Evidence for interspecific interactions in the ectoparasite infracommunity of a wild mammal.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Co-infection with multiple parasite species is commonly observed in nature and interspecific interactions are likely to occur in parasite infracommunities. Such interactions may affect the distribution of parasites among hosts but also the response of infracommunities to perturbations. However, the response of infracommunities to perturbations has not been well studied experimentally for ectoparasite communities of small mammal hosts.

Methods

In the current study we used experimental perturbations of the ectoparasite infracommunity of sengis from Africa. We suppressed tick recruitment by applying an acaride and monitored the effects on the ectoparasite community.

Results

Our treatment affected the target as well as two non-target species directly. The exper

SUBMITTER: Hoffmann S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4735965 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature