Anuran helminth communities from contrasting nature reserve and pasture sites in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil

Abstract

Studies of amphibian macroparasites are relevant for the investigation of parasite community ecology and disease dynamics. Here, the parasite communities of five anuran species (Hypsiboas raniceps, Phyllomeduza azurea, Pseudis paradoxa, Leptodactylus fuscus and Leptodactylus podicipinus) are described from two habitats with different levels of preservation (pasture versus nature reserve). Specifically, we used mixed-effect models to test whether helminth species richness, prevalence and abundance differ between the two host collection sites. A total of 120 anuran individuals and 25 helminth parasite taxa were collected. Helminth communities differed between collection sites and among host species. In general, helminth species richness, prevalence and abundance were higher in hosts collected in the pond from the nature reserve. In all, these data help fill the gap in parasite biodiversity knowledge in a changing area, within a sensitive group of vertebrate hosts.

Changes in land use affect anuran helminths in the South Brazilian grasslands

“…agricultural cultivation or livestock on native grassland). This buffer zone size has been previously pointed by other studies as the zone encompassing the largest area of habitat used by amphibian species around ponds (reviews in Semlitsch & Jensen, 2001; Semlitsch & Bodie, 2003; Dodd Jr, 2010; Canessa & Parris, 2013). Land use was recorded by inspection in the field, while nearest distances were calculated using images obtained from Google Earth (https://www.google.com.br/earth/).…”

“…This may be related to the aquatic life habit of this host, since aquatic anurans are particularly susceptible to changes in helminth communities due to environmental changes (McKenzie, 2007). The differences observed in our study can be influenced jointly by helminth characteristics, lifecycle strategy, host species, as well as limitations of ecology and phylogeny (Campião et al, 2016). In our study, some of the pond environmental descriptors differed between the two land uses, mainly at the local scale (i.e.…”

“…Leptodactylus latrans was the only host that presented a higher prevalence of parasitic infection in the native grassland with livestock, but the abundance and intensity of infection were both higher in the land under agricultural cultivation. Leptodactylus latrans is a terrestrial anuran, but often found in or at the water margin, giving individuals opportunities for parasitic infection in both the terrestrial and aquatic environments (Campião et al, 2016). Pseudis cardosoi, despite the higher helminth prevalence in areas under agricultural cultivation than in the native grassland with livestock, showed higher infection intensity and higher abundance in the native grassland with livestock.…”

Impact of the degree of urbanization on composition and structure of helminth communities in the Mongolian racerunner (Eremias argus) Peters, 1869

“…The impact of urbanization manifests through decreased species richness and relative abundance of helminths (Hartson et al ., 2011; Sitko & Zaleśny, 2014; Calegaro-Marques & Amato, 2014; Campiao et al ., 2017). However, an increase in helminth species richness has been observed in rodents inhabiting South-East Asia from forests towards agricultural areas and human settlements (Chaisiri et al ., 2010).…”

Diversidad de la helmintofauna de anuros de la región pampeana: un estudio comparativo en ambientes antagónicos

“…Estando la prevalencia determinada por la tasa de encuentro parásito-hospedador, este resultado no supondría una menor supervivencia de los estadios larvales de vida libre y/o de los hospedadores intermediarios en los ambientes con cultivo de nuestro estudio. Además, no concuerda con los resultados obtenidos por Campião et al (2016) sobre las comunidades de helmintos de cinco especies de anuros en dos sitios contrastantes de Pantanal, Brasil. En dicho estudio, la prevalencia (así como la abundancia y la riqueza) de las especies parásitas estuvo en relación con el sitio de muestreo, siendo generalmente mayor para el sitio ubicado en un área de reserva natural (sin presencia de ganado o actividades relacionadas), en contraste con otro sitio ubicado en un área destinada a actividades agropecuarias.…”