Host dietary niche and site location on the river continuum shape trematode (<i>Renifer aniarum)</i> infection patterns in sympatric watersnakes (<i>Nerodia</i> spp.).

ABSTRACT: Although parasite probability of infection and intensity are central to understanding parasite distributions and their ecological and evolutionary impacts, the drivers of these parameters remain poorly understood. At a local scale, we examined how host dietary niche partitioning and river landscape processes influence infections of the trematode Renifer aniarum in a community of watersnakes (Nerodia spp.). Host-specific dietary preferences and body size (SVL) were associated with infection probability among sympatric congeners. However, contrary to predictions of the stream drift hypothesis, infection probability increased with distance upstream. Infection intensity, in contrast, was unrelated to stream position and less predictable across host species. Thus, infection probab

SUBMITTER: Janecka MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12519153 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature