animals having less predatory pressure have greater parasite loads, tigers showing the maximum loads among the 12 species they examined in the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary. The estimated parasite densities in some of the tigers in the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary were up to 1500 flukes in the lungs or a total of 30 meter (page number not for citation purposes)
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