The role of phylogeny and ecological opportunity in host-parasite interactions: network metrics, host repertoire, and network link prediction.

Abstract

Hosts and parasites have often intimate associations. Therefore, the evolution of their interactions is crucial for understanding species-rich host-parasite communities. Yet relatively few studies investigate eco-evolutionary feedbacks in these systems as large datasets remain scarce. Here, we explore African cichlid fishes and their flatworm gill parasites (Cichlidogyrus spp.) including 9901 reported infections and 473 different host-parasite combinations collected through a survey of peer-reviewed literature. We apply network metrics, estimate host repertoires, and use network link prediction (NLP) algorithms to investigate meta-community structures and their predictors including evolutionary, ecological, and morphological parameters. Host repertoire was mostly determined by the hosts’ evolutionary history. Both ecological and evolutionary parameters predicted host parasite associations but many interactions remain undetected according to NLP. We conclude that ecological opportunity paired with ecological fitting has shaped interactions. The cichlid-Cichlidogyrus network is a suitable study system for eco-evolutionary feedbacks but taxonomic research remains key to finding undetected interactions.

Morphological and Genetic Divergence in a Gill Monogenean Parasitizing Distant Cichlid Lineages of Lake Tanganyika: Cichlidogyrus nshomboi (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae) from Representatives of Boulengerochromini and Perissodini

“…It also represents is to be expected in host-parasite communities (Vázquez et al 2005). Sharing of parasites can be explained by evolutionary, geographical, and ecomorphological traits of the hosts (Cruz-Laufer et al 2021). Indeed, P. microlepis and P. straeleni are closely related, co-occur at the rocky shores, and have similar ecomorphological specializations.…”

Somewhere I belong: phylogeny and morphological evolution in a species‐rich lineage of ectoparasitic flatworms infecting cichlid fishes

“…Because of their importance to fisheries, parasite communities of these hosts are much more investigated. Anthropogenic introductions also might increase the chances of co‐introduction for their parasites and create ecological opportunities to expand host repertoires (Cruz‐Laufer et al., 2022; Jorissen et al., 2020). To avoid these biases, future studies should treat host repertoires as a complex parameter encompassing structural, phylogenetic and geographical aspects (Poulin et al., 2011) as well as temporal fluctuations (Brooks et al., 2019).…”

From the Atlantic Coast to Lake Tanganyika: Gill-Infecting Flatworms of Freshwater Pellonuline Clupeid Fishes in West and Central Africa, with Description of Eleven New Species and Key to Kapentagyrus (Monogenea, Dactylogyridae)

“…Arguably, the best-studied African freshwater fish parasites in this regard belong to another dactylogyrid genus, Cichlidogyrus . In the latter lineage, Cruz-Laufer et al [ 42 ] propose that both ecological opportunity and the phylogenetic history of the hosts determine the host range. The role of ecological opportunity is aptly illustrated here by the fact that host-switching does not necessarily lead to speciation in Kapentagyrus .…”