The evolution of host specificity in dove body lice

Johnson, Kevin P.; Weckstein, Jason D.; Bush, Sarah E.; Clayton, Dale H.

doi:10.1017/s0031182010001770

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results support the negative relationship between host‐switching potential and specialization that has been shown to be relevant in determining the evolution of host specificity in other symbionts, and that occasional major host switches therefore may have an important evolutionary role (Barker, ; Johnson, Weckstein, Bush, & Clayton, ; Krasnov et al, ; Poulin, ). However, the number of examples is few, and the role of infrequent major host switches on the development of symbiont specialization requires further study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Host specificity, infrequent major host switching and the diversification of highly host‐specific symbionts: The case of vane‐dwelling feather mites

Doña

Proctor

Mironov

et al. 2017

Global Ecol Biogeogr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Highly host‐specific symbionts are very rarely found except with their typical host species. Although switches to new hosts are rare and difficult to detect, a switch to a host phylogenetically distant from the original one (a ‘major host switch’) could allow diversification of the symbionts onto the new host lineage. The consequences of such major host switches on the diversification of highly host‐specific symbionts of animals have rarely been explored. Here, we examine the host specificity of vane‐dwelling feather mites, a group that shows strong specificity, together with their host‐switching dynamics and the consequences of major host switches for their diversification. Location Global. Time period From 1882 to 2015. Major taxa studied Feather mites and birds. Methods Using the largest published dataset of feather mite–bird associations, we analysed raw, phylogenetic and geographical host specificity of feather mites. We studied host‐switching dynamics by describing the sharing by feather mites of bird species with different phylogenetic distances. For three of the most species‐rich feather mite families, we quantified the consequences of major host switches for feather mite diversification. Results Most feather mite species (84%) inhabit one to three very closely related host species. Assemblages of feather mites on birds do not show a geographical signature, but rather show strong host‐driven structuring. The probability that a mite species occurs on two host species decays sharply with host phylogenetic distance, with only one instance of a feather mite species occupying distantly related hosts from different orders. However, results suggest that despite the strong host specificity, a few major host switches triggered the origin of 21% of the species and 38% of the genera of the mite families studied. Main conclusions We show that feather mites are highly host‐specific symbionts, whose assemblages do not show geographical structure, even at a continental scale. We conclude that major host switches are very rare events with strong macroevolutionary consequences for feather mite diversity.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Host specificity, infrequent major host switching and the diversification of highly host‐specific symbionts: The case of vane‐dwelling feather mites

Doña

Proctor

Mironov

et al. 2017

Global Ecol Biogeogr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Because they are more mobile off the host, amblyceran lice are considered better dispersers and less host specific than ischnoceran lice (Clayton, Gregory, & Price, ). Amblyceran lice feed on skin tissue and may rupture the skin to feed on blood, where they might interact with the immune system of the host (Johnson, Weckstein, Bush, & Clayton, ; Johnson et al., ; Whiteman, Matson, Bollmer, & Parker, ). In both cases (amblycera and ischnocera), the way these parasites escape host preening is by firmly attaching to different components of the host feathers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Host sympatry and body size influence parasite straggling rate in a highly connected multihost, multiparasite system

Levin

Johnson

Parker

2017

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Parasite lineages commonly diverge when host lineages diverge. However, when large clades of hosts and parasites are analyzed, some cases suggest host switching as another major diversification mechanism. The first step in host switching is the appearance of a parasite on an atypical host, or “straggling.” We analyze the conditions associated with straggling events. We use five species of colonially nesting seabirds from the Galapagos Archipelago and two genera of highly specific ectoparasitic lice to examine host switching. We use both genetic and morphological identification of lice, together with measurements of spatial distribution of hosts in mixed breeding colonies, to test: (1) effects of local host community composition on straggling parasite identity; (2) effects of relative host density within a mixed colony on straggling frequency and parasite species identity; and (3) how straggling rates are influenced by the specifics of louse attachment. Finally, we determine whether there is evidence of breeding in cases where straggling adult lice were found, which may indicate a shift from straggling to the initial stages of host switching. We analyzed more than 5,000 parasite individuals and found that only ~1% of lice could be considered stragglers, with ~5% of 436 host individuals having straggling parasites. We found that the presence of the typical host and recipient host in the same locality influenced straggling. Additionally, parasites most likely to be found on alternate hosts are those that are smaller than the typical parasite of that host, implying that the ability of lice to attach to the host might limit host switching. Given that lice generally follow Harrison's rule, with larger parasites on larger hosts, parasites infecting the larger host species are less likely to successfully colonize smaller host species. Moreover, our study supports the general perception that successful colonization of a novel host is extremely rare, as we found only one nymph of a straggling species, which may indicate successful reproduction.

show abstract

“…Wing lice have been shown to 'hitchhike' on hippoboscid flies, which are generalist ectoparasites that often target doves (Harbison et al, 2008;Harbison & Clayton, 2011). For example, gregarious roosting and foraging bring different species of doves into contact and may facilitate the exchange of both wing and body lice (Harbison et al, 2008;Johnson et al, 2011a). Body lice do not appear to utilize phoresy, and so they are unlikely to disperse between host individuals in this way (Harbison, Jacobsen & Clayton, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cophylogenetic patterns are uncorrelated between two lineages of parasites on the same hosts

Sweet

Boyd

Johnson

2016

Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Free-living organisms are often host to multiple lineages of closely related parasites. Different lineages of obligate parasites living on the same hosts might potentially be expected to display similar cophylogenetic patterns. However, there are also reasons why these lineages might have different evolutionary histories (e.g. host switching, host geography). In the present study, we use mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data to evaluate the cophylogenetic patterns between doves and their wing and body lice. Previous studies have found that the wing and body lice of doves have different levels of congruence between their phylogenetic histories. However, these studies are limited in scope, either taxonomically or geographically. We used both new and existing data to generate a worldwide and taxonomically diverse data set for doves and two independent groups of lice: wing and body lice. Using event and topology-based methods, we found that cophylogenetic patterns were not correlated between wing and body lice, even though both groups showed evidence of cospeciation with their hosts. These results indicate that external factors vary in their impact on different groups of parasites and also that broad sampling is critical for identifying patterns in cophylogenetic analyses.

show abstract

The evolution of host specificity in dove body lice

Cited by 18 publications

References 38 publications

Host specificity, infrequent major host switching and the diversification of highly host‐specific symbionts: The case of vane‐dwelling feather mites

Host specificity, infrequent major host switching and the diversification of highly host‐specific symbionts: The case of vane‐dwelling feather mites

Host sympatry and body size influence parasite straggling rate in a highly connected multihost, multiparasite system

Cophylogenetic patterns are uncorrelated between two lineages of parasites on the same hosts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About