TY - JOUR
T1 - Large-herbivore nemabiomes
T2 - patterns of parasite diversity and sharing
AU - Titcomb, Georgia C.
AU - Pansu, Johan
AU - Hutchinson, Matthew C.
AU - Tombak, Kaia J.
AU - Hansen, Christina B.
AU - Baker, Christopher C.M.
AU - Kartzinel, Tyler R.
AU - Young, Hillary S.
AU - Pringle, Robert M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Government of Kenya, Kenya Wildlife Service, the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation, and the National Environment Management Authority for enabling this work. We thank Dino Martins, David Hewett, Sam Kurukura and Ali Hassan of Mpala Research Centre, along with Julie Peng, Dan Rubenstein and Princeton Genomics Core staff, for facilitating this research.
Funding Information:
Research was supported by an NSF GRF (1650114) and National Geographic Society Early Career grant no. (EC-33R-18) to GCT, and by NSF DEB-1556786 to H.S.Y. Additional support was provided by NSF IOS-1656527 and DEB-1930820, The Nature Conservancy, and the High Meadows Environmental Institute. Acknowledgements
Publisher Copyright:
©
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Amidst global shifts in the distribution and abundance of wildlife and livestock, we have only a rudimentary understanding of ungulate parasite communities and parasite-sharing patterns. We used qPCR and DNA metabarcoding of fecal samples to characterize gastrointestinal nematode (Strongylida) community composition and sharing among 17 sympatric species of wild and domestic large mammalian herbivore in central Kenya. We tested a suite of hypothesis-driven predictions about the role of host traits and phylogenetic relatedness in describing parasite infections. Host species identity explained 27-53% of individual variation in parasite prevalence, richness, community composition and phylogenetic diversity. Host and parasite phylogenies were congruent, host gut morphology predicted parasite community composition and prevalence, and hosts with low evolutionary distinctiveness were centrally positioned in the parasite-sharing network. We found no evidence that host body size, social-group size or feeding height were correlated with parasite composition. Our results highlight the interwoven evolutionary and ecological histories of large herbivores and their gastrointestinal nematodes and suggest that host identity, phylogeny and gut architecture - a phylogenetically conserved trait related to parasite habitat - are the overriding influences on parasite communities. These findings have implications for wildlife management and conservation as wild herbivores are increasingly replaced by livestock.
AB - Amidst global shifts in the distribution and abundance of wildlife and livestock, we have only a rudimentary understanding of ungulate parasite communities and parasite-sharing patterns. We used qPCR and DNA metabarcoding of fecal samples to characterize gastrointestinal nematode (Strongylida) community composition and sharing among 17 sympatric species of wild and domestic large mammalian herbivore in central Kenya. We tested a suite of hypothesis-driven predictions about the role of host traits and phylogenetic relatedness in describing parasite infections. Host species identity explained 27-53% of individual variation in parasite prevalence, richness, community composition and phylogenetic diversity. Host and parasite phylogenies were congruent, host gut morphology predicted parasite community composition and prevalence, and hosts with low evolutionary distinctiveness were centrally positioned in the parasite-sharing network. We found no evidence that host body size, social-group size or feeding height were correlated with parasite composition. Our results highlight the interwoven evolutionary and ecological histories of large herbivores and their gastrointestinal nematodes and suggest that host identity, phylogeny and gut architecture - a phylogenetically conserved trait related to parasite habitat - are the overriding influences on parasite communities. These findings have implications for wildlife management and conservation as wild herbivores are increasingly replaced by livestock.
KW - cophylogeny
KW - ecological network analysis
KW - generalism and specialism
KW - multiparasitism
KW - phylosymbiosis
KW - wildlife-livestock interface
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U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2021.2702
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2021.2702
M3 - Article
C2 - 35538775
AN - SCOPUS:85130002964
SN - 0962-8452
VL - 289
JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
IS - 1974
M1 - 20212702
ER -