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Transmission networks and ectoparasite mite burdens in Oecomys paricola (Rodentia: Cricetidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2020

Fernanda Rodrigues Fernandes Open the ORCID record for Fernanda Rodrigues Fernandes [Opens in a new window] ,
Somayra da Silva Abreu  and
Leonardo Dominici Cruz Open the ORCID record for Leonardo Dominici Cruz [Opens in a new window]
Fernanda Rodrigues Fernandes*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Avenida dos Portugueses, 1966, Bacanga, 65080805, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
Somayra da Silva Abreu
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Avenida dos Portugueses, 1966, Bacanga, 65080805, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
Leonardo Dominici Cruz
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Avenida dos Portugueses, 1966, Bacanga, 65080805, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
*
Author for correspondence: Fernanda Rodrigues Fernandes, E-mail: fernanda.fernandes@ufma.br
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Abstract

The host contact network structure results from the movement and behaviour of hosts (e.g. degree of sociability; vagility and greater or lesser fidelity of shelters), which can generate heterogeneity in the transmission of parasites and influence the parasitic burden of individual hosts. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that the burdens of Gigantolaelaps oudemansi mites are related to the characteristics of the transmission networks of individuals of Oecomys paricola, a solitary rodent. The study was carried out in a savannah habitat in north-eastern Brazil. In the dry season, the rodent network presented sub-groups of rodent individuals interacting with each other, whereas in the wet season, no modules were formed in the network. Mite burden was positively related to the number of connections that an individual host had with other host individuals in the dry season. The pairwise absolute difference between the mean mite burdens among individual rodents was negatively correlated with the similarities of node interactions. No relationships were observed during the wet season. There was a higher heterogeneity of mite burden among hosts in the dry season compare to that in the wet season. In solitary species, spatial organization may show seasonal variation, causing a change in the opportunities of host contacts, thereby influencing the transmission and dispersion of their ectoparasite burdens.

Keywords

Contact networkecological conditionsrodent hostseasonality
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 148 , Issue 4 , April 2021 , pp. 443 - 450
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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