Abstract
The recent recolonisation of the Central European lowland (CEL) by the grey wolf (Canis lupus) provides an excellent opportunity to study the effect of founder events on endoparasite diversity. Which role do prey and predator populations play in the re-establishment of endoparasite life cycles? Which intrinsic and extrinsic factors control individual endoparasite diversity in an expanding host population? In 53 individually known CEL wolves sampled in Germany, we revealed a community of four cestode, eight nematode, one trematode and 12 potential Sarcocystis species through molecular genetic techniques. Infections with zoonotic Echinococcus multilocularis, Trichinella britovi and T. spiralis occurred as single cases. Per capita endoparasite species richness and diversity significantly increased with population size and changed with age, whereas sex, microsatellite heterozygosity, and geographic origin had no effect. Tapeworm abundance (Taenia spp.) was significantly higher in immigrants than natives. Metacestode prevalence was slightly higher in ungulates from wolf territories than from control areas elsewhere. Even though alternative canid definitive hosts might also play a role within the investigated parasite life cycles, our findings indicate that (1) immigrated wolves increase parasite diversity in German packs, and (2) prevalence of wolf-associated parasites had declined during wolf absence and has now risen during recolonisation.
Highlights
Reasonably stable ecological setting within which the host population(s) under scrutiny has existed at the study site within living memory
The consequences for parasite presence and diversity are not clear, should a host population, an apex predator, go extinct and recolonise its habitat almost a century later. Such extinction events correspond to a quasi-experimental set-up. It allows addressing questions such as: How would parasite diversity be affected by a small host founder population; to what extent do extrinsic and intrinsic factors control parasite diversity for individual hosts in an expanding host population; and which role do prey populations play in the re-establishment of parasite life cycles and parasite transmission for predator hosts? Here we use a recent and intriguing case of a recolonising and expanding apex predator, the grey wolf (C. lupus) in Central Europe to study these questions
We tackled the questions (1) which endoparasite species are circulating within the Central European lowland (CEL) wolf population, (2) whether these parasites are zoonotic, (3) to which extent wolves may have an epidemiological influence on their local prey species, and (4) if and to what degree the endoparasitic load of an expanding wolf population changes within the first years of resettlement
Summary
Reasonably stable ecological setting within which the host population(s) under scrutiny has existed at the study site within living memory. We tackled the questions (1) which endoparasite species are circulating within the CEL wolf population, (2) whether these parasites are zoonotic, (3) to which extent wolves may have an epidemiological influence on their local prey species, and (4) if and to what degree the endoparasitic load of an expanding wolf population changes within the first years of resettlement To address these issues, we apply a variety of molecular tools to identify individual wolves, their helminth and protozoan community retrieved from whole carcasses, as well as cysticerci isolated from their prey. By knowing the genetic identity of most wolf packs of the German part of the CEL population, we could identify ‘immigrants’ – wolves that were not born in one of the known German packs – and (5) identify the parasite species ‘imported’ by them
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