Ecology, not distance, explains community composition in parasites of sky-island Audubon's Warblers.

Ecology, not distance, explains community composition in parasites of sky-island Audubon's Warblers. Int J Parasitol. 2019 Mar 22;: Authors: Williamson JL, Wolf CJ, Barrow LN, Baumann MJ, Galen SC, Jonathan Schmitt C, Schmitt DC, Winter AS, Witt CC Abstract Haemosporidian parasites of birds are ubiquitous in terrestrial ecosystems, but their coevolutionary dynamics remain poorly understood. If species turnover in parasites occurs at a finer scale than turnover in hosts, widespread hosts would encounter diverse parasites, potentially diversifying as a result. Previous studies have shown that some wide-ranging hosts encounter varied haemosporidian communities throughout their range, and vice-versa. More surveys are needed to elucidate mechanisms that underpin spatial patterns of diversity in this complex multi-host multi-parasite system. We sought to understand how and why a community of avian haemosporidian parasites varies in abundance and composition across elevational transects in eight sky islands in southwestern North America. We tested whether bird community composition, environment, or geographic distance explain haemosporidian parasite species turnover in a widespread host that harbors a diverse haemosporidian community, the Audubon's Warbler (Setophaga auduboni). We tested predictors of infection using generalized linear models (GLMs), and predictors of bird and parasite community dissimilarity using generalized dissimilarity...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology - Category: Parasitology Authors: Tags: Int J Parasitol Source Type: research