Evidence for interspecific interactions in the ectoparasite infracommunity of a wild mammal

dc.contributor.authorHoffmann, Sasha
dc.contributor.authorHorak, Ivan Gerard
dc.contributor.authorBennett, Nigel Charles
dc.contributor.authorLutermann, Heike
dc.contributor.emailhlutermann@zoology.up.ac.zaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-03-11T06:27:44Z
dc.date.available2016-03-11T06:27:44Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND : Co-infection with multiple parasite species is commonly observed in nature and interspecific interactions are likely to occur in parasite infracommunities. Such interactions may affect the distribution of parasites among hosts but also the response of infracommunities to perturbations. However, the response of infracommunities to perturbations has not been well studied experimentally for ectoparasite communities of small mammal hosts. METHODS : In the current study we used experimental perturbations of the ectoparasite infracommunity of sengis from Africa. We suppressed tick recruitment by applying an acaride and monitored the effects on the ectoparasite community. RESULTS : Our treatment affected the target as well as two non-target species directly. The experimental removal of the dominant tick (Rhipicephalus spp.) resulted in increases in the abundance of chiggers and lice. However, while these effects were short-lived in chiggers, which are questing from the environment, they were long-lasting for lice which spend their entire life-cycle on the host. In addition, the recruitment rates of some ectoparasite species were high and did not always correspond to total burdens observed. CONCLUSION : These findings indicate that infracommunity interactions may contribute to patterns of parasite burdens. The divergent responses of species with differing life-history traits suggest that perturbation responses may be affected by parasite life-history and that the ectoparasite infracommunity of sengis may lack resilience to perturbations. The latter observation contrasts with the high resilience reported previously for endoparasite communities and also suggests that anti-parasite treatments can affect the distribution of non-target species.en_ZA
dc.description.librarianhb2015en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipNRF, the DST-NRF SARChI Chair of Behavioural Ecology and Physiology and the University of Pretoria.en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.parasitesandvectors.comen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationHoffmann, S, Horak, IG, Bennett, NC & Lutermann, H 2016, 'Evidence for interspecific interactions in the ectoparasite infracommunity of a wild mammal', Parasites and Vector, vol. 9, art. no. 58, pp. 1-11.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1756-3305
dc.identifier.other10.1186/s13071-016-1342-7
dc.identifier.other7102989086
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/51778
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_ZA
dc.rights© 2016 Hoffmann et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.orglicenses/by/4.0).en_ZA
dc.subjectCommunity ecologyen_ZA
dc.subjectCo-infectionen_ZA
dc.subjectEctoparasiteen_ZA
dc.subjectInteractionen_ZA
dc.subjectRhipicephalusen_ZA
dc.titleEvidence for interspecific interactions in the ectoparasite infracommunity of a wild mammalen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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