Intercontinental comparisons of subterranean host-parasite communities using bipartite network analyses.
Parasitology
; 150(5): 446-454, 2023 04.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36951093
ABSTRACT
Rodents living in a subterranean ecotope face a unique combination of evolutionary and ecological pressures and while host species evolution may be driven by the selective pressure from the parasites they harbour, the parasites may be responding to the selective pressures of the host. Here, we obtained all available subterranean rodent hostparasite records from the literature and integrated these data by utilizing a bipartite network analysis to determine multiple critical parameters to quantify and measure the structure and interactions of the organisms present in hostparasite communities. A total of 163 species of subterranean rodent hosts, 174 parasite species and 282 interactions were used to create 4 networks with data well-represented from all habitable continents. The results show that there was no single species of parasite that infects subterranean rodents throughout all zoogeographical regions. Nevertheless, species representing the genera Eimeria and Trichuris were common across all communities of subterranean rodents studied. Based on our analysis of hostparasite interactions across all communities studied, the parasite linkages show that community connectance (due to climate change or other anthropogenic factors) appears to show degraded linkages in both the Nearctic and Ethiopian regions in this case parasites are acting as bell-weather probes signalling the loss of biodiversity.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Parasitos
/
Eimeria
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article