Predicting the similarity of parasite communities in freshwater fishes using the phylogeny, ecology and proximity of hosts

Abstract

Parasite communities tend to be dissimilar in hosts that are geographically, phylogenetically, ecologically and developmentally distant from one another. The decay of community similarity is a powerful and increasingly common method of studying parasite beta diversity, but most studies have examined only a single type of distance. Here, we evaluate distances based on the phylogeny, ecology, spatial proximity and size of hosts, as predictors of the similarity of parasite communities in individual hosts, host populations and host species. We surveyed parasites in six species of fish collected simultaneously from six localities in the St. Lawrence River, Canada, and species in a common group of larval parasites were discriminated using DNA sequences from barcode region of cytochrome c oxidase I. Distances based on the habitat use patterns of host species were good predictors of short‐term, ecological similarity of parasite communities, such as that operating at the scale of the individual host. The genetic distance between host species was associated with almost all types of similarity at all scales, particularly qualitative and phylogenetic similarity of parasite communities at the level of populations and meta‐populations of hosts. The trophic level, diet, spatial proximity and size of hosts were poor predictors of parasite community similarity. The increased taxonomic resolution provided by molecular data increased the explanatory power of regression models, and different factors were implicated when parasite species were distinguished with DNA barcodes than when larval parasites were lumped into morphospecies, as is commonly practiced.

Variation in parasite communities and health indices of juvenile Lepomis gibbosus across a gradient of watershed land-use and habitat quality

“…Species recovered were similar to those found in previous research on adult L. gibbosus in the St. Lawrence River (Locke et al, 2013), except that fewer adult trematodes were recovered. This is likely a result of using YOY hosts, as a juvenile's diet is not as diverse as an adult and so excludes transmission pathways present in older populations of L. gibbosus, and recruitment and maturation time is less (i.e.…”

“…and Diplostomum spp. have recently been demonstrated to contain cryptic species in the St. Lawrence River through DNA analysis (Locke et al, 2010(Locke et al, , 2013; as such, no attempt was made to identify individuals past genus to avoid improper identification. Species accumulation curves indicated that the majority of parasite taxa were likely accounted for by the analysis of ∼13 hosts (Fig.…”

“…one growing season). Further, fish examined in Locke et al (2013) were from larger, more complex habitats on the St. Lawrence River compared to the wadeable streams sampled here. Fish species diversity and more elaborate trophic dynamics (e.g.…”

Are dominant plant species more susceptible to leaf‐mining insects? A case study at Saihanwula Nature Reserve, China

“…(4) In some cases, only presence–absence data can be recorded, for example, when organisms grow clonally, are too abundant to count, or are difficult for nonexperts to identify taxonomically (Beisner, Peres‐Neto, Lindström, Barnett, & Longhi, 2006; Colwell, Chang, & Chang, 2004). (5) Presence–absence data are more appropriate than are abundance data for clarifying the effects of host characteristics on parasite similarity (Locke, Mclaughlin, & Marcogliese, 2013; Poulin, 2010; Poulin & Krasnov, 2010; Seifertová, Vyskočilová, Morand, & Šimková, 2008). We were not able to sample all of the leafminer species and their host plants within the short sampling period, but the use of presence–absence data may compensate for our sampling efforts.…”

Parasite communities of two three-spined stickleback populations in subarctic Norway—effects of a small spatial-scale host introduction

“…Collapsed black clusters contain data (38 sequences, see Table 2) from metacercariae infecting sticklebacks in the present study and conspecifics from other studies. Genbank accessions are KM212028-65 (present study) and FJ477183-6; FJ477188-9; FJ477194-200; FJ477204-6; GQ292475-502; HM064610-47; HM064660-732; JF769450-2; JQ639170-95; JX986859-907; KC685359-60; KJ726433-507 Molecular data can clarify species boundaries and illuminate distributional patterns in fish parasite communities (Rellstab et al 2011;Behrmann-Godel 2013;Désilets et al 2013;Locke et al 2013), but unfortunately, we were unable to extend molecular species discriminations to all 12,077 metacercariae observed in the present study. However, under a null hypothesis that morphologically similar parasites observed in both lakes represent the same species, this is unlikely to have greatly affected overall patterns of inter-lake differences in parasite species composition.…”