Long-term temporal trends in gastrointestinal parasite infection in wild Soay sheep.

ABSTRACT: Monitoring the prevalence and abundance of parasites over time is important for addressing their potential impact on host life histories, immunological profiles and their influence as a selective force. Only long-term ecological studies have the potential to shed light on both the temporal trends in infection prevalence and abundance and the drivers of such trends, because of their ability to dissect drivers that may be confounded over shorter time scales. Despite this, only a relatively small number of such studies exist. Here, we analysed changes in the prevalence and abundance of gastrointestinal parasites in the wild Soay sheep population of St. Kilda across 31 years. The host population density (PD) has increased across the study, and PD is known to increase parasite transmission, but

SUBMITTER: Hayward AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10090761 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature