Abstract:
Parasite community structure is governed by functional traits of hosts and parasites. Notably,
parasite populations and communities respond to host social and spatial behaviour. Many studies
demonstrating these effects dealt with small-bodied host species, while the influence of host social
patterns on parasite communities in large hosts remains understudied. In an earlier study on nyalas
(Tragelaphus angasii), host age was more important than sex in structuring helminth communities
and networks, but the influence of both was mediated by local environmental conditions, creating
different locality patterns. Common reedbuck (Redunca arundinum) differ from nyalas in spatial
and social behaviour. Based on helminth and ectoparasite data from 56 reedbuck examined at two
localities in KwaZulu-Natal Province, we asked which patterns are similar and which differ
between the two host species. Similar to nyalas, reedbuck age was more important than sex in
structuring communities and networks. However, local environmental conditions exerted the
strongest influence on transmission patterns, especially in ectoparasites. Complex interactions
between reedbuck traits, parasite traits and local environmental conditions modulated the risk of
infection differently at the two sites, confirming our earlier findings in nyalas that pooling data
from different locations may obscure location-specific parasite community patterns. Similarities
between patterns in reedbuck and nyalas, despite their behavioural differences, suggest some
common patterns in parasite community ecology that, in turn, are determined mostly by parasite
traits and population dynamics.
