Intestinal parasite communities of six sympatric lemur species at Kirindy Forest, Madagascar

Abstract

Abstract.Intestinal parasites impact host health, survival and reproductive success and therefore exert selective pressures on hosts' ecology and behavior. Thus, characterizing and comparing the parasitic fauna of different wildlife hosts sharing the same habitat can provide insights into the mechanisms underlying variation in parasitism, as well as the role of parasites as possible conservation threats. Several host traits have been proposed to generate differences in parasite diversity among different host species, including phylogeny, host body mass, host longevity, diet, and differences in ranging and social behavior. Here, we provide an overview of intestinal helminths and protozoa detected by fecal microscopy in six sympatric lemur species in Kirindy Forest, western Madagascar. The described patterns indicate that host phylogeny and diet may play an important role in shaping intestinal parasite assemblages in this system, as the closely related, omnivorous cheirogaleids showed the strongest overlap in parasite communities. No indication was found for an effect of body mass or longevity on parasite species richness. Regarding the effect of sociality, the two group-living lemur species, Propithecus verreauxi and Eulemur rufifrons, harbored directly transmitted parasites at higher prevalence than solitary foragers, but not at higher diversity. Effects of season and sex on parasite prevalence confirm the results of previous studies, with higher prevalence in the energetically demanding dry season and a male bias in parasitism. We highlight the opportunities of exploring the parasitic fauna of wildlife from a community ecology and evolutionary perspective, and identify prospects for future research on lemur parasitism.

One size fits all? Relationships among group size, health, and ecology indicate a lack of an optimal group size in a wild lemur population

“…Seasonality affected the prevalence of Oxyuridae, as they were only detected in samples collected during the dry season, confirming earlier results (Springer and Kappeler 2016). The dry season in Kirindy Forest represents an energetically demanding period as reflected in sifakas reduced ranging patterns and increased fGCM concentrations.…”

“…We detected three families of nematodes, two (Trichostrongylidae and Onchocercidae) of which have been previously reported in the same study population (Springer and Kappeler 2016) and one (Oxyuridae) which has been previously reported in the same species but different population (Rasambainarivo et al 2014). Contrary to our predictions, there was no correlation between group size and intestinal parasite richness.…”

“…Larger groups are expected to harbour more different parasites due to more opportunities for direct or indirect transmission via social contact or shared environments . Although parasites are socially transmitted in Verreaux's sifakas (Springer and Kappeler 2016), our study animals exhibited low parasite richness, which was prevalent in almost all individuals, making it difficult to determine the mode of transmission. Hence, the costs of sociality in terms of parasite spread could not be estimated in this species.…”

“…Additionally, we measured individual levels of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCMs) and examined individual parasite richness. Intestinal parasite richness seems to be generally low in Verreaux's sifakas (Muehlenbein et al 2003;Rasambainarivo et al 2014;Springer and Kappeler 2016). However, here we apply a metabarcoding approach to assess infestations of intestinal helminths using next-generation sequencing of 18S rRNA genes (Hadziavdic et al 2014).…”

Dynamic vs. static social networks in models of parasite transmission: predicting Cryptosporidium spread in wild lemurs

“…To confirm these predictions regarding the influence of home range overlap and seasonality, empirical data on pathogen spread in wild populations would be needed. However, to our knowledge Cryptosporidium outbreaks have not been documented in wild populations, and infections with other, endemic gastrointestinal parasites were not affected by season (Springer & Kappeler 2016). Furthermore, our model considered transmission among Verreaux's sifakas only.…”