Relative geographic range of sibling species of host damselflies does not reliably predict differential parasitism by water mites

Julia J Mlynarek,Mark R Forbes,Wayne Knee

doi:10.1186/1472-6785-13-50

Julia J Mlynarek, Mark R Forbes + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6785-13-50

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Abstract

BackgroundOne of the main challenges in evolutionary parasitology is to determine the factors that explain variation among host species in parasitism. In this study, we addressed whether host phylogeny or ecology was important in determining host species use by water mites. Parasitism (prevalence and intensity) by Arrenurus water mites was examined in relation to geographic distribution of host damselflies from sibling species pairs. In addition, the likelihood of putative mite species parasitizing both species of a host species pair was explored.ResultsA total of 1162 damselflies were examined for water mites across four sites in Southeastern Ontario. These damselflies represent ten species (five closely related host species pairs) in the Coenagrionidae. Only two of the five species pairs showed near significant or significant differences in prevalence of infection by mites. In one of those species comparisons, it was the less widespread host that had higher water mite prevalence and in the other species comparison, the less widespread host species had lower water mite prevalence. Only one of the five pairs showed a significant difference in intensity of infection; intensity was higher in the species with a smaller geographic distribution. Based on the COI barcode, there were nine water mite clades (OTU) infecting these ten host species. Three Arrenurus OTUs may be host monospecific, four OTUs were specific to a given host species pair, and two OTUs infected at least three host species. Host species in each species pairs tend to share at least one of the Arrenurus OTU. No striking differences in mite species diversity were found among species in any species pair. Finally, the Arrenurus examined in this study appear to be ecological specialists, restricted to a particular type of habitat, parasitizing few to many of the host species present in that site or habitat.ConclusionsAlthough differences in levels of parasitism by water mites exist for some closely related hosts species, no such differences were found between other related host species. Differences in geographic range of related host species does not reliably explain differential levels of parasitism by water mites.

Highlights

One of the main challenges in evolutionary parasitology is to determine the factors that explain variation among host species in parasitism
A major challenge of the combined fields of ecological and evolutionary parasitology is to understand the determinants of variation in parasitism between closely related host species [1,2]
Measures of general Arrenurus parasitism In total, 1162 damselflies were collected across four sites in Southeastern Ontario, within a 20-km radius of the Queen’s University Biological Station (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

One of the main challenges in evolutionary parasitology is to determine the factors that explain variation among host species in parasitism. Parasitism (prevalence and intensity) by Arrenurus water mites was examined in relation to geographic distribution of host damselflies from sibling species pairs. A major challenge of the combined fields of ecological and evolutionary parasitology is to understand the determinants of variation in parasitism between closely related host species [1,2]. A question remains as to whether it is possible to extrapolate findings of studies on vertebrates and their parasites to similar problems with invertebrate host species and their parasites. Some generalities can be drawn from studies on parasitism of vertebrates as a guide to explorations of parasitism of invertebrate hosts. Mlynarek et al [11]

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