Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-01T21:14:09.615Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Searching for general patterns in parasite ecology: host identity versus environmental influence on gamasid mite assemblages in small mammals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2007

B. R. KRASNOV ,
N. P. KORALLO-VINARSKAYA ,
M. V. VINARSKI ,
G. I. SHENBROT ,
D. MOUILLOT  and
R. POULIN
B. R. KRASNOV*
Affiliation:
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84490 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel Ramon Science Center, P.O. Box 194, 80600 Mizpe Ramon, Israel
N. P. KORALLO-VINARSKAYA
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Arthropod-Borne Viral Infections, Omsk Research Institute of Natural Foci Infections, Mira str. 7, 644080 Omsk, Russia
M. V. VINARSKI
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Environment Conservation, Omsk State Pedagogical University, Tukhachevskogo emb. 14, 644099 Omsk, Russia
G. I. SHENBROT
Affiliation:
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84490 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel Ramon Science Center, P.O. Box 194, 80600 Mizpe Ramon, Israel
D. MOUILLOT
Affiliation:
UMR CNRS-UMII 5119 Ecosystemes Lagunaires, University of Montpellier II, CC093, FR-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
R. POULIN
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
*
*Corresponding author: Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84490 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel. Tel: +972 8 6596841. Fax: +972 8 6596772. E-mail: krasnov@bgu.ac.il
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The abundance and diversity of parasites vary among different populations of host species. In some host-parasite associations, much of the variation seems to depend on the identity of the host species, whereas in other cases it is better explained by local environmental conditions. The few parasite taxa investigated to date make it difficult to discern any general pattern governing large-scale variation in abundance or diversity. Here, we test whether the abundance and diversity of gamasid mites parasitic on small mammals across different regions of the Palaearctic are determined mainly by host identity or by parameters of the abiotic environment. Using data from 42 host species from 26 distinct regions, we found that mite abundances on different populations of the same host species were more similar to each other than expected by chance, and varied significantly among host species, with half of the variance among samples explained by differences between host species. A similar but less pronounced pattern was observed for mite diversity, measured both as species richness and as the taxonomic distinctness of mite species within an assemblage. Strong environmental effects were also observed, with local temperature and precipitation correlating with mite abundance and species richness, respectively, across populations of the same host species, for many of the host species examined. These results are compared to those obtained for other groups of parasites, notably fleas, and discussed in light of attempts to find general rules governing the geographical variation in the abundance and diversity of parasite assemblages.

Keywords

abundancegamasid mitesrepeatabilitysmall mammalsspecies richness
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 135 , Issue 2 , February 2008 , pp. 229 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ambros, M., Diduch, A. and Stollmann, A. (2001). Poznámky k faune roztočov (Acarina: Mesostigmata) drobných cicavcov (Insectivora, Rodentia) Starohorských vrchov. Folia Faunistica Slovaca 6, 33–45 (in Slovakian).Google Scholar
Arneberg, P., Skorping, A. and Read, A. F. (1997). Is population density a species character? Comparative analyses of the nematode parasites of mammals. Oikos 80, 289–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avdonin, V. V. and Striganova, B. R. (2005). Temperature as a factor of niche separation in free-living mesostigmatid mites (Mesostigmata: Arachida, Parasitiformes) of storm detritus. Biology Bulletin 31, 488–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bannert, B., Karaca, H. Y. and Wohltmann, A. (2000). Life cycle and parasitic interaction of the lizard-parasitizing mite Ophionyssus galloticolus (Acari: Gamasida: Macronyssidae), with remarks about the evolutionary consequences of parasitism in mites. Experimental and Applied Acarology 24, 597–613.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bochkov, A. V. and OConnor, B. M. (2005). Phylogeny and host associations of the fur-mite subgenus Listrophoroides (sensu stricto) Hirst (Acari: Atopomelidae) with an intriguing example of synhospitality on rats of the genus Maxomys. Invertebrate Systematics 19, 437–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogdanov, I. I. (1979). Gamasoid mites of the Taimyr peninsula. Parazitologiya 13, 474–482 (in Russian).Google ScholarPubMed
Bregetova, N. G. (1956). Gamasoidea. Keys to the Fauna of the USSR, Issue 61. Academy of Science of USSR, Leningrad (in Russian).Google Scholar
Brooks, D. R. and McLennan, D. A. (1991). Phylogeny, Ecology, and Behavior: A Research Program in Comparative Biology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Caro, A., Combes, C. and Euzet, L. (1997). What makes a fish a suitable host for Monogenea in the Mediterranean? Journal of Helminthology 71, 203–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrol, J. E., Young, K. W. and Bruce, W. A. (1992). Simple in-vitro feeding system for northern fowl mites (Acari: Macronyssidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 85, 848–852.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K. R. and Warwick, R. M. (1998). A taxonomic distinctness index and its statistical properties. Journal of Applied Ecology 35, 523–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K. R. and Warwick, R. M. (1999). The taxonomic distinctness measure of biodiversity: weighting of step lengths between hierarchical levels. Marine Ecology Progress Series 184, 21–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Combes, C. (2001) Parasitism. The Ecology and Evolution of Intimate Interactions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Davydova, M. S. and Belova, O. S. (1972). Fauna of gamasid mites of the floodplain of the Ob’ River. In Biological Resources of the Ob’ River Valley (ed. Maksimov, A. A.), pp. 306–324. Nauka, Novosibirsk, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar
Davydova, M. S., Nikolsky, V. V., Yudin, B. S., Dudareva, G. V. and Belova, O. S. (1980). Gamasid mites of the tundra of the Central Siberia. In Parasitic Insects and Mites of Siberia (ed. Davydova, M. S.), pp. 141–148. Nauka, Novosibirsk, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar
Degen, A. A. (1997). Ecophysiology of Small Desert Mammals. SpringerVerlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elshanskaya, N. I. and Popov, M. N. (1974). Zoologico-parasitological characteristics of the river Kenkeme valley (Central Yakutia). In Theriology, Volume 1 (ed. Kolosova, L. D. and Lukyanova, I. V.), pp. 368–372. Nauka, Novosibirsk, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar
Galaktionov, K. V. (1996). Life cycles and distribution of seabird helminths in Arctic and subArctic regions. Bulletin of the Scandinavian Society for Parasitology 6, 31–49.Google Scholar
Garcia, L. V. (2004). Escaping the Bonferroni iron claw in ecological studies. Oikos 105, 657–663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, R. B. (1998). Mites of Australia: a Checklist and Bibliography. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, P. H. and Pagel, M. D. (1991). The Comparative Method in Evolutionary Biology. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Igolkin, N. I., Zhivotyagina, N. A. and Zamesov, N. V. (1976). Ectoparasites of small mammals of the mountain taiga of the Kuznetsk Alatau and adjacent regions of the Tisul forest-steppe. In Problems of Biology and Agronomy (ed. Blinkov, G. N.), pp. 78–88. Tomsk State University, Tomsk, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar
Kennedy, C. R. and Bush, A. O. (1994). The relationship between pattern and scale in parasite communities: a stranger in a strange land. Parasitology 109, 187–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kineman, J. J., Hastings, D. A., Ohrenschall, M. A., Colby, J., Schoolcraft, D. C., Klaus, J., Knight, J., Krager, L., Hayes, P., Oloughlin, K., Dunbar, P., Ikleman, J., Anderson, C., Burland, J., Dietz, J., Fisher, H., Hannaughan, A., Kelly, M., Boyle, S., Callaghan, M., Delamana, S., Di, L., Gomolski, K., Green, D., Hochberg, S., Holquist, W., Johnson, G., Lewis, L., Locher, A., Mealey, A., Middleton, L., Mellon, D., Nigro, L., Panskowitz, J., Racey, S., Roake, B., Ross, J., Row, L., Schacter, J. and Weschler, P. (eds.) (2000). Global Ecosystems Database. Version II: Database, User's Guide, and Dataset Documentation. US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center. http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/cdroms/ged_iia/go.htmGoogle Scholar
Korallo, N. P., Vinarski, M. V., Krasnov, B. R., Shenbrot, G. I., Mouillot, D. and Poulin, R. (2007). Are there general rules governing parasite diversity? Small mammalian hosts and gamasid mite assemblages. Diversity and Distributions 13, 353–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasnov, B. R., Shenbrot, G. I., Medvedev, S. G., Khokhlova, I. S. and Vatschenok, V. S. (1998). Habitat-dependence of a parasite-host relationship: flea assemblages in two gerbil species of the Negev Desert. Journal of Medical Entomology 35, 303–313.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krasnov, B. R., Shenbrot, G. I., Khokhlova, I. S. and Degen, A. A. (2004). Flea species richness and parameters of host body, host geography and host “milieu”. Journal of Animal Ecology 73, 1121–1128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasnov, B. R., Shenbrot, G. I., Mouillot, D., Khokhlova, I. S. and Poulin, R. (2005). Spatial variation in species diversity and composition of flea assemblages in small mammalian hosts: geographic distance or faunal similarity? Journal of Biogeography 32, 633–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasnov, B. R., Shenbrot, G. I., Khokhlova, I. S. and Poulin, R. (2006). Is abundance a species attribute of haematophagous ectoparasites? Oecologia 150, 132–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lange, A. B. and Hamar, M. (1961). Gamasoid mites of rodents and insectivores of the People's Republic of Romania. Scientific Reports of Higher Education, Biological Sciences 1, 21–28 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Lopatina, Y. V., Petrova, A. D. and Timoshkov, V. V. (1998). Gamasina mites of small mammals from parks and ruderal areas of Moscow. Parazitologiya 32, 118–128 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Marshall, A. G. (1981). The Ecology of Ectoparasite Insects. Academic Press, LondonGoogle Scholar
Mašan, P. and Stanko, M. (2005). Mesostigmatic mites (Acari) and fleas (Siphonaptera) associated with nests of mound-building mouse, Mus spicilegus Petényi, 1882 (Mammalia, Rodentia). Acta Parasitologica 50, 228–234.Google Scholar
Moran, M. D. (2003). Arguments for rejecting the sequential Bonferroni in ecological studies. Oikos 100, 403–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morand, S. and Poulin, R. (1998). Density, body mass and parasite species richness of terrestrial mammals. Evolutionary Ecology 12, 717–727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morozova, I. V., Bibikova, V. A. and Kalutenova, Z. P. (1963). On fauna of gamasid mites of the Sary-Ishikotrau Sands. Zoologicheskyi Zhurnal 42, 1872–1876 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Pauller, O. F., Elshanskaya, N. I. and Shvetsova, I. V. (1966). Ecological-faunistical review of ectoparasites of small mammals and birds in the tularemia focus in the delta of the Selenga River. Proceedings of the Irkutsk State Research Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and Far East 26, 322–332 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Perneger, T. V. (1998). What's wrong with Bonferroni adjustments. British Medical Journal 316, 1236–1238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perneger, T. V. (1999). Adjusting for multiple testing in studies is less important than other concerns. British Medical Journal 318, 1288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, R. H. (1983). The Ecological Implications of Body Size. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piontkovskaya, S. P. and Ivanov, A. V. (1960). Mites and fleas of some rodents, insectivores and birds in the natural foci of the mite rickettsiosis in Eastern Kazakhstan. Zoologicheskyi Zhurnal 39, 200–206 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Plesnivtseva, G. G. (1982). Ectoparasites of Mammals of the Western Predverkhoyanje. Ph.D. thesis, Novosibirsk State University, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar
Poulin, R. (2006). Variation in infection parameters among populations within parasite species: intrinsic properties versus local factors. International Journal for Parasitology 36, 877–885.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poulin, R. (2007). Are there general laws in parasite ecology? Parasitology 134, 763–776.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poulin, R. and Mouillot, D. (2004). The evolution of taxonomic diversity in helminth assemblages of mammalian hosts. Evolutionary Ecology 18, 231–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulin, R. and Mouritsen, K. N. (2003). Large-scale determinants of trematode infections in intertidal gastropods. Marine Ecology Progress Series 254, 187–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radovsky, F. J. (1969). Adaptive radiation in the parasitic Mesostigmata. Acarologia (Paris) 11, 450–483.Google ScholarPubMed
Radovsky, F. J. (1985). Evolution of mammalian mesostigmatid mites. In Coevolution of Parasitic Arthropods and Mammals (ed. Kim, K. C.), pp. 441–504. John Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Rothman, K. J. (1990). No adjustments are needed for multiple comparisons. Epidemiology 1, 43–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shevchenko, Z. G., Strihanova, E. V., Petrova, R. A., Timofeev, M. N. and Meleshko, N. S. (1975). Materials of the study of Gamasina mites of the Krasnodar region. Problems of Particularly Dangerous Infections 3–4 (43–44), 103–111 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Sjursen, H., Michelsen, A. and Jonasson, S. (2005). Effects of long-term soil warming and fertilisation on microarthropod abundances in three sub-arctic ecosystems. Applied Soil Ecology 30, 148–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokal, R. R. and Rohlf, F. J. (1995). Biometry, 3rd Edn. W. H. Freeman and Co., New York.Google Scholar
Stanjukovich, M. K. (1987). Ectoparasites of small mammals from the south of the Pskov region. Parazitologiya 21, 109–114 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Stupina, A. G. (1979). Ectoparasites of small mammals of Northern and Central Buryatia. In Zooparasitology of the Baikal Lake Valley (ed. Pronin, N. M.), pp. 134–151. Ulan-Ude, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar
Vasiliev, G. I., Antsiferov, M. I., Veropanov, Y. V., Vinokur, B. S. and Kireeva, S. T. (1978). Ectoparasites of small mammals, their nests and bird nests in the floodplain of the Kamchatka river. Parazitologiya 12, 539–542 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Vinarski, M. V., Korallo, N. P., Krasnov, B. R., Shenbrot, G. I. and Poulin, R. (2007). Decay of similarity of gamasid mite assemblages parasitic on Paleoarctic small mammals: geographic distance, host species composition or environment? Journal of Biogeography (in the Press), doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01735.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volkov, V. I. and Chernykh, P. A. (1977). Gamasina mites of the Priamurye region In Haematophagous Arthropods and their Control in the Newly Developing Territories of the Far East (ed. Volkov, V. I.), pp. 42–68. Leningrad, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar
Volkov, V. I., Dolgikh, A. M., Katzko, V. I., Zarubina, V. N. and Prasolova, N. N. (1978). Ectoparasites of small mammals of the eastern part of the BAM. Parazitologiya 12, 529–538 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Warwick, R. M. & Clarke, K. R. (2001). Practical measures of marine biodiversity based on relatedness of species. Oceanography and Marine Biology 39, 207–231.Google Scholar
Yudin, B. S., Krivosheev, V. G. and Belyaev, V. G. (1976). Small Mammals of the Northern Far East. Nauka, Novosibirsk, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar
Zemskaya, A. A. (1969). Types of parasitism of gamasid mites. Medical Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases [Meditsinskaya parazitologiya i parazitarnye bolezni] 38, 393–405 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Zemskaya, A. A. (1973). Parasitic Gamasid Mites and their Medical Importance. Meditsina, Moscow, USSR (in Russian).Google Scholar