Environmental variation mediates the prevalence and co-occurrence of parasites in the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hosts and their parasites are under reciprocal selection, leading to coevolution. However, parasites depend not only on a host, but also on the host's environment. In addition, a single host species is rarely infested by a single species of parasite and often supports multiple species (i.e., multi-infestation). Although the arms race between a parasite and its host has been well studied, few data are available on how environmental conditions may influence the process leading to multiple infestations. In this study, we examine whether: (1) environmental factors including altitude, temperature, vegetation cover, human disturbance, and grazing by livestock affect the prevalence of two types of ectoparasites, mites and ticks, on their host (the common lizard, Zootoca vivipar

SUBMITTER: Wu Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6806499 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature