Mixed strongyle parasite infections vary across host age and space in a population of feral horses.

ABSTRACT: Identifying factors that drive among-individual variation in mixed parasitic infections is fundamental to understanding the ecology and evolution of host–parasite interactions. However, a lack of non-invasive diagnostic tools to quantify mixed infections has restricted their investigation for host populations in the wild. This study applied DNA metabarcoding on parasite larvae cultured from faecal samples to characterize mixed strongyle infections of 320 feral horses on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2014 to test for the influence of host (age, sex and reproductive/social status) and environmental (location, local density and social group membership) factors on variation. Twenty-five strongyle species were identified, with individual infections ranging from 3 to 18 species with a me

SUBMITTER: Ahn S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11894017 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature