Phylogeography of Caribbean lizard malaria: tracing the history of vector-borne parasites

Abstract

The Anolis lizards of the eastern Caribbean islands are parasitized by several species of malaria parasites (Plasmodium). Here I focus on two species of Plasmodium, using molecular data (mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences) to recover the phylogeography of the parasites throughout the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico. The two parasites were originally described as a single species, P. azurophilum, which infects both red and white blood cells. Here the two species are termed P. azurophilum Red and P. azurophilum White based on their host cell type. Six haplotypes were found in 100 infections sequenced of P. azurophilum Red and six in 45 infections of P. azurophilum White. Nested clade analysis revealed a significant association of geographical location and clades as well as a pattern of past fragmentation of parasite populations. This is consistent with the hypothesis that vector‐borne parasites such as malaria may be subject to frequent local extinctions and recolonizations. Comparison of the phylogeography of the lizard and parasites shows only weak concordance; that is, the parasites colonized the lizards in the islands, but dispersal events between islands via vectors or failed lizard colonizations were present. The two parasites had different histories, P. azurophilum Red colonized the islands from both the north and south, and P. azurophilum White originated in the central Lesser Antilles, probably from P. azurophilum Red, then moved to both north and south. This is the first study to examine the biogeography of a pair of sibling species of vector‐borne parasites within an island archipelago system.

A Comparison of Multiple Methods for Estimating Parasitemia of Hemogregarine Hemoparasites (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) and Its Application for Studying Infection in Natural Populations

“…Also, males had higher intensities than females. Several factors may explain these patterns including: host immunocompetence and susceptibility to infection [41], [98], [99], parasite specialization to both the intermediate [44] and definitive hosts [100]–[102], host microhabitat preference [88], abundance of suitable vectors [101], [103], [104], and behaviour heterogeneity of host species and sexes [9], [40], [105]. In our system, the smaller-sized species, P. hispanica , and males within each species, can be more susceptible to infection and/or can differ immunologically/hormonally, and thus harbour higher hemogregarine intensity levels.…”

The aggregate site frequency spectrum for comparative population genomic inference

“…Comparative population genetics, also known as comparative phylogeography, uses aggregate population genetic data collected from regional assemblages to make historical demographic inference about how co‐distributed taxa responded to landscape reconfig‐urations and/or climate change or how stable species associations have been across time and space. These comparative studies range from investigating shared histories of hosts with their pathogens (Perkins ; Holmes ; Wicker et al . ), multiple co‐invading species (Sax et al .…”

Co‐phylogeography and comparative population genetics of the threatened Galápagos hawk and three ectoparasite species: ecology shapes population histories within parasite communities

“…Terrestrial ecosystems of oceanic islands are useful for studying host–parasite interactions because the faunas are simplified relative to mainland faunas (e.g. Perkins 2001; Whiteman et al . 2004).…”