Is abundance a species attribute? An example with haematophagous ectoparasites

Krasnov, Boris R.; Shenbrot, Georgy I.; Khokhlova, Irina S.; Poulin, Robert

doi:10.1007/s00442-006-0498-9

Cited by 52 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The extent of repeatability of parasite abundance within a host species is also similar among mammalian nematodes (22% of variation explained by differences among host species as opposed to within host species; Arneberg et al 1997), fleas (24%; Krasnov et al 2006) and mites (29%; this study). However, this percentage was lower in metazoan parasites of fish (13%; .…”

Section: Variability Of Abundance and Host Specificity In Gamasid Mitessupporting

confidence: 61%

Stability in abundance and niche breadth of gamasid mites across environmental conditions, parasite identity and host pools

et al. 2007

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There is substantial variability among populations of the same species in basic features such as abundance or niche breadth, and it is unclear to what extent these are true species traits as opposed to the product of local environmental factors. In parasites, abundance and niche breadth, i.e. host specificity, show repeatability among different populations of the same species, but may also be influenced by external forces, depending on the parasite taxa studied. We tested whether the abundance and host specificity of gamasid mites parasitic on small mammals from 26 different geographic regions of the Palaearctic, are species-specific or instead determined by host identity and/or parameters of the biotic and abiotic environment. Values of abundance and host specificity (measured as the number of host species used) were significantly more similar among populations of the same mite species than among different mite species; despite also showing consistency within particular host species or regions independently of mite species identity, both abundance and the number of host species used appear to be true mite species traits. In contrast, the taxonomic distinctness of host species used by a mite showed little repeatability among populations of the same mite species, and appears mostly determined by the local pool of available host species. Within given mite species, all three variables (abundance, number of host species used, and their taxonomic distinctness) covaried to some extent with one or more environmental factors (e.g., nature of the local host assemblage, temperature, precipitation) across geographical regions, but there was no universal pattern among results from different mite species. These results are similar to those obtained earlier on other taxa, e.g. fleas, and suggest that there are general laws acting on spatial patterns of parasite abundance and host specificity.

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Section: Variability Of Abundance and Host Specificity In Gamasid Mitessupporting

confidence: 61%

Stability in abundance and niche breadth of gamasid mites across environmental conditions, parasite identity and host pools

et al. 2007

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“…Relatively weak repeatability of prevalence, but not abundance, of various parasites was found among Wsh species by Poulin (2006). The repeatability of Xea abundance within the same host species was reported by Krasnov et al (2006a). Again, the repeatability of this parameter within the host species was weaker than that within Xea species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…To determine whether parameters of infestation are true attributes of either tick species and stage or host species, i.e., parameters that vary less among populations of the same tick species and stage or the host species than among diVerent tick species and stages or diVerent hosts, respectively, we performed repeatability analyses (Arneberg et al 1997;Krasnov et al 2005cKrasnov et al , 2006aPoulin 2006). First, we analyzed the variation in tick stage abundance, prevalence and the level of aggregation by one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) within and across host species, with tick species and stage as independent factor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Host community structure and infestation by ixodid ticks: repeatability, dilution effect and ecological specialization

2007

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Abundance of a species in a location results from the interplay between the intrinsic properties of that species and the extrinsic properties, both biotic and abiotic, of the local habitat. Intrinsic factors promote among-population stability in abundance, whereas extrinsic factors generate variation among populations of a species. We studied (a) repeatability and (b) the effect of abundance and species richness of small mammals on the level of their infestation by larvae and nymphs of Ixodes ricinus (ecological generalist) and Ixodes trianguliceps (ecological specialist). We asked if tick infestation parameters are characteristic (=repeatable) for a particular host species or a particular stage of a particular tick species. We also asked how abundance and diversity of hosts affect the level of tick infestation on a particular host species. We predicted that the dilution effect (decrease in tick infestation levels with an increase of host abundance and/or species richness) will be better expressed in an ecological generalist, I. ricinus, than in an ecological specialist, I. trianguliceps. We found that (a) tick abundance, prevalence and aggregation were generally repeatable within tick species/stage; (b) tick abundance and prevalence, but not the aggregation level, were repeatable within host species; (c) the proportion of variance among samples explained by the differences between tick species and stages (as opposed to within-tick species and stage) was higher than that explained by the differences between host species (as opposed to within host species); and (d) the relationship between tick infestation parameters and host abundance and diversity revealed the dilution effect for I. ricinus but not for I. trianguliceps.

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“…Analyses of species co-occurrences using presence/absence matrices, rather than abundance data, are commonly accepted in community ecology mainly because measurements of occurrences are more certain than measurements of abundances (Gotelli and McCabe 2002;Gotelli and Rohde 2002; but see Hausdorf and Hennig 2007). The use of abundance data for Xea communities could lead to biased results because abundance has been shown to be a true species attribute in these insects, although it varies somewhat within the bounds set by species-speciWc life history traits (Krasnov et al 2006b). In other words, comparison of abundances among Xea species is problematic.…”

Section: Data Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male hosts drive infracommunity structure of ectoparasites

et al. 2011

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We studied the co-occurrence of flea species in infracommunities of 16 rodents from four regions (South Africa, Tanzania, central Europe and western Siberia) using null models, and predicted that flea co-occurrences will be expressed more strongly in male than in female hosts. We examined patterns of co-occurrence (measured as the C score) in infracommunities of fleas that are parasitic on male and female hosts by comparing co-occurrence frequencies with those expected by chance. When a significant degree of nonrandomness in flea co-occurrences was detected, it indicated aggregative infracommunity structure. In Tanzanian rodents, no significant flea co-occurrences were detected in either male or female hosts. In a South African rodent, significant flea co-occurrences were not detected in males, but were found in females in some localities. In Palaearctic rodents, significant nonrandomness was detected either equally for males and females or more frequently in males than in females. Meta-analyses demonstrated that the frequency of the detection of nonrandomness in flea co-occurrences was significantly higher in male than in female hosts. The values of the standardized effect size (SES) for the C score differed significantly among host species, but not between host genders. When the Palaearctic hosts were analyzed separately, the effects of both host gender and species appeared to be significant, with the SES values for the C score in males being smaller than those in females. The strength of the gender difference in the manifestation of flea community structure increased with increasing gender difference in flea species richness, and with decreasing gender difference in flea prevalence for the Palaearctic hosts. We conclude that male hosts are the main drivers of flea infracommunity structure. However, the manifestation of gender bias in flea community structure varies among host species, and is likely determined by the pattern of species-specific spatial behavior.

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Is abundance a species attribute? An example with haematophagous ectoparasites

Cited by 52 publications

References 43 publications

Stability in abundance and niche breadth of gamasid mites across environmental conditions, parasite identity and host pools

Stability in abundance and niche breadth of gamasid mites across environmental conditions, parasite identity and host pools

Host community structure and infestation by ixodid ticks: repeatability, dilution effect and ecological specialization

Male hosts drive infracommunity structure of ectoparasites

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