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Brian JI, Aldridge DC. Host and parasite identity interact in scale-dependent fashion to determine parasite community structure. Oecologia 2024; 204:199-211. [PMID: 38206416 PMCID: PMC10830602 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05499-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
Understanding the ecological assembly of parasite communities is critical to characterise how changing host and environmental landscapes will alter infection dynamics and outcomes. However, studies frequently assume that (a) closely related parasite species or those with identical life-history strategies are functionally equivalent, and (b) the same factors will drive infection dynamics for a single parasite across multiple host species, oversimplifying community assembly patterns. Here, we challenge these two assumptions using a naturally occurring host-parasite system, with the mussel Anodonta anatina infected by the digenean trematode Echinoparyphium recurvatum, and the snail Viviparus viviparus infected by both E. recurvatum and Echinostoma sp. By analysing the impact of temporal parasite dispersal, host species and size, and the impact of coinfection (moving from broader environmental factors to within-host dynamics), we show that neither assumption holds true, but at different ecological scales. The assumption that closely related parasites can be functionally grouped is challenged when considering dispersal to the host (i.e. larger scales), while the assumption that the same factors will drive infection dynamics for a single parasite across multiple host species is challenged when considering within-host interspecific competition (i.e. smaller scales). Our results demonstrate that host identity, parasite identity and ecological scale require simultaneous consideration in studies of parasite community composition and transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua I Brian
- Aquatic Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, The David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK.
- Department of Geography, Bush House North East, King's College London, London, WC2B 4BG, UK.
| | - David C Aldridge
- Aquatic Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, The David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK
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Rodríguez-Pastor R, Hasik AZ, Knossow N, Bar-Shira E, Shahar N, Gutiérrez R, Zaman L, Harrus S, Lenski RE, Barrick JE, Hawlena H. Bartonella infections are prevalent in rodents despite efficient immune responses. Parasit Vectors 2023; 16:315. [PMID: 37667323 PMCID: PMC10478473 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-023-05918-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 08/06/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pathogens face strong selection from host immune responses, yet many host populations support pervasive pathogen populations. We investigated this puzzle in a model system of Bartonella and rodents from Israel's northwestern Negev Desert. We chose to study this system because, in this region, 75-100% of rodents are infected with Bartonella at any given time, despite an efficient immunological response. In this region, Bartonella species circulate in three rodent species, and we tested the hypothesis that at least one of these hosts exhibits a waning immune response to Bartonella, which allows reinfections. METHODS We inoculated captive animals of all three rodent species with the same Bartonella strain, and we quantified the bacterial dynamics and Bartonella-specific immunoglobulin G antibody kinetics over a period of 139 days after the primary inoculation, and then for 60 days following reinoculation with the same strain. RESULTS Contrary to our hypothesis, we found a strong, long-lasting immunoglobulin G antibody response, with protective immunological memory in all three rodent species. That response prevented reinfection upon exposure of the rodents to the same Bartonella strain. CONCLUSIONS This study constitutes an initial step toward understanding how the interplay between traits of Bartonella and their hosts influences the epidemiological dynamics of these pathogens in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Rodríguez-Pastor
- Jacob Blaustein Center for Scientific Cooperation, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
| | - Adam Z Hasik
- Jacob Blaustein Center for Scientific Cooperation, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Nadav Knossow
- The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 849900, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
| | - Enav Bar-Shira
- Section of Immunology, Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Environmental Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Naama Shahar
- The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 849900, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
| | - Ricardo Gutiérrez
- National Reference Center for Bacteriology, Costa Rican Institute for Research and Teaching in Nutrition and Health (INCIENSA), Cartago, Costa Rica
| | - Luis Zaman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Shimon Harrus
- Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Environmental Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Richard E Lenski
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Jeffrey E Barrick
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Hadas Hawlena
- The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 849900, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
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Stanicka A, Szopieray K, Migdalski Ł, Kobak J. Friends or enemies: Multi-species interactions among biofoulers, endoparasites and their gastropod hosts. J Anim Ecol 2023; 92:503-513. [PMID: 36519974 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Parasites are a crucial factor that shapes the functioning of communities throughout the world, as are gregarious macrofoulers in aquatic ecosystems. However, little is known about the effects of three-way interactions between macrofoulers, endoparasites and their hosts. We predict that macrofouling and parasite infection may act (i) independently of each other, (ii) synergistically, increasing their final negative impact on the host or (iii) antagonistically, the former weakening the negative impact of the latter. We investigated multiway relationships between an invasive freshwater filter-feeding macrofouler (the zebra mussel), digenean endoparasite and their gastropod host, Viviparus viviparus. Furthermore, we checked the recruitment of mussels in living gastropods versus their empty shells. We sampled living V. viviparus and their empty shells with attached dreissenids from a Polish dam reservoir. We counted and weighed attached mussels and determined wet weight, shell height and sex of gastropods. Then we dissected the molluscs to look for digenean larvae and gastropod embryos. We use these parameters to look for reciprocal associations between mussel fouling, parasitic infection and gastropod size and fertility, as well as to infer the most likely mechanisms of the observed relationships. Dreissenid overgrowth was associated with reduced fertility and size of viviparids, but also with a lower prevalence of digenean metacercariae (Leucochloridiomorpha sp.). We did not observe a negative influence of these digeneans on their gastropod hosts. In addition, large living viviparids and their empty shells were equally used as substrates by dreissenids, but small living gastropods were more fouled than shells of the corresponding size. A trade-off exists in the studied system: filter-feeding macrofoulers may bring some profits for their host, reducing the pressure of waterborne parasites (which may be crucial in the case of pathogenic species/life stages), although at the cost of the reduced growth and fertility of the host. Furthermore, mussels attached to mollusc hosts can exert a cascading effect on the reduced prevalence of digeneans in their final hosts, including those of medical or veterinary importance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Stanicka
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Torun, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Szopieray
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Torun, Poland
| | - Łukasz Migdalski
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Torun, Poland
| | - Jarosław Kobak
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Torun, Poland
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Brian JI, Aldridge DC. Factors at multiple scales drive parasite community structure. J Anim Ecol 2023; 92:377-390. [PMID: 36421047 PMCID: PMC10098736 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Understanding how ecological communities are assembled remains a key goal of ecosystem ecology. Because communities are hierarchical, factors acting at multiple scales can contribute to patterns of community structure. Parasites provide a natural system to explore this idea, as they exist as discrete communities within host individuals, which are themselves part of a community and metacommunity. We aimed to understand the relative contribution of multi-scale drivers in parasite community assembly and assess how patterns at one level may mask those occurring at another. Specifically, we wanted to disentangle patterns caused by passive sampling from those determined by ecological drivers, and how these vary with scale. We applied a Markov Random Fields model and assessed measures of β-diversity and nestedness for 420 replicate parasite infracommunities (parasite assemblages in host individuals) across two freshwater mussel host species, three sites and two time periods, comparing our results to simulations from four different ecologically relevant null models. We showed that β-diversity between sites (explaining 25% of variation in parasite distribution) and host species (41%) is greater than expected, and β-diversity between individual hosts is smaller than expected, even after accounting for parasite prevalence and characteristics of host individuals. Furthermore, parasite communities were significantly less nested than expected once parasite prevalence and host characteristics were both accounted for, but more nested than expected otherwise, suggesting a degree of modularity at the within-host level that is masked if underlying host and parasite characteristics are not taken into account. The Markov Random Fields model provided evidence for possible competitive within-host parasite interactions, providing a mechanism for the observed infracommunity modularity. An integrative approach that examines factors at multiple scales is necessary to understand the composition of ecological communities. Furthermore, patterns at one level can alter the interpretation of ecologically important drivers at another if variation at higher scales is not accounted for.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua I Brian
- Aquatic Ecology Group, The David Attenborough Building, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Department of Geography, Bush House NE, King's College London, London, UK
| | - David C Aldridge
- Aquatic Ecology Group, The David Attenborough Building, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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