Uncertain links in host-parasite networks: lessons for parasite transmission in a multi-host system.

ABSTRACT: For many parasites, the full set of hosts that are susceptible to infection is not known, and this could lead to a bias in estimates of transmission. We used counts of individual adult parasites from historical parasitology studies in southern Africa to map a bipartite network of the nematode parasites of herbivore hosts that occur in Botswana. Bipartite networks are used in community ecology to represent interactions across trophic levels. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to predict the full set of host-parasite interactions from existing data on parasitic gastrointestinal nematodes of wild and domestic ungulates given assumptions about the distribution of parasite counts within hosts, while accounting for the relative uncertainty of less sampled species. We used network metrics to a

SUBMITTER: Walker JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5352821 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature