Files and links (1)
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (License Unspecified), Open
Journal article
Parasite Abundance‐Occupancy Relationships Across Biogeographic Regions: Joint Effects of Niche Breadth, Host Availability and Climate
Journal of biogeography
24 Sep 2024
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
ABSTRACT Aim Changing biodiversity and environmental conditions may allow multi‐host pathogens to spread among host species and affect prevalence. There are several widely acknowledged theories about mechanisms that may influence variation in pathogen prevalence, including the controversially debated dilution effect and abundance‐occupancy relationship hypotheses. Here, we explore such abundance‐occupancy relationships for unique lineages of three vector‐borne avian blood parasite genera (the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium and the related haemosporidian parasites Parahaemoproteus and Leucocytozoon ) across biogeographical regions. Location Nearctic‐Neotropical and Palearctic‐Afrotropical regions. Methods We compiled a cross‐continental dataset of 17,116 bird individuals surveyed from 46 bird assemblages across the Nearctic‐Neotropical and Palearctic‐Afrotropical regions and explored relationships between local parasite lineage prevalence and host assemblage metrics in a Bayesian random regression framework. Results Most lineages from these three genera infected ≥ 5 host species and exhibited clear phylogenetic or functional host specificity. Lineage prevalence from all three genera increased with host range, but also with higher degrees of specialisation to phylogenetically or functionally related host species. Local avian community features were also found to be important drivers of prevalence. For example, bird species richness was positively correlated with lineage prevalence for Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon , whereas higher relative abundances of the main host species were associated with lower prevalence for Plasmodium and Parahaemoproteus but higher prevalence for Leucocytozoon . Conclusions Our results broadly support several of the leading hypotheses about mechanisms that influence pathogen prevalence, including the niche breadth hypothesis in that higher avian host species diversity and broader host range amplify prevalence through increasing ecological opportunities and the trade‐off hypotheses in that specialisation among subsets of available host species may increase prevalence. Furthermore, the three studied avian haemosporidian genera exhibited different abundance‐occupancy relationships across the major global climate gradients and in relation to host availability, emphasising that these relationships do not strictly follow common rules for vector‐borne parasites with different life histories.
Metrics
6 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Parasite Abundance‐Occupancy Relationships Across Biogeographic Regions: Joint Effects of Niche Breadth, Host Availability and Climate
- Creators
- Konstans Wells - Swansea UniversityJeffrey A. Bell - University of North DakotaAlan Fecchio - Drexel UniversitySerguei Drovetski - Eastern Ecological Science CenterSpencer Galen - University of ScrantonShannon Hackett - Field Museum of Natural HistoryHolly Lutz - Field Museum of Natural HistoryHeather R. Skeen - University of ConnecticutGary Voelker - Texas A&M UniversityWanyoike Wamiti - National Museums of KenyaJason D. Weckstein - Drexel UniversityNicholas J. Clark - The University of Queensland
- Publication Details
- Journal of biogeography
- Publisher
- WILEY
- Number of pages
- 11
- Grant note
- Royal Society research grant: RGS\R2\222152 ARC-DECRA Fellowship: DE210101439
Staffan Bensch and Vincenzo Ellis contributed valuable data. We thank everyone involved in the laborious fieldwork of bird trapping and the molecular work on parasite identification. Konstans Wells was supported by The Royal Society research grant RGS\R2\222152, Nicholas J. Clark was supported by the ARC-DECRA Fellowship DE210101439. Any use of trade, firm or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. We thank the following authorities for research visas, data collection and export permits: in Argentina, the Direccion de Fauna y Flora Silvestre del Chubut for permit 86/2016, 35/2017, 27/2018; in Brazil, the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservacao da Biodiversidade, the Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservacao de Aves Silvestres, and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development for research visas and collecting permits 10698-1, 37740-4, 37740-5, 37740-6, 37740-7, 51536-3, 61078-1, 9353-1, 59198-3 and export permits 08BR001722/DF, 09BR003989/DF, 14BR012633/DF, 19BR030548/DF; in Kenya, the National Commission for Science, Technology & Innovation for permit NACOSTI/P/14/3210/725 and the National Museums of Kenya (as legal mandate holder); in Malawi, the Department of Forestry for permit 3/12/ 2007/1 and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife for permit NPW/2/1/12; in the United States, the State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game for permits 16-013 and 17-092, and the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) for providing access to their specimen collection.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES); Ornithology; Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001319003800001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85204683405
- Other Identifier
- 991021904298004721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Geography, Physical