Potential parasite transmission in multi-host networks based on parasite sharing.

ABSTRACT: Epidemiological networks are commonly used to explore dynamics of parasite transmission among individuals in a population of a given host species. However, many parasites infect multiple host species, and thus multi-host networks may offer a better framework for investigating parasite dynamics. We investigated the factors that influence parasite sharing--and thus potential transmission pathways--among rodent hosts in Southeast Asia. We focused on differences between networks of a single host species and networks that involve multiple host species. In host-parasite networks, modularity (the extent to which the network is divided into subgroups of rodents that interact with similar parasites) was higher in the multi-species than in the single-species networks. This suggests that phylogeny af

SUBMITTER: Pilosof S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4352066 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature