Speciation and diversification of parasite lineages: an analysis of congeneric parasite species in vertebrates

Abstract

The evolutionary diversification of living organisms is a central research theme in evolutionary ecology, and yet it remains difficult to infer the action of evolutionary processes from patterns in the distribution of rates of diversification among related taxa. Using data from helminth parasite communities in 76 species of birds and 114 species of mammals, the influence of four factors that may either be associated with or modulate rates of parasite speciation were examined in a comparative analysis. Two measures of the relative number of congeneric parasite species per host species were used as indices of parasite diversification, and related to host body mass, host density, latitude, and whether the host is aquatic or terrestrial. The occurrence of congeneric parasites was not distributed randomly with respect to these factors. Aquatic bird species tended to harbour more congeneric parasites than terrestrial birds. Large-bodied mammal species, or those living at low latitudes, harboured more congeneric parasites than small-bodied mammals, or than those from higher latitudes. Host density had no apparent association with either measures of parasite diversification. These patterns, however, reflect only the present-day distribution of parasite diversification among host taxa, and not the evolutionary processes responsible for diversification, because the apparent effects of the factors investigated disappeared once corrections were made for host phylogeny. This indicates that features other than host body size, host density, latitude, and whether the habitat is terrestrial or aquatic, have been the key driving forces in the diversification of parasitic helminth lineages.