Distinct life history strategies underpin clear patterns of succession in microparasite communities infecting a wild mammalian host.

ABSTRACT: Individual animals in natural populations tend to host diverse parasite species concurrently over their lifetimes. In free-living ecological communities, organismal life histories shape interactions with their environment, which ultimately forms the basis of ecological succession. However, the structure and dynamics of mammalian parasite communities have not been contextualized in terms of primary ecological succession, in part because few datasets track occupancy and abundance of multiple parasites in wild hosts starting at birth. Here, we studied community dynamics of 12 subtypes of protozoan microparasites (Theileria spp.) in a herd of African buffalo. We show that Theileria communities followed predictable patterns of succession underpinned by four different parasite life history strat

SUBMITTER: Glidden CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10389068 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature